Who Sat Next to You in Chem 101?

When you’re building your professional network, it’s a good idea to go back to college—at least for a brief online visit.

Using the internet, I recently took a stroll down memory lane and was overwhelmed with the rich networking resources I found.  Both my undergraduate and graduate schools keep good track of alumni (I know because I receive fundraising phone calls and letters from them several times a year).  And the information is stored in a searchable database just a few clicks away.

The alumni directory database at my undergraduate college can be searched by major, class year, occupation, employer, and location.   To test it out, I searched all the chemistry majors who were on campus the same years I was and who now live in my metropolitan area.  I was surprised to learn that one of them lives just a few blocks away. In fact, I walk by his house nearly every Summer evening as I’m exercising. 

I next decided to search for all alums who work for Cargill, a major employer of scientists in my community.  The list was long, and as I scanned it I noticed two division presidents. They would be great contacts. Narrowing this search, I asked for all who had been chemistry majors.  I discovered that a chem major who graduated seven years after me is now a senior scientist in a research area I’d like to learn more about.

Even though I don’t personally know these individuals, I’m sure they will be helpful members of my network.  Because college was such an important and formative time in our lives, we’ll no doubt share many memories—of certain favorite professors, of the tasty cinnamon rolls at that coffee shop just off campus, and of the odd chorus of our college fight song (“Um! Yah! Yah!”).

My graduate university is 1400 miles away, but they have an active alumni group in my city.  I try to make it to an alumni event at least once a year, and they recently launched an excellent and informative website.  Even my high school has an alumni web site that’s been helpful for networking. And don’t forget to search on Classmates.com (it’s not free but the cost might be worth it to you).

Many colleges and college organizations (sororities and fraternities, clubs, athletic teams, and music groups) also maintain groups on social networking sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or MySpace.  While updating my LinkedIn profile so that former classmates can find and contact me, I spent some time searching through groups affiliated with my alma maters.  I noticed, for example, that one of the research groups in the biochemistry department had established a LinkedIn group—an excellent idea. 

And it’s not just about professional networking.  As the memories came flooding back, I found myself wondering about certain long-forgotten classmates.  With the help of the alumni databases and Google, I located several long-lost friends and roommates.  I was especially surprised and delighted to get back in touch with one very special friend.  I remembered interests, skills, and dreams that I had forgotten or neglected.   These memories helped me place my current career situation—which, like yours, is fraught with financial worries, to-do lists, and looming deadlines—in a broader perspective. I found myself refreshed and energized.

And now I have that crazy college fight song stuck in my head.

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Randy Wedin blogs from Wayzata, MN. After spending a decade working for the ACS and as a Congressional Science fellow, he launched a freelance science writing business, Wedin Communications (www.wedincommunications.com), in 1992. His blog, “The Alchemist in the Minivan” (www.alchemist.pro), looks at the intersection of science, parenting, and daily life.

Challenge Yourself

I spent the past weekend cabin camping with a boy scout troop.  The point of the trip was to take the boys on a challenge course.  They spent all day Saturday facing various physical obstacles, learning to work as a team, thinking creatively, and solving challenging problems.  For example, in one challenge they had to get all 7 members of their team over a 12 foot high wall, using only each other.  In another, they all had to walk across a 20’ log that was suspended several feet off the ground.

In the afternoon, they got into safety harnesses, climbed up a 8” wide ladder, and then walked across logs and wires 30 feet above the ground, with only a “ground buddy” yelling encouragement.  I am proud to say that every scout made it all the way across, with no one falling off or needing rescue.  While some did have more extreme coaching from the ground, every one made it all the way to the end, where they angel-repelled back down to the ground.

Did I mention this entire day was spent outdoors, with a temperature that never got above 30 degrees Fahrenheit?  And we had a light dusting of snow in the afternoon?

It was amazing to see teenage boys so nervous and cautious as they walked the high wires, then collapsing with relief as they reached the ground at last. They accomplished something they were not sure they could do, and you could see them swell with pride when they looked back up and realized what they had done.

