Things We Wish We Had Known

The positive growth turned in by the American economy in the third quarter of this year suggests that maybe, just maybe this Great Recession is now in our rear view mirror. As it fades away, of course, the tales will begin about what we did during this terrible time. While recounting those legends is surely important, so too is sharing the insights we’ve acquired from our experience.

Cataclysmic events often alter our perceptions of the world around us. That was true during the Great Depression, and it will be true as we emerge from this Great Recession, as well. Some of these new views are opinions about what happened and why, but others are actually lessons that we’ve learned about how best to survive and prosper. They’re the things we wish we had known before the event occurred because that knowledge would have undoubtedly enabled us to fare better than we did.

I think the sharing of this wisdom is good for us—it’s cathartic to acknowledge that we’ve earned an advanced degree in the school of hard knocks—but it’s even more helpful for our kids and grandkids. In a very real sense, we are giving them a gift, a roadmap for the future that may help them avoid the dead ends and dangerous potholes they are sure to encounter.

Each of us has our own view of the lessons we should pass along. For me, the following four insights are among the most important. They are realizations everyone must have in order to chart a successful and fulfilling career in the 21st Century world of work.

Seeking job security makes you vulnerable.  In today’s turbulent economy, employers have no idea what will happen tomorrow or the day after. They may promise you job security, but they can’t deliver it. So, counting on it is likely to put you out for the count. A far better objective is career security—the ability to stay employed in a job of your choosing regardless of the condition of any single employer or the economy as a whole. Unlike job security, career security is a state you create for yourself. You don’t have to rely on the good will of some employer. You anticipate the changes in your career—the timing of a move from one boss or organization to another, the refocusing or reskilling that’s necessary to accommodate shifts in your industry or profession—and then you plan and execute those changes so they benefit you.

Recognition is something you give yourself.  Most managers and supervisors mean well, but if you wait for them to recognize your accomplishments at work, you’re likely to be disappointed. Some have the social skills of a brick and others are too worried about their own security to take care of yours. That’s why it’s important for you to keep track of your own “career victories.” Sure, it takes a little effort to maintain a contemporaneous record of what you’ve done and how well you’ve done it, but that account will give you more satisfaction than most managers ever will. Don’t just write it out, however; also review it regularly. Take the time to remember what you’ve done and pat yourself on the back when you deserve it or give yourself a little counseling if you’ve let yourself down.

Working tirelessly is a sure way to get tired.  Sadly, many people in today’s world of work find themselves wired up with no place to go. They’ve learned the hard way that staying continuously in contact with the office doesn’t protect you. It exhausts you. We’re all worried about the H1N1 flu becoming a pandemic, but workaholism already is. If you have any doubt about that, look left and right the next time you’re lying on the beach. Every other person will be glued to their Blackberry or iPhone checking their email. The impact of such behavior on both individual performance and wellbeing is already acute and likely to get worse. In a knowledgebased economy, your worth is measured not by your connectivity, but by your contribution. And, your contribution suffers when you don’t give your mind and body a chance to rest.

Taking care of your career is the best way to take care of you.  The conventional approach to career self-management has been to get an annual checkup and leave it at that. Historically, we paid attention to our career just once each year—during our performance appraisal and salary review. That approach was dangerous then; today, it’s a sure-fire way to induce career cardiac arrest or what most of us call unemployment. The only safe course in a workplace as turbulent as the one we now have is to develop career fitness the same way you develop physical fitness. You have to commit yourself to building up the strength, endurance and reach of your career every single day. Yes, that’s a lot of work, but it’s also a smart investment. You spend one-third or more of your day in your profession, craft or trade, and you deserve an experience during that time that is every bit as good as the rest of your life.

We have acquired many insights from our experience over the past two years, but these four maxims are the key lessons we have learned. They are the things we wish we had known so they are now the things we want others to know.

Thanks for reading,

Peter

Visit me at Weddles.com

Peter Weddle is the author of over two dozen employment-related books, including Recognizing Richard Rabbit, a fable of self-discovery for working adults, and Work Strong, Your Personal Career Fitness System.

