Getting Industry interviews - Tips - (Feb/05/2005 )

Applying for an advertised position in SCIENCE or NATURE? Have you started getting those unsigned postcards from the companies saying - 'thank you, we will call you-don't call us?'

That is because the first view of your cover letter/resume is by an idiot sitting in Human Resources who thinks Western Blot is used to remove make-up from furniture.

Look at the ad - read it carefully. In the cover letter, include EVERY point mentioned in the ad as something you already have.

Example - A multimillion dollar pharmaceutical company needs a PhD with 1 year or more experience in human genome mapping, microarray data analysis and should be willing to change hair color every day.

So you respond - I have a PhD with more than a year's experience in human genome mapping, microarray data analysis and I am willing to change hair color every day.

TheFallGuy

http://www.tait-services.com

Regarding Science/Nature job ads, I was told that some ads don't really internd to recruit people but just for some other purposes such as to get labor certificate for a inside alien worker, or to pretend that they have seeked nation wide or world wide faculty candidates but actually an insider has been decided to fill in the postion. How true is that?

I ask this is because I am planning to apply for faculty postions advertised on S/N.

Green-

the full page ads are the useless ones as far as companies are concerned. As regards faculty ads, same rules apply. However, smaller line length ads have the intention of attracting applicants and you must apply by all means. However, you may wish to innovate a little. Call the Department Chair and ask about the current areas/interests of the existing faculty. You are being appointed to either strengthen existing programs or to start something the Department does not have. So in your interview/seminar, talk about the new ground you wish to break into, about collaborations you wish to start with others etc etc. As regards visa issues- that should be the least of your worries although definitely it may not feel to you that way. Universities have their methods to fix visa headaches - they just donot talk about it.

Good luck with your faculty position search.

TheFallGuy
http://www.tait-services.com

Green

I misunderstood your question about alien worker internal appointment. Those ads usually are posted on Department bulletin boards. However, if they wish to appoint an adjunct faculty (Research Assistant Professor), then this ad will appear in a leading journal although the candidate will be internal. When applying for such positions, check if there are senior well published post-docs in the department you are applying into. If there are such post-docs already there, donot bother to apply, just move on.