Still fishing

Easter Sunday was about a week ago. We had a wonderful day with family, despite my dear husband being confined to bed.  Our daughter had some intestinal issues at 4:30 am Saturday (i.e. threw up all over the floor - hard wood, not carpet....Thank God for small blessings).  Although I cleaned up the mess to try to shield him, he spent the next 26 hours working on labor and delivery.  Lack of sleep makes one susceptible to viruses!  He was a bit better the next day, but doing another 26 hrs.  Poor guy.

But, as I was saying, Easter was joyful.  I was home with the children Easter Monday, because they didn't have school.  Which brings me back to the job opportunity discussion.  What do cleaning up vomit and Easter holidays have in common?  They are both reasons that I need a job that is flexible.  When the kids don't go to school due to a holiday, teacher in-service, sickness or snow day, I immediately think........Yes, this is why I work 20 hrs per week.  How on earth can I commit to consistently working more?

In my last post, I described two positions I was considering.  The adjunct teaching position for a "Medical Instructor" turned out to be very far from my ideal job. They were looking for someone to teach "medication dosing" (algebra) and "psychology" (how to appropriately communicate with patients).  They generally hire people with a bachelors degree and have gotten rid of those with only associates degrees.  Well, I already have a job for which I'm grossly over-qualified (I have a doctorate, remember).

The other position is a postdoctoral research associate position. Since I have already done two postdocs, I'm actually over-qualified for that one too, but at least it's a closer fit. The head of the lab said my recommendations were very strong (hurray). I was very excited.  However, he asked, appropriately, where I saw myself going afterwards.  Where would it lead?  This is, unfortunately, a very good point.  There is a glut of PhDs like me.  Postdocs don't always lead to faculty positions, because there are not enough openings.  There are some alternate career paths, but not many.  What to do?

Choosing wisely

Since my last post, I have gotten a request for references for a postdoctoral position and an interview for an adjunct teaching position.  Now the difficult job of discernment begins.  How do I figure out whether to accept one of them or wait for the offer I really want?  The things I am thinking about are:  flexibility of the schedule, location of the positions, attitudes and personalities of the supervisor and co-workers, how closely they fit my image of the perfect job.

In theory, both have fairly flexible schedules.  The postdoctoral position can be flexible if the lab head (PI or principal investigator) is not opposed to me reading and planning experiments at home.   There is also the issue of the PI's own schedule. I once worked for someone who was a night person.  I would arrive at 8:00 am and wanted to leave to get my children around 4 pm.  He tended to be in the lab from 11 am to 3 pm and then work late at night.  So, we only overlapped by 4 hours.  It gave him the impression that I was never there.  The adjunct position appears flexible, because teaching is between 8:30 am and 3 pm.  Of course, I don't know what happens when my children's school is closed due to snow.  I'll have to ask.

The positions are located in opposite directions from my house.  I currently do everything south of where I live.  The postdoctoral position is north of here, in uncharted territory.  Since they are approximately equidistant, it might seem unimportant.  However, I had already located a summer camp for the children south of here.  My favorite grocery store is south, just off the highway.  I don't know what lies north.  This complicates things.

Attitude is everything.  At my current position, I do many things that I was not trained to do and never get to teach the basic science subjects that I so enjoy.  What has kept me there is that we have a great team and help people every day.  I have great respect for my supervisor.  She is creative and understands our need for flexibility.  We are all moms.

The perfect job. . . . . .   Mine would be one that included teaching and research.  Basically, a faculty position with no pressure to get funded (ha ha) and an expectation that I work 40 hours per week instead of 60 or 70.  Seems reasonable to me!  So, the job to the south lacks research and is a training school (low secondary education).  The job up north lacks teaching, but I might be able to swing it eventually.  The job up north is potentially better.  

Back soon.

It's beautiful out. Why am I in?

It's a beautiful day and I'm sitting here at the computer.  Why?  Quite simply, because my need to get back into science keeps nudging me.  I am determined to find a solution.  We moved to this very rural area at my urging.  It's about an hour from my hometown.  My husband and I agreed that we didn't want to move somewhere just for a job.  After all, a job's just a job.  There's more to life.  I haven't changed my mind about there being more to life, I  just miss the science.  

And the clock is ticking.  It has been three years and I can't remember a lot of things.  I've been learning new things about patient needs, coping with chronic illness, raising children and lots more.  But I think that if I stay away from the science for much longer, I'll have forgotten too much.  So, I've started attending research talks in the city where I work.  It's waking my brain up, but it's also a lot like holding a piece of chocolate cake in front of a dog.  They're not supposed to eat chocolate and I don't have any job offers.  We're both salivating.

I was thinking about developing a project......basically writing up a grant application or at least an outline/research plan, even though I don't have a postdoc or faculty position.  Einstein wrote a lot of his papers when he was a patent examiner or something, right?  

Well, let's see if blogging helps.  The sun is calling.  Gotta go.