goodbye grad school, hello job search

[ihavemeaning.livejournal.com]

I plan to spend the next oh several hours/days/weeks/months in Diesel searching for a job. Because I'm just so over grad school.

Beyond posting my resume on monster.com, where else do ya'll flaunt your credentials? Oh, and where do ya'll look for jobs, beyond Craig's List?

Working without benefits or a 401k has gotten sorta old. I'm interested in places that offer positions for advancement, paid holidays, and a bag of chips. Is it really bad that I am currently considering an escape from the nonprofit world (insert burned out activist guilt here).

I'm interested in:
Clinical medical trials
Writing / editing stuffs
Bitching about social issues
Biomedicine
Patient advocacy & education


I do not care about working with:
HR
Venture Capital
Zombies

Comments

[spatch]

Hey, nothing wrong with zombies. The last zombies I worked for gave full health and dental, plus use of the company crypt. Weren't much for conversation, though.

on competition in the workplace

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

No matter how serious a zombie's injuries may appear, never assume it is defeated. Falling down may only be a ploy to get better access to your ankles.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

But with zombies there are usually a lot of "braiiiiiin" leftover lying about.

[spatch]

The best part is, you don't have to declare leftover brains on your taxes.

[carmesi.livejournal.com]

mass general hospital!!!

[ihavemeaning.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhhhhhhhh. How's their cafeteria? I want yummy lunches!

[carmesi.livejournal.com]

the cafeteria isn't too bad, and a lot of the stuff is pretty healthy. i usually bring my lunch, though. :)

[rxrfrx.livejournal.com]

What are your credentials? Different skills/fields have different best resources.

[ihavemeaning.livejournal.com]

I am the queen of your parallel universe. Uh, no. I'll post stuffs later.

[simonbillenness.livejournal.com]

I'm a venture capitalist but I can see that you're probably not interested in my latest investment: a fully outsourced human resources department staffed only by zombies.

I figure that most people feel as if their human resource department is slowly sucking out their brains. My zombie HR unit will actually suck out their brains, do it twice as fast, and still cost 50% less.

What a bargain!

[simonbillenness.livejournal.com]

Seriously though, check out www.idealist.org

[ihavemeaning.livejournal.com]

Is there a zombie nonprofit?

[leafspice.livejournal.com]

I'm in the same situation -- graduating with my Masters in May. At first, I was spending tons of time on places like Monster and Craigslist, pouring over all of the ads for the "perfect" job...instead, I just got really overwhelmed with all that is out there!

My new strategy has been to first determine what types of companies do the work I'm interested in (through web searches, talking to people in my field who would know, etc.). I then contact those companies and express my interest in learning more about them and what they do. Many of them do not have current job openings, but are still very willing to have "informational" interviews with me so that I can learn more about them, and vice versa. This works out well, because when something does open up, they know to contact me first. The places that do have openings were impressed with the fact that instead of mindlessly searching classifieds, I was actually interested in the company before I knew there were jobs available.

I have found this process to be MUCH more productive and rewarding! No job yet, but several interviews nonetheless. Good luck searching! :-)

[ihavemeaning.livejournal.com]

This a great idea. I never would have considered this approach. Thanks for sharing!

[tisana.livejournal.com]

I work for Harvard University (http://www.employment.harvard.edu/). I may bitterly complain about the twits in my department, but the University is good and has some great benefits--4 weeks vacation, 12 sick days, 3 personal; various discounts like 40% off T passes and benefits like access to the libraries and such; $40 for Extension School (http://www.dce.harvard.edu/extension/) classes (which you may not care about, given that you're d-u-n done); good health and dental insurance options; various investment options; union-mandated regular raises... yyyeah, I'm completely spoiled on their benefits by this point. But the only qualifications were to be an office lackey, essentially, and start out as a temp (http://www.spherion.com/corporate/home.jsp). I'm quite sure there are jobs more suited to your preferences there, but Harvard is notoriously slow about the application process, and many get frustrated and decide to go with the trials of big corporations.

But...worth a shot, right?

Stupid HTML...3rd time's the charm, hopefully.

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

Harvard is VERY hard to get into, though. I have been actively searcing and submitting resumes for 9 months to no avail. The pay is also not that great, but I'm so intent on the tuition assistance program that I'm still staying at it.

[tisana.livejournal.com]

It is, and it's annoying, since I've tried to encourage friends who are very qualified to apply, only to see them get rejected...when I see so many far less qualified people here all the time, because once you're in, it's easy to stay in and shift around. A lot of us started as temps because it was too hard to get in otherwise.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

MIT is a much better employer. I've worked for both universities, and though there are much fewer job opportunities at MIT, it's a fantastic employer if you can land one. Definitely worth shooting for.

[ihavemeaning.livejournal.com]

I am so so so jealous. Thanks for the tip off!

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

http://www.partners.org/careers/webhire.htm

Try that for Clinical trials, biomedicine, patient advocacy and education.

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

also, the individual biotech companies in Cambridge all have their own webistes and are almost always looking for folks to fill roles since their companies are always growing.

[ihavemeaning.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank ye!