The First Job Offer!

Currently Listening: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, How Will I Know (Whitney Houston)
Movies Watched: Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)

Note to Self: NEVER drink anything caffeinated after 10am.

After 2.5 months, I finally got a job offer! For a position (clinical research coordinator) that I think will be very rewarding during my early stage career path. And I'd be managing a project that would be very interesting, with huge clinical implications for the UCSF system. The position starts out part time while the major grants are being written but is expected to expand to full time soon.

During the job hunt, I've been blessed with experiencing the highs and lows, the blunders and achievements, of "the search." And now that I'm in phase III, I feel very blessed to have gone through this. It was stressful (it still is) but now that there's something on the table, a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. The stressors related to being poor now appear to have an end.

My interviewer, who was the doctor I would work under, offered me this job on the spot. It was only the first interview, so I was pretty blindsided by the offer. However, I did feel very valued because of that and both he and the second interviewer graciously acknowledged that I would need time to make my decision. He also seems like an amazing person to work with - a visionary, a great mentor, and is extremely well-respected.

Right now I still have some decision-making to do because I'm still waiting to hear back from another department - I will write about the decision process in a later post once I officially move forward with something. To help with the process, I've been speaking to people whose opinions I value and a former teammate of mine told me to rank the things I personally look for in a first job. Then I can evaluate each opportunity based on what's important to me. So here goes.

Ranking essential aspects of a potential first job:

1) Experience: My number one goal is to gain transferable project management skills involving different kinds of people (clinicians, patients, academics, industry). This means further developing organizational and planning skills as well as consistent follow-through and execution. Secondary to that, I'd like to refine my interpersonal and presentation skills, be able to write grants, co-author or author a few publications, and become very well-versed in clinical research development (protocol, IRB, regulatory affairs, etc.). I would also like something to "show off" - something tangible that I can be very proud of.

2) Compensation: I've got bills to pay and my mouth to feed and things to save up for! But I'm not looking to make bank yet. I'm just looking to survive, pay back my student loans, live comfortably, and have enough to help out my siblings and parents.

3) Mentorship: I would like to find others whose career path or personality I can model myself after, who are as equally invested in my career as I am in supporting theirs. Whether it's vision, influence, or competency, mentorship would take me very far in terms of personal and professional development.

4) Alignment with scientific interests: I obviously have been pursuing fitness and sports for a very long time and I would really love to work in a field that has neurological applications - specifically, movement disorders and neurological rehabilitation. However, my past experience is most relevant to biomaterials and pharma/oncology.

Stay tuned!