Social Skills Training

If you're a university student, there may be some workshops for specific skills offered by your uni that might be of some help? They might also be able to offer some mentorship to help you?

I am definitely struggling with this though, I am also a postgrad student in the sciences and whilst I have done some classes which have helped me a little (mostly because there was one good instructor for the same few classes who very much promoted that there was no 'right' way to do all these things and it was down to finding your own way), I do find the generic advice not always helpful. People in my 'lab' are friendly enough to me, but they all socialise together and I'm completely out of the loop (and tbh I don't have much in common with them anyway). I don't have a clue about networking, and any workshops I've taken always assume you can already do the basics of approaching anyone and starting a conversation. We had a career fair type thing a couple of weeks ago with the idea we were meant to network with the companies that were there over lunch and I spent much of the time attempting and failing to approach anyone.

Mind you, certainly in academia there are at least plenty of introverted people who learn to balance their introvertedness with their career. My supervisor for example says he hates conferences (so he doesn't go to that many) and has encouraged me to take a holiday or work from home if I'm feeling all 'peopled out'-we share our frustrations with having to 'people' too much on occasions, it's nice that he can at least understand me from that POV. Of course you're right and networking and the ability to get on with people is important, as is being able to communicate your science to people, but there are a fair few areas of science where you have a lot of control over your day to day work, and can to a certain extent choose how much to engage.

Thanks for sharing this helpful experience of yours. And thanks for reminding me of the skills course and career fairs offered by the university. I have heard of them, but wasn't sure how helpful they would be and I was quite busy so I haven't been to those yet. I'll try to attend a few a some point :)

It's also helpful to hear that you've shared some frustrations with having to 'people' with your supervisor. I haven't talked to my supervisor much about anything other than research, but it seems like a good idea to talk about networking and stuff. 

I have tried the university counselling and asked specifically about wanting to improve social skills, but only went to one session and stopped because I felt too busy with my work. But it seems like it's a possible counselling topic. aralez, are you seeing a counsellor in a university? Maybe you could try to ask her again, or ask for another counsellor that might be more willing to talk to you about social skills?

Thanks for sharing this helpful experience of yours. And thanks for reminding me of the skills course and career fairs offered by the university. I have heard of them, but wasn't sure how helpful they would be and I was quite busy so I haven't been to those yet. I'll try to attend a few a some point :)

It's also helpful to hear that you've shared some frustrations with having to 'people' with your supervisor. I haven't talked to my supervisor much about anything other than research, but it seems like a good idea to talk about networking and stuff. 

I have tried the university counselling and asked specifically about wanting to improve social skills, but only went to one session and stopped because I felt too busy with my work. But it seems like it's a possible counselling topic. aralez, are you seeing a counsellor in a university? Maybe you could try to ask her again, or ask for another counsellor that might be more willing to talk to you about social skills?