Showing posts with label career advice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label career advice. Show all posts
Sunday, March 2, 2014
How to Get a Post-Ac Job?
Cross-posted from Kathleen "Currer Bell"'s blog.
Whew! The first two weeks of [my new job at an online university] are kicking my ass! Adjusting to the new gig, along with continued health problems, has left me feeling pretty wiped out most evenings and disinclined to sign on and blog. Yet I had an email recently from a reader that inspired me to pop on here and share a few thoughts.
A reader who had found the piece "I Hate My Post-Ac Job" on How to Leave Academia asked me how I got my post-ac job(s). Like many of us, he earned a PhD and is having a difficult time securing employment. Or, scratch that, he has managed to secure employment, but it's at a job that doesn't take advantage of his talents/abilities/education level and pays a ridiculously low wage. Plus, the hours are crap and he doesn't like the work.
Sound familiar?
In this new age of "post-ac advice giving," (seriously, I feel like I can't sign onto Twitter without some new person advertising their post-ac help business) part of me wanted to be able to confidently reply to his email, "Have no fear--here are 10 easy steps to get your post-ac job." We've all read this type of post--network, hire someone to change your CV into a resume, work through your post-ac emotional stuff with the help of a life coach, take my 5 session webinar on the Post-Ac Job Search--sometimes it seems like the post-ac community has shifted to a post-ac "help" industry.
Instead, I replied with what I see as the (messier) truth. The type of advice he can easily find if he wants it (network, resume building, webinars) is fine. There's nothing inherently wrong with it and it probably can't hurt if he has the time and money to devote to it. Heck, I hired a coach to help me with my post-ac transition and it was helpful. And I've helped others through their transitions as a coach.
However, my hunch is that as an intelligent person with the skillz necessary to earn a PhD (research, reading, writing, critical thinking) he probably already knows how to write a pretty decent resume without hiring a professional. He may not think he knows. He may not have the confidence to strike out on his own. But he probably can handle writing his own resume. And if he can't handle the task at the present moment, a library is never far away with a book that'll show him resume templates and verbiage that he can imitate to draft his own resume.
The nuts and bolts of the (post-ac) job search are really a small part of the problem for most post-acs.
The bigger problem?
The fact that there is no easy answer. The fact that employers do shy away from degrees they don't understand. The fact that not everyone has money to hire professionals to help them. The fact that not everyone has the luxury of taking more courses, doing an unpaid internship, etc. The fact that as much as we'd like to say there are guarantees and simple, clear solutions to the post-ac job problem, there are not.
How did I get my post-ac jobs? Time. Persistence. Crying. Feeling like a failure. Networking. Not networking. Building a LinkedIn profile. Taking down my LinkedIn profile. Hiring a life coach. Taking classes for a new career path, but not getting certified. Taking any post-ac job because we needed to pay our bills. Refusing to take a post-ac job just because we had to pay our bills. Starting and then not starting a new career path. Applying to go back to school and then withdrawing my candidacy. Starting to open and then pushing pause on my own business. Giving up. Trying again. Luck. Dumb luck. The dumbest luckiest luck.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Life Coaching: Working with One, Working As One
Posting on behalf of Kathleen "Currer Bell" Miller.
We at How to Leave Academia have observed the growing popularity of the life coach, both as a resource for folks transitioning out of academia, as well as a new career path for those billing themselves to post-and alt-ac individuals. Since a few of our readers were uncertain as to what a life coach does, how to locate a coach that’s a good fit for you, and what to expect from life coaching, Kathleen “Currer Bell” has designed this handy-dandy guide to life coaching full of general information with examples from her own practice and knowledge. She is nearing completion of an intensive training seminar with Martha Beck (author and monthly columnist for O: The Oprah Magazine) and is currently working toward her life coaching certification. She is happy to announce that as part of her certification process, she is taking on clients for a very low fee.
What is life coaching?
In a very general sense, a Life Coach helps people clarify and articulate what they want most from life and how best to achieve it. More specifically, coaching helps people get past their obstacles in order to create the results they want in life, work, relationships and spiritual growth. Coaching is like having a “personal trainer for your soul.” Life coaches don’t tell people what they should do; rather they ask powerful questions in an effort to help the client find the answers that always lie within. A good life coach will not tell you what to do. Coaching is particularly helpful if you feel out of balance, i.e.; working too much, playing too little (or the opposite); if you feel something is missing but can’t put your finger on it; if you want to pursue a new career or change jobs; or perhaps you simply want more joy in your life. Coaching gives you someone who holds the space as you grieve and grow, and promotes accountability for your own transformation. Change can be difficult and it’s useful to have someone navigate the journey with you.
You can see why life coaching would make sense for people in the middle of the huge transition out of academia, especially if you have no clue where you are going or what to do next. But people in many life situations might want to consult a coach: people going through a divorce, folks who are navigating empty nest or retirement transitions, or people who have just lost a job, are changing jobs, or who are facing a medical diagnosis that means lifestyle changes are imminent, etc.
Coaching is not a substitute for therapy
Let me clarify that coaching is no substitute for therapy. It is not for people with serious emotional problems. Coaching is about creating results, not dealing with crises. It focuses on the future and, as a result, can assist to change attitudes resulting from past experience. Life coaching might be a great option if you have processed your emotions and are ready to make a next step.
How long does coaching last?
Coaching is an individual process and so clients may sign up for sessions ranging from 1 to infinity. However a good coach ultimately wants you to be able to coach yourself. They will teach you the tools to do the work of coaching on your own; a good coach doesn’t want to set up a codependent relationship. Clients may benefit most from 3-6 months worth of coaching, or even up to a year in some cases. After all, making long-term changes in thought patterns and behavior isn’t work one does overnight! But there should be an end date to a good coaching relationship. You can discuss finances up front, and most coaches can come up with a flexible range of services to maximize your value while working within your personal budget. Newer coaches in the process of certification (see below) often offer services at a discount or even for free as they establish their credentials.
How do I pick a coach?
Most life coaches will offer a free 20-30 minute information session. During that time, you can ask questions related to the coach’s training and experience, how sessions typically progress, reimbursement, etc. Your potential coach may offer a brief sample of his/her coaching technique in order to help you decide. Remember, this is a time for your coach to interview you, but it’s also a time for you to interview and determine the fit of your coach.
While picking a life coach, you may want to consider the rapport you have over the phone or Skype. Does the coach’s voice resonate with you--its pitch, tenor, pacing? Do you enjoy your coach’s energy? Does your coach laugh and joke around? Is s/he more serious? Do you get the sense that he/she is listening and responding to your specific situation and desires? Personal communication preferences will be key here, so pick someone who complements your own energy and communication style. Go with your gut.