© Copyright 2009 WEDDLE’s LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The Job Market Version of Catch 22

Billions of words have been written about job search tools and tactics in this job market of our discontent. Job board dos and don’ts. Twitter. Facebook. Building a personal brand. Improving your “findability.” It’s all good advice, but none of it will work if your career is sick.

To put it in another and admittedly blunter way, don’t bother looking for a job if you have a wimpy career. You see, that’s what’s different about today’s job market. Come as you are has been replaced by come as you need to be. The good old days of searching for employment with stand pat qualifications are gone. If you’re out of work, your career needs resuscitation.

It doesn’t matter that you got superior ratings on performance appraisals in your last job. It takes no difference that you have a track record of being loyal, dependable, and hard working. And, it is totally irrelevant that your employer went out of business, was acquired or for whatever other reason was the cause of your unemployment. The plain, hard truth is that employers view people in transition as damaged goods. It’s not fair.

It’s certainly not true. And it stinks. But it is reality. You won’t find many recruiters who will admit it. And in most cases, they work hard to avoid the appearance of such a bias. But deep down inside, it’s there. An everyday event confirms it: when presented with a choice between two equally qualified candidates, one employed and the other not, the offer will almost always go to the person who already has a job. It’s the job market version of Catch 22.

So, what can you do?

Reinvent yourself. It doesn’t matter how well educated, trained or senior you are in your field, change your image in the job market. How? By fixing your career. By building up its strength, its fitness. There are many techniques involved in doing that, but perhaps the most important is pumping up its cardiovascular health. The heart of your career is your professional expertise, so go back to school. Right now. Even as you are looking for a job.

Build Career Fitness

Revitalizing your career in the middle of a job search involves two important steps:

· Step 1: Begin acquiring a new skill or refreshing one you already have. You might, for example, take a course in a second language at a local community college or attend a new certification program offered by your professional or trade association. You can choose almost any topic just as long as it will clearly and meaningfully enhance your ability to contribute on-the-job. and
· Step 2: Add the fact that you’re back in school to your resume. Note it in the Summary at the beginning of that document and, in its Education section, provide the name of the course you’re taking, the institution or organization that’s offering it, the formal outcome if there will be one (e.g., the certificate or degree you will earn) and the term “On-going.” Those two simple steps will instantaneously transform you into a new person. First, they will enhance your skill set, making you a potentially more valuable employee. Second, taking a course of instruction or training program even as you are searching for a job demonstrates attributes all employers want but find it hard to identify in a candidate: resolve, fortitude, and determination.

Most importantly, this course of action will set you apart from other candidates by demonstrating that you have two very special attributes: you understand that in today’s rapidly evolving world of work, staying competent in your field is an ever-moving target AND you take personal responsibility for keeping yourself at the state-of-the-art. You recognize the responsibility and accept it.

Become that person, make that transformation, and the playing field will level. You may be in transition, but you will no longer be at a disadvantage when compared to employed candidates. You will have reinvented yourself as a career activist, a person who is committed to continuous self-improvement no matter how senior or experienced they may be. An individual who has the right stuff—the skills and the attributes to be a champion at work.

Thanks for reading,

Peter

Visit me at Weddles.com
Peter Weddle is the author of over two dozen employment-related books, including Recognizing Richard Rabbit, a fable of self-discovery for working adults, and Work Strong, Your Personal Career Fitness System.
© Copyright 2009 WEDDLE’s LLC. All Rights Reserved.

What Have You Learned Lately?

I’m currently sitting in a coffee shop, spending the day working on my laptop.  I’m here waiting for several boy scouts who are attending a Merit Badge University, and learning about Leatherwork, Public Speaking, and Reptile and Amphibian Study, among other things.  As I watched them head off to their respective  classes, it occurred to me how eager they were to learn new things, and explore the world around them.  In their case, if they are successful, they will come back with a completed merit badge to prove they now understand and can execute a whole new set of skills.  More than just a piece of cloth on their uniform, they have confidence in their ability to do and share their new knowledge.

For those of us who a are just a little bit older, it’s not quite so easy.  There are lot of things we want to learn about, but the effort and time commitment to sign up for a formal class is often more than we are willing to expend.

Fortunately, we often acquire new skills and knowledge without formal training, and sometimes without fully realizing what we have learned.  I recently taught a workshop to a group of graduate students, and in talking about resumes was asking them about their professional experience and significant accomplishments.  Several of them told me they didn’t have any work experience  - a statement I hope their graduate advisor would take exception to!

