A friend of mine is relocating for a new job and has been checking into real estate sites as she looks for new houses. During her research, she came across an article listing the 10 Best Cities for the Next Decade. The authors of the article argue that when innovation is in the forefront of a city’s culture, unemployment is typically down and new job growth outpaces national averages. So which cities ranked highest for job creation and salary growth, and came in lower than the national average in terms of unemployment figures? Check out the list below. 10. Topeka, KS 9. West Hartford, CT 8. Burlington, VT 7. Des Moines,…
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Make the Most of Your Mentoring Relationships
When I think about the mentors I’ve had over the course of my professional life, I feel very fortunate. Each has been unique, injecting his or her thoughts, experiences, and personal style into our mentoring relationship. As I reflect on time spent talking with, listening to, or emailing with each of my mentors, it seems like the role of mentor came quite naturally to them, an effortless act that engendered feelings of respect and gratitude on my part. So what’s the secret? How can we take full advantage of the mentoring relationships we are currently in, either as mentor or trainee? I have culled information from a variety of sources…
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FAQ’s on Resumes
Years ago, as I was training a career development staff, I created this list of questions I frequently heard from trainees. If you have a question about resume writing that you don’t see represented here, send it along and I’ll post an answer here! Q: An employer requested a CV in a job ad I found, but it is not a faculty opening. Should I send a resume or a CV? A: Resume. The term “CV” is sometimes generically used to refer to any kind of personal qualifications document, but what employers are actually seeking is a resume. That is, employers who request “CVs” want to see categories typically included…
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To Share or Not to Share: Family Planning and the Job Market
I just got off the phone with a close friend who is currently on the job market–and initiating the adoption process. She is now thinking through her family planning decisions and the impact, if any, they might have on her job search and eventual employment. Starting a family can be a wonderful, overwhelming experience fraught with ups and downs, pain and joy. Throwing a job search into this mix of emotions (and for some, physical changes) can lead to a bevy of questions: How will an employer react if I am visibly pregnant? If I have an interview scheduled, should I disclose my pregnancy before the interview? Or tackle the…
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Planned Happenstance
Guest writer: Anne Kirchgessner, LCPC, NCC, Career Counselor Feeling stuck in your current job? Not sure what your next career step is? Here are some tips to help you make your own good luck and take advantage of both planned and unplanned career opportunities. John Krumboltz, a noted career development theorist, considers ways to take advantage of both chance and planned events. He calls this concept Happenstance Learning Theory. His work takes into account that the careers of most people have been impacted by chance happenings as well as planned events. In a recent article in the Journal of Career Assessment (Vol. 17, No. 2, May 2009), Krumboltz writes: “No…
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Get Your Job Search in Gear
Recent news reports suggest that the economy is slowly recovering, and that unemployment figures are falling. While this news is hopeful, it may be difficult to hear for those of us currently on the job market. If you have been searching for a while, or are planning to start searching for a job, there are several methods you can use to increase your chance of being successful. Following are some points outlined in a talk I gave at last year’s NIH Career Symposium in Bethesda. 1. Plan ahead Trainees often ask about the best time to begin a job search. My answer to that question is always the same: It…
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Practice Makes Perfect
Last week, I was privileged to share some time with trainees at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Biomedical Career Fair in Durham, North Carolina. The goal of this conference was to: “provide young scientists an opportunity to explore a myriad of fields and create a contact network as they plan for future careers in the biomedical sciences,” according to the website above. As it turned out, however, just about every trainee I met has already acquired some level of career development savvy. Most of the graduate students and postdocs I interacted with, whether from UNC-Chapel Hill (GO HEELS!), Duke, NIEHS, the EPA, or elsewhere, have served as volunteers,…
