As a fresh-faced 21 yr old, I did a one-year placement at a pharmaceutical company as a synthetic chemist – a position that involves a lot of what is remarkably like cooking but with ‘reagents’ (fancy word for chemicals) instead of ingredients, making potential drugs instead of cakes. I loved the placement, I loved the work and I loved the people so I set about on the pathway to getting back in to the industry. It’s eight years on, I have the qualifications to do the role, I’m applying for jobs and I’m starting to wonder ‘Is this what I want to do? and 'Can I use all the skills I've learnt elsewhere?’

This blog is going to cover my research into what scientists like me are qualified to do that’s not in the laboratory. I’ll do my best to reference websites and people that actually do these jobs and hopefully I can help some people out by sharing what I’m learning. It’ll probably be interspersed with anecdotes and rants from the lab so you can see why I'm leaving this ‘unique’ environment! If you read this, think it’s useful/funny/worth reading, pass on the link – I’d love to know if I’m any good at this writing lark.

Wednesday 28 May 2014

Sorting out your career is nobody else's job

People have started asking my opinion on job searching recently: Here's what I had to say to King's Graduate School on their blog...

I’m sorry to break it to you, guys, (and this is something I only really realised recently) but there is no-one out there that will be able to tell you exactly what job you should be doing and how to get it: that includes careers consultants. (Clearly they can help with your thinking and the processes of applying and so on but read on….)

About a year ago I started to realise that maybe the career in industrial research that I’d planned for the last 10 years wasn’t what I wanted. I confess it was partly initiated by the difficulty in getting a job but the more and more I thought about it, the more I realised I probably didn’t want the jobs I’d been applying for anyway.


Phew. Bullet dodged. Now what?

Well, first I started to complain. "My supervisors have never talked to me about what other careers are available", "No-one wants to talk about jobs outside of research", "I haven’t been given the opportunity to do anything else", I whined to the very nice careers consultant at KCL. I was quite whiny at this point, looking back on all the missed opportunities during my PhD and PostDoc and basically blaming other people.

Then I went to the Nature Careers Expo last September and realised things had to change. Every presentation I went to seemed to start with, "So I created this forum..,", or "I started this blog" and I sat there thinking "I can barely use my phone for email, how the hell am I going to blog?". It was at this point that the penny dropped: if I wasn’t going to take responsibility for getting myself a new career path, why should anyone else?

So I started a blog on my career search. I write down what I found out and shared it with other people. Almost every link and image I uploaded for the first month was broken and I’m still convinced that only my mother reads this but it gave me a start that lead to a free place at a SciComm conference, new contacts (yes, networking), a new understanding of the field around research and the jobs therein, a chance to blog on Speakers of Science, involvement in ScienceGrrl, the opportunity to do some public engagement with schools, joining twitter…but not necessarily in that order. Fundamentally, if you don’t know what you want to do, that’s fine: but you’re the only one who can find out.

During your PhD you can easily feel like you don’t have time for extra things but you will never get less busy, I promise you. The wonderful thing about your PhD studies is that there are lots of things you can try for free and if you don’t like doing them, you can stop. Here are some examples of things you can try…

1. Offer to write your PI’s research paper or review, even if it’s not on your specific area of work. This will help you decide if you want to do medical writing, where you have to summarise other people’s work, clinical trials and even the inserts that go in medication. I’ve written (and published) two papers this year and have two more underway. This is helping me get the most out of my PostDoc and making me practise my scientific writing.

2. Enter writing competitions to see if you like writing about science for a mainstream audience. I entered Access to Understanding with an article on arthritis (not my area) and got lots of feedback from friends and family.

3. Write news articles about cutting-edge science and submit them to the university paper/a blog/your boyfriend to see if they’re any good, to see if you like doing this and to see how long it takes you. I wrote something on antibody-drug-conjugates (sort of my area) in application for an internship at The Economist.

4. GO ON COURSES They’re free for many students, you probably have to go on some and you’ll definitely never have access to so many experts. I did a public speaking masterclass, public engagement course with King’s, science journalism at The Guardian and science writing at OBR. I paid £50 for the Guardian course, but the rest were free and it was a great way to meet like minded people for advice and support.

5. Talk to new people at every conference, meeting and seminar. If you’re absolutely awful at this then a job that requires networking is probably not for you. If you’re good at this then you will have made new contacts that could be invaluable. I ended up at a ScienceGrrl brainstorm, teaching kids about oxidation and sitting in on meetings about Science Museum lates all because of ‘someone’ I met ‘somewhere’ – not through my supervisor.

6. Read some patents. Properly. Is this something you find interesting? Patent law is a popular and competitive choice for graduates. It’s not easy so you should know what you’re getting yourself into. (I worked for a patent company as a chemistry consultant for a bit as part of my PhD – I’m pretty certain I find this dull)

7. Seriously think about how much money you’d like to earn and how little you will settle for: this will have a massive impact on what jobs you will apply for. My current job (which I love) is less than half my PostDoc wage and less than my PhD stipend.

8. Start a Twitter account or blog for yourself or your research group This is a great way to see what’s going on outside your research institution. If you do this for your research group you MUST ask permission from your superiors/head of department.