When I started probing, they were almost all able to tell me about something they had done of which they were very proud.  Maybe it was a compound they had synthesized, a particularly difficult analysis they had completed, or in some cases a class they had taught where they felt they really made a difference in the life of a particular student.  In every case, once they started talking about the event, they became animated and their excitement and pride was palpable.  As I asked questions about what they did and what they had learned, they started to realize just how much this particular event had meant to them, and how much they had learned in the process.

Sometimes, we need to step back and think about what we’re done lately, and reflect on what we have accomplished, and/or  learned.  New analytical instruments or tools are usually easy to recognize, but new non-technical skills are sometimes harder to spot.

Take a few minutes over your coffee today to think about what you’ve done lately, and what you’ve learned from it.  Have you given a talk, or written a report?  What did you learn, not only about the subject matter, but about the process and perhaps a better way to prepare for the next time?  Did you recently get through a difficult situation with a co-worker, and what did you learn about how you might handle a similar situation the next time?

Think also about what you haven’t learned, that might make your career better.  Is there some new technique or method that you’ve been meaning to learn, but just haven’t gotten to?  Maybe your last performance review pointed out oral presentation skills as an area in which you could improve.  Set aside a few minutes to read a few journal articles, or find and attend a Toastmaster’s meeting.

Too often we wait for a crisis to force us to take action, when we know we should have done it long ago.  Identifying gaps in your knowledge and addressing them is one of the best things you can do for your professional future.  Exploring new areas on your own prepares you for the future, and lets you move your career in the direction of your choosing, not into areas that others select for you.  You may not earn a merit badge (like both of my scouts did), but you will gain the satisfaction of knowing that your career is moving forward, and you are the one directing it.

This article was written by freelance scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2007). She blogs on Career Development for Scientists.

Too Many Scientists?

A recent report has been causing a lot of controversy in the blogosphere.  ”Steady as She Goes?  Three Generations of Students through the Science and Engineering Pipeline” looked at three issues – the attrition of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students from high school to career, how this attention rate has changed over time, and changes in quality in the students who remain in the STEM pathways.  They evaluated several longitudinal data sets, and determined that retention rates have been constant (or even increasing) from the 1970s through the late 1990s overall, but retention of the highest performing students declined steeply starting in the late 1990s.  The authors suggest the reason for this is that high-performing students are “being recruited into non-STEM jobs that pay better, offer more a more stable professional career, and/or are perceived as less exposed to competition from low-wage economies”. They argue that encouraging more students to go into STEM disciplines may end up hurting the US, since more potential employees mean lower wages, which drives the best students into other fields.

This report is generating some discussion on ScienceCareers.org, in the thread entitled Study Agues US Needs Fewer, Not More, Science Students .  This thread also points back to the  National Academies’ publication Rising Above the Gathering Storm report (2006) which said the nation should “enlarge the pipeline of students who are prepared to enter college and graduate with a degree in science, engineering, or mathematics” in order to remain competitive. Many others have echoed this idea, and the idea of expanding the science pipeline has been guiding policy for awhile – just the opposite of what the newer study suggests.

Part of the reasons these two reports seem to oppose each other is that it is difficult to get actual numbers and hard data on why people choose the career paths they do.  I can think of a number of things that influenced my personal career choices…..a family background in science and engineering, a great high school chemistry teacher who made science interesting and fun, a new class that I just happened to be in the right place to take, personal and family circumstances, and a whole lot of luck.  While I may have considered (briefly) law or business for the financial rewards, I was always encouraged to do something I loved, and not worry about the money (within reason).

In my own travels, I think lately I’m meeting more people who want to do something they are passionate about, and care more about that than making as much money as possible.  They want to make a difference in the world, and as long as they can make a reasonable living they are fine.  Some of them are even choosing to work for less money, if it means more flexible work time and more time with their family, or taking extended time off to be with their families, and planning to go back to work at some point in the future.  I’m hoping this means people are realizing that they can be happy with fewer “things”, as long as they spend their days doing things that interest, excite and engage them.  Hopefully for many of us, that includes STEM careers.

