The Sceptical Chymist, the Nature journals’ chemical community blog, has been tracking the career advancement of several guest bloggers.
Prospective Professor writes: “after eleven years of being entrenched in higher education, I am finally making a break for it. Yes, I am looking for my first job.” He describes conflicting advice on writing cover letters. Whom to believe? “The one that told me, ‘The cover letter is critical. It’s your one chance to get someone’s attention.’ Or the other that said, ‘In our department, they ripped off the cover letter and threw it away.’ Sigh…”
Rookie Rocky, on the other hand, is coming to terms with new professorship status. He notes that professors enjoy preferred seating in the front of the seminar auditorium. “To actually sit in a ‘business-class’ seat as a brand new assistant professor along with my colleagues brought … a thrill of excitement, needless to say, and a lot of pressure: now, even a boring seminar won’t be a good chance to doze off!”
Vist Prospective Professor’s and Rookie Rocky’s collected posts for the full story from each perspective.
Nature 450, xiii; 6 December 2007