Wednesday, April 8, 2009

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.

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