Careers
in Biology
Will you have a BA with a major
in biology, but not sure what the possibilities are? Would you
like to apply your Environmental Studies Concentration to your
career? Looking for a research assistant or lab tech job? Want
some time away from academia before graduate school, but still
want to work in a biology-related field?
The good news is that you are
qualified for many jobs in biological fields with a Bachelor's
degree. However, these positions are not frequently advertised
in newspaper want-ads or other more traditional avenues. So where
do you look? Professional societies, university job postings,
non-profit organizations,
national laboratories, industry, and other
job posting sites are all promising avenues to explore.
Not really sure where to start
or just want more information on biological careers? Compiled
here are some ideas on where to start.
Professional Societies
Professional societies offer
the opportunity to network with professionals in your field.
Many have their own web pages with job postings. In addition
to posting jobs, professional societies' web pages give information
for undergraduates on how to prepare for a career in biology-related
fields. Below are some examples; however this is far from a comprehensive
list. Ask your professors which societies they belong to for
more ideas.
By becoming a student member
of a professional society, you gain all the benefits of membership
at a much reduced student price (around $15-$20 compared to the
$40-$60 regular membership). These benefits include reduced
registration costs for attending and presenting at annual
society meetings, reduced journal subscription costs,
and newsletter subscriptions. Student members gain access
to society job listings as well.
American
Society of Microbiology
- ASM for Students page -- links with information about career
opportunities, graduate school information, fellowships and grants,
student membership and more. However, their job listings are
for use by members only.
Ecological
Society of America
Society
for Conservation Biology
- Job listings -- jobs for people with Bachelor's, Master's, and
Ph. D's.
University Job Postings
If you are interested in a Laboratory
Technician or Research Assistant position, the job postings of
the university or college you want to work for are the most promising
places to look, though professional societies
and industry will advertise these positions
as well.
Once you've decided where you
might like to work, visit that university's website and look
for the Job Opportunities or Employment Opportunities page. If
it is not immediately obvious on the university's main page,
often the quickest way to locate it is by accessing the site
index. In addition to checking the job listings, it is a good
idea to research the professors working at the institution and
to contact them directly (telephone, email, letter) about working
with them.
Below are a few examples of job
listing sites from universities. Though you may not want to work
specifically at one of the listed schools, you can access them
to compare job responsibilities and pay scales. While there are
a number of Lab Tech and Research Assistant positions advertised,
note that these are not the only types of jobs available to graduates
at universities.
Non-Profit Organizations
Many non-profits offer year-long
or shorter internships or positions for recent graduates. These
can give you great experience using your biology degree in a
non-academic setting. Ask professors, alumni, friends about other
possible non-profits you might be interested in working with.
- Student
Conservation Association
-- Offers short- to long-term positions with national parks,
non-profit organizations, and private preserves for undergraduates
and graduates. Some positions carry education awards upon completion
to be used for further study or loan repayment.
- The Nature Conservancy -- This site lists jobs all over the
country for a variety of education levels and skills.
- Alaska State Parks Volunteer Program -- Paid, 6 week, 6 month, or longer
positions in Alaska.
With a national non-profit, such
as The Nature Conservancy or Audubon
Society, it is a good idea to contact the specific local
chapters you would like to work with to inquire about job opportunities.
Positions may be filled locally and therefore never even be listed
on the national job databases.
National Laboratories
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab --
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a world-renowned research
and development center. The mission of the Laboratory is to serve
as a national resource of scientific, technical, and engineering
capability with a special focus on global security, global ecology
and bioscience. LLNL is operated by the University of California
under a contract with the US Department of Energy.
- Los Alamos National Lab -- Los Alamos lab, located with the town
of Los Alamos approximately 35 miles northwest of Santa Fe, occupies
43 square miles of land in Northern New Mexico. Owned by the
Department of Energy, Los Alamos has been managed by the University
of California since 1943, when the Laboratory was born as part
of the Manhattan Project to create the first atomic weapons during
World War II. National security remains the central part of Los
Alamos' mission, but our scientific expertise is very broad and
ranges from innovative biological research to modeling global
climate, and from novel methods for examining material properties
to helping explore the outer reaches of the solar system. We
also boast what is arguably the greatest concentration of scientific
computing power on the planet.
- Oak Ridge National Lab -- ORNL is a multi program science and
technology laboratory managed for the U.S. Department of Energy
by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation. Scientists and
engineers at ORNL conduct basic and applied research and development
to create scientific knowledge and technological solutions that
strengthen the nation's leadership in key areas of science; increase
the availability of clean, abundant energy; restore and protect
the environment; and contribute to national security.
