IT'S SHOWTIME
Sarah Hart Winchester
REACTION TIMES FEBRUARY 1993
(Reproduced with permission.)
(This article was taken from the February 1993 issue of Reaction Times,
which is a copyrighted American Chemical Society publication. You are encouraged
to duplicate, or quote from, this article.)
Once you've determined the type of job you're going to seek, it's time to
write (or revise) your resume, develop a catchy cover letter, and come up
with a list of companies, labs, universities, and other employers to target.
Ready?
RESUMES
Your resume should be a concise, well-written summary of your skills, described
in such a way that it persuades an employer you have what it takes to excel
at any particular company. A successful resume draws a link between your
previous work experience, your educational background and interests, and
the career field at large.
This means not only saying on your resume that you helped a research chemist
carry out experiments in your summer internship, but also listing the skills
you used in this job and the contributions you made. It means noting not
only the chemistry courses you took but the way in which you can use the
course content in a future job.
The key to developing a hard-hitting resume is to sell the results obtained
from your classes, summer jobs, and extracurricular activities, rather than
to try to sell the experience itself. While probably everyone you're competing
with went to college, held summer jobs, and participated in interesting
extracurricular activities, only a small percentage of those other job seekers
will draw clear and distinct parallels between what they did on campus and
how they can use that experience to contribute to a project in a professional
environment.
"We look for problem-solving skills that a candidate can apply to a
real-life problem," comments Dr. Ann Beaulieu, manager of training
and developmental research at Rohm & Haas in Spring House, Pennsylvania.
"And we like to see someone approach the job hunt with the attitude
that 'yes, I happen to know chemistry and I'll use this knowledge to solve
real-life problems,' as opposed to 'I'm a technical person looking for a
job.' "
Write your resume in reverse chronological order in plain, simple
language. Center your name, address, and telephone number across the top
of the page and list your academic and work experience as well as any special
awards you may have received.
"Highlight the most important things on your resume right away,"
recommends Beaulieu, "and try to show you are different. If you're
going to work at the bench, for example, it's that practical work experience
that gives you an edge."
Be creative--if you haven't received an official award, you might call this
part of your resume "Special Achievements" and include under this
category your coveted summer work for a well-known professor, or your leadership
of the campus chemistry-magic program.
COVER LETTERS
A cover letter is as important as a resume. Cover letters accompany your
resume, and while they contain the standard data on what you're seeking
(a position doing x, y, and z), why you're qualified (you had a summer internship
similar to the position available), and how you can be reached (you'll call
the employer in two weeks to see whether you might be able to come in for
an interview), they enlarge, expand upon, and bring additional life to your
resume.
Cover letters should always be addressed to an individual person with an
individual title (John Smith, Director of Research) rather than to a company
name and a generic title (ABC Labs, Personnel). There is some dissension
over whether recent college graduates, or any job seeker, should directly
go to the part of the company which they would like a job or whether they
should go to the personel department.
To play it safe, call the company, ask for the name of the head of the department
in which you're interested, and send a resume and cover letter to that person.
Next, send a copy of your cover letter to a specific person the human resources
or personnel office, noting that you sent the letter to department head
and will be following up.
When you write your cover letter, follow the same guidelines you used putting
together your resume. Keep the letter short, to the point, and direct. Two
or three paragraphs are sufficient. There is no need to sum up your entire
resume; instead, highlight one or two significant points, and make a clear
link between the skills you are mentioning and the job that is available.
FINDING POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS
Once you've developed a resume and drafted a basic cover letter, you're
ready to notify potential employers, using as many of the folllowing methods
as possible: on-camps interviews, the classified ads, job banks, mass mailings
to selected companies, and personal contacts.
ON CAMPUS INTERVIEWS.
On-campus interviews are not as plentiful as they used to be, with many
companies eschewing this traditional means of finding qualified college
graduates simply because they do not have any openings. While you can no
longer depend solely upon on-campus interviews, you should still participate,
if for no other reason than to brush up on your interview skills.
CLASSIFIED ADS.
The want ads can also be an excellent tool for finding your first job. Listed
alphabetically by job title in the classified section of any major newspaper,
particularly on Sundays, these ads describe a job and tell you what an employer
is looking for. Salaries are often listed, and this can be a good way to
help you develop a realistic salary expectation. To use the classifieds,
come up with a list of headings under which you can look for a job. For
example, as a chemistry major, you might try research, engineering, chemist,
sales, environmental affairs, technical writer, and any other category you
think might describe jobs related to your interests, skills, and background.
JOB BANKS.
This resource is another way to find companies that are hiring. Job banks
are administered by state and local employment offices, professional associations,
college alum clubs, and many other groups. Check your local library (or
the library in the city in which you plan to live) for organizations that
host job banks.
To use a job bank, you generally join the organization or pay a small fee.
You then call a tape-recorded message, or pick up a weekly leaflet, that
lists available jobs, required skills, and salaries. To obtain the employer
name, you contact the person administering the job bank and identify yourself
as a member of the group. Job banks offer an easy way to gain access to
a wide range of employers. While it takes effort to consistently check the
job bank listings, it can often pay off in the form of your first job.
Many professional organizations serving chemists, such as the American Chemical
Society, offer an extensive range of services to young chemists seeking
employment advice and leads. The ACS, for example, has an entire group devoted
to career issues for younger chemists, aptly called the Younger Chemists
Committee. Joining organizations such as the ACS can provide you with valuable
contacts for years to come.
