Career Development for Scientists

“Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson, originally published 10 years ago, is perhaps even more useful today. Like “ Our Iceberg is Melting“, this book talks about dealing with change. However, this one deals with individuals and their reaction to change, instead of leading groups of people.

You can read the whole book in about an hour, but you will spend much longer than that thinking about the various characters, how they reacted, and what they learned. Hopefully, reading it will give you a framework to think about questions such as what rewards matter to you, has that changed over time, are you ready to react if it does, and much more.

Sometimes a very simple analogy can help clarify a very complex issue. Give this one a read and see what I’m talking about.

At the recent ACS meeting in Philadelphia, I chaired a session on the use of new technologies in finding jobs. While we recorded all the presentations, it will be awhile before that’s ready to go online. In the meantime, here is the list of web sites compiled by John Borchardt, freelance technical writier, of especially useful web sites for scientists who have a little experience under their lab coats.

AlumniInTouch - www.alumniintouch.com - Facilitates networking and contact among former company employees

YourEncore - www.yourencore.com - network of retired and veteran scientists and engineers providing client organizations with proven experience

DinosaurExchange.com: Lists jobs world-wide. No charge for job seekers or employers.

Enrge.us: Specializes in helping retired government workers find jobs in the private sector.

RetireeWorkforce.com: about three dozen companies post openings. No charge to job seekers.

Innocentive - www.innocentive.com - posts questions and rewards for those who come up with the solutions.

RetirementJobs.com: Identifies employers with “age friendly” work environments.

Seniors4Hire.org: In addition to résumés, individuals can post job-wanted ads.

Workforce50.com: Formerly SeniorJobBank.org. No charge to job seekers, who can store ≤3 résumés.

If you’re anything like me, you have lots of things you want to do, and not enough time to do them all. (If this does not sound familiar, tell me how you manage your time!)

One way to make sure things move along is to have deadlines. Those tasks that have inherent deadlines get done. For those that don’t, make up your own deadlines. Make them specific, achievable, fixed, and if possible make yourself accountable by telling someone else.

For example, a bad example would be to think to yourself “I’m going to do something to make my job better this month.” No specific action, deadline, or accountability. A much better goal would be “By September 31, I will find someone who works as a technical writer, make an appointment, and talk to them for 20 minutes about what their job is really like”. In this case, telling others not only makes it more likely that you’ll do it, but they can all help you find that person to talk to.

Notice also that the goal was not to have a new, fabulous job by the end of next week. Slow, steady progress and continual learning about new things will make you much more prepared than frantic, panicked scrambling when you are caught by an unexpected change.

See Bloomberg Encourages Staff to Watch the Clock for the story of someone who takes this idea quite seriously.

I spent part of this Labor Day reading a book about networking. At least, that’s what it said it was about. It was really talking about selling products, using personal contacts instead of traditional media and advertising. Even though the author was focused on building specific business relationships (realtors with mortgage brokers, for example) there were some ideas of value in there.

There is no good news or bad news, just news. While some things may see to be good or bad at the time, later on you may look back and find them to be exactly the opposite. I have known many people who were devastated when they were laid off, only to say later that it was the best thing that ever happened to them. When a faced with a major turning point, try to look for the opportunities it brings, and not just the problems.

Networking is a process, not an event. It is not something you can pick up when you need something, then forget about once you get what you need. Networking has to be a lifelong habit of connecting with others, being sincerely interested in their wants and needs, and helping out whenever you can. It’s not about selling yourself, it’s about building a relationship. If you sincerely make an effort to help others, they will be happy to help you - sometimes even when you don’t know you need it. In fact, sometimes the people you didn’t think could be of any help at all will turn out to know just who you need to talk to.

Search out commonalities, or communities of people like you. Having something neutral to talk about will help you relax, and you will build those connections that will be crucial later on. You never know when having a hobby or outside interest in common will put you in touch with someone who can propel your career in a new direction.

It’s amazing how one little word can make a huge difference.

I’m listening to coverage of the presidential candidates, and the reporter just said people are getting to a level of “comfortability” with Obama. I thought I must have heard wrong, but then a minute later he said it again. That one word destroyed any credibility the reporter had with me, and I stopped listening to anything else he had to say.

While this is an extreme example, it is probably not that unusual. Your choice of words reveals a great deal about how you really feel about things. The level of care you take with your words, especially with written communications, is often a direct reflection of how important you believe a talk to be.