That night, as I lay in my sleeping bag in the cabin, I thought about how well the smaller challenges on the ground had prepared the scouts for the larger ones on the high ropes.  By taking on the smaller challenges and successfully completing them, they built both their skill level and their confidence, so they were ready for the big challenge when it arrived. I had plenty of time to think, as the cold breeze made it hard to sleep. 

In the morning, I found out the cabin window near my cot had been cracked open, and that was the source of the cold breeze.  The irony was striking – here the scouts had risen above all sorts of physical challenges, but I couldn’t even be bothered to get out of my warm sleeping bag to find and eliminate the source of my own discomfort. 

Sometimes we are like that in our careers.  We get stuck in a rut, doing the same thing because that’s what we’ve always done, and it’s safe.  We may not like it, but can’t be bothered to step out of our comfort zone and learn a new skill, explore a different field, or try expanding our horizons – even when we know doing it would improve our situation in the long run. 

So, where are the “cold breezes” in your career?  What can you do to stop them?  Is there a class you can take, a new project you can ask to work on, or a meeting that you can attend to challenge yourself to learn something new – and perhaps make your own situation more comfortable in the long run. 

This article was written by scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants, and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).

How About Some Good News?

With all the bad news we’ve been hearing lately, I thought it was time for some good news. I looked around for some, and here’s what I was able to find.  

For those looking for a second career, or a way to keep busy with a little income after retirement, teaching has always been a viable option.  In fact, many places are now looking for more math and science teachers.  While teaching is certainly not for everyone, for those with the interest and aptitude it can be a great way to give back and share your love of science with the next generation.  

Other areas are hiring as well.  In this time of increasing globalization, Foreign Service Officers and junior officers are in demand, to work for the United States Government and help build self-sufficient governments in other parts of the world, in many cases by serving as a technical resource or transferring basic scientific knowledge from one area to another.
 
This has also been a Good Week for Green Jobs – those positions involved in supporting the solar, wind, biomass, hydro, hydrogen and fuel cell industries, many of which require scientific expertise and backgrounds. In fact, the newly formed Presidential Middle Class Task Force initially focused on how the creation of “green jobs” can help fuel the economic recovery and bolster the middle class. As more federal attention is paid to these issues, the number of opportunities can only be expected to increase.

If neither of those appeal to you, there may be a surge in interest for
Careers in Science Writing, Editing, Broadcasting, and Public Relations. While good communication skills are required for almost every job, in some cases you can make a career out of those skills alone.  

And finally, if you don’t get all the self-satisfaction you need from your day job, how about finding a second job that lets you explore other passions? Office Hand by Day; Rock Diva by Night talks about several people who get additional satisfaction, and a little extra money, by indulging their passions. For example, if your passion is movies, how about combining that with your scientific expertise and look into the Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences to provide “entertainment industry professionals with access to top scientists and engineers to help bring the reality of cutting-edge science to creative and engaging storylines”.

Having an interesting second job or hobby can also help when you get that Interview Question:  What do you do in your spare time? Giving some thought beforehand to what you have learned from your hobbies, or how they are related to the job for which you are applying, can help you stand out from the crowd of applicants who “watch TV”.

Finally, if you are young and looking to get experience in a new area, a something new on the horizon is Internships for Sale. While you will hopefully be able to gain experience without having to pay for it, it’s nice to know that there is a fallback option.

This article was written by scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants, and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).

Clean Up Those Cards

If you are anything like me, you came home from the recent ACS meeting with a stack of business cards collected over the week in Salt Lake City. With some of them, just glancing at the card instantly brought up the memory of who they represented, where I had met them and what we talked about. With others, I had been smart enough to jot a few words on the back of the card that reminded me of the person.

But once you have the stack of cards back home, what do you do with them?

You could leave them in a pile on your desk, collecting dust, until they get “accidentally” thrown away. You could put them in a drawer, or a other filing system, and trust that you will remember where to find the card for the guy you talked to at the YCC party, who worked for that instrument company…..what was its name?

Or, you could enter the data into your addresss book. Enter not only the name, company, and contact info, but in a comment field include where you met them (“ACS Spring 2009 SLC”, for example), what you talked about, and anything special you learned about that person. Their work area, hobbies, kids, volunteer role with ACS, or anything else you learned about them during your interaction. All those little details that you recall so easily now will fade with time, so the sooner you get them down on paper (or in silicon), the better.

