Truly permanent jobs in physics are rare and getting rarer. There is also no guarantee that in these times of ever accelerating change that a job which starts out permanent (like a tenured professorship) will stay that way forever. If you cannot be secure in your job, then how can you be secure in your career? I struggled with this question for years. Simply putting my head down, working hard, and hoping things will work themselves out if my job ever goes away is a totally unsatisfactory approach for me. I have seen too many cases where things did not work themselves out quickly or easily for people after a job loss to be comfortable with the passive approach. What has made me reasonably comfortable with the ultimate uncertainty inherit in any particular job is continually doing three things:
- Keep Learning: Whatever formal degree you may have earned, graduation is the beginning of your education, not the end. Maintaining and increasing the value you bring to your work requires continually learning new things. Of course, this means attending conferences, reading papers, and generally keeping up with your physics specialty. However, just doing that can lead you into the “specialization trap.” Spending an inordinate amount of time deepening your knowledge of your tiny technical niche my add value in your current job, but no one else might care if that job goes away. So, I believe continual learning also means expanding your breath of knowledge. In particular, I have found it very useful to study the business end of my work. It is universally helpful to know where the money you depend on comes from, where it goes, and how to keep your “customers” (funding agencies, students, investors, or actual customers) happy. Depending on your desired career trajectory, you might also want to diversify your technical skills, develop your leadership and managerial talents, or embark on learning an entirely new discipline.
- Make New Friends and Acquaintances: I could have just as easily called this point “Network, Network, Network,” but it took me a long time to really understand what people meant when they said I should “network.” When you boil it down, networking is just being friendly, meeting as many people as you can, and helping them out whenever possible. That is all there is to it. Of course, I realize that constantly meeting lots of new people and following up to build relationships is not easy for everyone. In fact, it is not easy for me, but I have gotten better at it with practice. The effort is worth it because your ability to find new work is a strong function of who you know and how well they know you and your helpful talents.
- Pursue Side Projects: In many ways, the best way to reinforce steps one and two is to have some short of side project outside your regular job. It is great if your side project(s) is revenue generating, but it should at least feed your learning and networking. The Prosperous Physicist is one of my side projects, as is my participation in the leadership of the American Physical Society. Both these activities push me to learn new things (e.g. webpage building and leading in a large organization) and make new friends and acquaintance by (hopeful) being helpful. Other people I know have side projects ranging from technical consulting on the side to being active in the leadership of their church. Some even have side businesses that they can switch to full-time should their day job ever disappears.
The best part about this active, three-pronged approach is that it is essentially no-lose. Doing these things makes you more valuable at your current job and more marketable when you need another. In other words, they increase your odds of permanent prosperity in a world on impermanent employment.