lar have done for your institution or group. For example, has management, teaching, or other experience led to excellent presentation skills? Have you led a task force or other group that accomplished its goals? Have you learned to help people to reach their goals? For further ideas, see sources in the bibliography, such as those published by the American Chemical Society and the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (Kennedy 1995).

The best way to sustain a satisfying and productive career is to maintain your curiosity, openness, and yearning to know more. As long as you stay at the cutting edge of your field, your work will be meaningful and you will at least be considered for advancement. Industries have found that the most-efficient way to maintain a company's technical strength is not to hire replacements, but to support the continuing education of its experienced scientists and engineers. New techniques—including multimedia tools, distance learning, and computer-based learning—are making continuing education feasible and more effective (IEEE 1995).

A career change should never be made lightly, but with a sense that it builds on previous accomplishments and moves in a direction that you understand. How will the change benefit your career? You might find that most of your career changes occur fairly early; large directional changes become more difficult as you advance (Beynon 1993). In addition, it might be difficult to switch back to an academic career after time spent in industry, and vice versa. Ask others who have made similar switches in your field how difficult it was for them before switching rather than after. But the more knowledge and skills you accumulate, the more likely it is that your next move will be one that you—not someone else—have planned.