I read a lot of newsletters, magazines and blogs, always looking for new ideas I can use. A recent issue of The Balancing Act had a list of 10 Tips for Balance in New Surroundings. While written in the context of a new location while traveling, these tips would also fit the first days on a new job, meeting new people at a networking event, and many other situations.
My favorites are “watch others” and “ask about others, don’t talk about yourself”.
I recently talked with a colleague I’ve known for years. About a year ago her company was bought by another, and her job duties changed significantly. She had been getting more dissatisfied over time, so last January she took early retirement. She knew she didn’t want to be a lab technician any more, but didn’t know what she did want to do.
Since money was not a pressing issue, she traveled a little, then started to look around. After a few months, she started a weekly volunteer position. She continued looking, and was even offered a position or two, but couldn’t bring herself to accept anything.
Nine months later, she is working as a substitute receptionist, has put in applications to be a dog-walker and at a gourmet food store, and is studying for the test to become a driver for a florist or caterer. She has finally realized she wants to get away from science, and do something that makes people happy (like bringing them flowers).
It took her a long time to realize this, and even longer to come to terms with it. She had thought of herself as a scientist for so long, she was unable to think of herself as anything else - even when being a scientist was no longer making her happy. It took her over 6 months of being away from the bench, and actually starting regular work in a completely different field, to allow herself to break free from the scientist mold. Even then, she likens the process to mourning a loss - the loss of her identity as a scientist.
Now that she has moved through the mourning, she is starting to be excited by the possibilities. She is exploring all sorts of things, and looking forward to what the next stage of her life may bring. She is looking for that career that will excite her, where she’ll GET to go to work, instead of HAVING to go to work.
Tonight was the last night of my speaking tour (yeah!). After my presentation, one of the professors came up and told me the most wonderful story about one of his PhD students. I just had to share it.
She went to an on-campus interview with BigChemicalCompany, and had a great conversation for over 15 minutes, after which she started talking about her research. The interviewer said they weren’t really interested in hearing about her research. When the student asked why not, it turned out the student was in the wrong interview - she had been given the wrong room and time, and was interviewing with a law firm, not a chemical company.
Since she had developed such a great relationship with the interviewer, the student asked what was the job she had been interviewing for. Cut to the end - she accepted the job with the law firm, is now a patent attorney and absolutely loves it.
This has to be most serendipitous career change I’ve ever heard of!
The speaking tour I’m on involves spending each day driving to the next city, and giving a talk each evening. Some of the drives are shorter, leaving time to explore the local area. Today I got in with almost 6 hours before my scheduled talk. I decided to head out and look for a local shop with supplies for one of my hobbies, to see what they carried.
As I was following my directions (thanks Google Maps and my iPhone!!!), I passed another shop that I had not seen in the local phone book. Even though it was only peripherally related to my hobby, I quickly pulled into a parking spot and went inside. I spent an enjoyable 45 minutes wandering through the store, and picked up a couple of unique products I hadn’t seen before.
I then went on to find the store I had originally been looking for, only to find that it had moved. A local gentleman was able to tell me where it had moved to, but when I got there I found it was not at all what I had expected, and in fact had nothing of interest to me. After a few minutes I returned to my hotel, to catch up on some work before my presentation.
It occurred to me on the way back that this was a good analog for the path a career can take. You’re going along towards a particular goal, when something else interesting comes along. Do you take the detour and see where it leads, or pass on the opportunity and keep towards your goal? Either way, you may reach the goal (a degree, particular job….) and find out it’s not all you thought it was going to be. What do you do then?
Hopefully, you’ve taken time to explore some of your options. The more you know about what’s out there and available, the better prepared you will be to turn where you are into where you want to be. And sometimes, that means being not being afraid to take advantage of unexpected opportunities. You never know what great things you will find!
I’m on another speaking tour - if you’re in Kansas or Oklahoma this week come say hello!
Last night I debuted a new talk on Leadership - one of the soft skills companies look for, but which many scientists have trouble with. Leadership is more than just getting things done - it’s knowing what needs to be done, and getting others excited about doing it with you and for you. Leadership often involves moving a group or organization in a new direction, starting a new project, or reacting to changing conditions. And we all know we have plenty of change to react to these days!
