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 w

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 Come as you are has been replaced by come as you need to be.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

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

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 thr

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 fee