With faculty positions dwindling and postdocs proliferating, scientists must seek other employment that uses their academic training. A daunting task, but a new website seeks to make the process easier. It provides visitors — undergraduates, postgrads, medical students, postdocs and biotech/pharmaceutical professionals — with information to help them answer the question: "What is my perfect career?".
Even though science is inherently open-minded and flexible, career advice offered to scientists-in-training is often dogmatic and restrictive. Finding Your North (FYN) seeks to provide more varied and constructive advice through articles written by professionals who have used their science background outside academia. Users can listen to interviews of people in different stages of their careers and in a variety of fields, and communicate in four groups of forums: for undergraduates, graduate students, professionals and biotech/pharmaceutical professionals.
Articles can alert users to scientific trends that may provide opportunities. One presents a model for bringing translational science to the global community, using efficacy trials of different malaria-drug combinations in African children. In another audio interview, a scientist articulates his rationale for pursuing a job in biotech marketing in lieu of an academic career. "In my current position in marketing, I am using all my talents to make a difference in patients suffering from breast cancer," says Michael Penn, an MD/PhD and co-creator of FYN. An article giving tips on how to find a good mentor is written by a postdoc who is developing a mentorship programme for graduate students and faculty at the University of California, San Francisco.
The site's goal is to develop an exhaustive online repository of "virtual mentoring" moments that can be accessed on demand. In the future, FYN plans to stream audio and video clips of people using their science background to make a difference in society. Users will be able to see, hear and read about individuals in non-traditional scientific and medical careers. It may encourage them to carve out a unique path, if their perfect career doesn't exist yet.
FYN plans to evolve with its users' changing needs through site visitor feedback and the input of a student/postdoc advisory committee. Content will be regularly evaluated and updated. With an eye on the concerns of the next generation of scientists and physicians, FYN will strive to remain relevant.