This article was written by freelance scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2007). She blogs on Career Development for Scientists.

Doing Your Due Diligence

In a competitive job market, you need to do everything you can to make yourself stand out from other candidates. Especially when you get to the interview stage, you know you are competing against other candidates that are also highly qualified.

So in preparation for the interview, you take your suit to the cleaners, arrange transportation and lodging (if needed), and practice, practice, practice your research presentation.

You’ve heard that you should do some research on the company, so you spend an hour or so looking through their web site, clicking semi-randomly on pages and links that may be of interest.  You don’t learn much, but at least you feel good that you did it.  Right?

I often ask hiring managers what candidates should do that most of them don’t do.  Almost every time, the answer is “do their homework on the company before the interview”.  I’ve had some tell me they want the candidate to know everything that’s on the company web site, and at least one thing that is NOT on the company’s web site.

I was reviewing some industry analysis reports from the financial world today, and it struck me that the questions they proposed for use in evaluating companies for monetary investment were very similar to the ones you might want to ask before a job interview.

• The first thing you want to research is their products – What specifically do they sell?   (For example, pharmaceutical products can be prescription or over the counter, innovator or generic, and so on)?  What do they currently have on the market, and what is in development?  A company’s products, and its pipeline of future products, are its lifeblood.  A solid pipeline of products is essential for success.
• Have their past research and development efforts been successful?  What portion of their operating revenues are spent on R&D?  Is that part of the company growing or shrinking?  Research and development are key to finding those new products to fill the pipeline.
• Have they been involved in any recent mergers, acquisitions, or other partnerships?  While these may increase stock prices, in the short-term they can have a negative impact on employee morale, internal efficiency, and cause customer confusion.  You may not want to discuss this with the interviewer, but you certainly want to keep your eyes and ears open during the day for possible problems.
• What does their international profile look like?  Have they just opened new facilities overseas?  Have they closed local facilities?  This may indicate long-term stability of the facility at which you are being offered a position.
• What do their financial statements, or SEC filings, say about their sales growth, profit margins, earnings…?  Are they making capital investments, or maintaining the status quo?  This is further evidence of the company’s long-term strategy and success.
• What is the background of the company’s managers? You want strong, capable leadership that is knowledgeable in the industry.
• With whom will you be interviewing, and working? You can ask for a copy of the interview schedule in advance (it’s usually available if you ask), then use Google and LinkedIn and scientific literature searches to learn about their background, interests and experiences.  The more you know about your interviewers, the better questions you can ask, and the more likely you are to connect with them.
• What is the corporate culture?  If you’re lucky, they publish it right on their web site like Merck does. To ensure long-term satisfaction, you want to work in a corporate culture that is consistent with your values. Values you might want to look for include commitment to innovation, quality, excellence, professionalism, teamwork, diversity, continual improvement, organizational learning, and so on.

Some of these questions you have probably  looked into before you applied for the position (hopefully!).  However, just before the interview is when you really want to make sure you have all the information you need to ask intelligent, probing questions that will allow both you and the company to evaluate your fit for their needs.

The financial/investment community is expert at determining the value of companies, and conducting extensive research and due diligence on specific companies and industries. Their systematic approach to company valuation is exactly what you do before you invest in a company – either with your money, or  with your time by seeking a job there.

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

Self Chromatography: Analyzing Your Interests, Skills, and Personality Traits

During the very stimulating “Industry Forum” session in February with former ACS President William Carroll, the following exchange took place. (If you want to check out the entire conversation, which I highly recommend, it’s available as an mp3 audio file or text transcript.)

* * *

Joe Alper (host): Let me ask you a question that came in from one of our web-based participants, who’s trying to decide which area of chemistry she wants to pursue.  She’s trying to decide between the oil energy sector and the ag sector, and she’s wondering, in your crystal ball, if you see which one of these might have better prospects in the years ahead?

Dr. William Carroll: I have to tell you the biggest disservice that I could do for that questioner would be to pick one of those two and tell her to go there.  And the reason is because… there are actually two reasons:

• Chasing a hot sector makes about as much sense as chasing the hot number on a roulette wheel. 
• The real question that you have to ask yourself is, “What do you like?  What kind of chemistry turns you on?”

