Career Development for Scientists

There has been some interest in nontraditional careers in the blogsphere today, inspired by a post on Almost a PhD about a seminar on Alternative Careers for Life Science PhD’s (sic) that was too general for the author’s needs.

ScienceCareers.org just published “Seeking the Alternative“, a list of nontraditional careers they have covered over the years, with links to stories of actual people who are in those careers.

Another list of 16 scientists in nontraditional careers appeared on The Prodigal Academic, complete with comments on pros and cons of each job.

More food for thought…..

Yes, I’ve been away for awhile.

I was gone for 2 weeks doing something amazingly challenging for me – hot, filthy, exhausting, and amazingly rewarding.  I’m glad I did it, and now I feel like I can do anything.

Shortly after returning from that trip, I went to the ACS national meeting in Boston.  I was pleased to see that the number of jobs and employers was up, and people in general were cautiously optimistic about the employment landscape.  One thing we have been noticing is a mismatch – there are people without jobs, and jobs without people, but the people don’t have exactly the skills the employers want.  Since companies don’t have the time or money to train people, so it’s causing some frustration on both sides.

Still, overall things appear to be looking up.  Especially for those who are flexible, and able to see how their knowledge, skills and abilities can be applied in a wide variety of ways.

The highly-respected Pew Foundation recently published a report on How the Great Recession has Changed Life in America.

I’ve been hearing more and more lately about how the future of medicine is not just biology, but engineering.  Today I found an article entitled Medical engineering – be excited…, that talks about some of the advances in this field, and includes video vignettes of work being done.  If you haven’t heard of this field, if you have an want to know more about what it is, check it out.

In GSK’s Biotechy World , Derek Lowe comments on a recent article describing how some of the huge pharmaceutical companies are trying to infuse their research organizations with the nimble, entrepreneurial spirit found in start-up companies.  Will it work?  Time will tell…..

Another of my articles was posted on the ACS Careers blog.  Check it out!

Change Your Career in Six Easy Steps

Very interesting job opening……Duck Master at the Peabody Hotel.  The article also talks about some other unusual jobs in the hospitality industry.  I bet you never knew these were jobs!

My article on Green Opportunities for Your Chemistry Career was just posted on the ACS Career blog.

Check it out!

Amazing, and sad, article recently posted on how some Parents go overboard to help college kid get job.  If you can’t find the job on your own, how are you going to do the job on your own?

Forbes’ just did their first-ever report on the Best and Worst Master’s Degrees for Jobs.  Physician’s Assistant and Information Technology come out on top, at least in their calculations.