You should also look at consider the program your life coach completed. Coaching is an unlicensed industry, so people can declare themselves life coaches without training or certification. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) is taking steps to make life coaching a more regulated industry and if working with a coach from a coaching organization is important to you, you may want to search the site for someone who is ICF certified.
Life coach training programs are very diverse, and some are pyramid schemes designed to get money from trainees, so investigate the program with which your coach is affiliated. Reputable programs like Mentor Coach and the Martha Beck Coach Training Institute are respected programs with articulated philosophies for their approach to life coaching. Some programs adopt a positive psychology approach, while others are devoted to goal setting; others are more holistic in their approach. You can imagine that the philosophy under which a life coach is trained says a lot both about their own values as a coach, and the advice and style they will offer you.
A program like the Martha Beck Coach Training Institute draws from Eastern philosophy, Western medicine, mind-body coaching, cognitive behavioral therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I was drawn to Martha Beck’s holistic approach, as it used the tools of many different philosophies to push back against painful and limiting beliefs we have about ourselves and our stories. Plus, Martha Beck is a former academic and her scholarly, but humanistic approach, appealed to me. Coaches trained by Martha Beck are also encouraged that their most powerful coaching comes from their own “to-hell-and-back” story. Life experiences then become a powerful indicator of choosing a “right fit” coach - and this might be a good strategy for you to use as you look for your own coach.
If you’re struggling as a new divorcee, you might want to consider looking for coaches who specialize in relationships, or for those who have been through experiences like divorce or single parenthood themselves. Of course, it is definitely possible that a coach who has not been through a particular life event can offer excellent coaching on that topic, but you may find that someone who has navigated the waters you are venturing into may be particularly resonant in their advice for your situation. So along those lines, if you’re a post-ac leaving academia, you may benefit from a coach like Julie Clarenbach who has made the transition, conducted a successful post-ac job search, and worked outside the academy.
How to Contact Me
If anyone is interested in my services or has additional questions about coaching, they can contact me at kathleen.miller127@gmail.com. I look forward to speaking with you!
Friday, September 20, 2013
Deciding who to work for: finding employment outside academia
This guest post is from Chris Humphrey at Jobs on Toast, a post-academic career advice blog. Check it out!
‘Who do you want to work for?’ and ‘Where do you want to work?’ are two questions that you’re unlikely to hear in any discussion of the current academic job market! Given the desperate state of the market today, with many more candidates than posts, the idea of a new PhD having a choice about their first post in academia seems crazy. People are resigned to going to places where they can get a job, even if the position and location aren’t a particularly good fit (adjuncting in North Dakota anyone?).
If you ask these two questions in the context of jobs outside of academia however, you get a very different response. Try it yourself! The sheer amount of options can be quite overwhelming at first: ‘You mean, I get to CHOOSE who I work for, and where?!’ Well, obviously you still have to apply for and get the job! But you definitely have more control over your employment terms (salary, workload, work-life balance, location) in comparison with your options inside higher education. So let’s look at the abundance of career opportunities outside academia, with a view to helping you choose your first job post-PhD.
Careers outside academia
We might mistakenly imagine (from inside academia) that PhDs can only venture out of higher education as far as publishing houses, or into research labs. The reality is that PhDs are enjoying successful careers in a broad range of organisations outside of higher education. I recently listened to a radio profile of Angela Merkel, a PhD in quantum chemistry, who as Chancellor of Germany is running the biggest economy in Europe! There are a number of dedicated websites where you can go and read interviews with PhDs who are working outside the academy. Just take a look at PhDs At Work (www.phdsatwork.com) for instance. This fantastic site has profiles of PhDs who are employed across a range of sectors, from coaching to environmental health to film and the arts (look out for me!). They are succeeding on the back of the skills and experience gained through their doctoral research, not in spite of them. You can check out my blog post on ‘Life after the PhD’ for a list of the top websites which carry interviews and profiles with PhDs employed outside academia.
Who do you want to work for?
So, who do you want to work for? You might decide that you actually want to work for yourself! An increasing number of PhDs are doing this, setting up their own businesses in fields like marketing, consulting and coaching. Being your own boss may not be that different from being a PhD – a lot of the same skills are required, such as time-management, self-motivation and dedicated hard work.
If you decide you want to work for someone else, you have three main options – non-profit, government and business:
1. Working for a non-profit, you are going to be using your skills to support the organisation’s mission. This mission could be health-related, environmental, artistic or may involve helping disadvantaged groups in society or in another country. This is a great way to put your expertise to work, in a research capacity (e.g. with a medical charity) or as a subject specialist or an administrator.
2. Your second option is to work in local or national government. In local government you’re going to be responsible for the delivery of a service to the public– this could be heritage, libraries, schools or planning, to name just a few of the options available. I know several PhDs who’ve gone into museum management for instance – they are now heads of their own collections! If you go to work in national government, you can find a home for your research skills in a policy unit, or perhaps further afield as a diplomat. One of my contemporaries from the University of York is now the British High Commissioner to Kenya!
3. Your third option is to work for a company. From the perspective of academia, it’s easy to have a knee-jerk reaction to business, and think that you have to sell your soul to work in one. Actually, there are many companies which are doing a great deal of good in the world. I would strongly encourage you to do some research into small and medium-sized companies with an ethical, social or sustainable mission. Companies in the ethical and green sectors tend to have an open-minded recruitment policy, and want to employ people who are aligned with their values – ideal if you want to change the world!
Where do you want to work?
Having spent a long time living and working in a university town or city while completing your PhD, it can be quite a wrench to have to up sticks and move for the sake of a job. Certainly for new PhDs, it would be quite unusual for a suitable academic position to come up locally, so relocation is a very likely prospect. When considering your career options outside of academia however, the ability to stay put can be a nice perk. Why not start your business in the location you know best – your home town or city? Or go to work for a local employer who’s looking for someone of your calibre and potential? While the offices of big employers like Google or Microsoft may be located hundreds of miles away, you may find that one of their subcontractors has an office just down the road …
On the other hand, if you fancy a change of scenery, a job outside of academia can be your passport to a dream location. Very few jobs will come up at the University of Hawaii for instance, but if you look for work outside of higher education, and are prepared to be flexible, an opportunity may present itself!
It’s your choice!
If you follow any commentary on the academic job market, you’ll know that it’s currently dominated by feelings of scarcity, compromise and under-employment. PhDs are taking temporary, low paid teaching work in universities in the hope that by ‘staying in the game’, something more permanent will eventually come up. This is an understandable strategy, but realistically the odds are stacked against you, and you have no control over when or where you’ll finally get a job. By contrast, we’ve seen how you can get back a degree of choice and self-determination, if you opt for self-employment, or if you go to work for an organization locally or elsewhere. I would love to hear your answers to the two questions posed at the beginning of this post – please leave your comments below!
