Scantlings

Just found out this am that I got the job that I interviewed for a couple of weeks ago. This is a huge deal as I have not been able to get a job in my field since finishing grad school four years ago. I worked at a kayak shop In RI for three years and then finally gave up and moved to Florida for better weather and more job opportunities. I will be working at Eckerd College managing the chemistry teaching labs and stockroom. Still not exactly what I went to school for (I have a PhD in biological oceanography) but it's a good job at a great school with job security and lots if benefits. I start next week. It's been a long road to get here and I am very relieved!!

Congratulation Brooke!!

(My brother-in-law worked several years at UPS after he graduated with a PhD in biology from Cornell until he finally landed his dream position with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Sounds like it is a normal passage for finding a job with those kind of degrees.)

(He is nearing retirement and has built a house just up the road from us which is great in as much as he is a skilled SAILOR!)

Congrats. That must be a huge relief. I have two postdocs with PhDs from elite labs, five and six years in, and pubs in great journals, who can't find faculty jobs. Life is very tough out there, peoples.

I also have a daughter applying to grad schools in marine science. Yikes!

Way to go Brods! I'm sure you will work your way up and eventually you might be managing the kayak shop again.
Break a leg!

Congratulations Brooke!

And (as a father of two young girls) thanks for being an example of someone pursuing a technical / scientific field. The world needs more people who know how how stuff works.

Charlie

Thanks everyone, it's been a long road to get here.

OM if your daughter wants to chat about grad school or marine science let me know - I know the field and the players pretty well at this point!

Bob, my boss at the kayak shop (who wrote me a fantastic recommendation letter) was a professional photographer so he felt my pain at not working in one's chosen field. He abd i joked about starting our own shop so we could di things our way. Working at the kayak shop was actually a fantastic experience that I am very glad I did - I met some great people and learned a lot. But it will be really nice to have steady, non hourly work and benefits too!

Brooke wrote:Thanks everyone, it's been a long road to get here.

OM if your daughter wants to chat about grad school or marine science let me know - I know the field and the players pretty well at this point!

Bob, my boss at the kayak shop (who wrote me a fantastic recommendation letter) was a professional photographer so he felt my pain at not working in one's chosen field. He abd i joked about starting our own shop so we could di things our way. Working at the kayak shop was actually a fantastic experience that I am very glad I did - I met some great people and learned a lot. But it will be really nice to have steady, non hourly work and benefits too!

Thanks, Brooke. She hasn't been great about contacting people--I've been trying to get her to talk to Anomaly, a big player in marine science, since the Spring--but you know how kids are.

Brooke wrote:Thanks everyone, it's been a long road to get here.

OM if your daughter wants to chat about grad school or marine science let me know - I know the field and the players pretty well at this point!

Bob, my boss at the kayak shop (who wrote me a fantastic recommendation letter) was a professional photographer so he felt my pain at not working in one's chosen field. He abd i joked about starting our own shop so we could di things our way. Working at the kayak shop was actually a fantastic experience that I am very glad I did - I met some great people and learned a lot. But it will be really nice to have steady, non hourly work and benefits too!

Brooke,

Congrats.

I'll pile on to your offer. I have a daughter graduating with a Bio degree next month who thought she was set up for an internship at the Shark Lab on Bimini this spring but it didn't work out. She's planning on grad school for Marine Bio in the fall but looking to stay busy/earn a bit this spring. My older daughter is in Tampa so I've considered sending the younger one there for a mental health visit and thought about asking you to spend a bit of time with her to better understand the challenges in the field. She has completed 3 internships (oyster habitat at a field lab, vet assistant and paleo at Calvert Marine Museum) and is a TA and Research Assistant at Maryland presently so she has developed field skills and isn't afraid to get her hands dirty.

I'll PM you if she decides to head for Florida to escape the Mid Atlantic winter (or her overbearing father).

Larry

New boat, new job, Florida weather - sounds like it was worth the long road.

Congrats.

Any time - just let me know

Anomaly works at the same school where I got my PhD. He was in a different department and a different campus so we didn't know each other there but made the connection on CA. He is definitely a good person to talk to about the field.

Brooke wrote:Any time - just let me know

Anomaly works at the same school where I got my PhD. He was in a different department and a different campus so we didn't know each other there but made the connection on CA. He is definitely a good person to talk to about the field.

He is a great guy who has been exceedingly generous to me, aside from being a scholar and, I assume, a gentleman.

The young lady, on the other hand, is a pain in the butt (but a sweet one).

Congrats Brooke. Keep working your way up. Coincidentally, I have a friend who manages the chemistry labs and stock rooms at UPS (University of Puget Sound). He likes the job.

Brooke - congratulations on the Career field job. It's tough in a lot of fields, but worth the effort to find a job that really satisfies you. There are taxi jobs, jobs, and dream jobs.....may you be on the road to the dream.

That's awesome Brooke. You just never know where a job like that can take you.

Well, to provide some contrast, I just got unofficial word that I didn't get a job I applied for and probably would have accepted. Looks like a few more years of labor in the Grove of Academe for me, not that that's a bad thing.

Well done, Brooke. Jobs are rarer than dry socks on a schooner these days.

Congrats! It's not so much the job, but does it take you closer you where you want to go? Any job that does, in my mind is a winner.

Orestes Munn wrote:

Brooke wrote:Any time - just let me know

Anomaly works at the same school where I got my PhD. He was in a different department and a different campus so we didn't know each other there but made the connection on CA. He is definitely a good person to talk to about the field.

He is a great guy who has been exceedingly generous to me, aside from being a scholar and, I assume, a gentleman.

Careful with assumptions.... (you just want more rum). In any case, I cry myself to sleep each night waiting for your daughter to solicit my opinion. And, to clarify, my "area" is marine policy more than marine bio but, of course, that wouldn't stop me from opining more broadly.

On to the important stuff: Congrats Brooke! It is indeed a bleak time for jobs in the field. I think you'll enjoy Eckerd, I did a degree just down the road (hah) at Rosenstiel and then spent 2 years in St. Pete. Forever grateful for you checking on Home during Sandy while I was "trapped" abroad. I was just in Tampa but stuck in meeting rooms for two days and then gone so no time to get out and explore. Perhaps next time you'll have the new boat in place. You've got the whole winter sailing season to enjoy! Again, congrats on the job.

Her ultimate aim is policy--for sustainable fisheries (in places with great diving and sailing, natch)--after establishing some scientific chops. I'm going to remind her of your generous offer when she visits from the tropics next month to stock up on dive gear and take the GRE. She did get the Fulbright re-application off.

Orestes Munn wrote:Her ultimate aim is policy--for sustainable fisheries (in places with great diving and sailing, natch)--after establishing some scientific chops. I'm going to remind her of your generous offer when she visits from the tropics next month to stock up on dive gear and take the GRE. She did get the Fulbright re-application off.

Well.... the ultimate thing to do, as uber-Dad, would be to just bring her up for a chat--- you two could take the Pearson 24 out to your heart's delight and experience real sailing on Narragansett Bay. Or come out with me and Scout (wonder dog) on the "big" boat (hah!). Of course neither boat has a vang (or much of a traveler for that matter) so that might offend your sensibilities. You could by the rum....

That's great Brooke, congratulations. Pretty tough for the kids graduating to get jobs today, especially in their fields.

Well done Brook. I hope this job lives up to all your expectations,