I've been scouted by a massive company for their R&D division. I'm fairly certain they just searched for Ph.D.'s on LinkedIn. Still, they read the little summary of my future post-academic profile and thought I might be worth talking to. That's pretty nifty. More than nifty. It's a great confidence booster. Nothing says "this career change thing just might work out" quite like someone considering recruiting you. Admittedly, I haven't considered R&D since my long ago undergrad years. I have a B.S. (best degree abbreviation ever!) in a STEM field. Don't ask why I went into the social sciences. We all make stupid decisions in our 20's. Anyway, I haven't thought about this career path in years and actually thought a Ph.D. in the social sciences would removed them from my possible paths.
So, I'm not really sure what to do at this point. I think I need to find some folks to do informational interviews with - preferably before I talk to the recruiters so I have a better sense of what I can offer the company. By all accounts, it's a good company to work for, the employees seem happy, and their salary range for the job would actually cover my bills and let me start some savings. And they employ a boatload of Ph.D.'s (go post-acs!). Not to mention, it's in a large enough city that my Safe Harbor could find a job.
It seems a little too good to be true. And past events suggest that the more people I tell, rather than letting such possibilities eat me up inside until I'm a twitching wreck, the less likely it'll amount to anything. Still, this is the season of hope. The longest night of the year is next week and then the sun will begin its slow return to the northern hemisphere. Everyone is posting rumors of similar hope in the post-academic world. So, here's my contribution to the happy thoughts: to a chance at a new life, happiness, enough money to buy the libations we really needed to get through grad school, and the time we never had to enjoy them! May astoundingly good things happen to you all on your job searches!
