The quote above is attributed to one of the most successful American industrialists of the 20th century, Thomas J. Watson. He began his career in 1892 as a bookkeeper for his home town market at age 18 and later sold pianos and sewing machines. At age 21, he became a salesman for National Cash Register (NCR) and rose to the position of General Sales Manager.

In 1912, he and 30 other NCR executives were indicted for violating antitrust statutes, fired from NCR, fined $5,000 (over $100,000 in today’s dollars) and sentenced to one year in jail. His jail sentence was later overturned on appeal. Soon after, he joined the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) in 1914 as General Manager and after the appeal was promoted to the position of President in 1915.

In 1924 he renamed the company International Business Machines (IBM) and worked to transform the company into the household word it is today. In 1937 he became the president of the International Chamber of Commerce and passed away in 1956 at the age of 82. A career altering event, such as a job loss, hefty fine or jail time would certainly cause many folks to withdraw into obscurity. As you are faced with disappointments and rejections in your career, take some time to evaluate your goals and then formulate alternate paths to achieve them. You can’t win the lottery if you don’t by a ticket.

1987 - 1988 Graduate School Rejections

The George Washington University at NASA Langley Research Center
Joint Institute for the Advancement of Flight Sciences
Hampton, VA

The Pennsylvania State University
Department of Aerospace Engineering
State College, PA

The Pennsylvania State University
Department of Chemistry
State College, PA

1987 - 1988 Graduate School Acceptances

University of Pittsburgh
Department of Chemistry
Pittsburgh, PA

The Ohio State University*Department of Chemistry
Columbus, OH

*Entered Program 1988

1991 - 1993 Job Search Rejections after Ph.D. Degree

3M Corporation
St. Paul, MN

Abbott Laboratories
Abbott Park, IL

Advanced Micro Devices
Sunnyvale, CA

The Aerospace Corporation
Los Angeles, CA

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
Allentown, PA

Aldrich Chemical Company, Inc.
Milwaukee, WI

Allied-Signal Aerospace Company
Aerospace Technology Center
Columbia, MD

Allied-Signal Aerospace Company
AiResearch Los Angeles Division
Torrance, CA

Allied-Signal
Bendix Guidance Systems Division
Teterboro, NJ

Allied Signal, Inc.
Research and Technology
Des Plaines, IL

American Cyanamid Company
Wayne, NJ

Amoco Research Center
Naperville, IL

Analytic Services, Inc.
Arlington, VA

Analog Devices, Inc.
Norwood, MA

ANALOGIC Corporation
Wakefield, MA

Applied Research Laboratories
Austin, TX

Aristech Chemical Corporation
Pittsburgh, PA

Applied Research Laboratories
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

ARC Professional Services Group
Rockville, MD

ARCO Oil and Gas Company
Dallas, TX

Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, IL

ARINC Incorporated
Annapolis, MD

ARMCO, Inc.
Middletown, OH

AT&T
Morristown, NJ

AT&T Bell Laboratories
Holmdel, NJ

BASF Corporation
Parsippany, NJ

Battelle
Pacific Northwest Laboratories
Richland, WA

BDM International, Inc.
McLean, VA

Bendix Field Engineering Corporation
Columbia, MD

Bell Communications Research
Piscataway, NJ

Big Sky Laser Corporation
Bozeman, MT

The Boeing Company
Seattle, WA

Burle Industries, Inc.
Lancaster, PA

Burleigh Instruments, Inc.
Fishers, NY

Burroughs Wellcome Company
Triangle Park, NC

Center for Naval Analysis (CNA)
Alexandria, VA

Chevron Corporation
San Francisco, CA

The Clorox Company
Oakland, CA

Computer Sciences Corporation
Falls Church, VA

COMSAT Laboratories
Clarksburg, MD

Corning Incorporated
Corning, NY

Coulter Electronics, Inc.
Hialeah, FL

Data Translation
Marlboro, MA

Digital Equipment Corporation
Manard, MA

The Dow Chemical Company
Midland, MI

Dynetics, Inc.
Huntsville, AL

Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY

E.I. duPont de Nemours & Co., Inc.
Wilmington, DE

Eli Lilly Company
Indianapolis, IN

E-Systems
Garland Division
Dallas, TX

General Atomics
San Diego, CA

GEO-CENTERS, Inc.
Fr. Washington, MD

W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.
Newark, DE

Grumman Corporation
Bethpage, NY

GTE Laboratories
Waltham, MA

Harris Corporation
Melbourne, FL

Hercules Incorporated
Wilmington, DE

Hewlett Packard
Microwave Semiconductor Division
Optical Communication Division
Optoelectronics Division
Components Group
San Jose, CA

