Things went well today. I met with two women involved in the project that I would be overseeing. They were wonderful, very nice and really trying hard to determine whether this was a good fit for both of us. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be offered the job, they asked for my references and salary requirements and by the time I had returned home they had sent me the benefits summary.
I feel really conflicted right now. I may have to make a decision about this job before I know whether the grant that Post Doc Mentor and I wrote will be funded. We're close, but won't know for sure for about 3 weeks!!
I am just now starting to feel like part of the family in my lab. I love the research I'm doing and everyone I'm working with. A year is just not enough time in any one place, and my experiences here are moving me in the exact direction I wanted to go in terms of finding a kick ass tenure track position. However, there are no guarantees that I'd be able to find a job in a location close to home state, never mind home state itself. I would have to go through all the hoopla of an academic job search (which gives me dry heaves just thinking about it), I would have to work my ass off on the tenure track and being leery of feeling settled down. DH would have to change jobs yet again (this is the third state we've lived in since marrying all due to my academic persuits, and we're finally home).
However, non-academic job is really amazing. It's applied research so I'd utilize my 10 years worth of research experience while learning a whole new way of doing things. New analysis, new language (writing for policy makers and stakeholders rather than academics), new research area. However, I will not have the freedom to chose what I study, I would be pretty far removed from the data collection process, and would probably never do another experimental study at least as long as I stay with them. Salary is almost double what I make as a post-doc, and it would guarantee that DH and I would be able to stay in home state. We both long to be close to family and feel settled.
I know, I know right now I don't have either option and I should put off the worry until I have even one offer but we all know that just isn't going to happen. Ugh I hate stress.
I am off to the beach for the weekend with my sister and her kids so there will probably be not blogging for me.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
RBOC: Soooooooooo Tired Edition
- Ran my study today for the first time with new Interns.
- Interns rock!! Summer participants suck, 8 people scheduled, 3 people run... need I say more?
- I don't understand the no call/no email/no show. Dude, call me at 11pm and leave a message or hit reply to the email I sent to confirm your appointment and just say sorry can't make it.
- Another full schedule tomorrow, if only 3 show up I might start pulling people from the street to give my poor interns some running experience.
- I need to look over the damn homework reports tomorrow night before my interview on Friday.
- Post Doc Mentor got grant score... it's close... may or may not be funded, won't know for about 3 weeks.
- YIKES.... I may soon have to make a major job decision, however I'm too busy and tired to think about that right now.
- YAWN.. I'm going to bed. g'night.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
In person Interview!
Just got invited for an in-person interview for job interview 1 position. I am psyched, it will be on Friday afternoon.
Had huge migraine and left work early yesterday.
More later...
Had huge migraine and left work early yesterday.
More later...
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Noooo the weekend can't be over!!
I still have so much to do to get ready for tomorrow. I am actually helping to run a meeting I did not know I was involved in so there goes 1.5 hours in the morning that I thought I'd have to prep for some training I'm doing in the afternoon. So frustrating!!
I am proud to say that I did not do any work related stuff on Friday (other than the interview), and although I did a little work yesterday I managed to work in about 5 hours of beach time! I so missed the beach, grad school was in a landlocked state and I only saw the beach maybe 3-4 times during my 4 years there. On my list of things I must have for the next move is less than 1 hour commute to the ocean, preferably the Atlantic!
I'm probably going to do some job search stuff tonight too. After the interview flop on Friday and the fact that I haven't heard anything from job interview #1 in 2 weeks I'm starting to feel a little antsy about not having applied for anything in about a month.
I really want Sushi for dinner. I hope I can convince DH that it's a good idea.
I am proud to say that I did not do any work related stuff on Friday (other than the interview), and although I did a little work yesterday I managed to work in about 5 hours of beach time! I so missed the beach, grad school was in a landlocked state and I only saw the beach maybe 3-4 times during my 4 years there. On my list of things I must have for the next move is less than 1 hour commute to the ocean, preferably the Atlantic!
I'm probably going to do some job search stuff tonight too. After the interview flop on Friday and the fact that I haven't heard anything from job interview #1 in 2 weeks I'm starting to feel a little antsy about not having applied for anything in about a month.
I really want Sushi for dinner. I hope I can convince DH that it's a good idea.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Unique thoughts not necessary
Well my interview is over. I think it went okay, having a phone interview with 4 people is really hard and they only allowed 30 minutes so I felt a little rushed to get my questions and answers in.
They really don't do much peer reviewed publishing at all (3 papers in 7 years). In terms of grant writing, I'd basically be reviewing all of their statistics. The director kept saying how it would be nice for the lead researcher (the position I was interviewing for) to come up with unique ideas it wasn't required. Um.. hello, I am a PhD level experimental psychologist, you're not going to sell me on a job where unique ideas are not required.
