In my estimation. the first Post-Doc Career Fair sponsored by the Maryland Technical Council held at the University of Maryland-Shady Grove on May 23, 2006 appeared to be an unqualified success. Most of my time there was spent reviewing resumes and offering career advice to postdoctoral fellows who were willing to listen to me. I apologize for not posting the resume templates like I said I would last week at the fair. I have been extremely busy and will attempt to post them in the very near future. That said, let me make a few comments about resumes and career choices.
First, you should consider a resume as a necessary first step in getting your "foot in the door" with prospective employers. With this in mind, a resume must quickly convey to a reader 1. who you are, 2. what you do and 3)why a company should consider you as a prospective employee. To that end, the most important information about yourself should be placed at the top of first page of the resume right underneath your name and contact information in a section entitled "Summary of Qualifications". This section should be carefully crafted to reflect who you are and why you are the right person for the job. The purpose of this section is to attempt to quickly "sell" yourself to a hiring authority. Since hiring managers typically spend only 30 to 60 sec. reviewing a resume to determine whether a candidate may be an appropriate "fit" for a job it is imperative that this section be carefully considered and clearly presented.
Second, resumes are "living" documents. They are constantly changing and should be updated regularly to reflect career progress or acquisition of new skills. Stale resumes to do not win jobs!
Third, resumes should be carefully checked for spelling, grammatical and typographical errors. A resume filled with these types of errors will signal to prospective employers that you are neither careful nor do you pay attention to detail. Nobody wants to hire a person like this into their organization.
Finally, it is a tough job market out there right now for postdoctoral fellows. If you are no longer enamored with benchwork or think that you may want to pursue an alternate career path, now may be the time to explore those ideas. It may be difficult for you to objectively determine whether those alternate careers choices are right for you. I recommend that you seek out advice from reputable career counselors or individuals who are currently hold the types jobs that you are considering. This will enable you to get a better idea of what the job is REALLY about and whether you possess the requsite skills set and educational background to pursue a career in a specific area.
Until next time.....Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!
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