New Job

As of this morning, I work as a geochemist for Australian Scientific Instruments, a small engineering firm that builds scientific instrumentation, including the SHRIMP. It is a part-time position, so I still get to spend two days a week with LLLL, while still getting paid to push the frontiers of science. So far it has been great- I spent the day learning how to set up sulfur isotopes on the multicollector, for the purpose of teasing 33S anomalies out of really old mud. Tomorrow will be swimming lessons, a playgrounds, and possibly the zoo.

Although selling the instruments isn’t actually part of my job description, if there’s anyone out there wishing to turn several million dollars of stimulus money into a world-class analytical facility, leave me a note in the comments.

One step at a time

It seems like a lifetime ago, but 16 years before today I climbed up a foggy rainy mountain in central Maine before starting a five month amble through the Appalachian summer into the crisp fall of Georgia.

As the time, I was burned out from two years of college, and sick of the Yankee smugness, the city lights, and the self importance of university. So I walked away. I’ve always been partial to trees, and surrounding myself with nothing else for half a year seemed like a perfect cure. And yet…


There was something aside from trees out there. The trees grew in dirt, and poking up through the dirt I saw rocks.

Flipping back though my photos, I was pleasantly surprised at how many of them show metapelites. What started as a slate belt developed quartz veins, then folds, then micas, and eventually garnet and staurolite in the month it took me to get into the big hills of New Hampshire. And I realized that if I ever really wanted to understand the stories that these rocks were trying to tell me, I’d have to go back to the dirty streets and crowded halls of college. The same campus that harbored self-important druggies and screechy activists also had microscopes and libraries. And the more I learned about rocks, the farther I could go to visit them.

A year later I was in the wild West, learning field mapping in the first half of the summer and hitch-hiking between geologic hot spots in the second half. Three years after that I was in Australia, and by the turn of the century I’d been to five continents.

Sixteen years on, I’m not really sure where the next step leads. I’ve run out of little white rectangles to follow. But I’d be surprised if it didn’t involve rock of some kind.

Is need-based hiring good for women?

A while ago I was looking at a job opening in one of the world’s best geochemistry labs. Asking people in the know, I got the following advice:
“If you’re gonna apply, do it fast. They don’t hold a traditional search, they just take the first qualified applicant.”

I was taken aback by this, but I don’t know why. After all, this is how positions in the real world are filled. A job needs to be done, so when someone who can do it shows up, they’re hired. A job is not a gift to be bestowed on the winner of a competition; It is something that has to be done. And in the case of this particular lab, the approach obviously works well for them. They are the best at what they do. So I started wondering: Why isn’t this approach used more often. And I wondered some more: Would such an approach help bridge the gender gap?

Pondering the last question, I think that it depends on the cause of the gap. Let’s assume two endmember causes for underrepresentation of female hiring at high levels in academia. The first endmember assumes that everybody in the selection processes that produce male bias is slightly biased against women. The second assumes that a small number of selectors are strongly biased*.

If the second case holds true, then those institutions saddled with such a person will always find an excuse not to hire women no matter what, so the search methodology is irrelevant.

With the first case, if you have a bunch of almost equal people competing for a spot, then subtle biases could end up making the difference that gives the job to a male. But if they simply hire the first qualified person to come along, then that subtle difference shouldn’t matter, as long as the advertising process is open and honest. Obviously, that’s a big if- a first come first serve practice could easily be corrupted by an old boys network**.

On the practical side, A first qualified candidate will generally enhance the productivity of the selectors, as the service commitment would generally be smaller. And if it works faster, it would be more amenable to researchers who have a family to support and can’t wait around for 15 months while a process slowly churns. But I honestly don’t know what the gender breakdown for scientist heads of households is, so I can’t say if that’s gender related or not.

* Note that overt bias is illegal and/or socially unacceptable in a growing number of countries these days. So the sort of person I’m talking about here is someone who claims to be fair-minded in principle, but always finds a reason to disqualify any specific woman who interacts with his sphere of influence. Whether this is done consciously or unconsciously is irrelevant for the present argument.

** Assuming that most labs are run by old boys- otherwise, it could be corrupted by the Nefarious Web of Quazinonymous Women Bloggers in the opposite direction.

