by Emil Chuck » Sun Jan 30, 2005 9:15 am
I go away to organize a career-development day-long discussion on balancing family and career responsibilities at Duke, then prep for the university's career fair conference, and a discussion like this breaks out!
First to the original post: admittedly it may be too late now that you are forced to look, but everyone out here should begin to think of that "exit strategy" earlier. Like TWO years before you exit. The last year you really ought to be applying for jobs based on the experiences and information you got the year before. That's not to say it's too late now... in fact, it's never too late, but you have to take the first step now.
This weekend at Duke's second annual university-wide career fair/conference, a Duke MBA alumna named Alison Levine (has her own website as she is now a professional motivational speaker) talked about how her experiences in climbing to the summit (actually 250' short of it) of Mount Everest is applicable to one's career paths. Obviously you had to be there, but think of where you are and where you want to be. Then think about bridging that gap with more achievable goals (I like to call them signposts or mileposts) to get from where you are to where you want. If you want regulatory experience, then YOU have to go out and find out what that experience is like. Before you go off thinking you need to apply to McDonald's or Wal-Mart, read the articles here on Next Wave.
She also talked about one time she wanted to scale a particular mountain but when she got there, access was forbidden. She didn't take "No" for an answer (since she blew 60K ff miles for it), and was told, "You probably could go if you had the Indonesian army escort you." Well, ... she had a picture of her Indonesian army escort. :) She also had a quote whom I think was attributed to Jim Valvano (but I could be wrong, I didn't take notes) as the strength of one's character can be measured by the amount of effort it takes to discourage him/her.
So suffice it to say, the whole purpose of Next Wave is to guide young scientists along the career path of personal career fulfillment. The accumulated knowledge of this database is incredible and immense, but in it you can find the information about jobs you want. But you must follow through. Talk to your advisor, your family, your friends, your department chairs, your institutional HR manager, your graduate deans, ... if you're at a university, there is someone who can help you (like your university career counselor). There are networks through your university career center (current or as an alumnus) that can link you up to more possibilities in careers and get you informational interviews.
So getting away from a job that you really despise is not impossible. You have to have the courage to walk away if it's not for you. Alison walked away from being part of Goldman Sachs and raking in unbelieveable amounts of money and security to go solo (eventually) as a motivational speaker and executive of a non-profit organization... because the latter is more self-fulfilling for her.
So if you want to change, get the facts, get the contacts, decide the path you want to take, and map out your strategy to get from where you are to where you want. Just know that the plan is never permanent, and you may have to change (just like conditions are never perfect when climbing up to the summit of Everest).
You are responsible for your own happiness, and you have the power to change your life every single day.