Twitter Tuesday

An occasional feature covering items of interest from the Twittersphere:

German-speaking jobseekers will certainly want to sign up to the @stellenfuerchem Twitter feed, which includes daily listings of German chemistry jobs. The related website also features weekly English summaries for those in need of a translation.

Spotted via @MonsterCareers and @careersherpa comes an article from @fishdogs on “5 Ways to Change Career”. Tips include looking at suppliers and service-providers of your current company, identifying skills used outside of work and effective networking. It also includes a neat pie chart which highlights the balance between skills, desires and money – where are you?

@dherman76 links to his article “Tips for Being the Young Punk at the Table” published on his website and guest-posted on Business Insider (@businessinsider). While written with the young executive in mind, it is equally relevant to those starting out in their career that may face challenges being taken seriously by some older colleagues. Tips include “dress the part”, “do not talk for the sake of talking”, and my personal favourite: “act as if”. The latter refers to a scene in the movie Boiler Room (which I hadn’t seen before) – but it carries a similar message to the one my driving instructor gave me: “To pass your test, you need to stop thinking like a learner, and start thinking like someone who’s already got their licence.”

For those contemplating a career in copy editing, this article linked by @TheSfEP is well worth a read.

And finally, a link from @AkshatRathi to a collection of classic Dilbert strips, all concerning the corporate infestation that is PowerPoint.

Twitter Tuesday

A new occasional feature covering items of interest from the Twittersphere:

@MonsterCareers shares 51 job search tactics. Worth reviewing to see if there are one or two new ones to try. A key couple for active job seekers include “Prepare and practice your elevator speech” and read articles about best resume practice – chances are your CV format used 5-10 years ago is no longer appropriate!

@stephaniekays links to a Washington Post article examining the unemployment rates of US college graduates. It contains a nice graphic breaking this down by both subject and age group. Recent college graduates (aged 22-26) in “science-life/physical” subjects had a close-to-median unemployment rate of 7-8%. This drops to 2-2.5% for graduate degree holders (age 30-54) – relatively low compared to their peers. Interesting to compare this data with that from the UK Prospects figures, visualised here – similar trends are observed, but IT and engineering graduates appear to have relatively better employment prospects in the US when compared to other subjects.

@chemjobber covers the Wall Street Journal’s neat visualisation of recent data released by the Bureau of Labor in the US... which shows an almost doubling of the chemist and material scientist unemployment rate to 6.1% in 2011. Ouch.

@hecsu comments on the recently published High Fliers report into graduate vacancies and starting salaries at the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers. The stats for chemist employers are woeful, but more details on this to come...

@Sulfur_Blue – Not job-related, but a really nice compilation of periodic table designs to brighten your day