Career Planning
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Considering Careers
There are many alternative career paths and opportunities for scientists. What you choose depends on your interests, personality and abilities. Many people these days think in terms of multiple careers and seek retraining to expand their skills and enjoyability. It is important to not shortchange yourself when considering your prior experiences. Every person brings a constellation of experiences and skills that can be transferred from career to career. When considering a career change it is smart to arrange some kind so internship or shadowing experience so that you see in detail what the new career might entail, and determine if the day to day tasks are compatible with your personality. This will help you avoid putting in a huge amount of effort to train for job that will not enjoy. As you enter a new field it is also helpful to locate one or more mentors who can guide you along the way.
Prospects for Masters
The masters is a versatile and highly employable degree. About 60% of those earning a masters in physics found STEM related employment [1]. Masters graduates had the highest percentage of jobs that related to their degree (44.9%)[2]. Earning a masters gives 23% wage premium, while earning a doctorate averages in a 26% wage premium.
Teaching is a common career for masters. The there is much debate about the shortage or oversupply of science teachers[3]. 34% of current public high school teachers expect to retire by 2010. The student population is expect to increase by 10% in the next two decades. Students are taking more science course because of graduation requirements. The Business Higher Education Forum [4] points to a demand for 280,000 new math and science teachers by 2015 [5]. Some say that there is an adequate supply of STEM teachers a failure to retain them. Job dissatisfaction is a major reason for leaving the classroom. This emphasizes the importance of internships and classroom visits before committing to a teaching career. More than 30% of school districts offer distance learning courses. There a likely demand for 165,000 for masters level specialists (instructional coordinators) to design distance learning courseware [6]. It is also worth considering a Professional Science Masters [7] degree which combines academic training in a discipline as well as professional workplace skills to prepare students to enter the workforce immediately.
Prospect for Ph.D's
The economic downturn of the last few days has created a temporary surplus of Ph.D. with respect to academic positions [8] [9] As a result more recent graduates are taking post doc positions than moving directly into jobs as in previous years MIT [10].
Bright Spots Videos
Here are some videos that explore careers in research that may offer some guidance.
Suely Black - NSU education
Sam Graham - GT- research career
Sam Graham - GT- technical interests
Bob Norwood - UA - device research
Nasser Peyghambarian- UA On Entrepreneurship
Employment Sectors
There are many opportunities for Ph.D. besides the traditional academic role. In fact today academic might be consider "non-traditional" because so few Ph.D.s actually end up finding employment at an R1 university similar to the place where they were trained. It is important to keep possibilities open and to adapt your job search and application process for each kind of job. Consider differences in your resume, cover letter and interview that you would prepare for each of these sectors.
R1 Research University
4 year colleges
Community college
Headline text
Post Doctorate
Industry Research
Government Labs
Government policy or admin
Other
AAAS Careers away from the Bench AAAS slideshow
Career Planning Links
Selecting a Career
Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook 2010
Careers in Chemistry- Alchemists Lair
Careers in Chemistry from U of Alambama
Advanced Technical Education TV
NAS Careers in Science and Engineering
Preparing for the GRE
Finishing School
Success factors for completing college
MentorNet- E-mentoring for diversity in engineering and science
Professional Organizations
Job Search
Optics The business of photonics
Jobspectrum - Global Job Markets
Increasing Diversity
National Association of Mathematicians (NAM)
National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers
National Society of Black Physicists
Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science SACNAS
National Physical Science Consortium
American Fellowships Support for Women Doctoral and Post Doc Candidates
National Technical Association
Growth Sectors
OECD Fostering Innovation for Green Growth
Brookings Sizing the Green Economy
References
- ↑ American Institute of Physics survey http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/highlite/emp4/emphigh.htm
- ↑ NSF Science and Engineering Indicators 2010 http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind10/
- ↑ Mathematics and Science Teacher Shortage: Fact and Myth https://www.csun.edu/science/courses/710/bibliography/math%20science%20shortage%20paper%20march%202009%20final.pdf
- ↑ http://www.bhef.com/solutions/documents/AnAmericanImperative.pdf
- ↑ http://www.bhef.com/publications/documents/commitment_future_05.pdf
- ↑ http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos269.htm#outlook
- ↑ http://www.sciencemasters.com/ScienceMastersHome/tabid/36/Default.aspx
- ↑ Economist Article Dec 16th 2010 http://www.economist.com/node/17723223
- ↑ Education:The PhD Factory Nature 472, 276-279 (2011) | doi:10.1038/472276a
- ↑ Ph.D. career directions survey http://web.mit.edu/fnl/volume/223/hastings.html