The Pocket Card Monthly QR Exclusive - November 2024

Thank you for ordering one of our popular STEM Pocket Tools and scanning the QR code to reach this page! This page is exclusively for holders of these cards and will have new content, freebies, resources and discounts every calendar month.

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November Discount: Beat the lab coat price increase!

We’ve decided to raise the prices on our new Louis and Curie lab coats to maintain a healthy business after experts left and right have told us our margins are too low. We’ll still maintain the lowest margins in the business but this will help us grow into more fits and colors!

Anyway, we’re temporarily holding the original price of $49.95 on Amazon for a few weeks in November, on Amazon only. After that, the price everywhere will go up to $59.95 and never be discounted from there.

If you take advantage of this temporary price on Amazon, we could really use some reviews there! The Amazon Algorithm is brutal and a few reviews from fans go a long way!

November Resource: Getting the most out of conferences in the age of LinkedIn

What was the last YouTube “rabbit hole” you went down? It’s such a great learning tool, but so easy to get distracted with recommendations. Luckily, I found a free Chrome extension called “Unhook”, which lets you turn off any or all recommendations, including Shorts. It’s kind of like a “reading mode” for watching videos. With this on, you’re back in control of what you consume. Add it now!

My favorite time of year: Conference season! The Fall is packed with events that give you opportunities to get your research out there, get great feedback, make connections with collaborators and help you make your next career move. But, just presenting your work alone won’t make it worth the trip. Here are my favorite tips I collected from two live event veterans:

BEFORE the event:

Look up the speaker bios and sponsors, then identify 5-10 of them you’d really like to meet face-to-face. Take a few notes on each (accessible from your phone) to show you know their work and help guide the discussion you’d like to have.
Reach out on LinkedIn before the event - send connection requests and just quickly mention you’re looking forward to hearing about their work at the event.
Have business cards ready, but more importantly have a QR code to let them quickly find you on LinkedIn and connect. You can save a screenshot of this to a home screen shortcut on your phone, for example.

DURING the event:

When you see someone from your Top 10 list, review your notes and count to 3. Start walking toward them before you hit 3. No bailing now!
Post on LinkedIn during the event (at their booth, by the keynote banner, etc) and tag them in it. Mention something valuable or inspiring you learned. LinkedIn is pushing video right now. Jump on a casual unscripted video to share your thoughts in the hallway or lobby!

AFTER the event:

Clear out a half day after the conference to organize your notes and take actions on follow-ups.
Write a thoughtful summary post on LinkedIn the week after. Tag the conference organizers and any new connections you made. Mention the most valuable, rewarding, and fun parts of the event and what you’re going to do next!

November Tool: Job hunting for Chemists: Have you heard of ChemJobber?

If you’re in the chemistry field, hopefully you’ve heard of ChemJobber! It’s a niche blog site that keeps up an expansive list of chemistry-related jobs. If you’re in charge of hiring, you can also post your job to the spreadsheets below. Happy hunting!

See 186 positions in research/teaching for Chemistry
See 17 more positions in Chemical Engineering

Just for fun: Science Cartoon

This cartoon is more of a comment, really…

Science cartoons by Tom Gauld.

November behind-the-scenes news:

Lab coat restock any day now!

We’re preparing the lab coats for shipment. You can go ahead and place an order now to reserve yours, and it will be one of the first to ship when they are ready!