Graduate Job Search Wiki Page

There are several aspects of the job search that I think we should include here. When a student is in graduate school they should keep in mind what types of jobs they want to apply for, and participate in activities that will give them experience for those jobs. Then, toward the end of graduate school students need to prepare documents for their job applications. Then there is the application and interview process, finally culminating in negotiating the job offer.

What types of jobs are available for people with graduate degrees in physics

APS job and career page: http://www.aps.org/jobs/

Physics Today career page

See also the links at the bottom of the page

Resume building activities

If you want a teaching career here are some opportunities:

• Participate in the mentor teaching program within the department
• Consider teaching a full course at LBCC - they often need instructors and are happy to arrange this
• Take a science education class
• Teach a summer camp class for visiting youngsters
• Mentor an undergraduate project (especially if you want to teach in a non-research based school)
• Participate in a physics education research project. The department webpage for PER can be found here.
• More suggestions are welcome!

If you want a career in research:

Core knowledge is critical …

• Work very hard on your research project, concentrating on building physics knowledge, research techniques, and developing independence
• Read the relevant journals in your field and read more general journals, too.
• Attend the departmental colloquium and the seminar - improving your general knowledge of physics is critical, and you will have a chance to meet people from other universities.

Publish …

• Work hard to get results that you can write up in a journal and present at a national or regional conference. Making your results public is the best way to attract the attention of potential employers.
• Number of expected publications varies considerably by sub-field. Ask your advisor how many publications you should reasonably aim for and work hard to achieve this goal.

Independence …

• It's important to point to something substantial that you achieved. It might be the building of a new piece of equipment or further development of existing equipment (or computer code if you're a computationalist), or a new idea that you initiated and developed with existing resources, or something else, but whatever it is, it must be evidence that you have initiative, drive, and scientific curiosity.

Network …

• Look for local conferences/poster sessions/ where you can display your work. You never know where an opportunity for collaboration on a new project will present itself.
• Ask your advisor to introduce you to any visitors who come by and are interested in your group's work. Make sure you spend a few minutes telling that person about your work. Ask about his or her work. Make a note of your conversation and the date. You may visit that person's lab sometime in the future and you'll have some notes about his or her group's work.
• Talk to the other graduate students in the department about their work. You may learn about techniques and physics that will be useful to you. You will be building collaborations that last a lifetime.
• Find out from your advisor (and from other professors) where previous OSU graduates are now. They are useful contacts.

• More suggestions are welcome!

If you want a career in industry:

• All of the comments listed in the “career in research” section are relevant.
• Look for industrial internships. They are often a ticket to a future position.
• Find out about industries that employ people with your skills and start asking questions of industrial employees that you meet at conferences.
• Acquire as much expertise as you can on different pieces of equipment.
• Acquire experience in computation.
• Look for companies both large and small. Don't concentrate on just the large ones.
• OSU has a careers fair. Go to it several years before you're on the job market just to see who is there and what sort of advice you can glean. If you're close to graduating, take along a well-crafted resume and give a copy to the recruiter there. Don't be put off if they appear to be targeting undergraduates. Recruiters may focus here because there are so many more undergrads than grads. It takes only one offer to get a job!
• More suggestions are welcome!

Building your application packet

A strong application packet is crucial to set you apart. Often jobs have over 50 if not over 100 applicants for a single position. Application cover letters must be personalized to each job you apply for. Application materials must be in perfect condition - no typos or formatting issues. I personally think it helps to print things on high quality paper, and have the final presentation look sharp. I (Dedra Demaree) would be happy to share my application materials as examples to anyone who is looking for an academic position at a research university or liberal arts college.

The main documents needed for an academic job application are: a cover letter, a CV, a research statement, and a teaching philosophy.

Ohio State's Faculty and TA development page on teaching portfolios: http://ftad.osu.edu/portfolio/philosophy/Philosophy.html, and http://ftad.osu.edu/read/teaching/prof_dev/prof_dev_document.html

“CV doctor”: http://chronicle.com/jobs/tools/cvdoctor/2007/

Purdue resources including how to write a cover letter and CV: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/681/01/

Physics Today article about becoming a professor: http://www.physicstoday.org/pt/vol-54/iss-4/p50.html

Applying and Interviewing

It is important to show up to the job interview with specific questions for the place you are interviewing. This shows that you have done your homework - you should already know a lot about what they do, and ask questions that show this. You should also be prepared to answer a lot of questions. Typical questions have been compiled by many people online. Here are some of them:

A link with several links of questions: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jbeebe2/IntvQs.htm

Generic (but good) questions: http://faculty.virginia.edu/schoolhouse/ProfessionalizationPage/JobAdviceandQuestions.html

General information about the interview process: http://chronicle.com/jobs/2004/10/2004101501c.htm

Here are some great links for finding who is hiring:

AAPT career center: http://careers.aapt.org/search/

APS job page (Physics Today): http://www.physicstoday.org/jobs/

Physics World job page: http://physicsworld.com/cws/jobs

Chronicle of Higher Education job page: http://chronicle.com/jobs/

Negotiating the job offer

A Chronicle article about negotiating: http://chronicle.com/jobs/2002/03/2002032201c.htm

General advice: http://www.leighthompson.com/tips/first_academic_job.htm

General advice: http://ctl.stanford.edu/Tomprof/postings/47.html

Useful Links

Oregon State University career services: http://oregonstate.edu/career/

The College of Charleston physics department job resource page: http://www.cofc.edu/~physics/jobs.html

Adelaide job resource page: http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/jobs/Jobs.html

Go Back to the Graduate Page: graduate_students

Go Home: start