‘Who do you want to work for?’ and ‘Where do you want to work?’ are two questions that you’re unlikely to hear in any discussion of the current academic job market! Given the desperate state of the market today, with many more candidates than posts, the idea of a new PhD having a choice about their first post in academia seems crazy. People are resigned to going to places where they can get a job, even if the position and location aren’t a particularly good fit (adjuncting in North Dakota anyone?).
If you ask these two questions in the context of jobs outside of academia however, you get a very different response. Try it yourself! The sheer amount of options can be quite overwhelming at first: ‘You mean, I get to CHOOSE who I work for, and where?!’ Well, obviously you still have to apply for and get the job! But you definitely have more control over your employment terms (salary, workload, work-life balance, location) in comparison with your options inside higher education. So let’s look at the abundance of career opportunities outside academia, with a view to helping you choose your first job post-PhD.
Careers outside academia
We might mistakenly imagine (from inside academia) that PhDs can only venture out of higher education as far as publishing houses, or into research labs. The reality is that PhDs are enjoying successful careers in a broad range of organisations outside of higher education. I recently listened to a radio profile of Angela Merkel, a PhD in quantum chemistry, who as Chancellor of Germany is running the biggest economy in Europe! There are a number of dedicated websites where you can go and read interviews with PhDs who are working outside the academy. Just take a look at PhDs At Work (www.phdsatwork.com) for instance. This fantastic site has profiles of PhDs who are employed across a range of sectors, from coaching to environmental health to film and the arts (look out for me!). They are succeeding on the back of the skills and experience gained through their doctoral research, not in spite of them. You can check out my blog post on ‘Life after the PhD’ for a list of the top websites which carry interviews and profiles with PhDs employed outside academia.
Who do you want to work for?
So, who do you want to work for? You might decide that you actually want to work for yourself! An increasing number of PhDs are doing this, setting up their own businesses in fields like marketing, consulting and coaching. Being your own boss may not be that different from being a PhD – a lot of the same skills are required, such as time-management, self-motivation and dedicated hard work.
If you decide you want to work for someone else, you have three main options – non-profit, government and business:
1. Working for a non-profit, you are going to be using your skills to support the organisation’s mission. This mission could be health-related, environmental, artistic or may involve helping disadvantaged groups in society or in another country. This is a great way to put your expertise to work, in a research capacity (e.g. with a medical charity) or as a subject specialist or an administrator.
2. Your second option is to work in local or national government. In local government you’re going to be responsible for the delivery of a service to the public– this could be heritage, libraries, schools or planning, to name just a few of the options available. I know several PhDs who’ve gone into museum management for instance – they are now heads of their own collections! If you go to work in national government, you can find a home for your research skills in a policy unit, or perhaps further afield as a diplomat. One of my contemporaries from the University of York is now the British High Commissioner to Kenya!
3. Your third option is to work for a company. From the perspective of academia, it’s easy to have a knee-jerk reaction to business, and think that you have to sell your soul to work in one. Actually, there are many companies which are doing a great deal of good in the world. I would strongly encourage you to do some research into small and medium-sized companies with an ethical, social or sustainable mission. Companies in the ethical and green sectors tend to have an open-minded recruitment policy, and want to employ people who are aligned with their values – ideal if you want to change the world!
Where do you want to work?
Having spent a long time living and working in a university town or city while completing your PhD, it can be quite a wrench to have to up sticks and move for the sake of a job. Certainly for new PhDs, it would be quite unusual for a suitable academic position to come up locally, so relocation is a very likely prospect. When considering your career options outside of academia however, the ability to stay put can be a nice perk. Why not start your business in the location you know best – your home town or city? Or go to work for a local employer who’s looking for someone of your calibre and potential? While the offices of big employers like Google or Microsoft may be located hundreds of miles away, you may find that one of their subcontractors has an office just down the road …
On the other hand, if you fancy a change of scenery, a job outside of academia can be your passport to a dream location. Very few jobs will come up at the University of Hawaii for instance, but if you look for work outside of higher education, and are prepared to be flexible, an opportunity may present itself!
It’s your choice!
If you follow any commentary on the academic job market, you’ll know that it’s currently dominated by feelings of scarcity, compromise and under-employment. PhDs are taking temporary, low paid teaching work in universities in the hope that by ‘staying in the game’, something more permanent will eventually come up. This is an understandable strategy, but realistically the odds are stacked against you, and you have no control over when or where you’ll finally get a job. By contrast, we’ve seen how you can get back a degree of choice and self-determination, if you opt for self-employment, or if you go to work for an organization locally or elsewhere. I would love to hear your answers to the two questions posed at the beginning of this post – please leave your comments below!
Dr Chris Humphrey is the founder of Jobs on Toast, a blog dedicated to helping masters students and PhDs find fulfilling careers outside academia. Chris obtained his PhD in Medieval Studies from the University of York (UK) in 1997, and he is the author of The Politics of Carnival: Festive Misrule in Medieval England. Since leaving academia in 2000, Chris has worked in a range of project and programme management roles in the areas of sustainability, transport infr
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Academic Advising as a Post-Ac or Alt-Ac Career: Info and Advice
This post originally appeared on my personal blog, Mama Nervosa.
It’s been awhile since I rapped at ya about alt-ac life and my work as an academic advisor. Last year, when I started my position as an undergraduate advisor at an R1 school, I wrote extensively about what it was like, how it felt, etc etc. I haven’t written about it since then because, well, it’s work, and eventually it stops being that novel and compelling and just becomes your day job. Nevertheless, I get regular queries from friends and readers who want to know what the work is like and how it’s going, so I wanted to give you an update at just under 1 year of work as an advisor. Obviously, this reflects my personal experience and doesn't speak for all advisors in every context (although a colleague in my office with 20 years' experience read this and said it was pretty representative of our gig, at our school). YMMV.
What is Advising Like? Who Is Cut Out For It?
Overall, I like advising. I work with students almost all day, every day, and feel satisfied that I make a difference in their college experience. Although the relationships aren’t as in depth as teaching, I do get to know my 200-odd students well. If you enjoy teaching at the college level, and like freshmen and their quirks and personal issues, then you’ll probably like advising.
Advising keeps me on my toes. There’s always something new happening, and the way advising is set up at my U means that I work with students across a variety of disciplines, which is cool. If you are behind the whole liberal arts mission and enjoy hearing about and learning about stuff happening in different departments, you’ll probably like advising. On the other hand, if you like a lot of consistency, advising can be challenging. Rules, requirements, and policy change all the time. Just when you get something figured out, it will change on you.
Advising can be stressful, but there is really no such thing as an academic emergency. I think that people who can avoid taking on their students problems, emotions, or decisions will find advising less stressful than people who will fret over a student’s schedule or whatever. I can lament a student’s choice or look at something and say “uh oh,” but at the end of the day all I can do is what my job title says: advise. The rest is on the student.
