Wednesday, May 21, 2014

It's official- I have a job!

Exactly one year after my daughter was born, I was offered a job. This is after a year and a half of actively searching for and applying to jobs while finishing a dissertation, having a baby, and moving. As regular readers know, I was pretty damn discouraged for about 4 months this winter. I applied for several different competitive fellowships, advertised postdocs, and some positions for which I was probably overqualified. I've been feeling like a bit of a science loser for not even being able to land a postdoc in my field. I mean, I know tenure-track jobs are scarce, but it seems like almost everyone who wants one finds a damn postdoc! (That said, I did land in an unplanned postdoc, but it feels different because it was so hasty and I didn't apply for it). I figured I'd eventually find something for 1-2 years and then be on the search again. My unimplemented academic escape plan ("post-ac" career) was to network the heck out of some programming meet ups and see if I could land a much better paying job with benefits that way.

I applied to this job 2 months ago, and wasn't so sure about it. After learning more about it at an informal meeting, I was much more excited. After my half-day interview, I felt like I nailed it. I walked out of there feeling that the odds were good they would offer me the job. However, I didn't let my job fantasies run wild. We've been trying to keep enthusiasm in check and not jinx anything during a week and a half of positive indications.

This job search has a happier ending than I dared hope for. This is a real, permanent job with benefits. Excellent benefits. Every benefit I've ever heard of except onsite childcare. It's a 35 minute transit commute from our new home-- just 4 miles away. Their location isn't moving. Neither are we. And the salary? It is much more than a typical postdoc salary in biology-- honestly closer to an assistant professor salary. It's more than I would have dared to ask for. I didn't counter offer. I'm excited about working with my boss. This is a place I can stay for a many years and hopefully make a career. It positions me well in the non-profit world. It combines my interests and experience in a way I hadn't imagined possible. I get to do lots of networking, which I love. I'll start in June!

Thank you all for your encouragement and advice along the way. I am excited to start this next phase of my career!

8 comments:

African Fieldworker said...

Congratulations!!!!

Unknown said...

Congratulations! I am delighted you found something meaningful and exciting. Best of luck in all that follows.

Alyssa said...

Amazing! I'm so happy for you! Congrats!!

kai said...

So great! Congratulations!

JaneB said...

Yay, so happy for you!!

jaxzwolf said...

Congratulations! It sounds like a great fit! So glad to hear this. I haven't kept up with your blog much lately, but dropped back in to see how your job search had been going. Excellent to see you've found something!

sarcozona said...

Congratulations! This is wonderful and amazing! I'd love to hear more about the specifics sometime. I don't suppose you'll be coming to ESA this year?

Karina said...

Thanks, everyone!

Sarcozona, I am not going to ESA this year :-( At least now I have a better reason for not going-- before it was just because I had nothing to present and no funding to support me!