Don't be afraid to take a chance on your career. That's the advice four panelists gave to students and postdocs at a career-fair symposium sponsored by the Harvard Biotechnology Club last week. The four panelists told the audience that they should weigh the risks at different points in their career paths.

Anthony Messina, vice-president of human development at ArQule, a chemical company in Woburn, Massachusetts, described his regrets at not taking more risks during his career. He is fixing that now by taking a management degree, which includes subjects, such as organizational change, that he used to avoid but now enjoys.

Lawyer Thomas Saunders, from Boston firm Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels, said that science students should check their motivation for going into alternative careers such as patent law. If the reason is financial security, they should think again — law school is gruelling, expensive and doesn't guarantee a stable job. Instead, graduates should go for what they really want, he said.

Mark Tepper, president of Araios, a company spun off from the University of Massachusetts, said that graduates should put themselves into potentially uncomfortable situations. Introducing yourself to chief executives and venture capitalists at biotech network meetings may be intimidating, for example, but could eventually pay dividends.

Christopher Howarth from Novartis took a risk when he left the lab to work in the human-resources office of the Swiss-based drug company. But that risk paid off — he is now in charge of global recruitment of scientific talent for the firm.

So the biggest risk of all may be not taking a chance, and finding yourself stuck in an unsatisfying career.