A lot of advising stress comes from the feast-or-famine intensity of it. Some weeks, we are working very hard from the minute we hit the door to the minute we leave. We’re dealing with last minute crises, making phone calls, seeing a dozen students. The next month, we may see two or three students total. We may have nothing on our calendar, and few responsibilities, meetings, or tasks. It’s extremes with few periods of regularity. I kind of enjoy that, because I know the intense periods end, and I don't struggle to find something to do during down time, although I often struggle with boredom. But for some people, the unpredictability is really challenging.
The things I enjoy least about my job are things most people don’t enjoy about jobs. Being here for 40 hours can be a drag, especially if I’ve wrapped up my work early. Meetings are… meetings
. Sometimes productive, sometimes frustrating. Advising focuses quite a lot on broad, institution-wide, bureaucratic stuff. There’s a TON of policy and procedure talk. We can be at the mercy of administration at times. This is higher ed, after all!
I tell you what, though, I love getting paid. I enjoy my weekends and evenings free from grading, prepping, or student emails. I like coming to work, having a special place where I do my work, and then leaving it all behind when I depart at the end of the day. I like the social nature of the work, and have great colleagues. I think there’s far too much ignorant poo-pooing of working life among grad students. Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it.
My situation is unique to my school, its advising structure, and the (frankly) amazing group of people I work with. And to me and my preferences. I never got super hung up on research or fell deeply in love with my discipline in grad school. I like students, and I can get into just about anything. Every school has a different way of doing advising, but in my opinion, it’s a great career option for teaching-oriented grad students. I hope someday I can get back into teaching, but in general, this is a good place to land if you care about students and like academics.
So how can you get into advising?
As always, your mileage may vary, caveat, etc etc. But here’s what I think:
Work closely with college freshmen. TA, tutor, etc. Teaching experience at the college level is a huge factor in the hiring done at my center. Work with different populations of students — high achieving, low achieving, first gen, transfer, international, whatever. You’ll need lots of stories and strategies to work with different students towards their goals.
Do some research about the school you’re applying to so you can speak to their specific population, resources, challenges, etc. Being knowledgeable about the school makes you stand out. A metropolitan campus with a largely commuter population will have very different issues in advising than a flagship state school in an agricultural town in the middle of nowhere. If you have time, do some light research in advising websites and journals about advising any special groups that that school serves (NACADA is the place to start). Does this school have a large Native American population? Learn a little about advising them. Is the position for a special subset of student, such as Honors? Learn about it. If you have institutional access, you should be able to read journals and such. But don't get carried away -- this isn't grad school!
Learn about the advising structure of that school beforehand if possible. Is it a large center or small? Will you be in a department, or an office that acts only as an advising center? Is advising mandatory or optional? Will you work with one major or multiple? This is good in terms of preparing for an interview, but also in terms of understanding if you want this gig. I work at a large advising center that serves mostly first- and second-year students, and advising is mandatory. I like this setup because I don’t have to deal with faculty meetings and my students are compelled to come sit in my office, which is better for both of us.
Look at the backgrounds of advisors at that school, if possible. It seems that some schools are very open to, or even actively seek, former academics to staff their advising. Other schools may lean more heavily towards people with backgrounds in higher ed admin or student services. This may help you suss out your likelihood as a candidate. Again, there is a huge variance across schools as to how advising is structured, staffed, and managed.
Lastly, think about what you can contribute as a colleague. This is kind of different from how grad students typically think of work life, because teaching and research are largely independent activities. But advising is often a team thing, and people will want to know what it will be like to work with you. If you can speak to experience team-teaching, collaborating, etc, that will probably be good. Sound competent and fun.
You may want to do an informational interview or ask to do some job shadowing at an advising center. Although I’ve never heard of that happening at my center, I can’t imagine we’d have a problem with it, although you may not get to sit in on student meetings due to privacy concerns. The more you can speak to the actual work of advising, versus the fantasy or hypothetical, the better your candidacy is. In my humble, novice, non-hiring committee opinion.
So there you have it: my final say on advising as an alt-ac career for quittas and post-PhD leavers. Feel free to ask questions!
It’s been awhile since I rapped at ya about alt-ac life and my work as an academic advisor. Last year, when I started my position as an undergraduate advisor at an R1 school, I wrote extensively about what it was like, how it felt, etc etc. I haven’t written about it since then because, well, it’s work, and eventually it stops being that novel and compelling and just becomes your day job. Nevertheless, I get regular queries from friends and readers who want to know what the work is like and how it’s going, so I wanted to give you an update at just under 1 year of work as an advisor. Obviously, this reflects my personal experience and doesn't speak for all advisors in every context (although a colleague in my office with 20 years' experience read this and said it was pretty representative of our gig, at our school). YMMV.
What is Advising Like? Who Is Cut Out For It?
Overall, I like advising. I work with students almost all day, every day, and feel satisfied that I make a difference in their college experience. Although the relationships aren’t as in depth as teaching, I do get to know my 200-odd students well. If you enjoy teaching at the college level, and like freshmen and their quirks and personal issues, then you’ll probably like advising.
Advising keeps me on my toes. There’s always something new happening, and the way advising is set up at my U means that I work with students across a variety of disciplines, which is cool. If you are behind the whole liberal arts mission and enjoy hearing about and learning about stuff happening in different departments, you’ll probably like advising. On the other hand, if you like a lot of consistency, advising can be challenging. Rules, requirements, and policy change all the time. Just when you get something figured out, it will change on you.
Advising can be stressful, but there is really no such thing as an academic emergency. I think that people who can avoid taking on their students problems, emotions, or decisions will find advising less stressful than people who will fret over a student’s schedule or whatever. I can lament a student’s choice or look at something and say “uh oh,” but at the end of the day all I can do is what my job title says: advise. The rest is on the student.
A lot of advising stress comes from the feast-or-famine intensity of it. Some weeks, we are working very hard from the minute we hit the door to the minute we leave. We’re dealing with last minute crises, making phone calls, seeing a dozen students. The next month, we may see two or three students total. We may have nothing on our calendar, and few responsibilities, meetings, or tasks. It’s extremes with few periods of regularity. I kind of enjoy that, because I know the intense periods end, and I don't struggle to find something to do during down time, although I often struggle with boredom. But for some people, the unpredictability is really challenging.
The things I enjoy least about my job are things most people don’t enjoy about jobs. Being here for 40 hours can be a drag, especially if I’ve wrapped up my work early. Meetings are… meetings
. Sometimes productive, sometimes frustrating. Advising focuses quite a lot on broad, institution-wide, bureaucratic stuff. There’s a TON of policy and procedure talk. We can be at the mercy of administration at times. This is higher ed, after all!I tell you what, though, I love getting paid. I enjoy my weekends and evenings free from grading, prepping, or student emails. I like coming to work, having a special place where I do my work, and then leaving it all behind when I depart at the end of the day. I like the social nature of the work, and have great colleagues. I think there’s far too much ignorant poo-pooing of working life among grad students. Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it.