- Sandia National Lab - Sandia National Laboratories is a multi program
laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin
Company, for the U.S. Department of Energy. Sandia is one of
the country's premier research and engineering facilities, employing
about 7,500 people at major facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico
and Livermore, California. Test sites are located in Nevada and
Hawaii.
- Brookhaven National Lab - Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)
is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research facility located
on Long Island, New York, on a 5,300-acre campus just north of
Exit 68 of the Long Island Expressway. (maps) BNL has been around
since 1947, doing world-class scientific research in physics,
medicine, biology, chemistry, environmental science. . . and
more!
Industry
Industry offers not only research
and lab tech positions, but opportunities in sales and marketing
as well.
- BioCareer
Center -- Searchable
database of jobs in the biotech industry.
- Bio Online Career Center -- Browse an extensive database of jobs offered
by top companies in the life sciences industries. Job opportunities
are in many fields, including research, for many education levels.
Visit the Bio
Online home page for current information on the life sciences
industry.
- Haystack Group,
Inc.
-- This is a retained executive search consultancy providing
exhaustive executive search and search research services to firms
working within four specific industries: Medical Devices, Pharmaceuticals,
Biotechnology, Health Care Information Technology.
- National
Institutes of Health
-- Full-time job opportunities
as well as intern and summer positions.
- Roche Bioscience -- Roche Bioscience (Palo Alto, California) is
a
research-based, business-oriented enterprise dedicated to the
discovery of innovative pharmaceutical products that significantly
improve the quality of human life.
- Symbios Inc. -- Pharmaceutical, biotechnology and research
institution positions.
Other Job Postings
- Center for Environmental Citizenship -- Lists a wide variety of environmental
jobs, mostly in the non-profit sector.
- Environmental
Careers Organization
-- Lists long term, paid internships to undergraduates and recent
graduates (within 6 months).
- Lab
Support -- Specializes
in placing technicians and scientists into laboratories. Part
time jobs are also available.
- The Job Seeker -- This site will list current environmental postings
at no cost to you. Most jobs require only a Bachelor's, some
are for higher education levels. A subscription to a longer listing
is available from the site as well.
- Nature --
Nature Magazine's searchable database for all types of science
jobs around the world for all education levels.
- National
Science Foundation --
Subscribe to their Custom News Service which will enable you
to obtain electronic copies of their vacancy announcements.
- Science
-- Science Magazine's searchable database for all types of science
jobs for all education levels.
- Sciencejobs.com
-- Free site for job seekers listing industry, academic, and
government bioscience and chemistry employment opoprtunities
from the scientific publishers Cell, ChemWeb.com, BioMedNet,
and New Scientist..
- Symbios Inc. -- Pharmaceutical, biotechnology and research
institution positions.
Looking for other environmental
opportunites? Check out the CDO's
Environmental Jobs page.
What else do biologists do?
Want more information about what
kinds of jobs are out there for biologists? Here are some good
places to start gaining more information.
- Talk to your professors -- after all they have careers in biology!
- Talk to alumni who work in
biological fields. It
may be especially helpful to talk to alumni who do not have careers
in academia. They can give you an idea of what biologists do
outside of academics. A Career Counselor in the CDO can help
put you in touch with alumni.
- Talk to a Career Counselor. They can help you focus your career
and job searching goals as well as give you ideas on where to
look and who to talk to about the type of job you want.
- The CDO library has numerous resources to help you
explore careers in biology. Check out the sections in the
library marked "Careers in Health Professions," "Careers
in Science," and/or "Environmental Careers." They
contain resources such as Nontraditional Careers in Science,
Job Opportunities in Health and Science, 100 Jobs in
the Environment, Alternative Careers in Science,
and Jump Start Your Career in Bioscience.
- In addition to print resources, you may want to investigate professional
societies' web pages or these other web-resources:
National Academy of Science Publication
-- Careers in Science and Engineering
Careers in Microbiological Sciences
Careers in Biology -- A web page maintained by Emporia State University
that contains links to information about a wide variety of biological
careers, from genetics and cell biology to animal behavior and
ecology.
Biological Career Descriptions -- Here you will find nearly 200 links
to Web sites that describe specific careers accessible after
training in biology. In turn, each of these is likely to provide
many other links.
Tips About Graduate School -- Thinking about graduate school? This
web page can help you decide whether or not to go, help you decide
where to go, and how to apply.
American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) -- general information on medical school
admissions, a link to the American Medical College Application
Service, and help registering for the Medical College Admisions
Test (MCAT).
