Category: Finding Your Next Position

Want a career in agriculture? AgCareers is a website that specializes in ag careers. One of the terrific resources on the site is a list of Career Profiles, each of which describe a different type of ag job. Examples include: Plant Pathologist, Viticulturist and Plant Breeder, and Plant Geneticis…

GROW is a UK-based initiative "set up by a group of influential organisations within the horticulture industry to inform people about horticultural careers and the range of fantastic opportunities horticulture has to offer". Here you can learn about different careers and career paths in horticulture,…

This is very interesting for job hunters. Sean Eddy from Harvard has written a blog post about how his search committee is going about identifying six people to interview from a pool of nearly 200 applications. Nature has also written a summary of how people are responding and reacting to this po…

Many jobs, especially those that involve teaching, ask the applications express a statement that reflects their commitment to diversity. For example, "What contributions are you most proud of that exemplify your awareness and sensitivity towards promoting an inclusionary environment? What have you…

One of the most significant decisions we face as scientists comes at the end of our formal education. Choosing between industry and academia is easy for some, incredibly fraught for others. The author has made two complete cycles between these career destinations, including on the one hand 16 years in…

In the past, the majority of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers were focused on careers in academia. Times have changed, and many are now considering careers outside of academia and are aware of numerous exciting career opportunities in industry and nonprofit and government organizations.…

You are a PhD candidate and your thesis defense is already in sight. You have decided you would like to continue with a postdoctoral position rather than moving into industry as the next step in your career (that decision should be the subject of another “Ten Simple Rules”). Further, you already…

Choosing to go to graduate school is a major life decision. Whether you have already made that decision or are about to, now it is time to consider how best to be a successful graduate student. Here are some thoughts from someone who holds these memories fresh in her mind (JG) and from someone who has…