Ask the Experts: Look Under Your Nose When You’re Looking for a New Job
ningcontentQuestion:
I live in a rural area and have been having great difficulty finding a job in my chosen field. When the economy was so bad, I returned to school and obtained a BS in chemistry and biology so that I could become a chemist, biologist or lab technician. I’ve been applying to advertised openings on-line, in newspapers, and even in person after having driven 1.5 hours to the employer’s facility. I am open to relocation, even at my own expense, but keep getting rejected. Because of my remote location, I wasn’t able to obtain any directly related experience while I was in school. The only major employers in my area are a dog food company, a furniture manufacturer and a mobile home manufacturer. I have worked a variety of jobs before and during school and am willing to do what it takes, but I can’t seem to get my foot in the door. After applying to jobs, I follow-up but I have to admit that I haven’t done any networking, primarily because there aren’t any employers with the types of jobs that I want in my area. What should I do?
First Answer:
When job searching becomes frustrating it’s important to ensure you have several plans and strategies going instead of just one. Here are several options for you to consider:
- Depending on your personal situation, you could move first and job search second. Research where some of the largest employers in your field are located and plan to relocate yourself. Once you’re in the vicinity of those types of employers, you can network with people who work there, and/or contact the employers for informational interviews to learn more about the company and how to get an entry level position.
- Are there any colleges or universities near you? If so, see if you can do some lab work in their science departments. Often there are full-time positions doing this kind of work and as well, graduate students engaging in research can often use help in the lab.
- Use your college’s career services department and the college’s faculty. What connections do they have that can help you? Can they direct you to employers or suggest ways to make your resume stronger based on what they know the field is looking for?
- Think about related work you can do in a rural area. Are you a good writer? Put your science knowledge to work by doing freelance writing for a science magazine. Do research from home to support a university professor. You can even look into starting your own business that might be science related.
- Finally, stay abreast of trends in your industry. You can do this through volunteer work (try the local hospital?) or in an academic setting. You might also try working in a doctor’s office or vet’s office to get some lab experience as well. You can also network online using any of the following sites:
— Susan Strayer, Assistant Director, Career Services, School of Professional Studies in Business and Education at the Johns Hopkins University and founder and President of University and Career Decisions
Second Answer:
The most important thing you say in your question is that you’re open to relocation. That’s critical because it sounds like there just aren’t many opportunities in your current town when it comes to applying your chemistry/biology background (although the dog food company MAY have possibilities … have you looked into that organization?). That’s not surprising. In many rural areas, there just aren’t enough employers — from a sheer numbers standpoint — for people with fairly specialized backgrounds such as yours.
I’m not saying it will be IMPOSSIBLE for you to get a job in your field in your current town; but it might well be very difficult. So the fact that you’re willing and able to move is a good thing.
That said, I think you’re due for a “road trip” — or two or three or four of them — right now. When you drove to the company that was 1.5 hours away, for example, you did so to apply for a job there in person. That’s great. But now you might want to also find someone(s) at that company whom you can talk to on an informational basis (i.e., informational interview) — either in person (best) or via email or phone (still pretty good) — to get some ideas and tips on ways you can look for a job in your field in that city (or elsewhere, for that matter). This is the “networking” type of activity that you speak of in your message — and your intuition about it is correct: It IS a critical thing for you to be doing right now, especially since you weren’t able to get any field-specific experience while you were obtaining your degree.
(Note: To learn more about informational interviewing and networking, check out the excellent book “A Foot in the Door” [Ten Speed Press, 2000], by Katharine Hansen … a frequent contributor here on CollegeRecruiter’s “Ask the Experts” column.)
Speaking of experience … that’s another issue you’re probably going to need to address (something I’m guessing you already know, deep down). Because of the current entry-level job market in most fields, employers can be (and are) very fussy about who they interview and, ultimately, hire. You’re competing against recent grads who DO have experience in the field through internships, co-ops, and the like. In order to compete effectively, you too will have to gain some experience … somehow, some way … even if it means making sacrifices (financial and otherwise) in the short term.
Are you aware, for example, that you could do an internship or volunteer experience in your field NOW, even though you’ve already graduated? It’s true. It probably wouldn’t be easy, of course (particularly financially), but it may be NECESSARY for you to take this short-term risk in order to meet your longer-term goal of landing a job in your field.
The task you have ahead of you isn’t an easy one, especially since it may involve moving — and moving to a new city without having any guarantees at that. But the alternative is finding yourself “stuck” in your current situation. You CAN ultimately reach your goals; but it will almost certainly take short-term sacrifice on your part, not to mention a lot of talking to people in order to learn about the many job opportunities that are NOT necessarily advertised anywhere in the newspaper, online, or elsewhere.)
— Peter Vogt, college career counselor, President of Career Planning Resources, and a Personal Career Coach with College to Career
Third Answer:
The good news is you are open to relocation. The bad news is that long distance job search requires very careful planning and an hour an a half drive is the tip of the iceburg. You need to plan strategically! First, visit your alma mater’s career services office to do research: what percentage of its graduates find jobs with a BS in chemistry or biology vs. go on to graduate school? What types of jobs are open to new graduates with only a BS? What companies recruit at your school or have hired its graduates in these fields? Can you get a list of alumni with degrees in chemistry or biology with contact information that you can use for informational interviews?
