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Attention: Job Seekers David Bradley
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hether you are looking for that elusive first job or itching for a change of scenery, there are many Web sites to help activate your career. But where should you start surfing, and how can you pin down the perfect position? Unfortunately, there are no job sites just for analytical chemists. However, there are numerous general science- and chemistry-related job sites, any one of which can provide a good place to start. Among the general science job sites are the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS’s) ScienceCareers; New Scientist’s job site; FirstScience.com, a relatively new site with jobs in science, technology, and medicine; and Jobs4Scientists, a U.S.based site designed for people at all education levels who are involved in research and development, chemistry, the life sciences, and engineering. The chemistryrelated sites include the Europe-based chemsoc careers and job center; the American Chemical Society’s ChemJobs; ChemJobs.net, a spin-off from Liverpool University (U.K.); and biotechnologyoriented sites, such as Sciencejobs.com and bioscience-jobs. Sometimes you can find what you want by browsing one of these sites. A quick scan of Chemjobs.net, for example, recently yielded 19 analytical jobs, ranging from a position for a post-doctoral fellow in MS to professorships to a job coordinating analysis in China for the Far East division of an American R&D company. Other times, searching is the better approach. For example, Sciencejobs—a collaboration among BioMedNet, Cell, and New Scientist—categorizes its job openings by sector (academic, industry, or
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government), discipline, and geographic doc in Canada,” he adds. “I got details of the job I moved back to the U.K. for region. The New Scientist job site lets through the Web.” users search by the same three criteria Despite these advantages, it may be and by key word. A search on the key difficult to locate the most relevant jobs word “analytical” in the chemistry cateusing the Web. At many sites, a quick gory, for example, recently brought up search using “analytical” in the chemistry almost 100 jobs in academia and induscategory can be less than lucrative, yieldtry, with the oldest posting dating back ing only a handful of positions, many of only 1 week. In addition, this site, like which are off the mark. In other cases, a many others, can e-mail you when a user must wade through long lists of jobs match for your search criteria appears. to find those that are on target. Some sites also offer searchable databases of prospective employees. Specialty versus The ACS site, for example, general sites maintains a searchable “The specialist site will database containing the AAAS’s ScienceCareers win easily against the bigprofessional profiles of www.sciencecareers.org ger, general sites,” says participating ACS memPaul Heelis who runs bers and affiliates. The New Scientist www.newscientistjobs.com ChemJobs.net. If you AAAS site, in turn, alsearch for a particular lows job seekers to post FirstScience.com www.firstscience.com type of chemistry job a résumé or curriculum at a general site, he obvitae (CV), which is Jobs4Scientists www.ajob4scientists.com serves, “you will be lucky added to a searchable to get more than three database. Even more chemsoc careers and job center positions.” The specialist ambitious, biosciencewww.chemsoc.org/gateway/ chembyte/careers.htm sites, on the other hand, jobs.com tries to match could have more to offer. “mini-CVs” that job ACS’s ChemJobs www.acs.org/chemjobs/ “[Because we] come seekers have posted with from a chemistry backpositions that employers ChemJobs.net ground, . . . we know need to fill. www.chemjobs.net the industry,” he says. In addition, many Sciencejobs.com This may be advantasites offer career advice www.sciencejobs.com geous for end-users beand information. For exBioscience-jobs cause such sites might ample, the AAAS site ofwww.bioscience-jobs.com provide more detailed infers job-hunting advice, ChemWeb Job Exchange formation or might oremployer profiles, inforwww.chemweb.com/jobs ganize their information mation on career fairs, Scientific Exchange Network differently. and feature articles on www.sen.dircon.co.uk job market issues in sciDarien Pugh, who Jobs.ac.uk ence. The chemsoc and runs the ChemWeb Job www.jobs.ac.uk ACS sites provide the Exchange, agrees, saying, same kinds of informa“The general rule with tion, but it is specifically the Internet is that the targeted to chemists. more specific a site, the more likely Features such as these make the you are to look at it, and the more Web more attractive than print for some likely you are to come across the inforpeople. “New Scientist is good through mation you need.” Phil Mackie, who did plenty of Web searching to get his current the Web,” says Chris Charrington, a research lecturer at De Montfort University post-doctoral position at Trinity College– Dublin (Ireland), adds, “The Web sites (U.K.), “as you can tailor your requirements to eliminate areas that don’t apply of the learned societies and the science journals are the best places to start beto your . . . expertise.” He also points out that the Web makes it easy to research cause the more mainstream sites don’t really focus on subdivisions within scijobs worldwide. “I found this very useence.” Indeed, one of the big advanful when I was an impoverished post-
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tages of the specialist sites is that they may list the subcategories in an area such as analytical or organic chemistry, whereas jobs on a general science site will only be broken down into the major fields. On the other hand, there are some advantages to more general Web sites. Pugh notes that a site with more breadth increases the chances that a user might serendipitously discover something that is more useful than the original target. Bigger sites also may be better known and more comprehensive, says Herm Zeets, a soil scientist at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium). The more focused sites, he says, are often too “U.S.-centric”. In addition, the bigger sites may provide leads to specific companies in which you might be interested. From there, you can use information from the company’s own online job listing to inquire about positions, explains Zeets. Sarah Milburn, a post-doctoral fellow in southern England, adds, “Company sites also help you prepare for an interview. Once I had a company in mind, surfing their Web site allowed me to swot up [i.e., prepare] before the interview.” “The best use I’ve found of the Internet is the online newspapers,” says Bob Noble, a researcher at the Robert Gordon University (Scotland). “But all these jobs are also in the printed [publication], so you are facing a lot of competition from other applicants,” he adds. In that situation, a more focused site may help.
