One of the most underrated job search skills is anticipation. You can do fine being reactionary and trolling job postings, but if you really want to elevate your chance of finding success, you need to take things to the next step. That means seeking out opportunities before they become apparent to other people. How do you do this? Look for non-obvious news items that might indicate future opportunities. The Museum of Mathematics in New York, NY provides a perfect example. They’re opening in 4 months, and they’re aiming “to enhance public understanding and perception of mathematics.” It’s being opened in response to the closing of the Goudreau Museum, which was a small museum of math in Long Island.
Believe it or not, there is no other math museum in the United States (I’m taking The Museum of Mathematics’ word for it here). I realize that going to a museum to learn about math isn’t quite as exciting as going to a museum to learn about, say, dinosaurs, but when you see it the way the people behind this museum see it, I think it’s well worthwhile. They see math as “illuminating the patterns that abound in our world.” There are a lot of really cool ways to show how that works in a museum setting, which is why The Museum of Mathematics has been able to raise $22 million. To me, that sounds like opportunity. They have money, and they’re starting to ramp up. They just posted a job for a Chief of Education (very clearly not entry level) on Idealist, and they added a note yesterday saying “Please check out our new listings of open positions; more to come.” I know what I’d do if I was you…
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
Will you visit The Museum of Mathematics?
Learn about interesting employers with awesome jobs.
Check out our job search course and articles.
I contacted these folks almost two years ago. How’s that for anticipation? :) Though not living in NYC may have something to do with not getting a reply…