Several of the cards I have collected at this meeting are memorable in their own right. I noticed many more are starting to use color, which does make the cards look more professional and less homemade. As the cost of color printing, and printing in general, continues to decline, this is going to become almost a requirement. One of the cards had a list on the back of “5 Things To Remember About Christin” – a great way for her to summarize what makes her stand out from every other chemistry graduate student at the meeting. Another card was from a chemist/author, and included a picture of the cover of his book. Instantly recognizable, very memorable, and I knew exactly what his interests were by the title of the book.

Now might be a good time to take a few minutes and critically evaluate your own business cards, and make sure they reflect the image you want to convey.

Does your name stand out?

Are the fonts clean and large enough to read?

Is there a professional logo or image?

Is there enough white space for both layout clarity and for the recipient to write notes?

Does the card feel nice, with a high quality, thick paper?

Would judicious use of color or an image make it stand out more?

Whether it’s your card or someone else’s, the information on it only matters if it is in a usable format. Suppose in a few months you meet someone and they mention they are thinking about making a career change into public policy. Will you be able to do a quick search of your electronic rolodex and and pull out the name of the person you met at the last ACS national meeting who has done just that, and might be able to provide advice for your new contact? Or will you have to look at the pile of dusty cards on your desk and say “I think I might know someone ….”

This article was written by scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants, and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).

The Value of Virtual Career Fairs

It seems like everything we do in the real world can also be done electronically. We can send a letter, or we can email, We can call each other, or we can Skype. We can print photos to paste into albums, or we can post them on Facebook.

Like everything else, job searching has gone to bits and bytes. Now you can print resumes on nice paper and hand them to recruiters, or you fill out a form on the company’s web site and enter yourself into their database. The latest addition to the electronic world is virtual job fairs – expositions held entirely on the internet. Virtual career fairs eliminate the costs and hassles of travel, and allow participation on your own schedule.

At a typical job fair, candidates will peruse a list of openings, submit resumes for consideration, and request interviews with companies of interest. Employers will post a list of open positions, create agents to search a database of submitted resumes, and schedule interviews with promising candidates.

Virtual interviews can be handled a number of different ways. They can be conducted synchronously, with both parties using webcams to talk to each other in real time. Alternatively, they can be conducted asynchronously, where the company submits a list of questions, to which the candidate records answers, and the company then views them at a later time. Each method has its own advantages – synchronous interviews are more like live interviews, and tend to give a better picture of the individual’s personality. Asynchronous interviews can be more convenient, since everyone can do them on their own time.

After hosting 122 career fairs since 1948, the American Chemical Society (ACS) is hosting their first virtual career fair June 8-12, from 9 am to 5 pm Eastern time. Free to candidates, this event is a great way to find out what’s out there, practice your interview skills, and maybe even learn something at one of the workshops. Even if you’re not currently looking for a new position, career fairs can give you some insight into who is hiring.

A wide variety of companies will participate, so you can use this as an opportunity to stretch your horizons, and learn about new fields. Perhaps this can be a pointer to a new field you hadn’t considered before.

Just like with a traditional career fair, doing your homework is critical. Make sure you know which company’s values and scientific focus match your own, and determine how your skills and knowledge can add to their assets.

While you can do research and set up appointments in your pajamas and bunny slippers, you may not want to appear that way for interviews. Even if it’s only a telephone interview, dressing professionally and taking the call in a quiet office will go a long way towards making you feel professional, which will result in you making a professional impression on the company representative.

Even if you do not see immediate job offerings from a career fair, it can still be a good long-term investment and valuable learning experience. Continue to follow-up with companies of interest on a regular (but not too frequent) basis, so you will be uppermost in their mind when the right opening does come along. Practice answers to interview questions that surprised you. Refine your elevator speech, and work on ways to tailor it to various companies.

This article was written by Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants. Lisa is a scientific communication consultant and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).

Chemists in Law Careers

As chemistry students most of us imagine a future working in a laboratory and/or teaching. However, many chemists end up in quite different careers, including the legal professions. Some examples of chemists who made the transition from laboratory to law follow. All retain their love of science although they are not in traditional science careers.