Looking for the next best thing

With my contract set to expire at the end of June, and Geoscience Australia looking at a blanket renewal ban in the face of their predicted staffing cuts, I’m hitting the job market again.

Given the current economic climate, I’d by lying if I said I had the ability to pick and choose. Still, my career to date has been more about the journey than the destination; its trajectory is best described using Brownian motion. Setting goals and working towards them has never really worked for me, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t at least think about some of the broad differences in various types of employment.

1. Academics. The good thing about academic work is that the projects can be really, really interesting. There is some really cool stuff going on out there, and if you can get on the right project, that’s great. However, my inability to write papers means that I am unlikely to ever do anything other than work on other people’s projects, and the pay is pretty lousy as well.

2. Industry. The think I loved about working in exploration was the sense of accomplishment that accompanies the end of a successful project. However, the work is extremely demanding, and not always intellectually stimulating. It can also be tough on the family.

3. Government. The difference between this and industry is that for Government work, you don’t have to get up before dawn and work until 10 at night. Not surprisingly, it is less rewarding, both monetarily and in terms of accomplishment. On the other hand, it is great for having a life outside of the job- which is tempting now that LLLL is walking, talking, and fun to be around.

Sometimes I think it might be fun to write a book or do something completely off the wall, but how to monetize such activities in the short term is not obvious to me.

Any suggestions?

Retrenchment blogging, day 67

If all goes to plan, today is my last day of unemployment. Back in early November, when I got my notice, one of the first things I did was to call various collaborators, in order to tell them that I would not be able to continue work on our projects. One of those people asked me if this meant I was looking for work, and when I said yes, he suggested I swing by for a chat. A few weeks later he did, and a job offer materialized as a result.

I also did a lot of calling and emailing around to other people I knew. Of those folks, those in a similar position to me (mid-early career 30-something industry geologists) were most pessimistic, with many saying that they had just weathered rounds of layoffs the weeks before. My best leads and tentative offers came from non-geologists with whom I had interacted professionally- representatives of instrument manufacturers, contractors, government agency personnel, and even academics.

The lesson here, far as I can tell, is to be nice, professional, and competent no matter whom you’re dealing with. ‘cause you never know which of those people will be the one who is hiring when it all comes crashing down again.

Retrenchment blogging, days 46-61: Hawaiian Holiday

OK folks, this is the part of the blog where any of you who are in real financial difficulty get to say a big fuck you in the comments section. I’ve been vacationing in Hawaii for the past 2 weeks. While unemployed. 'cause it's not like I could have spent the time at work, or anything. I hope you all had wonderful holidays as well.

This is the active end of the island chain, where red hot lava is flowing into the sea.


And this is the weathering end, where red cool clay is doing the same.

The zircon who knew too much: Retrenchment blogging, day 42

I have just been offered a 6 month geochronology contract with Geoscience Australia. The aim is to help them work through their backlog of U/Pb ion probe zircon dating. The contract says that a security clearance is required. Now, I don’t know what state secrets these mineral grains hold, or how bombarding them with 10KeV O₂^- ions will reveal this information, much less endanger the operations of the Australian government. But you won’t find out from me. Loose lips sink ships. And they wreak havoc on high vacuum systems when you try to pump them down. So mine are sealed.

Rio to slash 1.4x104 jobs

Rio Tinto is letting go 14,000 people in an attempt to reduce debt and react to rapidly deteriorating market conditions. This is:
-60% of the population of Alice Springs.
-20% more than the entire attendance of next week's AGU meeting.
-One person per month since the reign of Charlemagne.

Retrenchment blogging, day 30

I'm unemployed!

Also, a bit tipsy.

And yesterday, I got an official job rejection letter. It was from a government agency, and they can only hire permanent residents if no qualified Australians apply. So that was pretty much expected. Still. Anyway.

I had a good chat wth everyone else who got sacked today- the board stopped operations, so everyone from the managing director down to the fieldies is looking for work. Maybe if we'd driven a prius to Washington they would have bailed us out. Oh well. The chairman has a point, which is that if good results don't raise the shareprice or atract investment, there isn't much point spending the money needed to get the results. Still, it is a bit frustrating to have to walk away from half finished projects. Oh well. Welcome to the real world. I leave it to a junior geo 10 years from now to dig up our reports and ask his boss, "Why didn't the drill this one out?"

