https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institutes_of_Health#/media/File:NIH_Clinical_Research_Center_aerial.jpg
The Rutgers iJOBS program recently had the pleasure of hosting two National Institutes of Health (NIH) representatives for a seminar on job opportunities at United States government organizations. With over 16 years of experience at NIH between the two of them, Dr’s Nancy Desmond and Trish Labosky collaborated on an uplifting presentation to convince our academia-confined selves that PhDs make valuable employees in a variety of positions available at places such as the NIH. Both speakers have extensive experience on both sides of the institutional fence, each having spent about a decade and a half as a principal investigator at an academic facility prior to transferring to the NIH. One of the key takeaway messages of their talk was that as graduate students in the sciences, we all gain certain skills that can get us employed outside of the seemingly dreaded tundra of academia. The two main points of the presentation were:
- Why do employers seek out to hire PhDs?
- What examples of employment opportunities are there in government organizations?
As many of us know, while academia allows some incredible creative freedom in one’s research, currently there are significant drawbacks (intense competition, low rates of funding, etc) that make the coveted faculty position an unlikely outcome for the majority of us. Thankfully, as speakers insist again and again, the PhD journey teaches us more than how to run a Western blot or snap the perfect microscope image. For example, Dr’s Desmond and Labosky stressed that we all learn to complete complex projects with a high level of self-sufficiency. That process involves mastering new material, troubleshooting experiments, and communicating and discussing both our own data and other researchers’ findings to an audience. There is also that added plus that comes with a PhD graduate – we are not afraid to work beyond the 9-5 scheme most people take for granted.
With this revelation in mind, what are the jobs available at NIH?
- Research Positions: postdocs, PIs, staff scientists
- Program Directors (“Analysts” at the entry level) – manage research grants, assist scientists before and after the summary statement is issued
- Scientific Review Officers – manage review of grants, put together summary statements (but do not do the actual review of the grant!)
- Policy Officers (“Analysts” at the entry level) – manage legal and regulatory policies
- Science Writers – help the public understand what is going on in science
- Clinical Trial Managers
- IT – data management
Where do you find these and other government jobs? (Think NSF, NGOs, FDA, DoD, etc)?
In short, the website https://www.usajobs.gov/ lists most of them. Keep in mind those postings are only up and open for 5 days (including weekends and holidays!) – if you are looking for a position this way, it helps to have several customized versions of your CV ready to go and uploaded to site. For non-USA citizens, you will have to search for a government contractor position rather than full-time NIH employment. Also, there are specific fellowships and programs, such as the AAAS Science&Technology Policy Fellowship (https://fellowshipapp.aaas.org/applications/default.asp) to help get your proverbial foot in the door. Finally, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I have to mention networking as a great way to develop professional contacts to one day help with the job search.
Of course, none of this is helpful if you don’t know and rock your science. You need to put in the hard work, excel at your research and garner publications and flattering reference letters. That is, after all, EXPECTED of an employee sporting a PhD. Once you have a handle on all of that, however, take a look into some of these government positions. We do our PhDs out of love for scientific research, but as it turns out, they are also valuable assets in our various job searches!