Today's work place is dramatically different, says Dorothy Rodmann, human resource consultant and senior advisor to the ACS membership director. The security we saw 20 years ago just doesn't exist today. Today's students have to think about making job changes five to seven times in their career. They may even have to change careers two or three times in their life times. They need to keep their career options open, anticipate the changes, and be prepared.
Employers look for technical competence.
A solid background and good grades are necessities in today's competitive work force. While gaining their technical credentials, students should keep an eye on today's rapidly growing interdisciplinary fields. You don't know what you're going to want to do twenty years down the road. I am an inorganic and analytical chemist. If anybody had told me that I would be in charge of the biotechnology program at NIST twenty years from then, I would have told them they were crazy.