Oceanography | December 2020
After publishing 83 career profiles over the course of a little more
than a decade (https://tos.org/career-profiles), Oceanography’s
profiles feature may be coming to a close. Keen readers of this
December issue and the most recent September issue may have
noticed the absence of any career profiles at the end of the mag-
azine. I prefer not to fold a feature of the magazine that, at least
according to web statistics, remains very popular. The problem
is finding people to profile and who are willing to be profiled,
which has become a time-consuming task. Without suggestions
from Oceanography readers, I have to do the legwork, which for
the most part means spending time scrolling through LinkedIn
pages. I have found and profiled some excellent people this way,
but over time this technique has become less useful as industry
has become much better at shielding staff emails.
Five years ago, my Quarterdeck column reflected on how
the career profiles published in Oceanography demonstrated
that working toward a PhD in ocean sciences lets students
hone a variety of marketable skills (https://doi.org/10.5670/
oceanog.2016.21). That column included some of the best
responses to the question we ask of each person we profile: What
did your oceanographic education (or academic career) give you
that is useful in your current job? As a decadal wrap-up to this
column, here are some of the many excellent responses to the
final question we ask:
Do you have any recommendations
for new grads looking for jobs?
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• Don’t wait for the perfect job to start applying. In this case,
practice does make perfect. If you have already gone through the
process, you will be ready when the perfect job does come up.
• Don’t ignore the Internet. Get a profile on LinkedIn. Fill out
your profile completely. Make a website. Employers do their
homework, too.
• Don’t be afraid to take risks. Sometimes a different path ends up
being the most fruitful.
• Don’t do this alone. Lean on your network inside and outside
academia. And once you succeed, make sure to pay it forward.
• Don’t underestimate yourself. You are all highly capable people.
It just doesn’t always feel that way when you are in a room full
of other highly capable people.
• Don’t give up. It takes work to find the job that’s right for you.
You may not immediately find the right job. But keep trying—
you can do it!
– Kim Martini, Senior Oceanographer, Sea-Bird Scientific
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If you know for sure that you want to go into policy, don’t do a PhD.
It’s not necessary—first-hand experience in the policy trenches
is more valued. If you have done a PhD, there are still plenty of
opportunities in policy, but you must be an excellent writer and
communicator. Having a strong, supportive network is so import-
ant to getting you through the inevitable tough times and setbacks.
And don’t worry if you don’t have a specific career plan—work on
developing valuable skills, and the opportunities will follow.
– Miriam Goldstein, Director of Ocean Policy and Managing
Director of Energy and Environment, Center for American Progress
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Your science PhD or master’s degree shouldn’t be the bulk of your
resume’s work experience. You likely won’t get a job because of
your degree, though it may help you once you’re in the position.
You’ll need to be able to show you have the skills for a specific job,
regardless of your degree. Figure out what position titles mean—
nonacademic jobs use words like “coordinator” or “specialist,” and
these terms mean different things in different fields. You need to be
able to describe your skills in nonacademic language.
– Marley Jarvis, Outreach and Education Specialist,
Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, University of Washington
********
My experience affirms that you never know who you are going to
run into if you don’t reach out. This includes both people at the
university and in surrounding communities. Many universities are
surrounded by a town or a city where there are endless opportu-
nities to start dialogues with people you would never meet in class
or the lab. People like to tell their stories and how they got where
they are. So get outside your comfort zone and start inviting peo-
ple for coffee and to have those conversations. Even if it helps you
figure out what you don’t want to do, no enlightening conversation
is wasted, and you would be surprised how small policy and sci-
ence circles really are.
– Aaron Goldner, Energy Policy Advisor, Office of
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
QUARTERDECK
A DECADE OF CAREER PROFILES
Recommendations for Job-Hunting