Should I go to these job interviews? (The job hunt continues.)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The last job interview I posted about fell through. My boss and a co-worker were listed as references - a bad idea on my part. Dr. Boss didn’t respond to the Interviewer’s request for a reference. Rob Aussie did send in a reference, but it took him a couple of weeks to get to it. (I’m mad at Dr. Boss. Rob Aussie is forgiven because both of us have been busy taking up Dr. Boss’ slack. :mad: )

I have two job interview possiblities this week. gasp

The first one I’m very leery of. Its for a research staff temp agency - Kelly Scientific. One of the things I have to bring to the interview is “something to verify your degree.” I don’t think they read my resume very closely - I don’t have a degree (yet). I don’t want the agency to think I’m wasting their time since I’m not “offically qualified.” On the other hand, this could be a way for me to move academics to industry.

The second interview is with another lab here on campus. Its basically the same job I have now: rodent ranching, some surgery/pathology, and a little admin work thrown in to maintain the academic angst.

Right now, I feel guilty about job hunting. This mouse has become a rat.

2

Bring your transcripts to verify your academic credentials as they are.

All else being equal, go ahead and do the interviews. It will be good practice for other interviews down the road and you may impress them enough to hire you even though you don’t exactly match the credentials. You were honest on the resume and they want to bring you in so you’re doing nothing wrong.

3

Mouse Maven, I haven’t replied to your posts before, and I’m not a very active poster in general, so you don’t know me from Adam.

However, the answer to the question “Should I go to a job interview” is almost always “Yes”. The only time it could conceivably be “No” is when you are both absolutely certain you don’t want the job the interview is for,** and** the the interview would provide no way to make new contacts or learn something new about your field. If a company offers you an interview, it is not your concern to worry about wasting their time. That is on them.

You’ve posted that you think your current job is going to end, sooner rather than later. Therefore, you are going to need a new job. What on earth is there to feel guilty about?

4

I’m sorry to hear that the job fell through. Do you have other people to act as references for you?

Good for you!

I agree with KayElCee’s take on interviewing–go for all the interviews you can! Even if you don’t get hired, maybe the interviews will introduce you to new contacts or teach you something useful about the industry or industries where the opportunities are.

Why should you feel guilty? Your job is ending soon, through no fault of your own. Everyone knows that they’re going to have to find work elsewhere. Aren’t Rob the Aussie, various grad students, and the postdoc(s) looking for new places to go, too?

5

Thank you for your input KayElCee :slight_smile:

Technically, my job is not ending. The Department Head is leaving next year and his lab runs out of money at the end of December. Dr. Boss collaborates with the DH a lot. In addition to research, Dr. Boss is an MD with patients, so he is out of the lab most of the time.

Over the year I have been with this lab, I’ve seen that the DH guides much of Dr. Boss’ research and provides funding for us. Now, the DH has no more money and Dr. Boss has been at the hospital -&not communicating with us - for over a month. If I were in the boss’ shoes, I would be applying for grants to fill in the funding gap and trying to get published (we have 3 papers in progress).
Much to my chagrin, Dr. Boss has talked about quiting research in the past, and his current behavior indicates - to me - that he may abondon us.

Since there is no clear “I’m quiting. You’re fired.” I feel guilty.

6

Sorry for the double post.

I have been encouraging Rob the Aussie to look for another job. If this lab folds, the conditions of his visa gives him 28 days to find another job or leave the country. :eek: Rob wants to hang in there and get the papers published so he has something to show for his three years here in the US.

The grad students and postdocs are busy finishing their projects right now, but I’m sure that come January, they will be looking for places to go. The DH’s lab techs have me feeling bad. They will be out of a job soon. I just think that my job is in jeopardy. The last thing they need is more competition.

7

Well, maybe the last thing they need is more competition. But the last thing you need is to be unemployed! As you know, academe and industry are competitive by nature. They certainly can’t blame you for wanting to make sure that you keep pulling in a paycheck.

Besides, there’s no guarantee that you really are competing with them for the same jobs. Each of you might have different skills and formal qualifications. They may be much more willing to move than you are.

8

Look hard now. It is easier to find a job if you already have one. Somehow if you are laid off they wonder whats wrong with you ,even if you are entirely blameless.

9

I just checked our grant balances - we have no money!

Yep, going to those job interviews. *Resist urge to scream. *

10

Great advice KayEl, but I wouldn’t even include “I’m absolutely certain I don’t want the job” caveat. Once a long time ago in a place far away I quit my job to move and marry MrSin. It took me way longer to get another job than I expected. After about 4 months of looking MrSin mentioned my problem to his boss who promptly set up an interview for me with a friend of his at a large local company. In no way did I want to work for said company and told MrSin that I didn’t want to go to the interview. How’s that for being young, stupid and ungrateful? :dubious:

MrSin convinced me that it would look bad for him if I just up and turned down the interview, so I went convinced that no way, no how was I going to go to work for this evil empire. So long story, long, I did the interview, was way more impressed than I thought I would be, got an offer, took it and it turned out to be one of my favorite jobs of all times. The only reason I eventually quit was to stay home with Sinbaby after he was born.

