For those who aren’t familiar with USAJobs, usajobs.gov is a single, centralized site devoted to finding federal jobs. It is a cross-departmental and cross-agency platform, meaning that it lists jobs with the EPA, FDA, USDA, and many other departments and agencies. There’s a wide variety of criteria that you can use to search the database,… Read more »
I don’t know about you, but I live and die by my calendars. Between my smartphone and my Outlook calendar at work, my entire life hangs in the balance of these handy electronic schedulers. Rather than feel confined by this, I actually like it that way. I love being able to open my Outlook calendarRead… Read more »
Government employees have faced a number of “downers” in recent years: sequestration and budget cuts, furloughs, and pay freezes, just to name a few. Federal employees hired today are required to contribute a greater proportion of their salaries to their pensions than those hired just a few years ago. Travel budgets have been cut downRead… Read more »
We’ve all heard the phrase, “Practice makes perfect.” While many dismiss this idea as well-worn and antiquated, the concept of meaningful practice has been embraced by neuroscientists and life coaches alike in recent years. Author Daniel Coyle champions practice as the means to achieving excellent in his book The Talent Code. The idea is thatRead… Read more »
I recently heard a segment on the radio in which listeners submitted questions that they would ask their spouse or significant other anonymously. The submissions ranged from, “What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told your spouse?” to things much more scandalous. My first reaction was that if you have to ask your spouse anonymously, thenRead… Read more »
Top 10 ways to stay on top of research developments in your field 1. Join a professional society. Actually read their newsletters, e-mails, and updates. 2. Set alerts (Google alerts, etc.). 3. Look deeper than the headlines- if you read a popular article, go back to the peer-reviewed source. Does the headline actually match theRead… Read more »
How have budget cuts affected your agency’s travel budget? Do you need travel to do your job effectively? Let’s face it: the budget climate is not pretty. I think it’s safe to say that most, if not all, of us have faced budgetary hardships over the last couple of years. While there have been aRead… Read more »
How do you get in on the ground floor of big data? Programming? Statistics? Research experience? Last week I questioned the idea of leaving behind our traditional models of data analysis in favor of big data. Much like being the last kid in your grade school class to get the famed New Kids on theRead… Read more »
It seems like everywhere we look, we see big data calling our name. The profession of “data scientist” has been deemed the next hot job. Big data promises to solve all kinds of problems, from business logistics to tracking and treating diseases. These promises seem to have cropped up almost overnight. Think back to fiveRead… Read more »
Some government research programs place a large emphasis on product development. At the same time, as government employees, we must be very careful not to appear to endorse any particular company or product. How can we reconcile these two concepts? One thing that probably doesn’t surprise you about being a government employee is that weRead… Read more »