Every sector will have good times and bad times, but you’re going to have a career 40 years.  I can tell you that there’s nothing worse than waking up at the age of 45 and discovering that you picked the wrong career, partially because you went after it for reasons other than your love of the work that you were doing. The world will always pay for the best in the field, and you stand a better chance of being the best in a field you love.  So my response is, interview, study, look at the work that’s being done and pick what turns you on.  And, remember, it’s probably not the last career choice you’re ever going to make and you can make changes.

Bill Carroll’s question—“What do you like?”—is absolutely essential.  And it sounds so simple…

If you’re anything like me, however, you’ve found that this simple question can be difficult to answer.  I’m not that good at accurately reading my own mind, heart, and gut.  What I’d really like is a printout with a careful and thorough quantitative analysis of … well, of me.  I want answers that are precise, accurate, and repeatable, with very small standard deviations. 

If this were an analytical chemistry experiment, I’d dissolve myself in a solvent, pour myself into the top of a chromatography column, and collect all the different fractions that emerge.  Then I’d use the most reliable analytical techniques—from IR and NMR to mass spec and electrophoresis—to identify and quantify my interests, passions, dislikes, values, strengths, weaknesses, skills, and personality traits.

Armed with these results, I’d then feel much more confident about answering Bill Carroll’s question.

When I went through this self-analysis process for the first time, I was trying to decide which direction to head with my career after grad school.  Even after using Chem Abstracts to thoroughly search the scientific literature, I still couldn’t find the type of chromatography column that would help me quantify the self-discovery process.  

But I did find a book that was very helpful—What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Nelson Bolles. In particular, the book gave me some exercises, quizzes, and activities that jump-started my self assessment.

This best-selling classic has been updated, revised, and expanded annually since the first edition was published in 1972.   I think it’s even more useful and accessible today, with an especially helpful website (www.jobhuntersbible.com).  At this website, you’ll find links to a number of resources that will get you started on your self-analysis, from interest inventories (including vocational tests based on Holland’s Theory of Career Choice) to transferable skills tests (including a test called the “Motivated Skills Test”) to personality tests (including Myers-Briggs-type tests and the Enneagram).

Time to slip into your lab coat, put on your safety glasses, and get started on your experiment of self analysis.  The analytical laboratory is just a click away.

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.

  

The State of Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology continues to make news as a bright spot for business growth—and jobs. The National Science Foundation, for example, has forecast that the global market for nanotechnology products and services will balloon to more than $1 trillion by 2015 and will employ some 2 million people.

 Some groups pooh-pooh such figures, saying they are waaaay out of proportion with reality. (See http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=1792.php) Yet even most skeptics allow that sooner or later, nanotechnologies will transform many aspects of our lives.

How to get in on the action?

 A good place to start is to check out what states and regional groups are doing to support nanoresearch and industrialization and to provide information to entrepreneurs and employees. You may want to explore the NSF’s National Nanotechnology Initiative, which, among other things, provides a list of links to state and regional programs. (See http://www.nano.gov/html/funding/businessops.html)

 You’ll read about what’s going on in North Carolina, where at least 69 companies already are working with nanotechnology. (See http://www.ncnanotechnology.com) The companies range from small startups using nanotechnology as a core part of their manufacturing processes and services to large firms using nanotechnology as part of their broader operations. Be sure to check out how one company has developed new nanotech coatings for critical car engine parts that are allowing NASCAR racers to boost their horsepower. (See http://www.ncnanotechnology.com/public/21597)

 In the Northeast, the Massachusetts Nanotechnology Initiative seeks to encourage research, foster commercial ventures, and create new jobs by harnessing the state’s university and industrial base of nanoscale science and engineering. (See http://www.masstech.org/mni) For a good example of university-industry collaboration, look at MIT’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, which is working with the U.S. Army and several industrial partners—including Raytheon, DuPont, and Partners Healthcare—to use nanotechnology to give the nation’s fighting forces what they need to be lighter, faster, more versatile, and more easily deployable on short notice. (See http://web.mit.edu/isn)

 On the Left Coast, several groups are nanofocused. The California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA is a research center devoted to encouraging university collaboration with industry with an eye on rapid commercialization of discoveries in nanosystems. (See http://www.cnsi.ucla.edu) Some of the institute’s efforts were featured in the July 15, 2009, New York Times. (See http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/business/smallbusiness/16edge.html)

 Among other activities, the institute sponsors a series of “incubator” seminars. The latest seminar, for example, focused on giving entrepreneurs a look at what information technology may be useful in a startup company, how to avoid the risks associated with such technology, and how to keep costs in line with that bane of most fledgling companies—limited funding.

