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TotalJobs, one of the UK’s leading job boards asked me to share the following post with BioJobBlog readers. It offers insights and tips for jobseekers who may be embarking on a new career or simply looking for new job opportunities. Surprisingly, many jobseekers overlook these simple tips that can mean the difference between employment or not.

 Finding a Career Path That is Right for You

As many of us know from our own experiences, job hunting can be a gruelling process. The current economic climate has left many of us unemployed and desperately seeking work. With jobs few and far between, many jobseekers will jump at the first opportunity that comes along. Sadly, the idea of landing that dream job that you fantasized about during your school years may now seem like a distant memory. However, what many job seekers don’t understand is that by simply altering their job search strategies, they can dramatically increase the likelihood of landing that almost-forgotten dream job.

Ideally before your begin your job search you ought to have a general idea about the career path that you want to follow. This will help you to focus your job search. For those who don’t know or may be confused about possible career options, answering the following questions may provide some clarity

1. What were you strongest subjects at school?  In what did you excel?
2. What qualifications and skills do you currently possess?
3. What are your hobbies and interests, what really gets you going and excited?
4. Ideally, what job do you see yourself doing in the future?

Once you have answers to these questions, try to identify two or three possible career paths that feel right for you and are consistent with your background, skills and training. The next step is to determine whether or not the career paths that you have chosen are truly viable options for you. There are a variety of actions/activities that help you with this reality check.

1. Many colleges and universities offer counselling services that are free and open to the public. Chatting with career counselling professionals can provide clarity about jobs and whether or not they are consistent with your interests and personal skills.  Career counsellors can also advise you on the coursework, qualifications and skill sets required for those jobs.
2. Use the internet to research specific jobs or career options. This will help to improve your understanding of specific job titles and also provide insights into the-day-to-day requirements and activities of individual jobs. Also, you can determine the average salaries for specific jobs that you are interested and whether or not there are opportunities for career advancement in the jobs that you identified.
3. Decide whether or not you are prepared and willing to do whatever is necessary to qualify you for a particular job: even if the job may require additional coursework, exams, internships etc.
4. Determine the location of the jobs that you are interested in and see whether or not you would be able to live in those areas. For those of you considering graduate school and are interested in teaching assistant jobs you will need to determine whether or not local schools/colleges offers graduate training. If not, you may have to consider leaving home to pursue the career that you are interested in.
5. Identify persons who previously or currently work in the industries or jobs that you are interested in. Ask whether or not they may be willing to talk with you about their experiences to help you determine that you are the right fit for a specific job that you are considering. Sometimes, these so-called informational interviews can lead to internships or possible future job leads. If nothing else, they help to build a professional network which is absolutely essential for any jobseeker.

While many of these recommendations seem obvious, you will be surprised that learn that most jobseekers do not consider many of them before they begin their job searches. 

Generally speaking, jobseekers give their career paths some thought are more apt to find jobs as compared with others who believe that landing a job is a random process and requires little more than luck!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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According to an article that appeared in the online version of The Chronicle of Higher Education website the Council of Graduate Schools and the Educational Testing Service  last Thursday that they are creating a commission to study and recommend ways to help graduate students move more easily through their training and into careers.

The commission aptly named The Commission on Pathways Through Graduate School and Into Careers, is composed of college officials and business leaders and will examine how much graduate students know about their career options once they obtain their degrees. Further it will also look into how students learn about their professional opportunities after graduation and the role of graduate programs in guiding students in their transition to a career.  The findings uncovered by the commission will likely be reported sometime next spring.

Ironically, the impetus for creating the commission was a report released in 2010 that urged the US to make it a national priority to improve graduate education and attract more students to pursue graduate degrees to prevent the country’s decline in global competitiveness. By 2018, the report estimated about 2.5 million more jobs will require graduate degrees. I am not sure what the authors of the report were smoking at the time that they prepared it, but I for one do not think we need more people with advanced degrees; especially in the life sciences. That being said, since the PhD-producing machine will not stop until tenure is abolished, the next best thing is for graduate programs to provide incoming students with a “real-life” perspective on career opportunities and the training necessary to pursue them. At present, career development programs and career counseling services are virtually non-existent at most universities and colleges. 

While formation of the commission is laudable, I am not convinced that it will accomplish anything except possibly assuage growing graduate student and postdoc discontent at many academic institutions. The reason why my expectations are low is a comment made by Patrick Osmer, the commission chair and vice provost for graduate studies and dean of the Graduate School at Ohio State University, who said

“It is important to create a dialogue with graduate students and with employers, and to listen to the students' concerns and expectations about career paths beyond academe.”

Personally, I don’t think that the lack of dialogue between graduate students and prospective employers is the problem. The real problem is the lack of care development discussions between graduate students and their advisors; many of whom don’t know or care about career options for the persons who they train. Until graduate programs recognize that career development counseling and training are in their bailiwick, then nothing is going to change regardless of findings of one or more “expert” commission run by individuals who are part of the problem!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!   

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While most successful professionals want you to believe that they “fell into” their current jobs, the truth is that they wouldn’t have made it as far as they had without thinking or divining some type of strategic career plan. The trouble is that many early career professionals buy into this assertion—and rather than chart their own career trajectories—tend to gravitate toward jobs or job titles held by these seemingly successful professionals. 

More often than not, these would-be jobseekers have little or no understanding of what their “role models” do on a day-to-day basis as part of their job responsibilities. For example, many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who I talk with at career development symposia tell me that they want to go into business development or regulatory affairs or management consulting. After they tell me this, I routinely ask “Do you know what the director of business development or a regulatory affairs manager does?” Frequently, these persons have little or no idea about the duties and responsibilities associated with the job choice that they just enunciated to me. Generally speaking, many of these career choices were based on informal discussions with people who hold the job title(s) in question or from information gleaned from career development talks offered by people like me.

The point that I am trying to make, is that it is vitally important to know what the duties and responsibilities of a particular job are and what a prospective employer will likely expect from you on a day-to-day basis. While a job title may sound important or glamorous, the actual day-to-day activities and realities of the job may be tedious, mundane or simply boring. To avoid this possibility, it may be worthwhile to set up so-called “informational interviews” with professionals who are already in the job(s) that you may be considering.

While informational interviews are increasing in popularity, many professionals simply don’t have the time to accommodate the growing number of requests for them. To that end, BioCrowd, a networking site for bioprofessionals, recently created a weekly “Day in the Life” series that will showcase articles written by various life sciences professionals ranging from scientists to CEOs. The goal of these career vignettes is to educate students and would-be job seekers about the various career opportunities available in the life sciences and to provide some insights into what these professionals actually do on a day-to-day basis while on the job.

Please visit BioCrowd to learn more!

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!

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Preparing for and executing a job search can be both intimidating and overwhelming. While most job seekers approach a job search without much thought or planning, there actually is a “method to the madness” of a job search. And, if you take the time to develop a strategic plan, your likelihood of success increases almost exponentially. 

Unfortunately, the prodigious amount that has been written about conducting successful job searches suggests that reading and digesting it all may be more daunting than the job search itself! To that end, Kaitlyn Cole of Online Universities sent me a blog post entitled “100 Inspiring and Informative Blog Posts for Young Job Seekers” which may help to reduce the stress associated with job search planning. Although the title suggests that the list may be most informative for younger job seekers, I recommend that anyone looking for a job ought to take a quick look at the list!

A quick perusal of the list indicated that one or more BioJobBlog posts have been included. Read and learn!!!!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!

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