"Career Intellect?"

I firmly decided I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was in 7th grade. I, of course, had no idea of what that entailed at the time. I still don't claim to have this job search thing figured out.  We'll see how this year turns out. Thus far, I've been invited for four interviews, so I'm maintaining my optimistically hopeful attitude. I've worked hard to get to a place where I'm competitive to reach that goal. Often as grad students and postdocs, we keep our heads down and work hard into the night on our myopic problems of interest. I found that there are some other things (in addition to hard work) that we must do to advance ourselves. Here are a couple of tips that I've found or thought hard about over the course of my job search (take 'em or leave 'em):

1. Get familiar with the process. 
2. Promote yourself.
3. Take the lead.
4. Remember the Big Picture.


1. Get familiar with the process.
  A. NIH Office of Intramural Training and Education (OITE) holds a series of workshops for NIH fellows on academic job searches - everything from finding ads to negotiating the final offer. Many other universities also have similar programs... if they don't, push your administrators of faculty to offer these types of programs. In the meantime, find as much information as possible by poaching journals and other university websites - e.g. Science Careers, NIH OITE career blog, and UC Berkley.

  B. Mock interviews. While it may be helpful to some to have someone pretend to interview you, I'm actually suggesting doing something closer to the real experience - an invited seminar. During a job interview, you'll give a seminar and possibly a second talk (chalk talk or teaching), tour the campus, and meeting with faculty, staff, and students. Many of these same things occur during an invited interview, but in a less stressful context. Its a great opportunity to practice giving an hour talk and speaking one on one with faculty. Its one thing to have a "2 min talk" ready; its another to have given and adapted it to people with different backgrounds. I highly recommend this. If nothing else, it will also look good on your CV. To get the invite, give good talks at meetings and invite yourself. Places are often looking for seminar speakers. If you're traveling to an area already, call or email someone you know at a nearby university and offer to visit and give a talk.

2. Promote yourself.
Some people have the type of advisers that will actively promote their students and postdocs, other's aren't as lucky. Either way, it is prudent to do some promotion, aka marketing of yourself and your research.

  A. Market you. Hiring faculty not only want a cutting edge researcher, they also want someone down the hall with whom they want to talk and work. The best way to get across your charming personality and wit is to interact with people. I wholeheartedly agree with the advise I've been given to attend key meetings, especially while on the job market. Also try to visit other universities (especially those you'd love to work at) - see above Mock Interviews. This may be especially difficult for some people, but in a competitive job market, it could make the difference.

If you can't do it in person, the internet also provides many opportunities to showcase (or embarrass) yourself - such as a blog. Informal science writing can give a sense of your personality, your interests, and demonstrate your ability to communicate science in an alternative medium.

 B.  Market your research. There are well-worn adages out there regarding publishing in academia - "publish or perish" and "quality over quantity". I guess you could combine them into something like: publish high quality or get lost in the quantity. In order to market your research, you must publish it! It seems obvious but it was something I wish my mentors drove home in undergrad rather than late in grad school.

Where you publish also matters. For somethings, just get it out. But for the main thrust of your research, the basis of your research program, publish in the best journal possible. Publishing in high impact journals means that you've met a high quality standard and are capable of doing cutting-edge research. Both things that search committees "prefer". Many of these journals also come with an added bonus - connections to press coverage.

Even if your work doesn't end up in a one-name journal but you think it might have some broader appeal, contact the press officer or media relations representative at your university. They can help assess the potential interest and, if appropriate, put together a press release to promote your work (and the university!)

3. Take the lead.
According to my mentors, there are some keywords that people like to see in letters - two of which are leadership and initiative.  Give your people evidence of these qualities by actively taking the lead in a large project, paper, etc. A first author paper in a high impact journal will carry more weight than a paper where your name is buried in a long list. Highlight these examples of leadership and initiative in your cover letter.

4. Big Picture.
My last piece of wisdom (for now) is to always keep in mind the big picture. We can get lost in the details of our experiments. However, it is essential to keep the broader context in mind. I probably take this to an extreme going from molecular mechanisms to ecosystem consequences. Nevertheless, keeping the big picture in mind will improve your questions, experiments, writing, and presentations.  On one interview, a faculty member lamented: So often people don't understand the big picture - why they are doing their work. It was nice to see that clearly presented in your talk.