I don't really get why they aren't looking for a statistician, that's really what they need. Frankly I'm not interested in sitting in an office combing through SPSS files all day, every day.
Oh, and towards the end when I asked about benefits and salary they told me to go to the university affiliated webpage to see about benefits and director said we could talk about the salary privately as their was such a wide range given that a PhD was preferred but not required.
They all seemed very nice and the one person who actually works for affiliated university already kept pointing out how my commute would be so short (I live in same town as university), again, so not the way to sell me on this job. Weird.
They really don't do much peer reviewed publishing at all (3 papers in 7 years). In terms of grant writing, I'd basically be reviewing all of their statistics. The director kept saying how it would be nice for the lead researcher (the position I was interviewing for) to come up with unique ideas it wasn't required. Um.. hello, I am a PhD level experimental psychologist, you're not going to sell me on a job where unique ideas are not required.
I don't really get why they aren't looking for a statistician, that's really what they need. Frankly I'm not interested in sitting in an office combing through SPSS files all day, every day.
Oh, and towards the end when I asked about benefits and salary they told me to go to the university affiliated webpage to see about benefits and director said we could talk about the salary privately as their was such a wide range given that a PhD was preferred but not required.
They all seemed very nice and the one person who actually works for affiliated university already kept pointing out how my commute would be so short (I live in same town as university), again, so not the way to sell me on this job. Weird.
Pajama Pants & Flip Flops
That is my wordrobe for my interview today. Doesn't that just scream "I don't give a shit?" I am still exhausted from my week of craziness and just can't seem to muster a whole lot of energy.
Although I did just have a cool thought about how my research interests fit in with this organization, I wonder if they'll even ask about my interests.
I'm going to review my prep materials one more time and then the interview is at 10:30am. I'll do my best to update afterwards, I have a lunch date with my grandmother so it may have to wait until I get back if the interview runs long.
Although I did just have a cool thought about how my research interests fit in with this organization, I wonder if they'll even ask about my interests.
I'm going to review my prep materials one more time and then the interview is at 10:30am. I'll do my best to update afterwards, I have a lunch date with my grandmother so it may have to wait until I get back if the interview runs long.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Job Interview Prep
I came home from work today and slept for about an hour, I was so exhausted I felt nauseous. I am so glad that my interview tomorrow is over the phone and not until 10:30am.
I've been prepping for my job interview tomorrow for a couple of hours and I've come to conclude that I really don't want this job. As a matter of fact, I'm no longer quite sure why I applied other than my angst about not applying for anything during long periods of time. One of my main criteria for a non-academic research position is that I can stay active in ways that would allow me to return to academia if I so choose. It seems that this job would not entail producing peer-reviewed publication, presentations at national conferences that would allow me to interact with academics nor does it allow any room for the person in this position to put forth some of their own ideas. From what I've read so far they want a kick ass statistician and public speaker to analyze their data and present their results to the public. Um.. yeah, this is so not me.
I am going to go through the interview, try to keep an open mind in case I'm getting some weirdly skewed picture of this job and try to seem very enthusiastic. After all, even if I don't want them, I want them to want me. :) If the job does turn out to be what I picture right now then I will probably turn down the in-person interview if they offer me one.
Still no word from job interview #1 place, which is starting to get on my nerves. Even if they haven't made any decisions, they could at least respond to my email saying I have questions about the reports they sent me. After all when they sent me the damn million page reports they said "let us know if you have any questions".
I've been prepping for my job interview tomorrow for a couple of hours and I've come to conclude that I really don't want this job. As a matter of fact, I'm no longer quite sure why I applied other than my angst about not applying for anything during long periods of time. One of my main criteria for a non-academic research position is that I can stay active in ways that would allow me to return to academia if I so choose. It seems that this job would not entail producing peer-reviewed publication, presentations at national conferences that would allow me to interact with academics nor does it allow any room for the person in this position to put forth some of their own ideas. From what I've read so far they want a kick ass statistician and public speaker to analyze their data and present their results to the public. Um.. yeah, this is so not me.
I am going to go through the interview, try to keep an open mind in case I'm getting some weirdly skewed picture of this job and try to seem very enthusiastic. After all, even if I don't want them, I want them to want me. :) If the job does turn out to be what I picture right now then I will probably turn down the in-person interview if they offer me one.
Still no word from job interview #1 place, which is starting to get on my nerves. Even if they haven't made any decisions, they could at least respond to my email saying I have questions about the reports they sent me. After all when they sent me the damn million page reports they said "let us know if you have any questions".
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