Reconciliation
A few days ago, I made a sardonic comment on Twitter about the never-ending scientific job quest:
In the past 4 years, I've held 3 different jobs; I'm currently looking for Job #4.
Jobs Applied To, by cycle: 184, 43, 126 (so far!) = 353 jobs
@ 1 hour per job (discovery, cover letter, emails, recommendations, etc.) = 353 hours
Phone Interviews, by cycle: 13, 3, 10 (so far!) = 26 phone calls
(Just 15 minutes? In my experience, they last 45): 26 * 0.75 hour = 20 hours
On-Site Interviews, by cycle: 7, 2, 3 (so far!) = 12 on-sites
@ 8 hours per interview + avg. 4 hours travel = 144 hours
Miscellaneous: Job fairs, reformatting CV, career events, webinars, networking events, ACS meetings, cold-calls, personal development, continuing education = 100 hours
Grand Total: 617 hours spent on some aspect of job-hunting.
Let's put that number into perspective. 617 hours is 25.7 days. Not working days, mind you. Actual 24-hour days. Many U.S. companies start entry-level employees at 2 weeks' vacation, or 80 hours of earned time. That's 320 hours over 4 years.
I have spent nearly twice as long applying for jobs as I have taking vacation in the last 4 years.
(Bonus irony: Several of those vacation days were taken to attend on-site interviews.)
If we measure a "standard" industrial chemist working week at ~50 hours, then I've spent 12.3 working weeks looking for jobs. That's 3 weeks' time, annually.
How much science could you do with an extra 3 weeks? Or if you actually used your vacation to relax, as opposed to looking for work?
Final thought: I'll bet you good money that I'm underestimating the time I've spent searching.
Any leads? I'm willing to listen. Drop me a line, seearroh_AT_gmail
~ Still no new job. Resume radio silence ~
An odd thought: if major diseases aren't cured in my lifetime, it may be because my entire generation spent its time applying for jobs.So, was I just being over-the-top? Let's do some math.
— See Arr Oh (@SeeArrOh) October 18, 2013
In the past 4 years, I've held 3 different jobs; I'm currently looking for Job #4.
Jobs Applied To, by cycle: 184, 43, 126 (so far!) = 353 jobs
@ 1 hour per job (discovery, cover letter, emails, recommendations, etc.) = 353 hours
Phone Interviews, by cycle: 13, 3, 10 (so far!) = 26 phone calls
(Just 15 minutes? In my experience, they last 45): 26 * 0.75 hour = 20 hours
On-Site Interviews, by cycle: 7, 2, 3 (so far!) = 12 on-sites
@ 8 hours per interview + avg. 4 hours travel = 144 hours
Miscellaneous: Job fairs, reformatting CV, career events, webinars, networking events, ACS meetings, cold-calls, personal development, continuing education = 100 hours
Grand Total: 617 hours spent on some aspect of job-hunting.
Let's put that number into perspective. 617 hours is 25.7 days. Not working days, mind you. Actual 24-hour days. Many U.S. companies start entry-level employees at 2 weeks' vacation, or 80 hours of earned time. That's 320 hours over 4 years.
I have spent nearly twice as long applying for jobs as I have taking vacation in the last 4 years.
(Bonus irony: Several of those vacation days were taken to attend on-site interviews.)
If we measure a "standard" industrial chemist working week at ~50 hours, then I've spent 12.3 working weeks looking for jobs. That's 3 weeks' time, annually.
How much science could you do with an extra 3 weeks? Or if you actually used your vacation to relax, as opposed to looking for work?
Final thought: I'll bet you good money that I'm underestimating the time I've spent searching.
Any leads? I'm willing to listen. Drop me a line, seearroh_AT_gmail
~ Still no new job. Resume radio silence ~
