Loading ...I thought I’d take a break from divulging information about the various career paths available to life science/medical physics graduate students and talk a little bit about some of things you might consider doing to land that dream job of yours.
In the past, I always believed I was special in some way – that the jobs I coveted would somehow fall into my lap. This “dream” has come crashing down as rejection letters or silence are the two responses I get most often. I’m sure we’ve all heard the old adage, “It’s not WHAT you know, but WHO you know.” Unfortunately, even for graduate students – it is a saying that I think needs to be taken seriously.
Typically graduate students are terrible at networking and really who can blame us? We rarely see anyone outside of our immediate circle of friends or labmates because we are slaving away writing computer programs or pipetting furiously. We don’t have much time to think about our future and how to get there and generally assume that it will “all work out”.
Looking back, I think this is a mistake. Sure, some people will get that job they’ve always wanted and not ever actively try to build a network of contacts. But for most of us, the earlier we prepare for our eventual job hunt the more likely we are to land that interview.
