In which I gnaw on my fingernails - Sent in a job application
Perhaps it’s coming off of a relaxing weekend, perhaps it’s just because I’m in a “get things done” sort of mode, I decided to send in a job application today. It’s for a position at the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics (RCSB), specifically at the Protein Data Bank. This is the main repository for protein structures, and it serves an absolutely critical and invaluable role to the research community.
I had sent in an application for the position once before. That time, I was rapidly told that they were not hiring any additional people for the position I was interested in. However, the opening has remained listed on the website, and I simply couldn’t take the first “no” as an answer.
The reason is that, by all appearances, the job seems to be perfect for me. The criteria they list are more or less an itemized list of my research experience and personal interests. The RCSB is one of the most established and well-respected repositories of structural information, they are non-profit (yay) and the information they collect is freely available (super yay). The job is right next door to where my wife might get an offer for a post-doc, and it’s not so far away that we’d be leaving all of our friends behind.
Of course, the very perfection that this job seems to be also serves to make me especially nervous about being turned down for it. C’est la vie, I suppose. Wish me luck.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:42 am
McDawg wishes you luck !
I’m in a similar position to you and and am waiting to hear back from the last job application that I submitted.
All in favor of non-profits !!
On the subject of repositories, check out the super cool Repository 66:- http://maps.repository66.org/ Kudos to Stuart Lewis in Wales who maintains this all on his own.