While there are no figures on how many chemists have careers in the legal world, about 1150 are members of the ACS Division of Chemistry and The Law (CHAL). Of these, the most common specialty is patent law or intellectual property (IP).

Sandra Thompson is one of two patent attorneys at a general practice law firm, and her work involves a lot of writing. “I am kind of a chemist that happens to be an attorney. The attorney part of my job comes in when I advocate for my clients before the Patent Office.” Does she argue cases before a court? No. “That is one of the nice things about my job. I never have to go to court – some patent attorneys do – I’m on the transactional side, not the litigational side.” The patents she handles include “semiconductors, chemical intermediates, fibers – a little of everything – mostly on the chemical side of the business.”

IP is not the only field for chemists in the law, but it often makes up part of their work. If you or your company were sued for damage resulting from a chemical spill – a toxic tort case – you might hire Jim Carver to defend you. This PhD chemist with a law degree is part of a general law firm, but because of his chemistry background, he often handles the firm’s toxic tort cases. “When science and chemistry are a fundamental part of the case, I can translate the science into legalese. I work with experts, not just chemistry experts. I can talk to physicists, doctors, and others. I try not to tell the experts that I am a chemist. That way I can catch them off-guard.”

While Carver works primarily on toxic torts, he is also involved in the environmental regulatory field. His environmental work includes both regulatory work, such as permitting, and lawsuits.

Gianna Arnold is a business attorney whose practice includes IP work. “Primarily, I work with companies whose business is technology focused.” She often works with start-up companies who need legal help; for example: “When they are ready for acquisition, I make sure that their assets are protected properly, the agreements are in place, everything is lined up so their value is as high as it can be.“ “I may also work for another entity that is interesting in acquiring a company. Then we do due diligence.”

As the Central Science, chemistry makes an excellent background for a lawyer. Some chemists study law after completing a PhD. Carver switched careers when his former employer was downsizing. Thompson made her decision while she was studying for a PhD at North Carolina State. However, a PhD is certainly not required for a chemist who seeks a law career. Arnold was a bench chemist while her husband was a graduate student. “When he finished his PhD, it was my turn. I started my JD then and later did an MS in Intellectual Property.” Arnold explains that unlike chemists, lawyers study for master’s degrees after they complete their doctorate of law (JD). In addition to the master’s in IP, Arnold later obtained an MS in biotechnology. “Science keeps marching on, so I went back to learn biotech which has been exploding.”

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Anne Kuhlmann Taylor, PhD (ACS ’67), is a consultant and technical writer based in Baton Rouge, LA. Previously, she was an analytical chemist in the pharmaceutical industry. Working with CTD Quality Consulting, she writes, edits, and critiques documents for the pharmaceutical industries. She is Councilor from the Baton Rouge Section of ACS and serves on the Committee on Community Activities.

Don’t Exaggerate Your Resume

You know it; everyone knows it. First or new jobs can be harder to find these days than an ice cube inside a glacier. So this might tempt you to pump up your resume just a tad—or even outright lie— in hopes of increasing our appeal to employers.

Don’t Do It!

You will get caught, if not the first time, then eventually. And the penalty could be worse than one lost job

“Companies have found more and more that individuals will fabricate or stretch their experience,” says Mike Fosnot, Managing Partner of Management Recruiters of McMurray, Inc., in McMurray, Pa., which serves the chemical industry. “They spend a lot more time ferreting out what is fact and what is fiction. Companies believe that if a person will lie on a resume, they will have other things to worry about from that individual.”

And the further up the career ladder you climb, the more employers dig. So if you lie and escape detection, almost certainly as you seek greater pay and responsibility, someone will unearth your misstatement(s). In 2006, the chief executive office of RadioShack resigned after the discovery that he claimed two degrees on his resume he never received.

“Skilled interviewers are a lot more sophisticated today in how they interview people, using behavioral-base interviewing techniques that really force a candidate to give details that are not easily fudged,” says Mr. Fosnot.

One interviewer unmasked an applicant’s claim of fluency in Spanish by speaking the language to him. The man couldn’t respond.

