The last time chemist and software developer Richard Apodaca looked for a job was 10 years ago, while he was completing a postdoc in chemistry at Stanford University. Back then, there weren't many online tools, so Apodaca followed in the footsteps of many postdocs before him: He signed up for on-campus job interviews until he found a job that fit.
Nowadays, the online tools available for building profiles, contacts, and looking for jobs can making networking easier, but there's a caveat. "With all [these tools] out there, what's the best use of my time? Am I going to be sucked into doing something nonproductive?" says Apodaca, who founded Metamolecular, a chemical software company. Back in 1999, "I knew that every single one of the things I would be doing would be productive." Now, networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and job search engines such as Monster.com and Indeed.com, are ...