 In the Northwest, the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute hosts a variety of programs—in research, industrial collaboration, and educational outreach—to put nanotechnology to work. (See http://www.onami.us/) In one nanoproject, University of Oregon chemistry professor Darren Johnson and Portland-based Crystal Clear Technologies are developing a water filter that uses nanoparticles to cleanse industrial wastewater while harvesting valuable metals trapped in the water.

 In an announcement for a recent “micro-nano breakthrough conference,” the institute captured a common spirit in the field: “In these turbulent economic times, one thing remains unchanged: innovation-driven productivity advances are the only basis for prosperous, high-wage regional economies, and commercialized scientific research is the best and most durable source of innovation advantage.”

 Many of these Web sites offer assistance to fledgling entrepreneurs and information about which firms and universities in their areas are beefing up manufacturing or research—and thus may be adding to the job supply.

 Nanobits of food for thought.

 – Tom Burroughs is a freelance writer based in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Chemists in Patent Law

Getting bored with routine lab work? Like to write? Ready for something new? How about combining chemistry and law?

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).

Now retired, Howard Peters had his own “boutique law firm” specializing in patent law. He explained his specialty this way: “I was like a British solicitor; I listened to ordinary people who had inventions. They told me about their extraordinary invention; I filed the application with the US Patent Office and then battled with the examiners to get the patent issued.”

Peters had a PhD and was working full-time in industry before going to law school. As part of his job, he spent four months in the Dow Patent Department. “I became fascinated – and I liked to write.” Later after settling in California, he started law school but didn’t quit his job in explosives at SRI International. Eventually, he worked for a law firm and then started his own.

Becoming a patent agent is another option for those considering Patent Law, and you don’t need a PhD or even a law degree (JD). A patent agent at Wyeth Research, Barbara Lences is not an attorney. She explains that a patent agent is authorized by the US Patent and Trademark Office to file and prosecute patent applications. “Becoming a patent agent requires an undergraduate or graduate degree in the sciences and a passing grade on the patent bar exam. Patent agents and patent attorneys differ in that patent attorneys have completed a law degree in addition to a science degree and are qualified to ajudicate a patent or patent application in a court of law, in addition to filing and prosecuting a patent application.”

With a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Lences did organic synthesis in agrichemical and pharmaceutical research groups, eventually reaching the point where it was no longer challenging. “I had gone about as far as I could go in chemistry without a graduate degree. Grad school was not an option because I had young children at that time.” Through her company’s patent liaison office, she switched careers from chemistry to patent law. During this transition she took an ACS Short Course on patent law and a bar review course, eventually taking the patent bar exam and becoming a registered patent agent.

Lences finds that often young scientists don’t know about alternative career options such as hers. “When you are a science major, except for medical school, careers outside of academic or industrial chemistry are not emphasized.” When students hear of her career, they are surprised: “Oh – you can do that! You don’t have to choose between teaching and research?” She points out that in addition to careers in patent law, regulatory affairs, and chemical health and safety, a chemist can become a technical expert at a law firm and work with attorneys in patent drafting and in litigation.

————–

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.

Defibrillator Jobs – CDM EIF

Being in transition is tough so advice is often offered with a spoonful of sugar.  While well intentioned, however, that approach sends the wrong signal to those most in need of candor.  So, being as frank (and respectful) as I can, here’s the unvarnished truth.  This job market is filled with “irrational expectations.”  You cannot find a job today using job search strategies and techniques that were devised for yesterday’s workplace.  To put it more bluntly, you won’t find work—any work—in such a tough environment with a weak career record.

And sadly, that’s what a lot of people are bringing to their job search.  They haven’t kept their skills up-to-date.  Their ability to make a contribution commensurate with their experience has atrophied.  Even their network of contacts has all but withered away.