Honeywell, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN

HRB Systems
State College, PA

Hughes Aircraft Company
Malibu, CA

ICF International, Incorporated
Fairfax, VA

ICI Americas, Inc.
Wilmington, DE

Intel Corporation
Folsom, CA

Intergraph Corporation
Huntsville, AL

Intermetrics, Inc.
Warminster, PA

International Business Machines Corporation
White Plains, NY

ITT Research Institute
Annapolis, MD

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA

Laser Diode, Inc.
Edison, NJ

Lincoln Laboratory
Lexington, MA

Lockheed Missiles & Space Company
Sunnyvale, CA

Lockheed Sanders, Inc.
Nashua, NH

Locus, Inc.
Sate College, PA

LTV Aerospace and Defense Company
Missles Division
Dallas, TX

Martin Marietta Corporation
Advanced Development & Technology Operations
Baltimore, MD

McDonnel Douglas
Electronics Systems Corporation
Hazelwood, MO

Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, WA

Motorola, Inc.
Schaumburg, IL

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD

National Security Agency
Fort Meade, MD

Naval Air Development Center
Warminster, PA

Naval Surface Warfare Center
Dahlgren, VA

NEC Electronics, Inc.
Mountian View, CA

New England Telephone
A NYNEX Company
Boston, MA

Nicolet Instrument Company
Madison, WI

Northrop Corporation
Electronic Systems Division
Norwood, MA

Philips Laboratories
Briarcliff Manor, NY

Phillips Petroleum Company
Bartlesville, OK

Princeton Instruments, Inc.
Trenton, NJ

The Procter & Gamble Company
Miami Valley Laboratories
Cincinnati, OH

Radian Corporation
Austin, TX

The RAND Corporation
Santa Monica, CA

Raychem Corporation
MenoMenlo Park , CA

Rockwell International Corporation
Seal Beach, CA

L.B. Russell Chemicals
Long Island City, NY

Sandia Naitonal Laboratories
Albuquerque, NM

Syracuse Research Corporation
Syracuse, NY

Siemens Medical Systems, Inc.
Iselin, NJ

Silicon Systems
Tustin, CA

SmithKline Beecham
Philadelphia, PA

SRA Corporation
North Arlington, VA

SUN Microsystems
Mountian View, CA

Systems Research Laboratories, Inc.
Dayton, OH

The Analytic Science Corporation (TASC)
Reading, MA

Teledyne Brown Engineering
Huntsville, AL

TEXACO Inc.
Houston, TX

Texas Instruments Incorporated
Dallas, TX

United Technologies Research Center
East Hartford, CT

University of Dayton Research Institute
Dayton, OH

Varian Associates
Palo Alto, CA

Vitro Corporation
Silver Spring, MD

The Williamsburg Group, Inc.
East Brunswick, NJ

Xerox Corporation
Rochester, NY

1991 - 1993 Job Offers after Ph.D. Degree

The Boeing Company
Seattle, WA

Description: Onsite contractor at NASA John F. Kennedy Space Flight Center, Cocoa Beach FL

Duties: Develop gas detection sensors for International Space Station assembly building

Systems Research Laboratories, Inc.*
Dayton, OH

Description: Onsite contractor at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, OH

Duties: Apply ultrafast laser spectroscopy to the development and deployment of advanced turbine-engine combustion and aviation-fuel diagnostics

*Accepted Position 1993

1998 - 1999 Academic Position Search Rejections

East Stroudsburg University
Chemistry Department
East Stroudsburg, PA

La Salle University
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Philadelphia, PA

Lebanon Valley College
Department of Chemistry
Annville, PA

University of Scranton
Chemistry Department
Scranton, PA

1998 - 1999 Academic Position Offers

La Salle University*
Integrated Science, Business and Technology Program
Philadelphia, PA

*Accepted Position 1999

1999 - Present Publication & Presentation Rejections

Handal, J.; Weaver, W.L.; Frisch, R.; Williams, E.A.; DiMatteo, D.O. "Physical Analysis of Seven Drug-Bone Cement Composites," North American Spine Society, 22nd Annual Meeting, October 23-27, 2007 Austin, TX. (not accepted).

Weaver, W.L.; Timmerman, M.W.; Jones, N.L. "A Systematic Framework for Interdisciplinary Education," Journal of College Science Teaching, 2006. (not accepted).

Weaver, W.L."A Virtual Control Room for Production and Operations Management Education," National Instruments NIWeek 2005, August 16-18, 2005, Austin, TX. (not accepted).

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