Shameless self-promotion and networking request

[Maureenm]

Good luck, I hope she finds something soon! The job fair idea that someone suggested is an excellent place to start. I do have to make a comment about teaching, though. Not all states are the same as far as requirements go. In Oregon, one needs to have a Masters degree in teaching ( beyond a bachelors degree in the specific subject) in order to get a teaching license if you were to say, looking at teaching Biology. It's not an option as something to do while you're looking for your career job. We also happen to have more jobs for biologists than teachers at the moment, I think. Many people mentioned what's happening job wise in their neck of the woods, but you didn't say if relocation was an option for you.
And hey, don't feel bad about the shameless promoting, that's what networking is all about!

[jeff0520]

Ok, to answer a few questions, we live in Huntsville Alabama, a small city of about 250,000. Huntsville is the home of Redstone Army Arsenal, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Hudson Alpha Institute. Huntsville is normally a great place to be a biologist because the army has shadowy and secret work involving biology, NASA Marshall is the home of the NASA Life Sciences Division, and Hudson Alpha is a large and prestigious biological research foundation.
In fact, Laurie had two job offers while she was in school for after she graduated. The first was at NASA Life Sciences on the LOCAD project. NASA has figured out how to replace hundreds of pounds of air quality testing equipment for space craft life support systems with a small circuit board with bacteria cultures on it. The bacteria cultures are genetically engineered to change the state of their electrical conductance in responce to the quality of the air, thus reporting to the computer how they feel. This opens up the possibility of living neural network computers. Cutting edge stuff. Too bad the current guy in the white house cut the funding and the project is suspended .
The other job offer was for Laurie to go to work at Hudson Alpha as research assistant to Dr. Maria Davis. That plan went off the rails as well. In February of 2010 a non-tenured associate professor named Amy Bishop was informed that she would not be granted tenure, and her contract would not be renewed. Dr. Bishop. (A strong and vocal supporter of gun control BTW) then used a handgun to go on a shooting rampage in which 6 people were shot including Dr. Davis, and Dr. Adrial Johnson, the schools post-graduation employment placement councillor.
Hudson Alpha lost most of their doctoral level staff in that shooting and is focused on rebuilding their upper level staff at present. If you want the whole story, just Google "Amy Bishop UAH shooting."
Moving is an option on the table, although that is a road with serious financial issues. Cuts at NASA and Redstone have further depressed an already bad housing market and I estimate we are roughly $18,000 under water on the house. All in all, its a fairly grim situation

[Oreellyfool]

Has she looked at Boeing? I know they have one of their Defense locations in Huntsville. Even as an office admin, she would be making $40k+ a year. Not bad until she finds something more desirable.

[Wolfgang92025]

My advice is to network network network.

I have to agree......
In my 35 years working (not counting high school) all five of my jobs came about through a network of people that got started in high school and by talking to people I worked with.
As I was re-reading the thread, I realized that is what is going on here. The networking that is. Just a new twist, a lot of times we have never even meet, but we do know each other by our conversation in the forum. So it is networking after all.

Hang in there and keep looking... like a sign I once saw, "Tough times never last, but tough people do"

Good Luck

[Oldragbaggers]

Maureen is correct about the additional teaching requirements, however, I know from working in education in two different states that they can do what they need to do to get the teachers they need, and science is usually an area of need. If a school system is in great need for teachers in a certain discipline it is not unusual for them to grant waivers. Yes, she would have to involve herself in the process of taking the additional courses needed for her credentials, but in the meantime she'd be working in a rewarding, and well paying (compared to the big box store) profession. And not all school systems require a master's degree. Some just require a certain number of hours beyond the bachelor's in specific courses. Most school systems also have generous tuition assistance for teachers working on getting needed courses.

Granted, teaching is not for every one. My husband went into it 20 years ago when he retired from the Navy because the country was in a recession and jobs were scarce. We too were $40K upside down on our house at the time (think 1993 in Southern California when all the military installations were being shut down and people couldn't get the heck out of Dodge fast enough.) So he got his credentials in special education and started teaching. It wasn't that he had any deep desire to teach, he just did the research and did it solely based on the fact that that was where the jobs were. It was as shocking to him as anyone that he really loved it. Twenty years later he is a school principal and loves going to work everyday. A path he ended up taking by chance and necessity turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to us.