MASS MAILINGS.
Another part of a thorough job search. The more places you send your resume,
the greater your chances of finding the job that's right for you.
To put together a useful mailing list, go to the library and locate companies
that hire chemistry majors. You can find lists of the largest companies,
the fastest growing, the most profitable, and so on. Obtain the names of
people to contact at each company by calling and asking for the head of
the appropriate department. If you send out 25 letters this way, you may
have uncovered a few potential jobs. And if not, you've uncovered 25 potential
networking contacts.
PERSONAL CONTACTS.
Networking is a vital part of the job search. Often when you're new to the
field, employers and others who are more experienced will be willing to
talk to you to help you break in. Start your networking by making two lists,
one of people who are willing to help you but may not be connected with
the chemistry field, and the other of people working in chemistry who may
or may not be willing to help you. Don't forget your professors, former
classmates who graduated a few years before you did, and supervisors from
your summer jobs.
To start networking, send your resume and cover letter to each of the people
on your two networking lists. Follow up in a few weeks with a brief phone
call requesting an informational interview. While the person you speak to
may not have any positions available, he or she may know of someone else
you can talk to at another company, and they may provide you with ideas
for your job hunt you never would have thought of on your own. Through networking,
you can develop useful professional relationships.
INTERVIEWING
Interviewing may be one of the most intimidating aspects of the job search,
but believe it or not, it's the one element over which you have the most
control. While you can't ensure that someone will read your resume
or respond to your plea for an introduction or a networking session, you
can ensure that you're well prepared for an interview. Practice for an interview
by thinking of two or three of your strong points--maybe your ability to
finish projects rapidly, your summer internship with a pharmaceutical company,
or your 3.7 GPA. Once in the interview, make an effort to answer the employer's
general questions with specific mentions of your achievements. You'll never
be at a loss for words, and you'll appear confident and well organized.
"Go into an interview with a specific idea in mind about the position,"
suggests Karen Morris, chemical demonstrator at Notre Dame. "Have a
plan and be prepared to present that plan."
She adds, "When employers interview a new researcher, they want to
know not only what type of research you've done in the past,
but what your plans are for the future."
When you interview, don't fall into the trap of thinking you have to have
all the "right" answers to every inter view question that
comes your way.
"Employers don't require you to be an expert when you interview for
a new job," says Dr. Samuel Markowitz, professor of chemistry at the
University of California at Berkeley. "What they're looking for is
a willingness to learn new things."
This means instead of saying to an interviewer that you don't know a certain
area of chemistry, and you therefore can't perform a certain job, you should
say that you don't know a certain area of chemistry, but that you're
confident you can study it and learn it, says Markowitz. This is true
when responding to more probing interview questions as well. According to
Beaulieu, it is perfectly all right to answer difficult questions with an
honest "I don't know" as long as you are able to elaborate and
provide the employer with insight into your personality and your future
plans.
"When an interviewer asks you what you want to do five years from now,
it's fine to say you're not sure," explains Beaulieu. 'Just express
what you're committed to achieving and say you want to be flexible and see
what comes up."
Honesty is a big part of an interview, Beaulieu notes, because a lot of
an interview is personality.
"An interview shows the employer how well you'd fit in with the company,"
says Beaulieu. "We let a peer group go out to lunch so the candidate
can ask what it's really like at the company and so we can find out whether
the peer group would be able to work with the candidate." Between the
pressures of a difficult job market and the challenges of conducting a well-organized
and well-executed job search, it's no wonder many college students find
the thought of looking for a job depressing at best. While any discussion
of job hunting makes it sound as though you must play everything
exactly by the book or face dire consequences, Markowitz offers some reassuring
advice.
"Don't look for sure bets," advises Markowitz. "You
can't run your life like that. Remember that confidence is half of the ballgame
and that you can control your own future."
U S E F U L RESOURCES
Woodburn, John H. Opportunities In Chemistry Careers, 1987. National
Textbook Company, Lincolnwood, Il.
Lewis, Adele B. The Best Resumes for Scientists and Engineers. 1988.
John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.
Peterson's Guide to Engineering, Science, and Computer Jobs. 1990.
Peterson's, Princeton, NJ.
Chemical Career Insights Video: A Guide to Careers in Chemistry. Produced
by the Younger Chemists Committee of the American Chemical Society, Washington,
DC (800) 227-5558.
TO RESEARCH A COMPANY:
* Annual Reports
* Corporate and Industry Research Reports
* Moody's Investor Service
* Standard and Poor's Industry Surveys
* Business Periodicals Index
* America's Corporate Families:
* The Billion Dollar Directory
TEN FREQUENTLY ASKED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF.
2. WHAT ARE YOUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES?
3. HOW WOULD A PREVIOUS EMPLOYER
4. WHY DO YOU WANT TO WORK HERE?
5. HOW DOES YOUR PREYIOUS EXPERIENCE - RELATE TO THE JOB WE HAVE AVAILABLE?
6. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT OUR COMPANY?
7. WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT IN COLLEGE?
8. DID YOU LIKE COLLEGE? WHAT WERE YOUR FAVORITE CLASSES? WHY?
9. WHY AREN'T YOU GOING ON TO GRADUATE SCHOOL?
10. WHY HAVE YOU BEEN LOOKING FOR A JOB FOR SO LONG?