In the spirit of Halloween, today we are blogging about job search horror stories that have happened to OITE staffers. Can you match the following events to a person in the OITE?? 1. On my first interview I was dressed in my finest. At dinner I had a plate of chicken served in a sauce. As I cut into my meal I splashed sauce all over my shirt! I cleaned myself off and continued the meal and conversation. 2. I had this great pair of heels that I wore for years, I thought wearing them to my interview would be a wise choice. Wrong I was! By the time I…
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Can you hear me now?: Phone Interviews
Job interviews can be both exciting and stressful. You impressed the employer enough to be a final candidate yet you know that the interview will determine whether or not you get the job. It is very likely that the first round of interviews will be done on the phone. Often thought to be used only for industry interviews, we are now seeing a large increase in the number of first round faculty interviews conducted by telephone. There are definite pros and cons to phone interviews. One of the biggest challenges is losing the nonverbal cues that help direct how you answer questions: eye contact shows interest, facial expressions convey understanding,…
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NIH Alumni: Where are they now? Profile 3 – Pharmaceuticals
This is the third in a series of profiles about recent NIH postdocs who have found an array of jobs, from academia to industry to communications and beyond, in the U.S. and abroad. What do they do now, and how did they get there? What challenges did they face, and what advice do they have? Read on to find out. Name: Thomas Paul Current position: Bench science, working on epigenetic drugs at a pharmaceutical company Location: San Diego, CA Time in current position: 9 months Postdoc: Epigenetics of acute myeloleukemia with Linda Wolff at NCI Job search in a nutshell: I researched which companies were doing what I was doing…
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The Card Game
Business cards are a valuable tool in the professional community. The art of the business card is one that allows you to leave a lasting memory with a new connection. Here at the NIH, fellows often talk about the challenges in getting business cards. Don’t let that stop you though. Making your own is not difficult. You can use a good quality paper and template from Avery (with a laser printer), the R&W business card services, or online vendors such as VistaPrint or others (I even found one that had science images by using Google). One thing, don’t use glossy paper, people like to write on business cards and the…
