Career Guidance

Within the APS Professional Development section you will find a list of important resources for today’s scientists, primarily from the APS Professional Development Resource Guide, written by the APS Committee on Careers and Professional Development (CCPD).

The APS Professional Development Resource Guide is divided into ten sections, each section a step that a physicist (or scientist) can take to improve his or her career and access the best physics job opportunities.

Ten Steps to Improve Your Physics Career

1. Follow Current Events
2. Learn Basic Skills
3. Give Presentations
4. Prepare a Well-Thought-Out CV
5. Don't Procrastinate
6. Set Goals
7. Identify Potential Employers and Relevant Jobs
8. Do Your Own Thinking
9. Learn Soft Skills
10. Join Professional Organizations

Nine Errors to Avoid in Your Physics Career

James Patterson, Professor Emeritus at Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, offers hard-won career advice in his “An Open Letter to the Next Generation.”

1. Doing too much too soon
2. Disrespecting superiors
3. Not controlling your temper
4. Being inefficient
5. Being a desk potato
6. Using math without experiment
7. Having unrealistic goals
8. Not referring to original literature
9. Not memorizing basic facts