From: laws@ai.sri.com (Kenneth I. Laws)
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc
Subject: Re: "Entry Level?"
Date: 6 Apr 92 08:38:53 GMT
	<1992Apr1.035954.2330@access.digex.com>
	<LAWS.92Apr3120159@sunset.ai.sri.com>
	<1992Apr5.200024.7690@weyrich.UUCP>
Organization: Computists International
In-reply-to: orville%weyrich@tnet.com's message of 5 Apr 92 20:00:24 GMT

Hi, Orville!

>>If you're too educated to take an entry-level
>>position, you'd better think about starting your own company.

>Ken -- I'm not sure how to interpret your last comment. Do you mean
>        "If you feel you are above entry level because you are well
>         educated..."
>or
>        "If the employer feels you are above entry level because you
>         are well educated..."

The first spans two meanings, and I meant both:  if you are  a) too
stuck up, or  b) genuinely too qualified for an entry-level job, then
a) do everybody a favor, or  b) do yourself a favor and start a company.
Most job creation is in the small-business sector.  (The Fortune 500
have lost about 4M jobs over the last decade, although that's partly
just regression to the mean.)  Start-ups are painful and risky, and
are certainly not for everyone.  But a PhD is a pretty good start,
if you can find some way to combine it with rudimentary business
experience.  About 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs are PhDs (vs. 30% MBAs).

(These are water-cooler statistics.  I'd have to check back issues
of my newsletter to be sure.)

I had not intended your second meaning, although it's also good.
If the problem is the employers' perception, though, I'd focus
on fixing that.  First, make sure you're approaching the right
hiring authorities.  (As a major component of that, make sure
that you're offering something they need.)  Then sell your ability
to solve their problems.  Stress benefits, not biography.  Forget
the resume, or withhold it as long as you can.  Make them want you,
then let them look at the resume.  There are plenty of consultants
who pass out business cards instead of resumes, and they get their
jobs by talking to prospects about in-house problems.  Once you've
identified a manager's key problem, you've got a good chance of
selling your services on whatever employment arrangement you offer.

If that doesn't work, ask for referrals to others in the same
company, the same industry, or even with a direct competitor.
(See, there's a way to profit even if they wouldn't hire you on
a bet!)  If you really want to work for a company, be willing to
sell your skills to any opening.  If they like your style, they'll
let you transfer in six months.  Or they'll give you a good reference
if you look for jobs elsewhere.  You can work for six months outside
your field of expertise, can't you?

(Warning!  A couple of years ago I wasn't able to get interviews
either.  How do you think I ended up in the newsletter business?
I'm just passing on advice that I've read and absorbed, some of it
from misc.jobs.misc and misc.entrepreneurs.)


> Any suggestions?

I know so little about you that I'd be a fool to offer to solve
your most difficult problems.  So, here goes ... a freebee:

Start courting contacts among supercomputer and workstation manufacturers.
Look for software development work in computational chemistry, either
funded by computer vendors or by their customers.  (They'll
be quite happy to tell you all their customers, and this information
has been widely publicized in the financial press.  An information
broker can dig it out for you if you can't find it any other way.
Or you could start with the computational-chemistry end, seeking out
conference procedings and articles to see what companies are active.)

Here are a couple of news items that haven't made it into my
Communique yet:

    Autodesk Inc. (Sausalito, CA) has released its HyperChem 3D
molecular-modeling software for MS Windows.  The Aberdeen Group (Cambridge, MA)
says the computational chemistry market is growing at 30%-40% per year, with
the desktop segment growing fastest.  By 1994, revenues should exceed $1B.
[Business Wire, 3/30.  agentsee.]

    Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) has purchased a CRAY
Y-MP 4E system because of Cray's excellent reputation in Korea and its
selection of application software.  SAIT is interested in circuitry design,
structural analysis, thermal analysis, fluid dynamics, chemistry, and
electronics manufacturing.  [PR Newswire, 3/30.  agentsee.]  (Hardware
companies may be a source of funds for proprietary software development.)

If you land software development contracts (which might even be fulfilled
remotely, using HPCC networks), you can eventually become enough of an
expert to tap NSF funds.  With either industrial or NSF funding, you'll
be able to jump up the academic ladder.  Or start your own company, if
you'd rather.

Of course, I don't really know your interests.  Maybe you'd rather
work for this Aberdeen Group (or DataQuest, etc.) as a market analyst.
Or you could read a couple of books on finance and then get a job in
New York doing financial time-series analysis.  One reason I circulate
AI-related job ads is to give people a feel for all the different
options that are open.  There's a tremendous need for PhD-level
people with the initiative to start new projects and create the
future.  The really great jobs have to be created and sold with
all your might.  Even the not-so-great jobs occur by the "one's"
these days, and aren't served by a competent recruiting industry --
so you may have a long wait for one to come looking for you.

					-- Ken
--

Dr. Kenneth I. Laws, (415) 493-7390, laws@ai.sri.com.
Moderator of the Computists International AI/IS/CS mutual-aid association.
Ask about my weekly online career newsletter, The Computists' Communique.
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc