Daniel - As someone who recently started down the path of looking for government jobs - one of the better routes into a science career in government is an NRC post-doc. It’s sort of a ‘trial period’ for both you and the hiring agency. I was headed that directly but unfortunately that program got killed with Sequestration and the Shutdown so your only option is to apply directly for positions and you will run into Veterans preference. So don’t get discouraged if you don’t make the interview list. If you are a Veteran then you will have an advantage.
Good luck, Mike Michael Garvin, PhD University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences 17101 Point Lena Loop Road Juneau, AK 99801 907-796-5455 [email protected] On Feb 10, 2014, at 10:13 AM, Daniel Nidzgorski <[email protected]> wrote: > I've heard a few folks in this conversation allude to "they don't want to > hire someone with a Ph.D. because it'll cost more." That doesn't match my > own experience (pre-Ph.D.) being hired for a county-government job I was > distinctly overqualified for -- and pretty much everyone we were hiring was > also overqualfied. (The job market in that town was honestly such that > nearly every good job went to someone thoroughly overqualified, since > people were willing to take steep salary reductions to move there.) So it > still seems a bit odd to me to keep hearing this common assumption that I > won't be hired for a government job just because it only requires a M.S. > > I'd appreciate if someone in government could explain the nuances of the > whole "overqualified" concept from your perspective in hiring, as advice to > a soon-to-finish Ph.D. who might be sending you a job application. I can > understand that you might see a Ph.D. as a retention risk, since they might > jump ship for a better-paid job elsewhere. But are there any other barriers > to hiring a Ph.D. that I should be aware of? For example, do federal jobs > essentially mandate being paid commensurate with your degree? Otherwise, > why wouldn't you be happy to hire someone that brings extra skills and > experience? > > I'll be finishing my Ph.D. this summer, and I'm certainly exploring job > options of going back into government work -- bringing with me some strong, > transferable skillsets from my Ph.D. like grant-writing, > hiring/training/supervising, designing and managing complex projects, and > science communication. I'm seeing jobs out there that are advertised as > only requiring a M.S. but provide plenty of intellectual room and challenge > to keep a Ph.D. happy -- and even though they pay less than I might > technically be qualified for, they still pay as well as or better than many > academic postdocs. (and far, far better than part-time > no-guarantees-next-semester adjunct teaching!) Advice and perspectives on > marketing myself to government jobs -- and avoiding triggering a "skip this > one, he's overqualified" summary rejection -- would be extremely helpful. > > Thanks in advance, > Daniel > > Daniel A. Nidzgorski > Urban ecosystem ecology > Ph.D. Candidate > Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior > University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
