A 4th year PhD student asks-
I was talking to an older student in my lab who is leaving for a new job next month, and they told me it took them over 10 months of applying before they found one! They only had interviews for two positions in all that time. I don’t want to end up in the same spot, so I started looking around the OCPD website to get prepared while I still can. But, I saw a ton of different stuff I’m supposed to do, like IDPs and networking and self-assessments and internships. I haven’t even started applying to any jobs yet, and it feels like a lot. Obviously, I’m spending almost all of my time on my research, and I need to focus on getting data right now. Where am I supposed to find the time? Does anyone really do all this just to find a job?

I think there’s a pretty common temptation to look at career advice and start building a to-do list of “all these things I have to do to get a job,” but I think it is more realistic to try to treat it as a menu of potentially helpful things- you get to choose where you spend your time (and how much time you spend). Almost no one manages to do everything that’s recommended! And, honestly, most people are successful without doing too much at all. 

Let’s focus on things that make the biggest difference. 

• Career exploration: the biggest time loss is going to come from applying to positions that are a bad fit, either because you end up not really wanting to do them, or because you don’t understand them well enough to know if you are prepared to be a competitive candidate. You don’t need to be 100% sure (few ever are), but it can be very helpful to do some research and reflection.
• Stay on top of job openings (so you apply for the right ones!): the better fit you are, the easier it is to get the job. If you apply for ten positions where you’re a very strong candidate, you’ll have more success (and likely be happier) than if you sent in 100 applications for positions where you are only somewhat qualified. Learn where to find the opportunities most relevant to you (and avoid relying exclusively on broad aggregators like LinkedIn Jobs and Indeed). I recommend having a folder of bookmarks of the internal careers pages of ~30 organizations you’re interested in, to make it easy to quickly check every week or so.
• Networking matters, but not necessarily the way you might think: when you are job searching, it really helps if everyone you already know knows what you’re looking for. You want to be prepared to learn from them and benefit from any connections they might make for you. Have you told your entire lab/research group? Friends and family? The person you met at a conference last year, but never followed-up with? 

You’ll notice I didn’t mention refining your application documents! People get hired with imperfect application materials all. the. time. Most of the time, even. It’s very tempting to focus a ton of time and energy into those documents because you have a lot of control of how they are written, in a larger process where you feel very little control over the outcome. But, this isn’t generally the best place to pour the majority of your time; a good enough resume is going to be good enough. Once your documents accurately reflect your qualifications and accomplishments and are tailored enough to address the needs of the specific position, any additional time you spend on them has drastically diminishing returns. At that point, you’re going to be better off focusing on making sure you are applying for the right positions, staying updated on what opportunities are out there, and leveraging your professional connections to help. 

-David Blancha, Assistant Director, Career Development Team for Researchers