Craigslist? for jobs? for chemists? Actually, yes!

Our own Natalie LaFranzo, chair of the St Louis Section YCC and Secretary-elect, told her unconventional story of job search success in Chemical & Engineering News (Nov 4, p 46, member credentials required for online access).

Natalie and eight other recently (re)employed chemists related their search strategies in a feature on “determined feats, lucky breaks, and clever strategies.” We’ll let you decide which category best describe Natalie’s tale:

I liked the idea of working for a small start-up company. However, I knew that finding a job in that kind of firm might be difficult as many start-ups and small companies do not have enough funds to hire a full-time scientist.

I constantly attended networking events and scoured LinkedIn for open positions. In the end, I found the opening for my current position at Cofactor Genomics through a posting on Craigslist!

Craigslist turned out to be a good place to look for a job; many companies post openings there to avoid using more expensive sites. One piece of job-search advice: Don’t discount any venue for job postings. Use every resource available to you!

Natalie LaFranzo is now project scientist at Cofactor Genomics in Saint Louis.