How many of you, reading this, are certain that you are keeping your job this year?

I thought that would deviate a bit from my usual technical musings, and dedicate this post to those of you who are not all that certain about where your next paycheck will be coming from. This post is for you - the highly talented and skilled engineers and scientists who might have to look for a job, or a total change in your career, this year.

Recently, I had a chance to work with some companies in chemical and automotive industries, and it has been impossible to ignore the pink elephant in the room - the massive amounts of talented scientists and engineers being laid off from their jobs at these companies due to the economy.

A couple of months ago, I was one of the guest speakers at the American Chemical Society Career Seminar event in Newark, Delaware. Researchers and managers from companies like DuPont, Hercules, and LyondellBasell were in attendance – many hoping to network and pick up some pointers on how to find jobs. My talk during that event was titled “Successful Unemployment:  10 Ways to Increase Your Professional Value”.

I was so inspired by the feedback that I received after giving this talk, as well as by other speakers, that I decided to share some of that experience with you. First of all, I was truly impressed by the variety of careers you have to choose from if you have a technical background. Most of us thought about going into academia or the government at some point, but what about law? One of the speakers was a layer who talked about the possibilities of becoming an expert witness – insurance companies and law offices are always looking for people with high technical expertise to testify in court, typically in very narrow and obscure areas of expertise (which sounds awfully like a PhD thesis).

How about becoming a consultant? There are actually consultant brokerage firms (like the CECON Group (http://www.cecon.com/) for example) that help match technical consultants with clients, willing to pay for their expertise.

Inspired by these speakers, I’ve put together a brief list of non-traditional technical careers that you might want to consider. Next time fear and doubt about the security of your current job starts creeping in, think about this list and consider it a jumping-off point for all of the possibilities just waiting for you in this great big world of ours.

 Using your technical degree you can become:

An expert witness

A technical writer or an editor

An independent consultant

An FBI special agent (rigorous physical training and people skills are required)

A professor or a lecturer

A professional speaker

All of the above!

Now, for those of you who just want to get a job as a senior scientist or a research engineer with one of the larger industrial companies, here are my 10 Steps to Increasing your Professional Value while Unemployed. This list was a hit during the ACS Career Seminar and I hope it might be of some use to you.  

If you read the tips below and would like to find out a lot more information about any of these steps, please take a look at www.successfulunemploymenttoolkit.com. I have created a Successful Unemployment Toolkit based on my Successful Unemployment Seminars. It provides more specific information on these steps as well as variety of websites and references that will help you increase your professional value.

10. Join Several Professional Associations

Check out “National Trade and Professional Associations of the United States” at your local library or Google

9. Become an ACTIVE Member of those Associations

Serve, chair, volunteer – this will provide a lot of opportunities for networking, potential letters of recommendation, new job openings and keep you up to speed with current research

For the following steps keep in mind that companies are STARVING for technical people who can communicate effectively and who can relate technical information to managers, customers and board members in very simple terms…preferably within seconds (attention spans shorten exponentially, the higher up the management food chain you go)

8. Give Talks

As a first step, join Toastmasters International: www.toastmastersinternational.com - a wonderful organization that can help develop your public speaking, communication and leadership  skills

7. Join an On-Line Professional Community

My preference is www.linkedin.com .

If you’re not part of it, contact me and I will be happy to send you an invitation: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mashavpetrova. If you are already on linkedin, become and ACTIVE member – join discussion groups (take a look at Reactive Flow and Chemical Kinetic Group) or create your own group in your area of interest. 

6. Write

Have no idea where to start? Start with a blog for your family and friends. It is ridiculously easy to set up and it’s free!  www.blogspot.com

5. Create a Personal Business Card (not associated with your current company job)

 www.vistaprint.com (250 free cards)

4. Invite Another Professional for Lunch or Coffee

 Past professor, co-worker, someone from your professional organization

3.Teach

Take a look at lecturer positions, adjunct positions and community colleges. You want to learn to clearly communicate and share your knowledge and teaching is the best way to do that.

2. Become a Consultant

 For a great reference take a look at “Million Dollar Consulting” by Alan Weiss. Whether you decided to stay with consulting or go back to work for a company – a “professional consultant” title will give a boost to your resume.

1. Be Willing to Help Others

Times are tough for everyone. Help others when you can and your goodwill will return to you ten-fold.

For more information take a look at www.successfulunemploymenttoolkit.com .

If you have questions or an experience that you would like to share – post a blog comment. We would love to hear from you!

-Masha

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Successful Unemployment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.