The Fellows' Individual Development & Exploration Resource (Finder)
FINDER is designed to help you define, track, and achieve your professional goals. It provides a clear framework for assessing where you are in your career and mapping out where you want to go. This easy-to-use career planning tool supports thoughtful exploration, strategic decision-making, and purposeful action, helping you make the most of your time and opportunities at NIH.

What FINDER Helps You Do

Share your progress, plans, and goals.

FINDER allows you to set meaningful goals and easily share them with mentors, OITE advisors, and others who support your professional development at NIH. You decide which sections to share and can update your FINDER at any time. As you focus on your next steps, your progress is automatically saved, making it simple to stay organized and on track.

To foster early establishment of clear goals during a fellow’s time at the NIEHS, fellows are encouraged to establish an Individual Development Plan that can help establish a research plan and outline long-term research and career goals. Fellows can do this in partnership with a mentor if they choose.

A second template option for an Individual Development Plan that highlights projects, career goals, and training activities.

MyIDP
A free, online resource on the ScienceCareers website. This tool is written specifically for scientists to help them understand their skills, values and interests and how those align with potential career choices. A wealth of information can be found within this resource.