In the mean time, anyone with 5 cents in their pocket can pick up not one, but two shares of uramet stock. It floated at 20 cents.

Retrenchment blogging, day 16

Nobody has requested any science posts, so I guess I should fill in the story of my job quest. I took my Mo on a tour of a prospective employer’s lab yesterday, and it didn’t seem to deter them too badly, which is good. Today, I had lunch with a former student from my lab tech days, who is now working in the geol survey’s geothermal section. This was not a direct job interview- or even a hunt for leads, but rather an information-gathering exercise in order to figure out who does what and how the industry works. Just because a company has a geothermal lease doesn’t necessarily mean that they employ field geologists. Some do, others contract out all of their actual dirt-involving services to service companies. Understanding who does what allows one to target the correct potential employee. And it's always nice to have an excuse catch up with people and see how they're going.

Tonight I need to apply for something for which application was encouraged- always a good sign, I suppose, but it doesn’t do to get too hopeful at this stage.

Below is my short-form resume, so all you Americans can tell me how inappropriate it is. I should get this guy tidied up in case I apply for work back home. Suggestions, compliments, and insults are welcome.

Retrenchment blogging, day 12

I formally submitted a job application yesterday to Geoscience Australia. Since the Australian government only hires permanent residents as an option of last resort, I suspect my chances are slim, but it looked like an interesting opportunity and was good practice for the world of official applications, form filling in, and other trappings of big organizations.

We'll see what happens. I won't post many details of job applications while they are pending. Might not be prudent, y'know.

Retrenchment blogging, day 10

And now, to address the serious problems.
What am I supposed to do with all of these?

Retrenchment blogging: day 1

It has occurred to me that I will be neither the first nor the last person to lose his job during this economic cycle. In fact, if this situation becomes as severe as some predict, reaction to job loss could have a far greater audience than esoteric geology jokes. So, I am going to blog my retrenchment. Do not consider this advise by an expert- I haven't been retrenched before, so I don't really know what I'm doing. Whether this story has a happy ending or an infinite downward spiral remains to be seen. But I'll post actions, thoughts, and new as time permits, so my experience can serve as a guide- or as a warning- to future victims of economic rationalization.


Day 1. WTFH?
Last night, my manager called me up and told me that my position would be terminated in a month's time. He didn't say much more. Since I telecommute during the off season, I really had no idea what was going on, so I spent a bit of time chatting, emailing, and talking with various folks back west to see who else was effected and how. I had emailed a few close contacts or advise, and I followed that up as well. And, since I am employed for the next month, I did a fair bit of work. You know, like, my actual job. Some of that was retrenchment related, though, as I had to inform various collaborators that I wouldn't be around.

My initial strategy was to conduct wide ranging inquiries. I didn't quite call everyone I knew- that would be quite time consuming. But I picked some key high-value people and either gave them a phone call or dropped them an email (usually call first, with email follow-up if they weren't around). I also went through my business card collection- a year ago total strangers were giving me their cards in bars, grocery stores, etc and suggesting I come work for them. So I figure, might as well give them a shot. And I did the easy stuff, like contact relevant facebook friends, people in my inbox I owed mail, etc.

Many responses were pretty grim, such as "Ha. half our staff got laid off last week. sorry." In general, the people in the most similar situation (advanced degree holders with a few years experience) had the grimmest news. But unlike emails, phone calls were good in that even if the person couldn't help me, they often had positive messages which eased the worry, even if nothing concrete came of them. And several contacts did produce additional lead trees. Interestingly, one of the ex-collaborators who I called to tell him our joint project wouldn't get done came back at me with a highly promising lead, so that was a bit of unexpected good news.

It's a bit early to draw firm conclusions, but my best luck so far have been people in different businesses with whom I've had positive professional dealings. Tonight was spent updating the Resume/CV, but I can't send it out until I call my second reference and reconfirm that he's still happy to do it (It's been 18 months since I used him to get my current job). I'll probably use the long format one (shown) for closer contacts/ specific requests, and trim it down to a one-pager for cold drops on people who aren't likely to care enough to flip pages.