Job-Hunting Advice for Postdocs
On Thursday, September 22, 2016, Dave Jensen, founder and CEO of CareerTrax, Inc. and a monthly columnist for AAAS Science Careers, spoke about the difficult job market for young scientists at an event organized by the Graduate Division’s Career and Professional Development Program. His presentation, “Street Savvy Science: The Unwritten Rules of the Road for Careers in Science,” was an important part of Einstein’s National Postdoc Appreciation Week, which is sponsored by the National Postdoctoral Association and held annually to recognize the research contributions of postdoctoral scholars across the country.
Drs. Victoria Freedman (Graduate Division) and Anne Bresnick (Belfer Institute) with event speaker Dave Jensen.During his presentation, Mr. Jensen told the audience of postdocs and graduate students assembled in LeFrak Auditorium, “While it’s a tough job market, it’s not an impossible job market. Science careers are global. You can go anywhere in the world and find interesting opportunities. You have to be flexible, you have to be persistent and you have to be optimistic.”
Drawing on his years of experience as a headhunter, Mr. Jensen stressed the importance of networking, listening to other peoples’ experiences rather than advice, and focusing on finding jobs that are not advertised on company websites. He described this latter approach as a “hidden job market” where available Ph.D. positions are not advertised and are usually filled by managers who ask their friends, network with other professionals or use recruiters.
“Your goal should be to get the jobs in the hidden job market,” he advised. “You’re not going to get there if you’re looking at company websites.”
He compared landing a job interview with joining a private club as a tennis player or golfer. “Would you write letters to the membership director? No. That’s like sending CVs out to a company where there isn’t anyone there on the receiving end who knows you.”
He described how, at a club, you find a member and you play them; you impress them with your game and you’ve got someone to vouch for you. “That’s what networking is all about. It’s about opening doors to sponsors for you,” he said.
Lola MacRae, Ph.D., who recently defended her doctoral thesis and is currently looking for jobs, felt encouraged by Mr. Jensen’s observations. She noted, “One thing that was reassuring to hear is that it’s OK to have a plan A, B or C. He offered a lot of great advice and motivated me to do more networking.”
“He opened my eyes quite a bit,” agreed Andrea Zamperone, a postdoc in developmental and molecular biology. “He stressed the importance of networking and how to approach a person outside of academia.”
Citing recent articles on how hard it is to get a job in academia as a Ph.D., Dr. Zamperone said it was useful to hear advice about looking for work in industry. “For jobs outside academia, a relationship is more important than your CV or the number of your publications,” he said. “The majority of us are still not sure what we want to do, so hearing Mr. Jensen’s perspective was helpful.”
Einstein’s Graduate Division of Biomedical Sciences and the Belfer Institute for Advanced Biomedical Sciences sponsored Mr. Jensen’s keynote address. Attendees also took part in a networking lunch and group discussion where postdocs and graduate students could workshop their CVs and share career plans.
Posted on: Monday, December 19, 2016