Enhancing a Job Search Using Google Tools: Tips for PhD Students and Post-Docs

Over the past couple years, I have experimented with various Google Products that can be useful when conducting a search for employment.  There are many Google Tools that can be effectively leveraged regardless of the company or industry you are targeting.  This knol is geared specifically to PhD students and post-docs and endeavors to share some ideas on how these resources can be utilized to: 

• identify and target companies or other organizations of interest
• network, enhance web presence, and showcase key accomplishments to potential employers
• prepare for an interview and ultimately land an ideal position

Meet Jessica

Jessica[1] is a PhD candidate studying organic chemistry.  She is pursuing her thesis research at UC Berkeley and is planning to defend in about 8 months.  She is seeking a research position in industry.  She is most interested in specialty chemical companies but is also open to pharmaceutical and biotech positions.  Jessica is limiting her job search to the Philadelphia area since her spouse just accepted a job with a law firm in the area.  

(Tip:  Click on the "open in new window" icon near the bottom left of each embedded presentation to enlarge the content.)

Jessica knows that she first needs to get organized by deciding what companies to target and she needs to implement tools for organizing the information related to her job search.  She also needs to develop contacts and network.  One of her goals is to find opportunities to meet professionals in the industry and then build those relationships by following up with these newly minted connections.  Jessica also wants to enhance professional credibility by building solid professional content online that is attributable to her.  She plans to publish information online to showcase her important professional achievements and make it easier for those in the industry to find her.

Jessica would like to establish a permanent professional email address that she can take with her no matter where she works or studies.  She decides to use Gmail for a number of reasons.  

1. She can check other email accounts (eg:  you@school.edu) through Gmail to keep her job search organized.  
2. She can manage contacts, networking connections, and job leads through the conversation-based interface.  
3. She can build her professional network through contacts since anyone that she corresponds with by email is automatically added to her Contacts list.  She plans to cross-reference her contacts on professional networking websites like Linkedin.com to build her list of trusted connections.  

Jessica also decides to check out Knol.  She finds that some graduate students are writing about their fields of expertise.  Experts in a given field can write and post “knols” (units of knowledge) related to their areas of specialization.  She decides to write a couple of knols on her thesis research.  She writes one on her own and one in collaboration with her colleagues in the Stanford Mechanical Engineering Department to showcase her ability to work well on teams.

Jessica knows she’ll be collecting a lot of information during her job search.  She decides to consolidate that information in Google Docs.  She creates a Doc where she can reference information she finds that would be of use as she prepares to apply and interview with companies.  Jessica expects Google Docs to be especially helpful because it can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection.  Jessica uses the spreadsheet functionality in Google Docs to track promising networking connections and interactions with her new contacts.  Jessica will use the presentation functionality in Google Docs to create and share information about her research.

Now that she has done some significant legwork for her job search, Jessica decides to target five companies and apply.  The companies she chooses are:

•  Rohm and Haas
•  Arkema
• Johnson and Johnson
• Merck
• Polysciences

She does further research and crafts an objective and cover letter tailored to each company.  For Rohm and Haas and Arkema she lists her objective as “a research position in the chemical industry where expertise in complex organic synthesis can be leveraged.”  For Johnson and Johnson and Merck she writes that she is looking for “A research position where expertise in complex organic synthesis can be leveraged in drug development.”  She finds suitable job postings at each company and identifies existing contacts or finds promising connections at each organization on Linkedin.  Jessica applies to each company.  She submits a resume via the web and reaches out to her contacts.   She also takes advantage of a faculty referral (Bob Van Sant, the former research group member who now works at Rohm and Haas).