What subtle messages are you sending with your words?

As many of you know, I just chaired a session on the use of New Technologies in Finding Employment at the ACS national meeting in Philadephia. I’m still getting my notes from that together, and will be posting here before too long.

However, today I found a great article from The Scientist called Go Online to Get Your Job On which lists a number of online job tools, and provides tips for getting the most out of them. Check it out!

The US Bureau of Labor and Statistics provides lots of long-term predictions on where jobs will be in the future. It’s a good place to keep an eye on, to see which fields may be growing, and which ones may be shrinking.

They have recently predict 9% growth (about average) through 2016. “Job growth will occur in professional, scientific, and technical services firms as manufacturing companies continue to outsource their R&D and testing operations to these smaller, specialized firms.”

Check out their Occupational Outlook (OCO) Handbook, and especially the OCO page on chemists. What does this say about the field you work in? Or the field you would like to work in.

I just returned home from the ACS national meeting in Philadelphia. While these meetings are always busy, at this one I had made the mistake of pre-booking every morning, afternoon, evening, and most meals with professional activities. One evening I was at 3 different events! I was literally running from session to session, often while trying to check phone messages or figure out how to get to the next place. While I hope the talks I gave and sessions I organized helped others, I’m pretty sure this was not ideal for me.

I was often worried about where I had to be next, and not able to focus on where I actually was. When opportunities arose, like a former colleague showing up unexpectedly and asking me to lunch, I was unable to attend.

Does that sound like you in your career? So busy with the things you need to do right now, you don’t have time to think about the bigger picture, or take advantage of interesting opportunities when they come around?

I have resolved that for the next meeting I will make sure to allow lots of free time. I will make room so I am able to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Since the national meetings happen every 6 months, I should be able to remember this resolution long enough to act on it. Ask me next March if I was able to do it!

I am working on a couple of career consulting cases that are quite difficult. Perhaps you can tell where these people went wrong?

The first involves a gentleman who is trying to make a career change after being out of work for a short time. He had an interview with a company that he was very excited about, and after it was over he told me about it. It was supposed to be a full day, but was cut short after only a few hours. He thought it might be because when they asked if he knew how to do a particular test, and he said yes, he had done that in his previous position. He then told them he had some proprietary SOPs for that method on his computer, and he’d be happy to bring them to the new company. The interview went downhill rapidly, and was cut short. Can you tell him why?

The second case involves a PhD chemist who has been out of the work force for 8 years - he’s been in prison after being convicted of a felony. He’s starting to make contact with former colleagues, trying to find a position similar to what he had before his “unfortunate incarceration”. He’s talking about working for a pharmaceutical company, or maybe teaching. Any idea why those might not be reasonable options?

I hope you don’t have examples this extreme in your career. But how do your actions appear? Is there an area you begin to take more care with?

I recently had an interesting exchange with my son. He had just returned home from cross country practice, and was exhausted and starving. I told him that while he was gone someone had called desperately needing a volunteer for another group he’s involved in, and they needed the person in 15 minutes. He quickly showered, changed into the appropriate uniform, and grabbed some food - with much prodding from me. Then he came and grumped at me that “he guessed he was read to go, if I have to.” I told him it wouldn’t do any good to go if he was going to be in a bad mood - the whole point was to show how much fun this organization was, and to persuade others to join.

He replied “I can fake it Mom - I can act fun. But I’m not going to waste it in front of you.” At first I laughed, and thought sure, he can show his true mood in front of me. But as I thought about it, I wondered how many people do this in their career. Do you ever find yourself trying hard to be enthusiastic about your career and accomplishments in front of people you think can help you, but letting your “true feelings” out in front of people who “don’t matter”?

First, what does this mean you really feel about your career? If you have to force the enthusiasm, and the complaints are more reflective of your true feelings, perhaps you need to think more about what you really want to be doing.

Secondly, how do you know who “doesn’t matter”? You may be sitting next to, or overheard by, someone who is the best friend of the person who has your dream job. If you appear grumpy and pessimistic, they are unlikely to volunteer to help you.

Positive people attract more positive responses, so at all times you should do your best to project a positive attitude. There must be some aspects of your career that you enjoy - focus on those, and work to expand them.

In the words of Randy Pausch, “choose to be a Tigger, not an Eyeore“.