Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists - Practical Advise,,, Proven Techniques [Paperback]

Peter S. Fiske Ph.D. (Author), Aaron Louie (Illustrator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0875902952 | ISBN-13: 978-0875902951 | Publication Date: December 1, 2000

The job market is more complex and challenging than ever before. Although young scientists and engineers are facing a larger array of career choices, many of them are not getting the job hunting and career development advice they need to make wise decisions.

If you're a new scientist or seeking a mid-career change, Peter Fiske’s Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists gives you practical advice and proven techniques for finding both traditional and non-traditional jobs in science. It includes examples of resumes and cover letters, and stories of scientists who have moved into a wide range of careers.

Written with humor and insight, Put Your Science to Work gives readers a broad view of career possibilities and tools for choosing the best job options. Completely revised and updated from Fiske’s best-seller To Boldly Go: A Practical Career Guide for Scientists, this second edition offers expert help on how to achieve success now.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Whether you are a science undergraduate or graduate student, post-doc or senior scientist, you need practical career development advice. Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists can help you explore all your options and develop dynamite strategies for landing the job of your dreams. Completely revised and updated from the best-selling To Boldly Go: A Practical Career Guide for Scientists, this second edition offers expert help from networking to negotiating a job offer. This is the book you need to start moving your career in the right direction.

From the Author

This Book Is About Creating Options and Recognizing Opportunities

Career planning is a process of professional development that is important for every type of career, including research science. This book is not an exhortation for you to abandon your research career goals. Rather, its goal is to show you that a wealth of opportunities exist for you in many career fields, especially because you have an advanced degree in science. Far from being a liability, a scientific training provides powerful problem-solving tools that are valuable in nearly every type of career. We scientists have much to offer the world beyond scholarly research. Ph.D. and Masters degree holders do encounter perceptions from the scientific community, the "outside world," and even within themselves that tend to reduce their career options. This book will help you attack those preconceptions and explore your true range of career options.

Exploring alternative careers can be a liberating, empowering, and enjoyable experience. Who knows? Maybe your exploration will confirm your original career goals. No matter what the outcome, you will be better off for the experience both in terms of your own career development and in the advice you may give to your students in the future.

Only you can be in control of your career and nobody cares more than YOU about your future.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 179 pages
• Publisher: Amer Geophysical Union (December 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875902952
• ISBN-13: 978-0875902951
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #716,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderfull and necessary book for every scientist, January 9, 2007

By 

John H. Hwung (Fair Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists - Practical Advise,,, Proven Techniques (Paperback)

This book can be divided into three sections:

1) The "enlightenment section" - This section is worth one hundred thousand dollars and should be read by every graduate student and mid-career scientist. This is the best part of the book. It gives the reader the desire and courage to change. It contains:

a. Forward - by the President of the National Academy of Sciences
b. Preface - by the author
c. Chapters 1 & 2

This section does a good job at changing the mindset of a young or mid-career scientist. The author convincingly told the readers that the total available job market for a scientist is much bigger than just the realm of academia. Also, the author successfully conveyed that the skills a scientist acquired while getting a PhD are also the ones highly useful in the corporate world. Finally, the author bluntly told the reader the some of the skills and habits that make a person successful in the academia are bad for the world outside of the academia.

2) The "principle section" - This section is worth ten thousand dollars. This part is the second best of the book. It gives the reader the principles of how to change ones job from inside the academia to the outside world. It contains:

a. Chapter 3 - the stages of change
b. Chapter 4 - the proper career planning process

Why is this section valuable, yet not as good as the first section? It is because it contains the same good career planning principles for every career type, not just for the scientists. While the principles described are good, they are not unique, nor earth-shattering. However, the Stanford Career Planning Model in p32 and the "80:10:10 Rule" in p33 are outstanding. These two pieces of information alone are worth much more than the price of the book.

3) The "do-it section" - This section is worth one thousand dollars. This part is the least valuable part of the book. It gives the reader step-by-step procedure of how to look for a job in the outside world. It contains chapters 5 to 13.

This section is least valuable because it is not much different from the myriad job hunting books that were written by others. However, chapter 8 on the difference between CVs and resumes, and chapter 10 on resume case studies are very outstanding. These two chapters are worthy of careful reading and are not found in ordinary job searching books.

**Note: The author, by revealing an important piece of information in this book, is worthy of great adulation and applause for daring to speak out. In page 1, this author points out the erroneous prediction of shortage of young scientists by National Science Foundation (NSF), which caused "one of the worst job markets for scientists in the past 40 years."

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Put Your Science to Work works!, January 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists - Practical Advise,,, Proven Techniques (Paperback)

This book is a must for young scientists just starting out and mid-career scientists looking for employment opportunities in academic, research, and industry. It offers the best advice I've come across on a whole range of job search and career issues, from taking stock of where you are now and where you want to go, to getting there! It's helped me and I know it will help others who wish to make the most of their advanced science education.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indespensable, a MUST-HAVE!, March 29, 2006

By 

hydronerd "hydronerd" (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists - Practical Advise,,, Proven Techniques (Paperback)

This book has been very helpful to me in deciding what I want to do and how to promote the skills I have for the career I choose. After a couple of years of grad school, I realized that I absolutely did not want a career in academia. Reading through this book liberated me from thinking that academia was where I was doomed to go. I have choices. And I can make my choice happen.

This book is definitely a must-have for any scientist seeking employment, particularly outside of academia. The book highlights that you can do anything with your degree, whether or not you are seeking a science or non-science career.