Career Consulting

Under Construction

My side-gig is career consulting and/or mentoring for recent graduates (undergrad or graduate) and early-career professionals (postdocs, RS-1/2’s, etc.), and consulting for gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer science. I will be offering free resources through Patreon, as well as low-cost individual consulting for early-career individuals. My science consulting fees require significantly more computing resources and will be priced closer to market value with potential overhead to support free career resources, TBD.

Check out my organization, AstraNext

How Qualified am I to Consult/Mentor for your career?

When I graduated with my PhD from ASU in 2022, I had three written job offer letters to choose from and two additional verbal offers. I don’t recall the number of interviews I had ranging from start-ups to academic and government institutions, nor the number of places I applied to 100% (thanks LinkedIn EasyApply), but I did keep track of the ones I really, really wanted (~15). I got these offers and interviews within two months of starting my job search. When I graduated from my master’s program in 2015, I had three written job offer letters to choose from after three months of searching. When I graduated from my bachelor’s program in 2013, I had applied to 10 PhD programs and had three fully funded offers to choose from, my GPA was like 3.2 but I did have a national lab internship on my resume which probably helped. When I left my job at LLNL to pursue graduate studies I had fully funded offers from ASU, U Michigan, Johns Hopkins, and interest from UC Davis (during our phone conversations we mutually decided I was a better fit in other labs I already had offers in) – I only applied to those four institutions. One of the comments I frequently receive is how easy my resume and other application materials are to review. More recently in 2025, I have gotten two job offers after looking seriously from February – March.

Previous Clients

I’ve gotten positions for various people throughout my career just by knowing who needs help and how to help. I got my co-grad student at UNM his current role outside of Boston just because I knew his work ethic and his interests aligned with a collaborator who was hiring. I passed on an opportunity at a NASA center and sent it off to another co-grad student who I knew would be an excellent fit, he is currently working there now. I’ve gotten internships for students at national labs, and I’ve gotten students into graduate programs. I’ve helped a friend to craft their Tenure-Track statements for research and teaching, leading to them accepting that TT position. I’ve looked over countless resumes/CVs and helped people to edit and tailor them, causing an increase in interview successes. I want to see both my generation and the younger generation succeed and contribute to their communities. We can do that by putting people in their best roles to do their best jobs.

Job Resources

I 100% specifically do not endorse Cheeky Scientist, though their free resources may be helpful. A lot of career counseling services prey on the insecurity that PhDs have as they are in the process of finishing their degrees and trying to find a job. I promise I will never do that. Also, this article talks about some of this…