Advice for job seekers Once you have found a decent site with jobs that you like, what can you do to make the most of it? Some sites allow you to post a résumé or a “jobs wanted” notice. Heelis offers some rather lean advice that applies equally to the Internet as to “real” life: “Register your CV with as many agencies as possible,” he says. And when you get the job, don’t forget to delete your CV from those sites. Allan Jordan’s advice to chemists searching for a new position via the Internet is to “be as creative, obscure, and tangential as possible.” He used every site he could find while hunting for his present position as a drug researcher at Ribotargets in Cambridge (U.K.). This approach served him well. “I wanted a
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placed ads for post-doctoral fellows on the U.K. academic Job sites can offer career jobs site to which most universities subscribe. Similarly, advice in addition to listing Scott Fess, an applications lab manager at Jordan Valley available positions. Applied Radiation says, “I job in medicinal chemistry,” he explains, found a most excellent Applications Specialist via the Web, and had several “so I searched every job site for any vaother excellent candidates.” cancies, not just in medicinal chemistry, According to Charrington, who, now but in assay development, molecular biology, biochemistry, and pharmacokinet- that he has found a job, is trying to hire ics.” This generated a wealth of informa- other people, “The hardest thing at U.K. tion that ultimately led to his present job. universities is finding suitable Ph.D. stuArno Kraft, a polymer chemist now at dents, and I know that this is the case at Heriot-Watt University (Scotland), spot- other institutions and businesses.” He advertised a recent opening for a student ted a potentially fatal flaw in some job sites’ search engines. He was looking for on his university’s Web site and had several applications within the first week. “It a new academic position and tried the U.K. academic jobs site, which he found looks like a good way to get the message out there,” he says. In addition, it was quite helpful for obtaining an overview less expensive than traditional advertising. of available openings. Initially, he was Nevertheless, Rayner points out that searching for positions using the terms “organic chemistry” and “polymer chem- the more traditional routes into employment are just as valid for students as istry”, but when he hit on the idea of they ever were. “My students who have just using the keyword “chemistry”, he recently [gotten] jobs with companies was far more successful. “If you don’t have found them via ‘milk round’-type want to miss anything,” he advises, “do [i.e., career fair] interviews,” he says. not restrict your search too narrowly.” Another tactic for online job hunting Temporary job exchanges is to upload your résumé to a job site, If you are already in a post and not after where someone who has a vacant posia permanent change, there is an alternation might spot it. You can boost your tive to job hunting. Simon Rees estabchances of having your résumé selected lished SEN, the Scientific Exchange Netby telling the truth about your abilities, work program, last year to try to answer says job site Webmaster Paul Guinnessy. the needs of scientists who are looking You should also be sure to define your for a career break with a difference. He skills broadly, adds Mackie. “Sometimes and colleague Peter Olive realized that you need to ‘fine tune’ a CV to match the job you are going for,” he says, “but many graduate students and post-doctoral colleagues were keen to work in another if you’re posting your CV, it has to be general.” Pugh agrees, saying, “It is cru- lab for a short time to widen their scientific horizons, but they were fearful of cial to put in all the important informatrying to track down a professor who tion, such as education and skills, in a clear and well-structured way.” Pugh also might have space for them. So Rees and suggests including the kinds of key words Olive founded SEN, which acts as a scientific “dating agency” that brings tothat you would normally find in a paper CV, including terms such as “team work- gether potential exchangees with suitable bosses. er”, “graduate”, and “management experience”. So . . . get surfing and find yourself in a new position. For job providers From the employer’s point of view, the Web has plenty to offer. Chris Rayner, David Bradley is a science writer and editor a senior lecturer in chemistry at Leeds of Elemental Discoveries (www.sciencebase. University (U.K.), has successfully com), a Web site devoted to chemistry.
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