Oceanography | December 2015
Ellen S. Kappel, Editor
opportunities for your colleagues, and pro-
vide support when they need it. Don’t be
that guy or gal who is only in touch when
they need something.
— Maria G. Honeycutt
Feel free to set up informational interviews
with organizations that interest you—
you’ll be amazed at what you can learn
in a half hour.
— Jon Kaye
Talk with as many people from as diverse
a network as possible. After each informa-
tional interview, a good practice is to ask
the person you spoke with to recommend a
few others with whom you can speak…It is
a great way to learn about jobs and career
paths that you may not have known about,
to establish a professional network, and
even to find your potential job. — Winnie Lau
SKILLS
Practice public speaking, learn to write,
and, ideally, take an improvisational act-
ing course—or do all three. I cannot over-
emphasize the importance of being able to
persuasively make an argument or present
a compelling story around a set of data in
person or through writing. These skills are
absolutely essential to success as a researcher
or in most nontraditional career paths for
scientists that I know.
— Heather Deese
If you think you might be interested in oper-
ational oceanography, realize that we do
not do everything in Matlab. Shell script-
ing, command-line-based packages such
as GMT, languages like Perl or Python,
C or Fortran, familiarity with formats like
NetCDF, HDF, and relational databases,
services like OPeNDAP and revision con-
trol systems like CVS, RCS, or git—these
are all valuable skills and well within the
grasp of someone getting a PhD in a quan-
titative science.
— Deirdre Byrne
THE RESUME AND INTERVIEW
I’ve reviewed enough applications for vari-
ous positions to feel the need to include the
following: when applying for a position, be
absolutely certain that your application is
well written, clear, and to the point. Make
certain that there are no typos or gram-
matical errors in your CV and especially
in your cover letter. It’s astounding to me
how many one-page cover letters have glar-
ing errors that reflect a lack of care and will
nearly always disqualify any application.
Finally, if you reach the interview stage,
go in with the attitude that the job is yours
to lose, because, really, it is. Be engaging
and interested, and arrive having done
your homework on the position. Most
importantly, have a very good answer ready
as to why you’re interested in the position,
because that’s one question you’re sure to be
asked. Being interested and personable are
critical to a successful interview—always
remember that those interviewing you are
not only assessing your qualifications for
the position but are also evaluating you as
a potential colleague. In my opinion, the
key to a successful interview is not only to
show why you are the most qualified per-
son for the position but also to come across
as someone with whom the interviewers
would want to work.
— Robert L. Burger
Keep an online version of your professional
self up to date and easily accessible…If you
are seeking a nonacademic position, do
not circulate a CV. Instead, write a resume
with sections detailing your executive/
leadership, scientific, and technical qual-
ifications… When you present your work
to a potential nonacademic employer,
be careful to mention not only the scien-
tific results, but how you got there—did
you have to collaborate widely, strategize
a fallback plan when your original exper-
iments fell through, manage a budget,
organize a cruise?
— Deirdre A. Byrne
Because employers look for people who
know how to work and who demonstrate
that they can get along with others, some-
times in stressful work environments, your
references become one of the most important
parts of any job application. — Carol Janzen
Every time I submit a job application, I
refine my resume to make sure it is aligned
with the job description. The same is true
for cover letters. This step takes time, but
it’s critical in demonstrating that you are
qualified for the position.
— Kelly A. Kryc
FELLOWSHIPS
If you are looking to move outside of aca-
demia, there are a few fellowship pro-
grams similar to the AAAS Science and
Technology Fellowship I received that
can help open doors—such as the Knauss
Fellowship (also known as the Sea Grant
Fellowship), the Presidential Management
Fellowship, and ORISE (Oak Ridge Institute
for Science and Education) Fellowship with
the Environmental Protection Agency.
Even if you are not directly interested in
policy, it might be worthwhile to spend a
year or two in one of these fellowship pro-
grams because it can lead to many non-
policy opportunities, such as working for
a nonprofit organization on conservation
science, for a consulting firm, or for a gov-
ernment agency doing analysis.
— Winnie Lau
In the next issue of Oceanography, I’ll
summarize some of the most helpful
answers provided by the people we’ve pro-
filed to the question about what aspects of
their oceanographic education have been
useful in their jobs.
As a final note, remember that the
“Career Profiles” column requires a
steady stream of new and interesting
people to profile. Please send me sugges-
tions and email contact information (at
ekappel@geo-prose.com) for colleagues
who work “outside of academia” and who
might be willing to submit a profile. Self-
nominations are welcome. If the contri-
butions over the past five years are any
indication, we have not yet covered the
full range of job possibilities nor closed
the book on the wisdom of how to suc-
cessfully seek employment.