[Maureenm]

Becky, I agree with you about the other options toward a career in teaching. I just didn't go into all of the wonderful detail that you did It is , however, a career path that is very economy dependent for those just starting out, with continual cuts to education funding. But, hey, a job is a job, and as you say, one might realize they love it even if it was not the original plan. The teaching market here is completely saturated due to an abundance of Graduate schools of education, but I know there are some areas with huge needs.
Jeff, so sad about those opportunities that didn't come to realization and the tragedy of the mass shooting. Keep looking!

[eamarquardt]

Slow,

Again:

"Don't hit me with them negative waves so early in the morning."

"Always with the negative waves Moriarty, always with the negative waves."

"Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?"

Cheers,

Gus

[lancew]

god shut up !! you babble a lot about nothing. we got your picture months ago. this isn't about you its about jeff and his wife. you should be a lobbyist. infact lobby for jeff and his wife. if not. shut up. your drama makes you pathetic. I hate this site cuz of YOU

[Oreellyfool]

just becuase you have a factory called boing in your home state often times folks does NOT mean they have job openings.
slwo

I checked my facts before I posted anything.

https://jobs.boeing.com/JobSeeker/JobSearch

Search by Alabama and by the city of Huntsville and low and behold you will find https://jobs.boeing.com/JobSeeker/JobVi ... 13-1005691

Office Admin job in Huntsville.... interesting.....

[RioWilson]

Yet another Slowcowboy threadjacking.....

[S. Heisley]

I think that using the friend & foe option is everybody's best choice until things calm down again....Too many people on the rampage, on both sides of the coin. You all know who you want to put on that list. It helps keep the reader from being tempted to reply with any type of gripe or backlash. Just remember that this option doesn't work if you're lurking and not logged on.

[Mary C]

I am surprised that a few of you need to read the rules of this forum again I believe it states something about bashing flaming and even being a party to gang bashing and use the block feature on your friends and foe if you don't like what one says, having said that:

My friend Shanna is now going for her Doctorate in Biology. She has looked for teaching jobs in Biology but there are some of them that are way out there. (Alaska and Canada) and she says Tooo cold. I know there are companies around that hire but disrupting your family and your life may be the only way to go. Shanna is going to school and has been teaching a lab to undergraduates this year. Being anything over on your house is serious plunder you may want to consult with a financial attorney or someone who can give you advise. My friend claimed bankruptcy and started over four years ago and the bank where he had his loan told him that next year they would consider him for a mortgage again. Crazy!!! Another friend just got approved for a loan for over half of what he had when he claimed bankruptcy but it is a house and they are doing great. Don't loose hope you may think it is the end of the world but you can start over. Let go and God direct you and have a good life. you have friends here and you will make friends wherever you go.

[Fenlason]

Hello all,
Here's the deal, my wife, Laurie, graduated from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2010 with a degree in biological sciences and a 3.54 cumulative GPA and great scores on the Alabama state field biology exam. In the past 3 years she has sent out literally thousands of resumes. From all that effort she has managed to score an exciting position in entry level big box retail.
Anybody need, or know of a need for a biologist? Maybe a general science position? Anything at all less humiliating than scanning boxes of depends.

You know Slow.. I did read all of Jeff's first post. He asked if ANYBODY had a need, or knew of a need, for a biologist. In that first post.. nothing was said about it being difficult to relocate..[or not wanting to relocate] or being underwater on his house. None of this was mentioned until after my reply. Not being much of a mind reader, I did not know of these issues. I tried to help, I took time to actually look up a couple of places, that came to mind. Places that do happen to be hiring, and I shared that info. So exactly what did I do wrong?

[Oldragbaggers]

Just wondering....does listing someone as a foe keep them from posting on a thread that you have started??

A big issue seems to be thread jacking. Sometimes it's not that big of a deal, but when it comes to things like, say, your build journal, you might want to keep people who are notorious thread jackers from being able to do so. Is that possible?

[S. Heisley]

Just wondering....does listing someone as a foe keep them from posting on a thread that you have started??

A big issue seems to be thread jacking. Sometimes it's not that big of a deal, but when it comes to things like, say, your build journal, you might want to keep people who are notorious thread jackers from being able to do so. Is that possible?

Becky, I answered your question here:

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=55120