My situation is unique to my school, its advising structure, and the (frankly) amazing group of people I work with. And to me and my preferences. I never got super hung up on research or fell deeply in love with my discipline in grad school. I like students, and I can get into just about anything. Every school has a different way of doing advising, but in my opinion, it’s a great career option for teaching-oriented grad students. I hope someday I can get back into teaching, but in general, this is a good place to land if you care about students and like academics.
So how can you get into advising?
As always, your mileage may vary, caveat, etc etc. But here’s what I think:
Work closely with college freshmen. TA, tutor, etc. Teaching experience at the college level is a huge factor in the hiring done at my center. Work with different populations of students — high achieving, low achieving, first gen, transfer, international, whatever. You’ll need lots of stories and strategies to work with different students towards their goals.
Do some research about the school you’re applying to so you can speak to their specific population, resources, challenges, etc. Being knowledgeable about the school makes you stand out. A metropolitan campus with a largely commuter population will have very different issues in advising than a flagship state school in an agricultural town in the middle of nowhere. If you have time, do some light research in advising websites and journals about advising any special groups that that school serves (NACADA is the place to start). Does this school have a large Native American population? Learn a little about advising them. Is the position for a special subset of student, such as Honors? Learn about it. If you have institutional access, you should be able to read journals and such. But don't get carried away -- this isn't grad school!
Learn about the advising structure of that school beforehand if possible. Is it a large center or small? Will you be in a department, or an office that acts only as an advising center? Is advising mandatory or optional? Will you work with one major or multiple? This is good in terms of preparing for an interview, but also in terms of understanding if you want this gig. I work at a large advising center that serves mostly first- and second-year students, and advising is mandatory. I like this setup because I don’t have to deal with faculty meetings and my students are compelled to come sit in my office, which is better for both of us.
Look at the backgrounds of advisors at that school, if possible. It seems that some schools are very open to, or even actively seek, former academics to staff their advising. Other schools may lean more heavily towards people with backgrounds in higher ed admin or student services. This may help you suss out your likelihood as a candidate. Again, there is a huge variance across schools as to how advising is structured, staffed, and managed.
Lastly, think about what you can contribute as a colleague. This is kind of different from how grad students typically think of work life, because teaching and research are largely independent activities. But advising is often a team thing, and people will want to know what it will be like to work with you. If you can speak to experience team-teaching, collaborating, etc, that will probably be good. Sound competent and fun.
You may want to do an informational interview or ask to do some job shadowing at an advising center. Although I’ve never heard of that happening at my center, I can’t imagine we’d have a problem with it, although you may not get to sit in on student meetings due to privacy concerns. The more you can speak to the actual work of advising, versus the fantasy or hypothetical, the better your candidacy is. In my humble, novice, non-hiring committee opinion.
So there you have it: my final say on advising as an alt-ac career for quittas and post-PhD leavers. Feel free to ask questions!
Friday, January 11, 2013
UK Careers Resource for Post-Academics
If you’ve come across How To Leave Academia and are a post-academic from the UK you’ll find this information about the UK organisation 'Vitae' helpful.
the Italian voice via Compfight
When I was a postgrad in the arts and humanities in the UK, I was fortunate enough to secure finding through the Arts and Humanities Research Council. At application stage I was warned that by no means should I expect to get my PhD funded as it was such a competitive area. In fact, I told myself at that point that if I didn’t get the funding I would rethink the whole prospect and do something else. At that point I had no idea what that something else would have been, but I felt strongly about committing myself to a self-funded position. When I was awarded the scholarship I was so grateful that I was recognised for my academic achievements and potential that I realised I had to take it forward and try my best. Of course, the other, less confident side of me also felt that they had just made a mistake: quite often at times throughout the study I felt guilty to have bene awarded the money when there were other self-funded PhD students out there who seemed so much more capable. I struggled with feelings like this for some time.
In the second year of the funding I was encouraged by the AHRC to attend a four day workshop that was organised through what was then called the UK GRAD School. This UK organisation is now called Vitae. They provide things like professional and career development workshops and resources for postgraduate doctoral student researchers, University researcher staff and those in ‘research institutions’. Well, I did attend the workshop along with a diverse group of other funded students from other UK institutions. Some of these students didn’t have any choice as their funding body required them to attend. The days were planned so that small groups of us would work together on various tasks or team-building exercises that were facilitated by a mentor. We also had activities planned like CV/resume preparation, mock job interviews and role play to help us think about how we might work in various situations and contexts. The aims of much of the week were for participants to think about the value of their transferable skills and how we might be able to recognise our potential in career directions that we may not have imagined at that point in time. We were advised to visit our Careers offices at the university and to get as much out of them while we were there.
At the time I agreed to attend, I believed I went with an open mind and willingness. Upon reflection and after meeting a couple of others who were a bit like me, I realised that I saw myself as a PhD student who felt clear about the fact that I was going to pursue an academic career and in this respect I knew what I had to do to achieve that. My advisor would play in important role in this plan – I would work with her on my CV planning and personal statement writing and job applications. She would advise about conference abstracts, papers, etc., and I would take up contract lecturing in the right areas and follow the usual path. Several others there had this in mind and expressed a bit of boredom at being forced to think outside the box. They were academics on the road to teaching and research. They were confident in their scholarly abilities and didn’t need role play to reassure them. As an older PhD student and one who had experienced previous career choices (there was one woman there who may have been close to my age but I was the only attendant with children), I felt that I certainly could manage an interview and presentation brief. I could sell myself easily after all of my work experience, but yes, wasn’t it nice to be given a bit of a refresher course, so to speak.
Now that some years have passed I’ve had the reality check that actually managing a successful career in academia is a lot more challenging than I ever imagined at that time. I wish I had taken the workshop a bit more seriously, or at least taken their advice and seen the Careers office nearer to my completion of studies.
When I was coming close to deciding to transition out of academia I did in fact make an appointment with the Careers office, as a ‘free’ advice visit was still on offer for up to two years after graduation for Alumnis. I was intrigued that my appointment would be with a woman there who had a doctorate (Dr. so and so), and there was some comfort in the knowledge that she would know what PhD study and later career choices were like. I hadn’t quite planned to release all of the emotional turmoil I had been feeling at that point, but it was within minutes after her asking me why I wanted to leave academia that I found myself suddenly very tearful – at one point I had to stop to catch my breath and contain myself. While she didn’t claim to give me any final answers to questions like what would I be good at doing – what kind of career can I have now, she did offer some clear and helpful advice.
