I must say I love to write. It's been my passion for as long as I could remember; writing simple stories and poetry as a child. One project that I remember the most is probably a school project during the third or fourth grade, when I had to make a picture book. I wrote about the miss-adventures of officer Klutz, the worst cop in all of San Francisco.
True my writings have matured over time, as my passion for the science, but creatively, I'm still a silly imaginative kid at heart.
So yes I love to write, but you know what is even better than writing? Writing while watching one of my favorite movies of all time in blu-ray, Independence Day. True it is a silly movie, but its a damn fun movie too. It always brings a smile to my face.
But really this blog isn't about my movie preferences, nor is it really about my childhood stories, its about my quest to find a new career path that will work with my PhD and my love of writing/editing.
So, I recently took a half-day off from my research and I went to a career counselor. I had never gone to a career counselor before. I never felt any reason. My path was laid out for me; a PhD, one or two post-doctoral fellowships, and a fulfilling career in academic research. But as I found out, passions change and evolve.
I mean besides a stint as a teenager at Carl's Jr, and a few jobs as a freelance writer, I really knew nothing about a job that wasn't attached to a university or a hospital.
Private industry? What's that?
And what the hell is a resume?
Now I'm not stupid, I knew what a resume was, but I never really had to create one, because in academia, we have a curriculum vitae (CV). While resumes are generally concise summaries of experiences; a quick selling point for specific jobs, a CV is generally anything but concise. A CV is the total amass of experience, both educational and professional. But beyond that little knowledge, I was kind of lost.
The career counselor, however was really was quite helpful. Firstly, he eased my anxiety by reminding me that the unemployment for PhDs was actually quite low, and the experience that my education and experience gave was invaluable for any industry let alone science. Secondly, he gave me some tips how to convert my CV into a polished resume that would focus on my science experience but really underline my writing experience as well. A great resume for potential medical writing jobs.
So after giving me a few tips and couple websites for science editing firms that hire scientists to edit research articles; a great transitory job as I search for my new career, the career counselor wished me luck and sent me on my way.