9. Plan something complicated from start to finish. A work party, a conference, a hen-do, a football tournament. The organisation this requires will tell you if you’re cut out for planning or project management and if you like doing it. I got married during my work search. I’m pretty sure I can now organise the hell out of most things. (Disclaimer: I’m not suggesting you get married purely for the project management experience, maybe just an engagement party…)

10. Apply for some jobs.  Even if you don’t know what you want to do. At least browse the job boards to see what’s out there. Some applications that I made steered me towards positions that I was better suited to. If you want a wake-up call, check out the picture below. It’s a screen shot of my ‘Applications’ folder. It doesn’t include those applications that were speculative or required only an online form…there are over 60 individual applications in less than a year. Don’t moan, just do something.

Any of the extra things on your CV will make you seem more well-rounded and not just another fed-up researcher. I was told on a forum that I was just another ‘desperate PostDoc that couldn’t make it in academia’ – you need to make sure your CV shows that that’s not the case and that you have other skills! And remember, if you try something new and you don’t like it or you’re rubbish at it, that’s fine, just stop and try something else. Then you can also add ‘perseverance’ to your CV.

I was ridiculously busy during all of this but I’m now at a job I love. I work for Sense About Science, a charity supporting projects that equip the public to make sense (get it?) of science. We create guides for the public, run events for researchers to train them in the best way to talk about their work, address bad journalism and put writers in touch with scientific experts whenever we can to make sure that science is clear, well-represented and useful for the public and policy-makers alike. It’s fast-paced, responsive, dead-line driven and no-one has cried for the whole eight weeks I’ve been here. So far, it’s wildly different to academia.

A version of this post was first hosted on the King's College London Graduate School blog. If you're affiliated with King's I strongly urge you to check them out as they are really helpful.

Wednesday 21 May 2014

How to have two jobs...

So...I've been a little 'under-the-radar' for a few weeks. I've been quite busy trying to get two jobs under control and I decided to throw flat-buying into the arena as well.

I was never naive enough to believe that co-ordinating two jobs would be easy but I don't think I thought it would be so 'consuming'. In order to keep tabs on both jobs (one new), I often have to plan for one, whilst doing the other. This has to be done carefully to minimise the impact on whichever role I'm doing, whilst planning for the time when I'll be at the 'other' job. If you're lost by this description of my problem, then you should try doing it!

Right now, I need the money that my second job gives me and I'm really grateful to the 'first' job for agreeing to the arrangement, so I'm doing my best to do both jobs well. I'm fairly confident that I'm managing to keep my end of the bargain (two ends of a four-sided bargain) but that's not to say that things have gone completely smoothly. For example, there was one evening where I had to leave a bar at 11.30 pm because boss number two hadn't read an email properly and I needed to quickly respond. Of course, I didn't really need to respond to an e-mail at that time but I am afflicted with a pathological need to please and therefore couldn't just say no (I probably should have thought about this before I tried to please two bosses).

Whilst a lot has been said of having multiple freelance jobs on Twitter recently (under #Scicomm14freelance), here are some of my tips to make life a bit easier if your juggling two jobs, particularly if they are in different places and you can't work on either from home.

1. Plan
I'm quite organised and like to think that I always plan ahead but with two jobs you really need to make sure that you know what you're going to be doing, when and where. Once you've decided where you plan to be, make sure that you tell the people who need to know at both locations. Then tell them again. Other people are busy sorting out their own jobs so a passing mention that you plan to be away a week next Friday won't stick. Remind them in writing and, if possible, get them to confirm that they have understood. I've had several occasions over the last few months where I've told boss two my plans only to be emailed with a list of things to do on a day that I've said I won't be working.

2. Be realistic
There are going to be weeks when you are busy at both jobs, juggling completely different deadlines, plans and objectives. If you're asked to take on something new, judge whether you're going to be able to actually manage it before saying yes. If you're doing a four day week, don't try and cram five days worth of work into four days. If you manage this, can you let me know how you did it?

3. Ask for help
I haven't found this easy an easy one, but juggling two roles is only made harder if you try to do absolutely everything yourself. If there are things that could best be done between your visits, ask someone else if they can help. They may so no but, quite often, shared goals will mean that they want to help and they may even just help out of kindness!

4. Be flexible
After all these tips about planning and organising, I would also try to allow some 'flex' in your plans. There will be times when you will need to e-mail someone about job one when you should be doing job two, or take a call for job two on your lunch break at job one. Sometimes dealing with the two jobs simultaneously is tiring but it's really the only way I've found to keep both posts moving.

5. Switch off
This is something I've really struggled with. It's so tempting to work longer hours, check your emails earlier and later, do unpaid work at the weekend to take the pressure off. I'm guilty of all of these things and not sleeping because I've forgotten to order printer toner, emailed the wrong person at the wrong time or not managed to fit in that paper redraft. I do, however, (hypocritically) recommend that you don't do any of these things and make sure that you allow yourself time to not be at work. Either of them.

I wanted to take a picture that showed the tricky nature of trying to be in two places at once so I chopped a lime in half (the only fruit I always have). Unfortunately it made me want to mix a gin and tonic (the only drinks I always have in). I had water - After all, I need to keep my head clear in case I need to reply to a work email!


Does anyone have two jobs in two locations, or more? Am I just not doing it right or does it get easier? What is your advice?