The first place she directed me to was www.vitae.ac.uk. and she reminded me that it was once called UK GRAD School. I found it interesting that while my previous funding body would periodically send me information or survey links asking me what I was doing now after graduation, they never offered any post-graduation career development advice and I never remember hearing anything about the new change to Vitae. When she first showed me the webpage it appeared as though it was focused only on developing research students and other research staff for success in academia. But as she moved further into other paths in the website I saw that there was much on offer for those who were looking for alternative prospects. In some cases, there were case studies of academics who left and found research careers in commercial or other institutions. Others found careers in training or in management/administration in academia. But others found career potential in completely different areas. The advisor showed me links to numerous examples of academics who restructured their CVs from an academic focus to a ‘skills-based’ CV. There were other links to the site Beyond The PhD which had audio-recorded and transcribed interviews with people who completed PhDs and who had left academia for various reasons. I suddenly felt there was some hope for me. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to just find something else and the process of revealing to my academic colleagues and friends that I was thinking of opting out else was going to present its own challenges that would not be resolved quickly via a revamped CV. But discovering the Vitae resource opened my eyes to so many possibilities I hadn’t considered before then and gave me the confidence to move forward rather than just feel stuck.
If you haven’t discovered or utilised the Vitae site before now then have a look and spend some time exploring it. On first glance, the site appears to just focus on researchers’ careers. But if you look under the Careers tab you will find a variety of resources that will point you in other directions. The link for ‘What do researchers do? provides access to Vitae’s own publications about career profiles and destinations for people who have had doctoral research training. This one, ‘What do researchers do? Career paths of doctoral graduates (2011) ' offers great evidence from a study showing ‘that doctoral research training is a good foundation for a wide variety of occupations and demonstrates the flexibility of researchers who take advantage of a diversity of employment opportunities’.
The report ‘Straight Talking’ offers a great resource from a study, drawing on a survey and interviews, of post-PhDs and researchers on how they might access their networks more effectively to enhance their career potential.
See this link for more information about Careers outside of higher education.
You are bound to find some shared experiences through the useful Vitae database of career stories. Vitae encourages readers to upload their own stories. There are some stories from academics charting their career journeys but they are amongst many other alternative ones. Worth having a look while working your way through other links such as Career Planning.
I hope you will find Vitae as fruitful as I have. Enjoy!
the Italian voice via CompfightWhen I was a postgrad in the arts and humanities in the UK, I was fortunate enough to secure finding through the Arts and Humanities Research Council. At application stage I was warned that by no means should I expect to get my PhD funded as it was such a competitive area. In fact, I told myself at that point that if I didn’t get the funding I would rethink the whole prospect and do something else. At that point I had no idea what that something else would have been, but I felt strongly about committing myself to a self-funded position. When I was awarded the scholarship I was so grateful that I was recognised for my academic achievements and potential that I realised I had to take it forward and try my best. Of course, the other, less confident side of me also felt that they had just made a mistake: quite often at times throughout the study I felt guilty to have bene awarded the money when there were other self-funded PhD students out there who seemed so much more capable. I struggled with feelings like this for some time.
In the second year of the funding I was encouraged by the AHRC to attend a four day workshop that was organised through what was then called the UK GRAD School. This UK organisation is now called Vitae. They provide things like professional and career development workshops and resources for postgraduate doctoral student researchers, University researcher staff and those in ‘research institutions’. Well, I did attend the workshop along with a diverse group of other funded students from other UK institutions. Some of these students didn’t have any choice as their funding body required them to attend. The days were planned so that small groups of us would work together on various tasks or team-building exercises that were facilitated by a mentor. We also had activities planned like CV/resume preparation, mock job interviews and role play to help us think about how we might work in various situations and contexts. The aims of much of the week were for participants to think about the value of their transferable skills and how we might be able to recognise our potential in career directions that we may not have imagined at that point in time. We were advised to visit our Careers offices at the university and to get as much out of them while we were there.
At the time I agreed to attend, I believed I went with an open mind and willingness. Upon reflection and after meeting a couple of others who were a bit like me, I realised that I saw myself as a PhD student who felt clear about the fact that I was going to pursue an academic career and in this respect I knew what I had to do to achieve that. My advisor would play in important role in this plan – I would work with her on my CV planning and personal statement writing and job applications. She would advise about conference abstracts, papers, etc., and I would take up contract lecturing in the right areas and follow the usual path. Several others there had this in mind and expressed a bit of boredom at being forced to think outside the box. They were academics on the road to teaching and research. They were confident in their scholarly abilities and didn’t need role play to reassure them. As an older PhD student and one who had experienced previous career choices (there was one woman there who may have been close to my age but I was the only attendant with children), I felt that I certainly could manage an interview and presentation brief. I could sell myself easily after all of my work experience, but yes, wasn’t it nice to be given a bit of a refresher course, so to speak.
Now that some years have passed I’ve had the reality check that actually managing a successful career in academia is a lot more challenging than I ever imagined at that time. I wish I had taken the workshop a bit more seriously, or at least taken their advice and seen the Careers office nearer to my completion of studies.
When I was coming close to deciding to transition out of academia I did in fact make an appointment with the Careers office, as a ‘free’ advice visit was still on offer for up to two years after graduation for Alumnis. I was intrigued that my appointment would be with a woman there who had a doctorate (Dr. so and so), and there was some comfort in the knowledge that she would know what PhD study and later career choices were like. I hadn’t quite planned to release all of the emotional turmoil I had been feeling at that point, but it was within minutes after her asking me why I wanted to leave academia that I found myself suddenly very tearful – at one point I had to stop to catch my breath and contain myself. While she didn’t claim to give me any final answers to questions like what would I be good at doing – what kind of career can I have now, she did offer some clear and helpful advice.
The first place she directed me to was www.vitae.ac.uk. and she reminded me that it was once called UK GRAD School. I found it interesting that while my previous funding body would periodically send me information or survey links asking me what I was doing now after graduation, they never offered any post-graduation career development advice and I never remember hearing anything about the new change to Vitae. When she first showed me the webpage it appeared as though it was focused only on developing research students and other research staff for success in academia. But as she moved further into other paths in the website I saw that there was much on offer for those who were looking for alternative prospects. In some cases, there were case studies of academics who left and found research careers in commercial or other institutions. Others found careers in training or in management/administration in academia. But others found career potential in completely different areas. The advisor showed me links to numerous examples of academics who restructured their CVs from an academic focus to a ‘skills-based’ CV. There were other links to the site Beyond The PhD which had audio-recorded and transcribed interviews with people who completed PhDs and who had left academia for various reasons. I suddenly felt there was some hope for me. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to just find something else and the process of revealing to my academic colleagues and friends that I was thinking of opting out else was going to present its own challenges that would not be resolved quickly via a revamped CV. But discovering the Vitae resource opened my eyes to so many possibilities I hadn’t considered before then and gave me the confidence to move forward rather than just feel stuck.
