Just wanted to flag the "Dressing for Success" Fashion Show at the ACS Philadelphia Career Fair at 3 pm on Monday in Hall C in the Career Fair. "Does [insert article of clothing] this make me look dumb?" is a question most scientists ask at some point, especially after I wore a clip-on tie to my first job interview as a chemist (I got the job, but no thanks to the tie, I suspect.)
I've worn clip-ons ever since my freshman year. I was making some glass GC columns (spiral, which is not easy) over a Fisher burner. It was ROTC drill day - yup, bent over the burner and the tie caught fire.
ReplyDeleteFortunately the sink wasn't far away. And I had to pay the Army for a new tie. (you should have seen the supply sergeant's face when I explained it to him :-)
After that, I kept some civilian clothes in my lab desk and changed after drill.
I read John Molloy's "Dress for Success" many years ago. For men, the advice was to wear conservative quality clothing that those of the upper middle class would wear. In other words, dress like the guy who's going to eliminate or outsource the position for which you're interviewing.
ReplyDeleteOldnuke, it's impressive that you were able to fabricate a GC column. I assume this was unpaid undergraduate research. Otherwise it's more cost effective to buy the column.
Empty GC columns came standard with instruments in my undergraduate times. Packing a steel column was a basic skill. Packing a well performing glass column without breaking it was what separated chemists from wannabes.
DeleteCJ, glad to hear you liked this idea. I just wanted to do a quick shout out for Georgia Pacific and L'Oréal, as well as our partner Macy's, for their generous contributions of time (Macy's) and money (two $500 Macy's gift certificates from GP and L'Oréal). Not only did we host a fashion show, but two attendees got to buy new "Dressing for Success" wardrobes thanks to these employers' support of the program.
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