You should be looking for opportunities for leadership in your own career. Not just taking leadership positions in organizations so you can put the title on your resume, but really doing the job and working to motivate others and do something new and exciting. Find something you are passionate about, then find a way to share that passion with others and use it to make good things happen.
One of my own examples is the chemistry merit badge clinic for the boy scouts. I wanted my scouts to be able to earn this badge, and it’s very hard to do on your own. Over several years I talked to many major chemical companies in my town, but none of them would let boys under 18 years old into their labs. Eventually, I found a small company where the owner was active in scouting, and he agreed to let us use his facility. We did a pilot with 20 scouts I knew personally, and I recruited 15+ volunteers to run various stations including chemists, scouters, and chemistry students. That went well, and I was able to use the success to obtain an innovative project grant from the national ACS to fund a larger clinic the next year - 40 boys. We were able to stretch the money to cover a 3rd year, and another 40 boys. 2008 was our 4th year - and we changed things a little bit and were able to cover costs with the generosity of our host company and a few outside donations. I could never have done this on my own, but by finding others who are passionate about chemistry and/or scouts, I was able to gather enough people to put on a wonderful program, and to keep it going.
Is there a way you can show leadership? Is there a small project you can take over and make your own? What would you really like to see? Go out and make it happen! Not only will you get a great sense of accomplishment, but you’ll learn a lot that just may help you in your career as well.
Science Careers has a new issue out talking about careers as a program officer.
The first article, Working as a Program Officer describes the basic responsibilities, in both the US and Europe.
A more detailed description is given in Steering Science from a High Altitude, which talks about how program officers use their broad understanding of a scientific field to provide opportunities for scientific growth.
There is no standard way to get into this field, and Become a Program Officer Your Own Way tells the story of three program officers and how they got there.
Finally, In Person: A European Career Tour, From Research to Research Management provides a detailed and personal description of one program officer’s career path and current job responsibilities.
If you have any interest in public program or policy work, this issue is a great place to check out!
Even if you don’t think you do, you have an online profile, and One-in-Five Employers Use Social Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates, CareerBuilder.com Survey Finds.
Look over their results, then check out your own online profile. If you were a hiring manager, what would you think about what you find?
Research has shown that continual learning and exercise keep your brain young. (At least that’s the excuse I use to play too much WordTwist and Scramble on Facebook.)
So, I sometimes invent other games to keep myself occupied when bored, and hopefully stretch myself a little in a new direction. One I’ve been playing lately is “how many jobs were involved in that?” I’ll pick something and try to see how many different jobs I can identify that were involved in creating that product.
Suppose I pick a book. The author is obvious, as are the book seller, shipping and transportation people, printer and paper supplier. Editor is easy, but there may have been a developmental editor, copy editor, marketing manager, and more. Graphic artist or photographer involved in cover design and any images, as well as indexer. Maybe fact checkers (depending on the kind of book) and layout artist. What about the chemist who developed the glue used to hold the pages into the cover?
How many more can you think of? Are any of them interesting enough for you to want to explore them more?
Carpooling is better for more than saving money. Sometimes it sparks new ideas.
While carpooling to an ACS meeting last night, I had a most interesting discussion. It started being about politics (what doesn’t lately?), but after a short time we moved on to diversity, and what that really means. My friend remarked that just because a committee has 2 men, 2 women, 2 blacks, 2 asians, etc., may not be diverse. He shared the story of a committee he was on that was designing a new laboratory building for his company. At one point in the process, they were ready to design the bathrooms. They did the mens’ room, then started talking about the ladies’ rooms. It was only then that they realized that no one on the committee had ever even been in a ladies’ room - there was not a single female on the committee. They went out and recruited some, as well as soliciting input from their female colleagues and spouses, and were able to finish the design.
Upon reflecting on his story, it occurred to me that what is really needed is a diversity of ideas, experiences and approaches to problems. It doesn’t matter if everyone looks the same, or if they all look different. What matters is they bring a wide variety of experience, expertise and energy to solving the problem.
So the next time you are putting together a team, whether to solve a problem at work or to provide advice on your own professional development, remember to include people who think differently from you. They will be able to provide valuable insights that may never have occurred to you.
“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.