Ya never know.

Mouse: Keep looking and interviewing.

11

Well you have already decided to go, so I’ll just wish you luck! Sending lucky thoughts your way.

12

The coward in me would rather not go, but we have no funds and I don’t think Dr. Boss has applied for any grants. Looks like I’ll be out of job because of my PI’s neglect. :frowning:

13

It’s sad that the lab is going to be shut because of Dr. Boss.
On the bright side, if you get the other job on campus, you have a bit of experience in a similar work environment and you might get a better Dr. Boss.

I would definitely (although you already decided to) go to both interviews. I know that I screwed up having the perfect job on campus (working at a desk in the English Research Commons instead of minimal hours of tutoring - especially when I plan on going to grad school for my MLS) because I was working at a horrible place that I should not have worked at. I stayed there because when I needed the hours, they gave me the hours, and a few raises - but once I was ready to go to part-time, as I talked to my boss about before I started, they decided to let me go. It was about 3 weeks after I cancelled the on-campus interview.

Of course, that is just my story of lost oppurtunity due to missing an interview, and that is kind of not the point of me posting right now.

Good luck, Mouse_Maven - you deserve a good job and I hope it goes well.

Brendon

14

More than 30 years ago, my dad accompanied a friend to a job interview. Dad got interviewed as well. Did Dad want a job working for Company? No. Dad wanted to move West. Interviewer pointed out that Company had factories in the West as well. Dad interviewed. Dad got job in West. Dad moved.

Two years later he got laid off, then went to grad school, met my mother, married her, graduated, and moved Eastward, but the notion of interviewing for jobs that aren’t quite perfect and obtaining “perfect” jobs is not impossible.

Though I’ve had at least one phone interview where they “ask everyone the same questions” where I wanted to say–“Didn’t you read my resume? I don’t have the kind of experience you are looking for, and you should know it. Why did you even bother?”

One of those did turn into an all expenses paid on campus interview, which gave me a chance to visit a state I’d never been to before. They didn’t hire me. They hired someone with experience. Which is just as well, I’d have been scared to death to actually take the job.

15

I interviewed for my current job as a favor to a friend. I was employed and loved what I was doing - but felt the industry I was in was downturning (IT Consulting - early 2000) so I was being open minded about a switch - but really doubted the first interview I had would result in anything and wasn’t really ready to look yet (I’d just had a baby). A friend asked me to interview for the job he was leaving - he wanted to move to a different division and they wouldn’t sign the release papers until they had someone hired to fill his shoes. They’d been interviewing for three months - and had one qualified candidate no one could stand - and one nice guy who wasn’t qualified.

Always interview - you never know.

16

Just to echo:

  1. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS interview.

  2. Good luck with the interviews Mouse_Maven.

Keep us updated on your progress!

GT

17

Mouse_Maven, I don’t mean for this post to come off too cruely, and I know you’re well liked around here and this won’t be any boon for my popularity, but:

Have some fucking confidence in yourself already!

All you ever post about is how much your life sucks and all of the other people that are responsible and your family and your teachers and on and on, but why don’t you stop whining about all of these issues and do something about them?

You’re literally within a breath of graduating with a science BA that will open tons of jobs that you say you’d like to do yet you aren’t even sure if you’re graduating?! Not because you can’t hack it and you’re failing out of school, but for ten other unimportant reasons.

And work? Guess what, the whole idea of MD/PhD’s or MD’s doing basic science research is silly (to me at least) and both you and your PI are now discovering that. Principal investigators leave, and given the peanuts that UCHSC is paying its investigators these days, I can’t say I blame your investigator. He isn’t fucking you over. Fucking you over would be keeping mum about his grant status until December 20th when he declares, “Merry Christmas everyone, and don’t come back, we’re all out of grants and I’m sick of science!”

You’ve known for a long time, that like many other labs on that campus, the lights are about to go dark and a “for sale” sign is about to go up around the Beckmann-Coulter. Now, you have two interviews, one of them seems to exactly match your own personal strengths, and you’re posting to the SDMB about whether you should interview or not?

You might as well be sitting on the deck of the Titanic asking the Dope if you should step onto the lifeboat being lowered into the ocean in two minutes or not as the ship begins to list.

I’ve never really believed that there were people with an actual fear of success until I’ve read your posts.

Again, I’m sorry if that was mean, but a capable and intelligent person such as yourself shouldn’t be worried about her job security in this manner.

18

I appreciate your post threemae! :slight_smile: I thought I was the only person on campus that saw problems with the UCHSC. (For those of you not in our area: the UCHSC is the research branch/medical school of a state university. This campus is being built on top of an old military base. So far:we have had elevated levels of copper and lead in the drinking water. Different departments wanting their own buildings rather than sharing space as originally planed. School of Pharmacy, I’m looking at you. A campus development commitee being formed two years after labs started moving in. Also, the funding trouble threemae mentioned.)

You’re right, I am afraid of success. I’m embarassed of my “scenic route” education and my Jerry Springer/Tennessee Williams background. Academic and industrial biomedical research is full of bright fresh-faced people. Compared to them, I feel like second-hand goods.