Many resume exaggerations come in areas easy for companies to check: education, technical skills, and certifications; past employment; salary; and work experience, responsibilities, and accomplishments. Yet from first job application to last, these areas are likely to be examined.

Exaggerations in education may be a degree the applicant doesn’t have—perhaps he’s three credit-hours short of a B.S., or she’s completed her course work but is finishing her Ph.D. dissertation.

Some people will claim jobs they never held, but more often job seekers try to hide gaps in their employment. They may have been fired, or job-hopped, or even done prison time. Women or men may have taken off a few years to raise children.

Salary is another area commonly misstated. Some people simply overstate their base pay, others combine salary and bonuses. Some recruiters now ask for a recent pay stub or your tax return.

Job padding includes claiming experience never acquired, or having supervised others, or upping the number of the team members. Some sales people claim greater success than they ever achieved.

“Standard operating procedure for us is that candidates will always have their degrees verified by us, their references checked, and their employment dates and salary, where possible, verified,” Mr. Fosnot says.

Beyond these areas of potential deception, employers may delve very deeply into an applicant’s background. They may look for the candidate name in criminal and civil-court records, including bankruptcy proceedings; require drug testing; search credit reports and department of motor vehicle records; and examine worker compensation claims.

Some even use resume-sifting software to search for problems, despite questions about the programs’ reliability. [And increasingly, employers check social networking sites, such as Facebook and YouTube. One Pennsylvania college student never joined the nation’s teaching ranks because of a picture of her posted on the Web. It’s best not to list your site on your resume, unless absolutely relevant to the job, and to sanitize you postings before filing your application.]

Still thinking about a tiny fudge on your resume?

“In my mind, there is no allowable exaggeration,” says Mr. Fosnot. “If candidates will just be upfront about a problem, often the employer can work around it. But once candidates misrepresent themselves, it’s the point of no return.”

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Freelance writer Patrick Young is a former editor of Science News and a winner of the American Chemical Society’s Grady-Stack Award, which recognizes outstanding reporting that promotes the public’s understanding of chemistry and chemical engineering.

Employment Websites for Retired Chemical Professionals

“The organization that first succeeds in attracting and holding knowledge workers past traditional retirement age, and makes them fully productive will have a tremendous competitive advantage,” wrote famed business consultant Peter F. Drucker in his book (“Management Challenges for the 21^st Century,” Harper Business, p. 48 (1999)). Employers are increasingly following this advice and seeking to tap the skills of retired professionals. At the same time, demographics, better health and personal financial concerns are increasing the ranks of highly skilled retired professionals eager to return to the workforce. How do companies find retired professionals such as chemists and technicians with the specialized skills they need? How can these retirees find positions that tap their skills?

More than 200 Internet websites specializing in retired professionals have sprung up to serve individual’s and employers’ needs. Different websites target different groups of retirees. For example, Alumni In Touch (spelled all one word) and SelectMinds target primarily former employees and retirees of large firms. Scientists and engineers are the primary focus of YourEncore^TM. RetiredBrains.com takes a broader focus listing retirees in 27 job categories including scientists and engineers.

Currently more than 30 large companies are YourEncore^TM clients. Retirees describe their experience and qualifications in a keyword-searchable database. Also, they check off categories of skills called “service offerings,” which they can provide to employers. While non-member companies are able to search the YourEncore retiree database, they pay higher fees than member companies.

Retirees work as YourEncore employees – usually either in the client company’s facility or in a home office. Retired professionals who have relocated sometimes work in home offices with a supervisor located hundreds or thousands of miles away and may travel occasionally for meetings.

Founder Art Koff calls RetiredBrains.com “a job board for seniors.” Retirees create free accounts classifying themselves by profession. He says that more than 30,000 retirees are registered. Employers pay to post job openings using the same classifications and to search the retiree database to identify employment candidates. The employer also is informed when a newly posted résumé contains the appropriate keywords matching the job posting.

Companies have begun encouraging their employees and retirees to register on their own retiree websites and provide contact information plus summaries of their work experience, accomplishments and skills. This enables their former employer to identify suitable candidates for both short-term and permanent positions. For example, more than 200 former Shell employees in North America, Europe and elsewhere registered the first day Shell’s AlumniInTouch website went online.