Selected for a Screening Interview

Jessica waits a couple weeks.  She hears nothing from Arkema.  She hears through Sheila Ciencia (an analytical chemist that she met at the local section ACS meeting when she visited Philadelphia) that Merck  is undergoing a restructuring in the division Jessica is most suited for and they are not hiring at this time.  She learns through Linkedin  that Johnson and Johnson has no suitable positions either.  However, on the strength Bob Van Sant’s recommendation, Rohm and Haas invites Jessica to do a phone interview for a research position in their Emerging Technologies department.  Jessica makes sure to ask the HR representative who she will be interviewing with.  HR is unable to guarantee who Jessica will be speaking with – the company draws from a pool of scientists to interview candidates via phone. 

Even though she doesn’t know who she’ll be interviewing with, Jessica can still do more company research.  The call is scheduled for next day so there is limited time to prepare.  Jessica decides to take a quick peek at Google Finance to answer questions such as:

• Is the company financially sound?
• Are they rumored to be the target of an acquisition?
• Is the company getting into any new businesses?
•  Are certain technologies up for sale or licensing?
• Has the company signed any major partnership deals?
• Who are the key competitors?

Google Finance also provides a snapshot of the current stock price, a graph of stock performance over time, and an overlay of news that may affect the stock price. 

Before Jessica knows it, it’s time for her phone interview. 

The interviewer asks “Why do you want to work at Rohm and Haas?”  Based on what she learned in Google Finance, Jessica talks about the strong history of innovation in the company, the solid product offerings, and the consistent financial performance.  Jessica finds out during the interview that the position will involve research on innovative new nanomaterials.  Jessica asks about Rohm and Haas’ partnership with NaturalNano that she read about in Google News and Google Finance .  This clearly impresses the interviewer…

Jessica realizes that following-up after the interview is an important next step.  She drops her interviewer an email that same evening to thank him for taking the time to speak with her and reiterating her interest and qualifications for the role.  She recalls the interviewer mentioning a difficult challenge they were currently struggling with in their research.  Jessica met a professor at a conference the previous year who faced a similar issue and developed some elegant chemistry to solve the problem.  Jessica does a quick Google Search and includes the details on the conference abstract as well as a link to the professor’s webpage in her thank you note.  

Invited On-Site!

Based on the strength of the screening interview and her prompt and enthusiastic follow-up, Jessica receives a phone call inviting her to interview for the position at the Rohm and Haas research lab in Spring House, PA.  The interview will take place in 3 weeks.  Jessica is assigned a host for the visit.  Jessica asks her host for a list of those she will be interviewing with which her host is able to provide.  The host also mentions that they will go out to lunch and dinner on the day of the interview at a fancy local restaurant.  Jessica will be required to give a 45 minute presentation about her research to a panel of scientists to start the interview day.

The on-site interview is not taking place for a significant amount of time so Jessica sets up a Google Alert to tap into daily updates on important news related to Rohm and Haas .  She also sets up alerts for competitor companies like Dow Chemical to keep a pulse on what’s happening in the industry.  Google Alerts generate daily email updates.  Jessica could also use Google Reader to track relevant company news via RSS feed in the weeks leading up to the interview.

She checks YouTube for advice on how to conduct herself at the dinner table.

The three weeks fly by and it is now Interview Day.  Jessica flies to Philadelphia and successfully rendezvous’ with her host even though there are four interview candidates and company representatives waiting in the lobby of her hotel.  She shows impeccable table manners at breakfast, lunch, and dinner thanks to the YouTube  training.  Jessica regales her host with tales of her adventures trekking across Thailand and builds rapport by asking for advice on sights to see during an upcoming trip to New Zealand.

Jessica aces the seminar by fine tuning the content to reflect the interests and backgrounds of the audience.  She is also able to effectively convey how the work she has done would directly impact the project that she’d be working on at Rohm and Haas from her Google Scholar and Patent Searching.

She impresses the department director with her knowledge of the state of the R&H business and how the upcoming partnership with NaturalNano will positiviely impact the bottom line.

As a result of her meticulous preparation, Jessica leaves the interview with a job offer in hand… 

Thank You and Call for Additional Google Tool Tips

Thank you for taking this journey with Jessica.  Are there other ways that you’ve used Google products effectively in your own job search?  Share your tips and suggestions here.