Customer Reviews

Guide to Non-Traditional Careers in Science: A Resource Guide for Pursuing a Non-Traditional Path

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This book was originally loaned to me by an administrator at my graduate school. I borrowed it twice, for several months each! I finally bought the book because it is such a great reference. It gives overveiws of broad areas, such as law, business, writing and publishing, scientific journalism and education, both formal and informal. For each section, there are bios and interviews with people holding various positions within the field. And there are great tips for how to prepare yourself for the change, as well as things to expect after the leap (for example, many of these careers are a one-way change, meaning the door to research closes). However, the most valuable part of the book (and the reason I purchased it) is the contacts with trade organizations. For each area, there is a list of several organizations, listing who they are, what the mission is, what they offer and how to contact them. Bottom line, if a lifetime of benchwork and grantwriting doesn't seem like you, but this book. You might find yourself identifying with a career you never would have thought about otherwise.

This book is a great idea, but is very skimpy with the details. The interviews consist of two questions (the same for each person) that cover general advice, but nothing specific about what the careers involve. Some fields don't need this detail (high school education is something most of us are familiar with), but if I want to learn what a policy advisor actually does every day, I'll need to look beyond the "policy" career section of this book. It was full of advice for success (improve your communication skills, do what you love), but rather short on what tasks you'd actually need to succeed at to make it in a particular career.

This book discusses a variety of options for people with advanced science degrees (MS or PhD mostly) who wish to pursue a career outside of academia. It provides interviews with scientists who have successfully made the leap out of academia, either immediately after they finished their degree, or after spending some time in an academic job.

Overall, I found the book very helpful. It provided advice about how to enter specific fields and also gave general advice about how to get a nonacademic job, how to sell yourself to a potential employer, how to determine if a career is right for you, etc. The book is divided into sections based on career paths, and I read every section (even those for careers I wouldn't consider) because I found the general job-seeking advice extremely helpful. However, I encountered two main problems while reading this. First, it is almost 10 years old, so many of the trends discussed, web addresses, contact info, and program suggestions are out of date. Second, it contained no information on jobs in conservation, ecology, or the environment. These are huge areas with many possible nonacademic jobs, and the fact that they were not included is a significant oversight.

Excellent advice for anyone considering a career change or a student hopelessly confused about your future <-- me.