Chemical employers that have established AlumniInTouch databases include chemical, drug, and energy firms. If they can’t find a suitable candidate among their own retirees, companies can then search among the retiree listings for other employers. Retirees register on AlumniInTouch in their former employer’s websites. Retirees who have worked for more than one company can register on more than one AlumniInTouch website.

Don’t forget, retired ACS members can post their résumés on the ACS job site ChemistryJobs (http://chemistryjobs.acs.org/apply/advertise.cfm).

URL Addresses of Retiree Employment Websites (all free to retirees)

• RetiredBrains www.retiredbrains.com
• AlumniInTouch www.alumniintouch.com
• Your Encore www.yourencore.com
• SelectMinds www.selectminds.com
• Seniors4Hire www.seniors4hire.org
• JobsForRetirees www.jobsforretirees.com
• Senior Job Bank www.seniorjobbank.org
• Gray Hair Management www.grayhairmanagement.com
• Experience Works www.experienceworks.org
• Retired Worker www.theretiredworker.com

California Employment Development Department – Senior Workers www.edd.ca.gov/eddswtx.com

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Full-time science writer John Borchardt is an ACS Career Consultant and certified Workshop Presenter. As an industrial chemist he holds 30 U.S. patents and written more than 130 peer-reviewed technical articles.

Diversity in the Workforce: Is It Really Necessary?

Our recent U.S. Presidential campaign and election have been proclaimed “historic” because of the gender and ethnic diversity of the candidates. In the world of chemistry, we’ve also seen historic demographic changes in recent years, especially in the presence of women in the workforce.  Half of today’s undergraduates majoring in chemistry are women.

The percentage of chemists (and other scientists and engineers) who are members of under-represented minorities, however, is still woefully low.  Scientific societies and professional associations are devoting considerable resources to advance the cause of diversity.  Here’s a link to some of the diversity programs of the American Chemical Society.  [ http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/membership/acs/welcoming/diversity/index.htm ]
And here’s a link to a just-published report, “Enhancing Diversity in Science,” documenting similar efforts across all the sciences. [  http://www.cossa.org/communication/diversity_workshop/diversity.html ]

So, diversity is a good thing and it’s necessary.  Right? I must confess that I have been skeptical in the past.  As a scientist, I want to see research results before I’m willing to give new ideas my full blessing.  Show me the data!

One argument for diversity is demographic.  To bring the best talent into our profession, we need to make sure we are drawing from as large a pool as possible, and the traditional pool (i.e., white male) is shrinking.  The non-traditional pool is growing. 

OK.  I’ll buy this argument for diversity.  The numbers and logic are compelling.

But other arguments for diversity have been harder for me to accept.  In particular, I’ve been skeptical about the notion that the science of chemistry would be any different today if the demographic mix of chemists were simply more diverse.  After all, molecules are molecules.  It shouldn’t make any difference who does the analyzing and synthesizing.  Again, show me the data!

Several years ago, however, I was confronted with scientific evidence that jarred me out of my skepticism.  In a lecture about diversity in science, Jo Handelsman (a bacteriologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a HHMI Professor) spoke to me as one scientist to another.  She reviewed the relevant literature from the social sciences and presented experimental data.

Guess what? The scientific research confirms that diversity does indeed make a positive difference.  Diversity can actually help drive problem-solving and innovation.  Here are two research articles that especially caught my eye and changed my thinking:

• Anthony Lising Antonio and Kenji Hakuta, “The Effects of Racial Diversity on Cognitive Complexity in College Students,” Psychological Science (August, 2004).
  In this research study, the authors found that a diverse academic community stimulates critical, reflective, and complex thinking, thereby enhancing students’ problem-solving abilities. (For more details, see http://www.stanford.edu/group/diversity.)
• Poppy Lauretta McLeod, Sharon Alisa Lobel, and Taylor H Cox Jr., “Ethnic Diversity and Creativity in Small Groups,” Small Group Research 27, no. 2, 248-65 (May, 1996).
  In a controlled experimental study looking at performance on a brainstorming task, groups composed of all Anglo-Americans were compared with groups composed of Anglo-, Asian-, African-, and Hispanic-Americans. The ideas produced by the ethnically diverse groups were judged to be of higher quality—more effective and feasible—than the ideas produced by the homogenous groups.

