Anyone work in the ORD at the EPA? (Raleigh, Durham: chapel, buying a house)

[Beane]

Just wondering if anyone here works for the Office for R&D at the EPA in the Research Triangle Park? I going to graduate with my doctorate in a month or so and have looked into some postdocs at UNC and Duke, but saw a position I seemed very qualified for (Molecular Biology-related) at the EPA and decided to take a shot. I figured it doesn't hurt to have multiple options. Saw that it was also rated pretty high in terms employee satisfaction (#6 out of all gov't large agencies).

I guess my main questions would be:

Hiring practices - are most hires done internally? I saw that the position was listed both for the public and for "merit promotion". Chances of a newly minted Ph.D. getting a job there? It's a GS-11/12 job.

Quality of life - how does the day to day work go in R&D? Coming from a academic lab there is quite a bit of freedom and very loose supervision.

Places to live - Seems like RTP is very centrally located between Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh. It seems I would have more options in the area I wanted to live as opposed to if I was at Duke or UNC. Where are the best places to live and commute to the RTP?

Thanks for any answers you can give me.

[bcattwood]

I am in a postdoc in ORD, so I will try to answer some of your questions.

Hiring practices - For a postdoc there will tend to be less hiring from within. In most cases it probably would not be a "promotion" for a current employee already with a PhD to take a postdoc. The exception is that there may be non-federal postdocs or such that they have in mind for the position although it isn't technically supposed to be that way. I don't really know what the breakdown might be of internal vs external or open vs geared towards someone.

Quality of life - I think which lab or center you would be working for and your mentor determines this to some extent. Some labs are much more "customer" focused and the research is driven by the needs of the program offices or whoever, while others seem to just to whatever the heck tickles their fancy. One difference from academia is that you are really supposed to stick to a 40 hour workweek. In addition to regular lab work this is a decent amount of time spent in staff meetings, various trainings, peer reviewing colleagues papers, etc. You will also likely find that there will likely be a greater focus on quality assurance than you experienced at the university.

Places to live - This is obviously up for debate. I live in eastern Cary and while I like it there, the commute does wear at times.

[Beane]

I don't think this position is considered a postdoc. It's just listed as "Biologist GS-11/12" so I'm not sure if i could just straight from my Ph.D. to a job like that, but I meet the minimum qualifications and I am proficient in at least 7 of the 8 listed techniques.

I'd actually looked at postdocs there too, but there are none in the Health sciences section listed. I'd be up for either, but it looks like the GS-11/12 job pays more.

[bcattwood]

Sorry, I misread your first post.

If it isn't a postdoc, then that greatly increases the chances that they have a postdoc or somebody that they have in mind for the job. Even if they do, it isn't automatic though. HR goes through the applications and sends them the three best based on their assessment. If the desired applicant is not in that list, they have to give some reason why those applicants are not appropriate.

Anyway, if you apply be very generous when answering any questions that go along with the application. Don't lie but if there is any wiggle room, make yourself look as good as possible. Getting through HR is purely a numbers game. If you answer "no" to any question, you will not get through no matter how well you might fit otherwise.

If you aren't a postdoc, you will have more non-research BS to deal with. To what level really depends. Research freedom will be a coin toss, because on the one hand the more results oriented it is the better you will do career-wise and on the other hand, you have more opportunity to get funding for larger projects beyond what a postdoc could do on his own.

By the way, my postdoc is a GS-12 and I even talked by way into starting at step 3 based on prior experience. Of course, I am an engineer, so that might be part of the difference.

[Beane]

Thanks for the info. I figured it couldn't hurt to apply. Been in the academic setting so long that some kind of structured job sounds good right now.

Between UNC and Duke I'm sure I can find someone looking for a postdoc, but I'm starting off being kind of picky and looking for only things I'd be interested in doing. As the weeks roll by I'm sure I'll get less discriminating.

[freshjiv]

I got my PhD in Pharmacology & Toxicology in back in the fall of 2006 and was intimately looking at the FDA for postdocs. I just couldn't do a postdoc though. I hated research. I am so glad I found a job straight into the pharmaceutical industry instead of having to do 2 or 3 years of bullsh*t postdoc work for weak pay. Its just a glorified extension of professor and/or PI's getting to overwork you for crap pay.

That said, I would have tried to get on at the EPA more than anywhere else if I had to of gotten a postdoc. The only way you can get fired is to pretty much sexually harass someone. Good thing about government work->not that great of pay, but awesome job security and impossible to be fired.

[Beane]

yeah a secure job somewhere sounds kind of good at this point. Given that a postdoc is usually only 2-3 years it's hard to set up roots by buying a house or anything.

Seems like there are lots of opportunities in DC area at the NIH, but I grew up near there and it just seems like to much of a madhouse with traffic and housing prices and cost of living.


No Health postdoc available at the EPA right now, so I might try NIEHS as well.