Giving up on science ... need new career field. (maternity leave, temporary, find a job)
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Aren't they still employed? Don't they have a foot in the door? Aren't they building real job experience that can lead to other more advanced careers in the future? How is that a problem?
Doesn't that prove that people with science degrees can get jobs?
It's a low-level, dead-end job requiring no degree. Not exactly what someone wants to raise three kids on and not in her field of study at all.
Data entry only gets people so far, sadly.
Last edited by randomlikeme; 11-12-2013 at 07:04 AM..
OP:
Have you tried USAJobs.gov? There are government jobs at all education levels posted for positions all over the country, and even some in other countries. Some of them require a government clearance. If you have the opportunity to get a cleared job, do it! A security clearance is as good as money, even if the job you initially take does not pay all *that* well, because once you have it you can join job search sites like ClearanceJobs.com, where employers are looking to hire people that already have clearances. With this in mind, their pay scales are higher since employers are willing to pay more for someone who can go to work immediately rather than wait for your clearance investigation to be completed.
If you really love biology, don't let the naysayers bring you down. And if you have decided biology is not for you, check USAJobs anyway. You may find something that interests you. Good luck!
That is a real long shot. The fed gets flooded with applications from science majors because they pay a fair wage and not $15 an hour. During my last job search I applied for over 250 Federal jobs and recived a few phone calls and I have an MS in chemistry and a lot of biology and several years experience. The closest I came was for a job in West Virginia. My stats were about 50% of apps I never hear about again, 20% I got found not minimally qualified (not sure how but good luck arguing with feddie HR) 30% I got found not amongst highest qualified and 5% I got put on the certified list of best qualified and of that 5% I got a few phone calls. I had a couple come back saying they had over 1000 applications and the couple where I could see total number of applicants it was always at least 300.
Aren't they still employed? Don't they have a foot in the door? Aren't they building real job experience that can lead to other more advanced careers in the future? How is that a problem?
Doesn't that prove that people with science degrees can get jobs?
You are just full of out-dated and bad advice. Functional Resume... Seriously
That is a real long shot. The fed gets flooded with applications from science majors because they pay a fair wage and not $15 an hour. During my last job search I applied for over 250 Federal jobs and recived a few phone calls and I have an MS in chemistry and a lot of biology and several years experience. The closest I came was for a job in West Virginia. My stats were about 50% of apps I never hear about again, 20% I got found not minimally qualified (not sure how but good luck arguing with feddie HR) 30% I got found not amongst highest qualified and 5% I got put on the certified list of best qualified and of that 5% I got a few phone calls. I had a couple come back saying they had over 1000 applications and the couple where I could see total number of applicants it was always at least 300.
Sorry to hear it didn't work for you, but my comment was to the OP. You always have a reason why something won't work.
Also, the secret to getting through the federal system is keywords--read the posting carefully and use the same words they do when you craft your resume.
The overall theme is that having a science degree makes searching for a job and finding one that pays a decent wage a complete nightmare. You will hit brick wall after brick wall throughout your working career. Isn't it much better to get a degree with better job prospects. Anyone who can get a science degree is among the top 10% of the country in intellectual ability, heck only 30% of the nation has Bachelors degrees at all and a good portion are in much easier majors. Getting a science degree is a recipe for underacheiving in life.
The overall theme is that having a science degree makes searching for a job and finding one that pays a decent wage a complete nightmare. You will hit brick wall after brick wall [...] Getting a science degree is a recipe for underacheiving in life.
Maybe for you. My experience has been the exact opposite. Sure it may be hard for the OP to find that first "real" job, just like in any other profession. But there's no reason for you to dump on anyone who expresses an interest in the sciences. I agree that people need to know both the good and the bad of the science job hunt but you always have a reason why things won't work, and it's always out of your control. Just because you couldn't make it work doesn't mean the rest of us can't. Besides, I thought you were going to business school?
Maybe for you. My experience has been the exact opposite. Sure it may be hard for the OP to find that first "real" job, just like in any other profession. But there's no reason for you to dump on anyone who expresses an interest in the sciences. I agree that people need to know both the good and the bad of the science job hunt but you always have a reason why things won't work, and it's always out of your control. Just because you couldn't make it work doesn't mean the rest of us can't. Besides, I thought you were going to business school?
I'm not dumping on them I am informing them. Anyone who is considering getting a biology or chemistry degree should know that the labor force participation is ~40%, companies are wanting to hire science grads as perma-temps for $15-20 per hour no benefits, every industry that hires them chemical, pharma, government is in significant decline... I believe people should have the right to make an informed decission that if given the above they still want to spend > $20k, years of their life, and a lot of hard effort on the degree.
I think the media and a lot of people in general have portrayed a very false picture of science careers for whatever reason and that needs to stop as it is seriously hurting people.
Last edited by MSchemist80; 11-12-2013 at 09:08 AM..
Citation, please. I'm curious about where that number comes from. And I understand your statement above as saying that 40% of the people who have earned chemistry degrees are actually working in the field (i.e., 60% of the people with chemistry degrees are *not*). Is that what you're saying?
The mods deleted my table a few pages back but it showed the Only 29% of BS grads and 38% of MS grads are employed full time.
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