Attention Highly Educated who prefer employment which requires complex thinking. You are likely to wind up unemployed, underemployed, or working in a field outside your core competence. You may well be what Abovethelaw.com's head writer Elie Mystal calls "The Lost Generation."
You may not only be a lawyer. You may also be a lab rat with a dream to do major important research in biology or chemistry.
But, alas, the world of work seems to be tilted toward applied skills, such as leveraging those scientific skills to healthcare. Nurses, physicians assistants, medical doctors, and even CNAs are faring well.
The dark employment situation in the sciences is exposed to the light in an article by Brian Vastag in the WASHINGTON POST. Already, more than 2000 comments have come in. Scientists got into this pickle in two ways. One is that BigPharma has been reducing its staffing in research, at least on this side of the ocean. Since 2000, it's cut 300,000 research positions. The other is that the universities can absorb just so many Ph.Ds to teach. The NSF reports that only 14% of Ph.Ds in biology have found academic posts within five years of receiving their degrees.
The exception to the grim jobs picture is that, in addition to healthcare, the market has been welcoming to those with advanced degrees in computers and petroleum engineering.
From the coaching I have been doing with JDs and others with advanced degrees, I know one thing: Dig around, try things, and eventually you will find a fit between your experience, education and skills and a way to make a living. Start somewhere. Then you have a point of reference. From there you can plan your next career move. Maybe it will be to start a micro business. That's how smart folks around the world have been thinking. Micro loans are funding those ventures. Your micro funding might come from Mom and Dad.
Complimentary consultation so you can determine if coaching might be useful. Please contact Jane Genova (mgenova981@aol.com) Sliding scale fees.
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