Second, visit your advisor or department chair and other chemistry and biology faculty and ask for their advice and contacts.
Third, visit the library and ask the reference librarian to help you look up major employers in industries that hire chemists and biologists: pharmaceuticals, oil, food processors and manufacturers, industrial chemicals, bioengineering, etc. A lot of this data is gathered in online directories, but they are accessible only to subscribers such as libraries and outplacement firms, so for most people large public libraries are the only way to get at them.
Fourth, research all the professional associations (in the Encyclopedia of Associations, a 2-volume printed tome in the public library) in biology and chemistry (you should belong to one in each field) and pick this year’s national conference of one or two; email them and ask if as an unemployed graduate in the field, you can work the registration desk in return for free registration (my students/alumni do this with frequent success). Also read the industry journals in each field, pick an industry conference and two, and try the same thing. If it works, try to schedule interviews while you are at the conference location.
Fifth, after you’ve done all this research and contact making–you can network by email and phone-pick three geographic areas where employers in these fields are concentrated: New Jersey is “the pillbox of the nation” due to its concentration of pharmaceutical companies, Houston for oil, etc. Try to utilize the contacts you’ve made in your research to get informational interviews in firms in these three areas. Also check the websites of each firm for posted jobs, and try to reach the college recruiter. Your goal is to set up ganged interviews, and ideally spend a week in each of the three locations interviewing. Yes this is expensive; if you’re footing the bill, consider staying with friends, your parents’ friends, the aunt you haven’t seen since you were ten, student hostels or find temporary accommodation on www.craigslist.org (many major cities). Most employers will not pay the travel expenses for a recent graduate (even if they do for more senior positions), but that would keep your costs down; I know new graduates who were just flown from New York to Arizona and Atlanta for job interviews. This is a saner and less risky way to do it than picking one location and using up your savings to move there in hopes of finding a job.
If you plan your search systematically and keep at it, target companies known to hire new grads in your field, and express your determination, tenacity, and willingness to learn as well as your willingness to relocate at your own expense, you will be successful. And don’t ignore the dogfood company: somewhere a chemist is working on new dogfood formulas and product line extensions! Also you surely live within commuting distance of a hospital; if it’s a teaching hospital or runs research projects, you may find a job that utilizes your scientific education.
— Carol Anderson, Career Development and Placement Office, Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at New School University in New York City
Fourth Answer:
Make sure you are stating on your cover letters — and probably your resume as well — that you are willing to relocate at your own expense. I’ve also heard recently of job-seekers deliberately omitting their addresses from their resumes and cover letters (including only phone numbers and e-mail addresses) so that employers don’t balk at those who live too far away. You might try that and see if improves your responses.
— Katharine Hansen, former speechwriter and college instructor who provides content for the Web site, Quintessential Careers, edits QuintZine, an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and prepares job-search correspondence as chief writer for Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters
Fifth Answer:
What you should do is open your eyes and start looking under your nose.
Responding to the bad economy with additional education in a specialized area was a good move. You must have chosen those three career options based on your past experience where you demonstrated strong comprehension or else you simply have a passion about the sciences and, therefore, do well in them.
You also must have made those career choices based on research about the present and potential demand for those paths. Return to your research notes to do some further study about where — geographically — the most opportunities are located as well as the least (less competition and higher likelihood of entry). Also research the amount and type of prior experience those positions require. You might try using the Bureau of Labor Statistics as one starting point, if you did not use it before. And if you did not use it before, you can find a link to that area in my Career Center or in the Library’s Salary Surveys section. (Psst. Sneak a peek at the HR Forms and Job Descriptions in the Library’s Forms aisle.)
But you said something about the only three major employers in your area are manufacturers in food, furniture, and nobile homes. No doubt each one of those major employers have a need for people with your specialty. Someone needs to know about chemical reactions in regard to lacquers and fuels, combustability of fabrics and plastics, acceptable nutritional content of certain foods in order to provide flavor and good health. Oh, the list could go on but it’s up to you to research it and explore the options, not this volunteer.
Although you speak of the major employers, you do not talk about the medium and small-sized ones. They, too, may have some unique opportunities that are being overlooked. Do a closer investigation.
As for networking, you MUST do it. Don’t limit yourself to just the online and print classifieds. Your dream job may be in plain view just a little under your nose. You just have to open your eyes and look under you nose for the gold bricks at your feet. May all of your Entrances be through the doors of success!
— Yvonne LaRose, career and professional development coach, Career and Executive Recruiting Advice
Sixth Answer:
If you are getting interviews, it may be that you need to improve your interview skills. May I recommend my book. Log on
to www.interviewcoach.com, to order one or both online. This is an
inexpensive way to know the correct answers to the tough
questions and give some insight as to where you might
be stumbling through actual interview exercises.
You should apply at the companies in your area. Your background in chemistry fits well in manufacturing, especially pet foods. You
might be surprised where you will find a need for your background.
Use all of the resources you can muster, including your college placement department and professional
recruiters.
You should let prospective employers know that you are willing to relocate and will start in an entry level position since you
have little experience and that you are enthusiastic about your
career.
Do not get discouraged. If you prepare yourself and maintain a positive attitude, you will find the job that is right for you.
— Carole Martin, The Interview Coach