Historically, such an out of shape career didn’t matter much.  You could be laid off and, with little or no change in your credentials, hit the job search trail and in relatively short order, find another, similar (or even better) position.  Basically, we had a come-as-you-are job market.

Unfortunately, those happy days are gone and gone forever.  Why is that?  Remember the jobless recovery of the 2001 recession?  Well, this recession built on that development to create the “less jobs” recovery.  When things start to get better, there will still be fewer jobs—not more or even the same number—as there are right now during the recession.  Jobs aren’t being left open until things get better.  They are being destroyed.

What does that mean for people in transition?  Now, you have to enter the job market in a very different way.  If you want to find employment in the new world of work, you have to fix your career first.  Or, at a minimum, you must be fixing it while you’re searching for a job.  But, the point is that Step 1 in a job search today—not step 2 or 3 or 4—is to upgrade your capabilities and your credentials.  Whether you have 20 years in the workplace or 20 minutes.  From now on, you have to have a strong career if you want to conduct a strong job search.

And then, once you find a job, you have to go on building up the strength of your career.  You can’t stop simply because you’re earning a paycheck.  Why?  Because only a fit career will enable you to hang onto that job you have and get an even better job once the recovery starts.

How do you build career strength?  It takes a regular and repetitive commitment to seven kinds of activities.  As detailed in my book Work Strong: Your Personal Career Fitness System, they are:

I. Pump Up Your Cardiovascular System  The heart of your career is your occupational expertise, not your knowledge of some employer’s standard operating procedures.  Re-imagine yourself as a work-in-progress so that you are always been adding depth and tone to your knowledge and skill set and memorializing that enlarged capacity on your resume.

II. Strengthen Your Circulatory System  The wider and deeper your network of contacts, the more visible you and your capabilities will be in the workplace.  Adding to your network, however, means exactly what the word says—it’s netWORK, not net-get-around-to-it-whenever-it’s-convenient.  Make nurturing professional relationships a part of your normal business day.

III. Develop All of Your Muscle Groups  The greater your versatility in contributing your expertise at work, the broader the array of situations and assignments in which you can be employed.  Develop ancillary skills—for example, the ability to speak a second language or knowledge of key software programs—that will give you more ways to apply your primary capabilities in the workplace.

IV. Increase Your Flexibility & Range of Motion  In the 21^st Century world of work, career progress is not always a straight line, nor does it always look as it has in the past or stay the same for very long.  Moving from industry-to-industry, from one daily schedule to another or even from one location to another is never easy, but your willingness to adapt will help to keep your career moving forward.

V. Work With Winners  Successful organizations and coworkers aid and abet your ability to accomplish your career goals, while less effective organizations and less capable peers diminish it.  Working with winners enables you to grow on-the-job, develop useful connections that will last a career and establish yourself as a winner in the world of work.

VI. Stretch Your Soul  A healthy career not only serves you, it serves others, as well.  A personal commitment to doing some of your best work as good works for your community, your country and/or your planet is the most invigorating form of work/life balance.  It regenerates your pride in what you do and your enthusiasm for doing it.

VII. Pace Yourself  A fulfilling and rewarding career depends upon your getting the rest and replenishment you need in order to do your best work every day you’re on-the-job.  The human body and mind have limits, and those limits cannot be extended by multitasking or even a Blackberry.  Instead, you have to discipline yourself and your boss to set aside time to recharge your passion and capacity for work.

Understanding what’s involved in these exercises and then performing them on a regular basis is the foundation of a “system” for building Career Fitness.  Think of it as a strategy for surviving and prospering in today’s and tomorrow’s workplace.

Who is Peter Weddle?
Peter Weddle is a recruiter, HR consultant and business CEO turned author and commentator.  Described by The Washington Post as “… a man filled with ingenious ideas,” Peter has earned an international reputation, pioneering concepts in human resource leadership and employment.  He has authored or edited over two dozen books and been a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, The National Business Employment Weekly and CNN.com.  Today, Peter writes two newsletters that are distributed worldwide and oversees WEDDLE’s LLC, a print publisher specializing in the field of human resources.  WEDDLE’s annual Guides and Directory to job boards are recognized for their accuracy and helpfulness, leading the American Staffing Association to call Weddle the “Zagat of the online employment industry.”

