On both the ACS Careers Blog and in this week's C&EN, a "Career Tips" column on conversations in networking. I really like this set of questions about a person's career path -- I usually end up asking a version of this to just about everyone:
- How did you prepare for the position you have now? If you were starting out in your career today, how might you prepare differently?
- What abilities and qualities are most critical to success in your job or field?
- How does a person progress in your field? What is a typical career path in this organization or field?
In my personal experience, lots of grad students are terrible at networking because they don't have clearly defined career goals. Periodically when I get contacted about positions, I try to give a leg up to people that I know. Your jaw would drop at some of the things I've heard people turn down opportunities for. Most of the time I get told that they need to finish whatever project they're working on or get this paper out, THEN they can start looking for a job. People don't seem to understand that grad school/postdoc is not a career, but a means to an end.
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