If you haven’t discovered or utilised the Vitae site before now then have a look and spend some time exploring it. On first glance, the site appears to just focus on researchers’ careers. But if you look under the Careers tab you will find a variety of resources that will point you in other directions. The link for ‘What do researchers do? provides access to Vitae’s own publications about career profiles and destinations for people who have had doctoral research training. This one, ‘What do researchers do? Career paths of doctoral graduates (2011) ' offers great evidence from a study showing ‘that doctoral research training is a good foundation for a wide variety of occupations and demonstrates the flexibility of researchers who take advantage of a diversity of employment opportunities’.
The report ‘Straight Talking’ offers a great resource from a study, drawing on a survey and interviews, of post-PhDs and researchers on how they might access their networks more effectively to enhance their career potential.
See this link for more information about Careers outside of higher education.
You are bound to find some shared experiences through the useful Vitae database of career stories. Vitae encourages readers to upload their own stories. There are some stories from academics charting their career journeys but they are amongst many other alternative ones. Worth having a look while working your way through other links such as Career Planning.
I hope you will find Vitae as fruitful as I have. Enjoy!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Making the Most of LinkedIn®: A Guide for Beginners
This is a guest post written by Cicely Rude, a post-academic turned language consultant and coach. See her website here. Thanks for the awesome advice, Cicely!
LinkedIn® has become a powerful professional networking, job search, and career development tool with multilingual capabilities. Building a solid network of contacts is an important and ongoing part of career development. For that reason, I've created the following introduction to some of the ways that you can optimize your LinkedIn® profile, build your professional network, find your next job, and advance your career. It is written with multilingual as well as monolingual job seekers in mind. For more information read 13 Tips for Using LinkedIn to Find a Great Job.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn® is a professional networking website. As of June 2012, LinkedIn® reports more than 175 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Japanese, Czech, Polish, Korean, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia.
How can I make the most of LinkedIn®?
How about employers and recruiters?
Things to keep in mind when building a LinkedIn® profile:
©2013
Cicely Rude
English Language, Culture and Curriculum Consultant
www.cicelyrude.com
LinkedIn® has become a powerful professional networking, job search, and career development tool with multilingual capabilities. Building a solid network of contacts is an important and ongoing part of career development. For that reason, I've created the following introduction to some of the ways that you can optimize your LinkedIn® profile, build your professional network, find your next job, and advance your career. It is written with multilingual as well as monolingual job seekers in mind. For more information read 13 Tips for Using LinkedIn to Find a Great Job.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn® is a professional networking website. As of June 2012, LinkedIn® reports more than 175 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Japanese, Czech, Polish, Korean, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia.
How can I make the most of LinkedIn®?
- Create professional profiles and invite others to become connections, thus building a network of professional contacts.
- Create parallel profiles in multiple languages.
- Build a network of first, second, and third-degree contacts.
- Request introductions through the contact network.
- Find targeted jobs, companies, people, and business opportunities.
- Upload an online profile that showcases experience, projects, and skills.
- Gather recommendations for professional or academic work.
- Review the profiles of hiring managers and find contacts who can introduce them to you.
- Follow companies and receive notifications of new job postings.
How about employers and recruiters?
- Employers list jobs and search for potential candidates.
- Recruiters search for people who match the requirements for particular jobs, then contact those people through LinkedIn®, so make sure your profile is fabulous, succinct, and current.
Things to keep in mind when building a LinkedIn® profile:
- Build a complete profile.
- Add names of schools you attended and companies you worked for, so the system can find possible connections.
- Include the dates during which you worked each job or attended each academic institution.
- Add the languages in which you are proficient, projects you have worked on, etc.
- Keep your profile current, even when not job-hunting.
©2013
Cicely Rude
English Language, Culture and Curriculum Consultant
www.cicelyrude.com
13 Tips for Using LinkedIn® to Find a Great Job
This is a guest post written by Cicely Rude, a post-academic turned language consultant and coach. See her website here. Thanks for the awesome advice, Cicely!
©2013
Cicely Rude
English Language, Culture and Curriculum Consultant
www.cicelyrude.com
- Build your network before you need it. Click the “Add Connections” button and look for people that you may know, have known, or have worked, studied, socialized, and collaborated with in the past.
- Think in terms of reciprocal relationships. Instead of asking yourself only, “What can this person do for me?” when requesting connections, ask yourself “What can I do for this person?”
- Personalize your connection requests for better results. Add a personal note to the generic "I'd like to add you to my professional network" line. Giving an indication of where you met (e.g., at a conference) will help them to remember you and increase your rate of accepted link invitations.
- Spread the word about your job hunt. Use the update feature to tell everyone in your network that you are looking for a job and ask for leads and introductions. Announce what type of job you are looking for and be as specific as possible. Don’t be ashamed. Everyone has been on a job search and most will be again…and again.
- Customize your headline. The text beneath your name at the top of your profile page is called your headline. LinkedIn® will insert default text that matches your current job title, if you have one. However, that text can be easily changed to reflect what you want contacts and recruiters to see first. For example, one of my clients adopted the headline, “Executive Assistant, Actively Seeking New Opportunities” and saw an increase in interview offers.
- If you are bilingual, build a bilingual profile. If you are proficient in a second language and want to capitalize on that skill set in the job market, you can build a second version of your profile in your second language.
- Optimize your profile for searches. Use LinkedIn®'s suggested key words and phrases to attract recruiters who are looking for what you have to offer. Use consistent word choices, tenses, and adhere to industry standards. Check your grammar and spelling meticulously.
- Exchange recommendations and endorsements. Invite people with whom you have worked or studied to post a positive review on your profile, or to endorse your skills. Positively recommend and endorse others.
- Join groups that match your interests. There are many networking groups on LinkedIn®. You can search by topic yourself, but after you have built a profile the system will suggest some for you. Groups can keep you apprised of new developments, discussions, and jobs in your industry or profession. You may also let a group know that you are searching for a new position. Set your e-mail notification frequency to suit your preferences.
- Follow companies where you may be interested in working. Searching for companies in your geographic area and professional field will enable you to follow them and receive notifications of new job openings.
- Actively look for job postings and find useful connections. Browse the “Jobs” tab in LinkedIn® for positions that might interest you. Check for second or third-degree connections between yourself and the company– a personal introduction from a first or second degree contact within a company might not automatically get you a job, but can help you get an interview.
- View your own profile page regularly. Many people overlook this strategy, but it's useful because LinkedIn® will constantly suggest people you might know, companies you might want to follow, groups you might want to join, jobs you might be interested in, and new ways to improve your profile.
- Remember that LinkedIn is a professional network. Don't confuse LinkedIn® with social networks or social bookmarking. Keep your content professional and relevant.