The Weak Link Syndrome

It was partly my own fault.  I realize that now.  I naively accepted an invitation on LinkedIn to connect with someone I didn’t know.  I did confirm that this person was in the employment field, and since I’m terrible at remembering names, I thought that we may have met at a conference somewhere.  I still don’t know whether that’s the case, but as soon as I accepted the invitation, this person started to spam me with email after email about openings he was trying to fill.  And therein lies the central problem with LinkedIn, at least as it is currently used by a very large number of people.

LinkedIn advertises itself as a networking tool for professionals.  That’s fine.  But building up a huge (or even a small) address book of contacts is not networking.  In fact, given that networking is actually a form of dialogue that is most appropriately practiced as an integral part of one’s business day, what’s going on at LinkedIn today is best described as “notworking.”

You see, the Golden Rule of Networking is that you have to give as good as you get.  It’s fundamentally an exchange of information, ideas, and/or assistance from which both parties derive value.  That mutual allocation of benefit establishes familiarity and trust, and those two factors are the twin pillars of a relationship.  When networking is working, that’s what it creates—a relationship.

How Do Relationships Happen?

Now, if you’ve ever been in a relationship, you know two things about them.  First, you quickly learn that they are hard work.  That’s why the word is spelled the way it is: it’s netWORK, not net-get-around-to-it-whenever-you-feel-like-it.  And second, you come to appreciate that relationships take time to develop.  They don’t happen with the click of a mouse, whether you’re on LinkedIn or Facebook or any other social or professional “networking” site.

And sadly, my connection on LinkedIn understood neither of those points.  As he put it when I asked him to stop sending me his intrusive email, “When you linked to me you agreed to receive email notifications and to network with me.”

Well, my friend, that’s not networking.  First, you’re not working at building a relationship with me.  You’re spamming me with unwanted email.  Second, there’s no reciprocity here.  All of the value in our interaction accrues to you.  You want me to provide the names of people I know for your openings, yet you haven’t taken the time to get to know me or to offer me anything of commensurate value.  You aren’t giving as good as you get.  You’re just taking what’s useful to you.

Now, I’ve heard the stories about people finding a job through their LinkedIn contacts.  That’s great.  But those situations are the exception to the rule.  There are more than 36 million people with profiles on Linked, and most have fewer than 10 contacts.  In other words, they’ve checked off the online Social/Professional networking box on their to-do list—they‘ve joined the latest and greatest job search tool for the 21^st Century—but they haven’t done anything with it.  They aren’t investing the time and effort required to build up their Web of relationships or enrich them.

I call this situation the Weak Link Syndrome.  It produces two harmful consequences.

• First, a lot of people in transition who have now joined professional networking sites believe they’ve strengthened their ability to find a new or better job, and they haven’t.  They think they’re using a state-of-the-art tool to enhance their personal performance, and they aren’t.  They’re wasting their time and talent fiddling with a technology—online professional networking—that isn’t working for them.
• Second, the absence of so many job seekers networking effectively online has created a vacuum.  And into that vacuum has flowed a crowd of individuals who are happy to misuse the system.  Like my former connection on LinkedIn, they are clueless about the true nature of networking and feel entitled to use some malformed version of their own.  And that misappropriation of the online networking experience diminishes it for everyone else.

 
So, what do I recommend?  I think we have just two options.  We can either devote the time and energy necessary to extend our online professional networks far beyond their current meager limits and then transform those contacts into genuine relationships or we should abandon the sites that are supposed to nurture them and turn our time and talent to more productive activities.  As the old truism notes, it’s not worth doing something unless you’re going to do it right.

Who is Peter Weddle?
Peter Weddle is a recruiter, HR consultant and business CEO turned author and commentator.  Described by The Washington Post as “… a man filled with ingenious ideas,” Peter has earned an international reputation, pioneering concepts in human resource leadership and employment.  He has authored or edited over two dozen books and been a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, The National Business Employment Weekly and CNN.com.  Today, Peter writes two newsletters that are distributed worldwide and oversees WEDDLE’s LLC, a print publisher specializing in the field of human resources.  WEDDLE’s annual Guides and Directory to job boards are recognized for their accuracy and helpfulness, leading the American Staffing Association to call Weddle the “Zagat of the online employment industry.”