In addition to these peer-reviewed scientific publications, I’ve also heard a number of anecdotal reports from chemists that support the creative and problem-solving benefits of group diversity.  Do you have any examples you can add to this mix?

I wonder how much further advanced the chemistry of science would be right now, if only we had done a better job in the past of encouraging diversity in the chemistry workforce.
If you want to strengthen your own skills at managing diversity, a good place to start is with “Diversity,” one of the new ACS Harvard Online courses offered—at a reduced member rate of $25—in conjunction with Harvard Business Publishing.  (Visit  www.acs.org/professionaldevelopment.)

 

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Randy Wedin blogs from Wayzata, MN. After spending a decade working for the ACS and as a Congressional Science fellow, he launched a freelance science writing business, Wedin Communications (www.wedincommunications.com), in 1992.

Toastmasters: A Laboratory for Public Speaking?

Early in my professional career, I left the sheltered world of academe and found myself working on Capitol Hill as a Congressional Science Fellow.  Talk about culture shock….

I was plunged into strange waters–surrounded by articulate people who could give extemporaneous speeches, graciously introduce a speaker, and remain cool and collected in heated debates. They could tell just the right joke to make the audience-of-the-moment laugh. And they could do all this without even knowing much (or anything) about the subject!

These were skills I had not learned in the lecture hall or the laboratory. In academe, I learned that my professional communications should be cautious, objective, and carefully footnoted. Outside academe, a different style of communication was clearly required for success.

So, I cornered one of my mentors, a Ph.D. physicist who had worked at the State Department and was now working for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). And I asked him, “How did you learn to speak so well in public?”

He replied, “Toastmasters International.  Want to attend one of my club meetings?”

I accepted his invitation. His Toastmasters International club met weekly at the Brookings Institution, and its members came from government agencies, trade associations, universities, and law firms. After attending one meeting, I realized that this organization was neither an antiquated fraternal organization, nor a club for glad-handing extroverts. In fact, this organization could provide just what I needed.

It provided a laboratory where I could learn and practice new skills. And it offered an instant peer review process.  Several members gave prepared speeches at each meeting, and their fellow members all offered oral and/or written feedback.  During the “Table Topics” portion of the meeting, members were called on at random to provide impromptu responses to unexpected questions.

I joined the club. Over the next few years, I gained both experience and confidence—giving prepared talks, replying off-the-cuff to difficult questions, and running a meeting. In this safe laboratory, I tried out techniques that I would never have tried on my own.

Some of my efforts bombed. I told jokes that no one understood. I used hand gestures that were wooden and awkward. I even tried speaking in different accents.

Yet, some of my efforts succeeded far beyond my expectations. I even won the club “humorous speech” contest one year! Maybe I could do public speaking after all.

Most importantly for me, I was able to do all this without my job or career being on the line. I made my mistakes in front of friendly strangers who weren’t responsible for my performance review and salary decisions.Ever since that experience, I’ve included “Join Toastmasters” on my top 10 list of career advice.

The Toastmasters International website provides an overview of the organization and can help you find a club in your area. Clubs can be found in industrial, government, and academic organizations. Corporate award winners in recent years include Pfizer, Eastman Chemical, and Procter & Gamble. Government agencies supporting Toastmasters include the Department of Energy, NASA, and EPA. On the list of educational institutions are Penn State, Alabama A&M, and MIT.

I strongly endorse Toastmasters, but don’t just take my word for it. Here’s an article and endorsement from another chemist, Erika Ebbel. She joined Toastmasters while a student at MIT. Since then, she has put her public-speaking experience to use in some interesting forums, including serving as Miss Massachusetts at the 2005 Miss America competition.

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Randy Wedin blogs from Wayzata, MN. After spending a decade working for the ACS and as a Congressional Science Fellow, he launched a freelance science writing business, Wedin Communications (www.wedincommunications.com), in 1992.
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