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Nate W. wrote:The internet and a tight job market breeds a lot of snake oil salesmen. This also applies to some external recruiters. Dave, I have seen some recruiters who advertised positions in biotech for which they don't have a client. They do this only to collect resumes and then sell them to prospective clients. Sadly, it only hurts the candidate.
This says more about the sleaziness of those providing this "service" versus the integrity of the candidates. Service is being kind. If you want something done right, do it yourself, which involving good old fashion networking and building relationships.
Dave Jensen wrote:Nate W. wrote:The internet and a tight job market breeds a lot of snake oil salesmen. This also applies to some external recruiters. Dave, I have seen some recruiters who advertised positions in biotech for which they don't have a client. They do this only to collect resumes and then sell them to prospective clients. Sadly, it only hurts the candidate.
This says more about the sleaziness of those providing this "service" versus the integrity of the candidates. Service is being kind. If you want something done right, do it yourself, which involving good old fashion networking and building relationships.
Nate, yes there are unethical practices in every area of employment. But we're talking here about people who charge you for help with networking, interviewing, and "job finding." This is happening more and more often. There's even a "postdoc" for postdocs, dealing with how to find an industry job, sponsored by a University. It's all such a scam. We're bleeding all the vulnerable people here.
I'm asking a very direct question here, of our PhD audience, and that is . . . Is this trend a GOOD one, or a BAD one. To me, they're making out PhD graduates in the sciences as some kind of sheep that need to be sheared. It's disgusting and it should be stopped.
Dave
PACN wrote:I'm not sure I agree. Networking, cover letter and CV writing, interviewing-- these are all skills that can be taught. And I can say from experience that a number of PhDs graduate and do postdocs without ever had training in developing these skills (a discussion for another time perhaps). It seems to me that a good coach that could work with you one-on-one for your job search could be quite helpful. On the other hand, someone who prints a bunch of articles off a free website-- not so helpful. As a postdoc considering alternative careers, I found the career counseling service at my university to be very helpful. It was free to me, but I know not all universities have that benefit for postdocs (and not all scientists looking to change careers are working at universities). If they can help you put your best foot forward and get a job more quickly than you might have otherwise, I might consider that worth a modest fee. Like most things, I think it depends on whether that person is good at their job.
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