Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

I hear you. I worked retail and other minimum wage jobs through HS and college, too. But I think many now are getting advice not to share that. And the honest truth is that sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. Hard to give universal guidance.

If students are getting this advice, I would question where it comes from and to what aim. The fact is that few students from underprivileged backgrounds can afford to do unpaid internships or have connections to get into early research programs to have "pure science" experience

I was definitely told to take anything not related to my field off my CV even other research experiences. Any part time jobs I held or leadership positions I was told to remove as well.

Grrr this makes me really angry! If you can share this - was it careers advice workers at your university or senior academics/ supervisors or the job advertisers/recruiters saying this? The gall of telling ECR to omit part-time jobs & leadership roles from their CV!

I honestly don’t remember. I never went to a career center because they never really knew about STEM careers. So had to be an advisor.

Hmmm. What makes you think careers centre didn't know about STEM careers? They are generalists, and often have good services if not specific to your discipline. Did your lecturers ever invite them to your class to discuss the skills they offer?

Maybe once or twice. But in my experience they told us opposite of what actual people in those career positions say. Granted this was 6+ years ago

Interesting. I'd like to know more about how other people experienced their careers centre. At the very least, I encouraged my students to visit them for proof-reading CVs and applications & practice interviewing skills, which they happily did at my uni.