Stephanie Barletta and Hao Wang

Look at how far you’ve come and how much you’ve done! Look back at yourself with pride, look to your future with hope - but most importantly - it's time to celebrate! Celebrate with your friends, family, loved ones, and most importantly, with your future employers! (Wait- what? Let’s take a step back for a second, and I’ll explain this unconventional guest list.)

Graduate school can be one of the most trying, yet exciting and personally defining times of our lives. We get to spend years honing research techniques to investigate our greatest interests and feed our curiosity alongside like-minded mentors and cohorts, who all share in the mutual advancement of scientific knowledge! And while we can all appreciate the romantic ideals of being champions of science, there is a less obvious cause to champion: yourself! Be your own greatest ally by starting early and staying updated on the scientific, political, and economic world around you through job prospects before graduation. Don’t be afraid to talk to your advisors, teachers, and outgoing or incoming graduates about where they’re going or where they have come from.

Jump-starting your career can be overwhelming, so let’s break it down:

Step 1: Start now.

While in graduate school, browse job advertisements that can be found through university or graduate program websites and newsletters, job hosting websites like Monster.com, or scientific association websites like Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Step 2: Ask questions.

Talk to your advisors, mentors, and incoming or outgoing cohorts. See where they came from and where they are heading next. Seek out people who have some of the experiences or opportunities that you desire, and hear them out. Most importantly, show respect for these people and demonstrate your ambition for similar, or even collaborative, work by keeping in contact with them. In the long run, showing that you remembered them may help them remember you and keep you in mind the next time they, or someone they know, is looking for a new hire. The key is to be actively involved, even before you graduate. Look for the jobs you want, and see what positions people have left behind in other places in order to discover job vacancies in that place or some other.

Step 3: Prepare.

Make sure you look good on paper and online! You want to custom-tailor your cover letter and CV to the job you are applying for – and don’t forget additional materials like writing samples, references, or a statement of interest. You are marketing yourself here, so know your audience and make yourself sound enticing in order to land that interview. It can help enormously to have a consistent and professional presence online. For example, a well-thought-out personal website or regularly-published and knowledgeable blog are excellent ways to demonstrate your talent, commitment, and responsibility to prospective employers in ways that don’t quite resonate on a CV. Showing a prospective employer that extra bit of composure and confidence is exactly what it takes to edge out the competition. Speaking of composure, for goodness’ sake – don’t forget to clean up and privatize your personal social media pages; you’re not an undergrad anymore!

Step 4: Get your foot in the door.

In many cases, the right amount of preparation should already get your foot in the door and get you that crucial interview, but when it doesn’t, there are some other techniques to try. Look ahead by putting yourself out there with emails and phone calls, and be professional, clear, and succinct during the process. Sometimes the best way in to a prospective job is through volunteer opportunities, especially if the job you want isn’t one that exists yet. By developing the skill set needed to do a job through a volunteer, internship, or part-time position, you can often carve out a place for yourself and net a job offer1.

Don’t forget to look back as well: a diverse and thorough portfolio of references (including their names, titles, institution, and contact information) is invaluable to getting an edge up on competition, especially if you have a reference that is known or trusted by your prospective employer2. Make sure to contact your references ahead of time (especially for letters of recommendation), and it can also sometimes be beneficial to remind them of your skills and attributes, especially those pertaining to the position you’re applying for2.

Step 5: Celebrate. This is where we get back to that guest list!

Celebrate knowledge you have learned and published, techniques you have designed and innovated, and skills you have adapted and acquired! Shout it out to the world on job networking sites, social media, a personal website or blog, and of course on your CV! Emphasize your ability to learn new skills through your aptitude to acquire your other skills (which are preferably more difficult to obtain). Don’t be afraid to say what you haven’t done, but do so while showing that you have the competency to do more. Bill Dennison explained, “You need to show that you’ll continually advance your technical competency, that you’re capable, and continuously developing your lifelong skills.”

Step 6: Communicate. Adapt. Evolve.

Turns out that the age old adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” has some merit, but that alone will not carry us to greatness; it’s also what you do and how you do it. In the end, graduate school hasn’t molded us into the people we are, but instead, it has given us the tools to actively carve the person we are going to be. Continue networking by communicating what you know and what you have accomplished with colleagues and prospective employers. Adapt your CV with additional achievements that are tailored to specific prospects. Finally, evolve your skills with the changing job market, so you will be ready for whatever comes your way.

References:

1. Adams, S. "Odds Are Your Internship Will Get You a Job". Forbes. July 24, 2012.

2. Heffernan, E. "Your References: An Important Part of the Job Search Process". HigherEdJobs. May 2, 2007.