Virginia
Schutte, PhD

Lots of people ask me where the scicomm job boards are, so I made this page! Please share widely, and please contact me if you know of something that should be added to this list. If you want to know more about my journey, you can read about how I shifted from science into SciComm and why I found it hard to leave academia.

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*Note:

This is a list of *free* ways that you can have scicomm job opportunities come to you, NOT advice on how to hone your scicomm skills or how to get a scicomm job; or what types of scicomm jobs, internships, or educational programs or societies exist, or a list of organizations that you could go to and then look through their “employment opportunities” page.

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**Note 2:

Organizations often ask for volunteers to do scicomm work. This is a gatekeeping practice that impacts early-career job seekers especially: should you give your time for free, which decreases valuation of you and the whole field? But if you don’t, how can you be competitive when you apply for jobs? You will have to decide what works for you- if volunteering for a short time gets you paid in the long run, who am I to tell you it’s a bad idea? I view it as the responsibility of me and others who have at least some scicomm job security and power to push for change to this system, though by all means you’re welcome to join us if you feel like it.

 

***Note 3:

A very common mistake that scientists switching to scicomm make is submitting their CV when they apply for a job, rather than converting their CV to a résumé. If you need help with this or your cover letter, contact me.

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X (notes made for Twitter- current conditions may vary)

• #scicomm: a firehose with (too?) many tweets to keep track of

• @SciCommBoard and @SciCommHive pick up many scicomm jobs and job-getting advice. The accounts are linked to searchable database websites

• #scicommjob, #scicommjobs: sometimes lean more toward USA- and Europe-based jobs, respectively

• @ScicommJobs is NOT a feed of job postings, it's a feed of blog posts by Jo Brodie, who runs the PSCI-COM email list. The list is more active than the feed, join it instead (description below).

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Job aggregators

• ARIS: the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society covers social science, art, and humanities research in addition to STEM fields. Their job page replaces Stanford's OutreachJobAnnouncements listserv, which was discontinued in January 2020.

• BIG: a UK scicomm organization. They have an “overseas” section on their website, but it's only listed events and not jobs every time I’ve looked at it.

• HigherEdJobs: Jobs at academic institutions, many of which are not tenure-track roles. I’ve used this site less for browsing and more for email alerts.

• indeed (and others): make sure you put “science communication” in the search box with quotes, otherwise you’ll get swamped with both “science” and “communication” results.

• JournalismJobs.com: not shockingly, a place to find journalism jobs.

• LinkedIn: common tips for getting a job through LinkedIn include making your profile robust and asking for referrals from connections that work at a companies you like. Changing your location, if you’re looking for something outside your current area, will help you locate appropriate job opportunities and informational interview leads.​

• Mediabistro: writing, editing, marketing, and creative jobs- search for "science" to narrow it down

• SciComm Board: a tool curated by the Stem Advocacy Institute.

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Email lists

• Josh's water jobs: for STEM subjects that involve freshwater or ocean environments. The types of jobs on this list are all over the place and include communications

• Jpjobs: ocean jobs specifically. Many are non-academic; postings include education/outreach and policy

• MEO jobs: this list is comms in general so it’s very broad, but occasionally a science writer position for a university will come up in this list. I would ctrl + f, then search then email for 'science'

• Metcalf Institute Science Communication Google group: a general discussion space, but people definitely share jobs and opportunities. You have to be invited to join, so try contacting someone at Metcalf.

• PSCI-COM: Europe-centric, mostly UK, used for general conversations as well as job postings

• SciComm-FINALv2.mp4: freelance-friendly job listing roundup that often includes jobs, internships, and pitch calls, plus multimedia career tips.

• ScicommOps: a list of job offers, pretty Euro-focused.

• Science Writing News Roundup: more than just writing, less strictly job-focused and lots of things that are career development.

• The SciCommer: global, and includes news and events as well as opportunities.

• WySci: Broadly science communication, including opportunities.

• subject-specific lists, like coral-list and ECOLOG, will occasionally post jobs. Internet searches will help you find the lists that correspond to your interests.

 

Facebook and Slack

• Science Communication Jobs: I can add you to this Facebook group if you want.

• Pretty much every Slack group I'm in shares relevant jobs to its members. See the scicomm community tab for more on where scicomm folks hang out (that I know of).

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Non-English stuff

I wish I knew of more to put on this part of the list!

• español: AECC email list (may need to be a member, contact here)

• catalan: ACCC email list (request here)

• le français: Communication et culture scientifique et technique Facebook group, amcsti website

• The SciCommer: email list has Spanish, German, and Italian versions.

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Networking

Every time I go on the job market, I tell my friends and my professional network what I’m looking for. This is one of the best strategies I can recommend for finding jobs- even friends that aren’t in my field have sent me opportunity announcements at institutions around them that are sometimes a great fit. You never know what asking people to keep a lookout might do for you!

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Paying to find a job

There are several routes you can take if you want to spend money during your job search- you could pay to have your profile on a job site, pay for a coach to help you through the process (hello!), or pay to be in a society. A freemium-model organization that gets stellar reviews is the National Association of Science Writers, which is for more than just journalists.