©2013
Cicely Rude
English Language, Culture and Curriculum Consultant
www.cicelyrude.com
Friday, January 4, 2013
Before You Leave ... Take Advantage of Your University Benefits
If you know that you're planning to leave your grad program or faculty job in the near future, one thing that I'd recommend you do is to think about any good benefits that you get through your position at the university ... and go take advantage of them for the last time (or for the first time!).
Unlike people in the nonacademic world who put in their two weeks' notice at a job (or worse: are fired or laid off without notice), you will most likely have a few months or more where you will know you're leaving but where you haven't officially "left" yet. Therefore, you will still be able to take advantage of any good benefits or perks you get through your academic position.
And I think that - now that you know you're leaving and you aren't working on academic stuff 24/7 anymore - you should take full advantage of as many of the perks of university life that you possibly can.
Unlike people in the nonacademic world who put in their two weeks' notice at a job (or worse: are fired or laid off without notice), you will most likely have a few months or more where you will know you're leaving but where you haven't officially "left" yet. Therefore, you will still be able to take advantage of any good benefits or perks you get through your academic position.
And I think that - now that you know you're leaving and you aren't working on academic stuff 24/7 anymore - you should take full advantage of as many of the perks of university life that you possibly can.
Now, of course, we can't tell you exactly what "things" you should take advantage of. Every university and department is different, and the perks of being a tenured faculty member as opposed to a grad student or an adjunct are vastly different. And you obviously shouldn't do anything unethical or that might get you into trouble. Don't download the entire archives of The American Journal of Basketweaving to post on the internet, and don't ask your department to fund your trip to a conference in six months if you haven't told them you're leaving in three.
But while you're moving through the odd in-between period where you know you're going to be leaving but you aren't gone yet, you should take stock of the various things you have access to as part of the university, and see if there are any that you should take advantage of while you still can.
- Maybe you've met the deductible on your health insurance. It might not be a bad idea to squeeze in a couple of doctor visits or a few extra prescription refills before you switch to a brand new plan with a new deductible (or, gulp -- no insurance at all. See our other articles on covering these necessities here.).
- Maybe your university offers discounted computer software or upgrades to faculty and students (that can be taken with you when you leave). If so, maybe it's time to take a quick look at what's available to you.
- Many schools subscribe to e-learning services like Lynda or Skillsoft, which are a great way to learn technical skills (website design, Excel, Photoshop, javascript, social media marketing, etc). A subscription to Lynda costs an individual $250 but might be free to you as a student -- spend your time learning skills you might actually use at a job.
- If you get free dental cleanings or psychotherapy visits through the university, you might want to get one more before you go. If you've been meaning to download that document that has your great-grandfather's signature on it from Ancestry.com through your university's subscription, now's your chance.
- Has your spouse been wanting to take a class at your university using your tuition discount? Do you keep forgetting to print out a copy of your last publication, just so you have it? Have you been wanting to check out that free kickboxing class at the university gym? Have you always meant to use your student/faculty discount to go to the opera or theater or sporting event or whatever other university events you've always been interested in? Now's the time for season tickets to women's basketball! Have some fun -- really!
- Don't forget about your institution's Career Services office. They can help you practice interviews, polish your resume, and likely have some inventories and career search resources available for free or at a discount. Check those out now!
Well, now you know you're leaving ... you're not feverishly working toward the next step in your academic career anymore. So now's the time to do that stuff.
Think about the things you have access to, the benefits that are going to be worse at your next job, or the things you've always meant to take advantage of but never did ... and while you're waiting to move onto your next step, do them. Save yourself a little money and/or have a little fun. You deserve it.
A great career advice podcast with Julie Clarenbach
A post-ac blogger, Unemployed Philosopher, has a nea-to post-ac podcast and recently interviewed post-academic career coach Julie Clarenbach. Julie left a tenure track job in technical writing to become a post-ac career coach. She works at Escape the Ivory Tower (she calls post-acs "escape artists"). This covers so many of those initial concerns we have about moving into "real world" careers: networking, emotions, next steps, cover letters, etc. It's a great listen! Add it to your podcast and listen to it after the Freakonomics podcast on Quitting and you'll be fired up and ready to go!
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Transferable Skills: What Did You Really Get Out of Grad School?
First, start with what you've got. You do indeed have skills that workplaces value.
I've written on this at my own post-ac blog, focusing on reading and writing in this post, and time and self-management. These are skills that I honed in grad school and now use in my post-ac job at an academic publisher. Here's an example:
Stay tuned for more on this important topic!
I've written on this at my own post-ac blog, focusing on reading and writing in this post, and time and self-management. These are skills that I honed in grad school and now use in my post-ac job at an academic publisher. Here's an example:
I go through a similar process of research and thought as I would when writing a seminar paper. I spend time on the professor and school's web sites--gathering information about his/her research agenda, the school's student body, the kinds of works the professor has assigned in the past. Then, much as I looked for patterns of women painters in 19th c novels, I look for patterns that match our products to the professor's needs. Does this professor work in Gothic literature? Our new anthology has a cluster on "monsters." Working with the research I've done on a professor/insitution, and fitting the information to my "reading" of our sales call, I try to create an argument explaining why this professor must use this book.
Stay tuned for more on this important topic!
Career Advice Introduction
Once you’ve made the decision to leave academia, you will need to consider your financial livelihood. Some of you may have the time and monetary resources to allow you to focus on finding your new “dream” career right away. If so, this is a wonderful time to explore talking to a career counselor, taking a career aptitude test, going back to school, building on existing skills and learning new ones, pursuing additional training or certification, or volunteering. Many others, however, will need a “for now” job that allows you to pay your bills. In our, and others’ experiences, leaving academia can be difficult enough, so we advocate not putting too much pressure to have all your career answers right away. As JC often says, a “for now” job is the perfect way to give yourself the time and financial freedom to consider all your options fully. Plus, you’ll be building new skills, networking, and establishing yourself in a different industry. I know many academics feel like we’re “floundering” when we start searching for new careers, but after devoting so much time and energy to one career path it’s only natural to feel a little “lost” professionally.
Too often former academics are made to feel as though being a scholar or professor is all we can do. We don’t feel ready for the “real world.” We don’t feel as though our past work is relevant to jobs outside the academy. Yet this is blatantly untrue. The skills we developed in our graduate program—writing/editing, research, time management, project management, public speaking, content development— are directly applicable to jobs in the “real world.”
As you begin your career search, there are many tools for identifying different career paths and marketing your transferable skills. And remember, if you are having some difficulty finding a job after graduate school—don’t give up! Although right now it’s difficult to earn a job in many sectors, the odds are in your favor. Simply, there are so many more non-academic jobs than academic ones. Persistence will pay off. Please see the links in this section for additional advice and support as you look for work outside of the academy.
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