Finding good professional opportunities requires a combination of experience, reflection, luck, and detective work. I’ve discussed the first three extensively in previous postings. At first, detective work may appear to be a difficult task because it appears like all of the information you require regarding various employment alternatives should be “out there somewhere.”
It exists, although not in a single location. If you begin with job titles that you are familiar with and that sound at least a bit fascinating, you may be able to uncover previously unknown options – all those strange and amazing forms of work that individuals who are not physicians, teachers, or lawyers perform. Here are a few suggestions for discovering new possibilities.
There are continuing Twitter discussions concerning employment opportunities outside of academia. Follow @FromPhDtoLife and @akrook on Twitter, and look for conversations using hashtags such as #withaphd, #altac, #nonac, and #postac. (You could always do a broad Twitter search for “PhD” to check who has it in their profile name and who works in an altac field. Of course, this can be the Twitter career discovery equivalent of surfing Pinterest – if you don’t have any specific keywords to search on, expect for a wandering time suck.
LinkedIn still offers some free stuff.Get them while you can, because LinkedIn has hidden some information from users with free accounts. For the time being, you can still use the “advanced search” option to find profiles based on any terms you desire. You can narrow down your searches in a variety of ways; for example, you can look for certain job titles or see what’s available in a specific geographic area or industry. Freebie users can only view full profiles of those with whom they have a 3rd degree relationship. However, having a few 1st degree connections can result in a significant 3rd degree network.
People who work in jobs that interest you are more likely to have a skills section in their profiles. LinkedIn friends can propose skills to add to your profile, resulting in large skill sections for even the most modest users. Explore the skills in profiles that interest you. If a skill sounds intriguing, click on it. You’ll next see which firms have the most employees claiming that expertise, what other skills are associated with it, and relevant individual profiles, slide presentations, and discussion groups in which you may participate.
LinkedIn has become more fascinating recently. The job search function displays – and allows you to change – the information it uses to recommend job posts. For example, it provides industries you might be interested in and allows you to select the level of employment you’re looking for. The “find alumni” search tool displays industries in which fellow graduates work, allowing you to identify organizations where they work and examine their profiles – a fantastic place to start when looking for people to do informational interviews. Now that LinkedIn has added a search link for SlideShare presentations, you might be able to locate some short introductions to industries, roles, companies, or topics of interest. (A caveat: the presentations have not been verified, thus there is always the possibility of inaccuracy. However, you can check the poster’s profile to see if they are well-positioned to be credible.
