Lionel Prost

Lionel Prost (Ph.D., 2004)
(adjusts instruments on the HCX experiment at LBNL)

I am doing a post-doc (therefore research) at Fermilab and maybe you can call me an accelerator physicist.

I've attended job fairs (tough for PhD in general, not much there), sent/posted online my resume on many National Labs and some companies. I've also used the career center website (but I only got (in two years) ONE ad that was worth applying for !!). Anyway... I found it painful... and I had very, very little success !! Note that it does not help not to be a US citizen. Again, my research work was also not the 'best' for finding a job I think, and this would not apply to an undergrad.          

The most useful 'organism' for me to find 'good ads' (besides applying to National Lab online... not the best... it's better to have someone to talk to) was Physics Today and the American Pysical Society website. They have a lot of faculty positions too.

I sent a resume in response to an ad which was in Physics Today, the APS monthly magazine. I actually sent e-mails first to the people that were listed as contacts on the ad telling them who I was and what I was doing (a couple of sentences, not more) and kind of asking them if it was worth sending my 'formal' resume. In that sense, I don't think it went through the Human Resources department, which is usually the case if you apply online to National Labs.