Customer Reviews

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

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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."

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.

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.

I think this book is the best resource out there for PhD engineers and scientists looking for a non-academic job, although it has some great pointers on the academic search as well. What I found particularly helpful was the list of transferable skills. I learned more than I thought in grad school! The book also has great practical advice on thinking about the type of job that you'd like best. The advice on resume and cover letter writing is solid and helpful. I have bought this book for several friends who are finishing up their PhDs.

I am so glad I got this book. It is just awesome, a true life saver. It shows the way (and more than one way) through the confusion most people have when they are at the end of their paths in grad school.
I have been thinking and reading around for years ago job search, building a good resume and cover letters, etc. Yet this book opened my eyes to so many things I had overlooked or not fully considered or not considered at all.
It really allows to face the job search with a lot more confidence and, especially, awareness, of what you want, what you should do to get what you want, and what to expect.
One excellent point is also that it teaches to see the biases and take the distance from the bad advice students often get from people within the academia, such as mentors, who are not necessarily smart when it comes to job searching outside the academia itself.

On a side note, I am not sure why the price at the moment is so high for this book, I bought it a year ago for about 12$, so I guess it is a temporary thing that it is so absurdly expensive on amazon now