Looking for a Post-Doc?  Some things to consider...

Rebekah Layton

A PostDoc is becoming a necessity for research jobs, and becoming more common in many fields, even in Liberal Arts settings. So, if you’re thinking about taking a post-doc position, here’s a brief review of information about what to do, along with some resources to help you out! (Note: These valuable recommendations and resources are compiled from a number of on campus presentations on related topics including: ITLAL Grant Panel, FFLC Grant Workshop, FFLC Job Market Panel, & OGS Grant Writing Workshop! Also, see our other FFLC blogs on relevant topics for more information!)

First, begin the process about 1-1.5 year before you plan to graduate (estimated graduation date, of course). Plan your research proposals by looking for hot topics in your field, review literature in topic of interest; consider funding opportunities (societal applications) and what sorts of additional training or methods are available that you would like to gain experience in.

Look both in and outside your field. Personal connections are most effective. Use your professional network, both electronic and in-person, including your advisor and/or thesis committee, professional meetings and conferences, professional organization websites and listserves, and Chronicle of Higher Education postings, and sometimes even traditional job-search sites are sites.

Important considerations include the nature of the job description (i.e., research only? what are other duties? teaching responsibilities?), what is the new area of expertise for you, can you work with a big name in your field, can you get publications right away, etc. Also, this is one opportunity (rare) for which you can consider geographic preferences!

Potential mentors should be mid-career and have at least two grants, lots of recent publications, be a good personality match, and you may want to consider if there are others in department/organization to interact with professionally.

Applications are typically by e-submission or snail-mail and usually include: a cover-letter, CV, research  statement, list references or recommendation letters (as stated), reprints of publications. Don’t forget to tell them how will this lab fit into your research interests. And be sure to ask/inform your references fully of your intentions before sending out the applications.

Once you get a callback, prepare for interview by reading up on current research (3-5 yr span), prepare/give your presentation (job talk), request/attend meetings at the institution, and prepare one or more potential project ideas. It is important to show them how will your research fit into their lab. Also, find out: how long is the position funded (renewable?), what are expectations, and what space/lab resources will be available. Be sure to officially accept in writing (email counts) including specified salary, benefits, and start/end dates. Above all, be sure to actually complete your PHD before the PostDoc start date!

There are cross disciplinary as well as discipline specific, so cast your net widely! Here are a few possible funding ideas. Many more electronic references are listed in the Resource List below.

§  National Institute of Health (NIH): “K-Award” (K-01) 3-5 years of funding for junior scholar (post doc)

§  National Science Foundation (NSF): many post doc awards including International & Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) research fellowships

§  Private Foundations: examples are Mellon Foundation, Fulbright Scholarships, Luce fellows, etc.

FFinally, if you are not able to secure independent funding for your postdoctoral research (organizations such as those above & below), remember that many univeristies and labs will post specific jobs with funding associated to that job specifically. In many fields, the lab-specific job posting for post-doctoral positions come out at the end of the hiring cycle. This gives yet another opportunity to put yourself on the market and find the best match for you, even if you miss the earlier funding cycles.

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FFinding the right post doctoral experience can set you up for the career that you want, so its worth putting in the time and effort to think about applying to some. Take a deep breath, and jump in! There's lots of funding available, so if you think you may want a post-doc, go for it!

Sources:

ITLAL Grant Panel, FFLC Grant Workshop, FFLC Job Market Panel, & OGS Grant Writing Workshop

Resource List:

PostDoc Search Resources:

http://grants.nih.gov/training/careerdevelopmentawards.htm (NIH K-Awards)

http://www.nsf.gov (NSF-Int’l and SBE postdocs)

http://chronicle.com (general job & postdoc listings)

www.postdocjobs.com (general posdoc listings)

Some job search sites are even starting to list post doc announcements (e.g., www.indeed.com, www.simplyhired.com, etc.)

Nontraditional International Fellowship Opportunities:

http://www.clir.org/fellowships/mellon (1yr grants; due prior Nov/Oct)

http://us.fulbrightonline.org/ or http://www.cies.org/us_scholars/ (Fulbright offers student/recent graduate awards as well as for professional faculty; international research only)

http://www.marshallscholarship.org/ (1-2 yrs; UK post doc only)

https://www.hluce.org/lsprogram.aspx (1 yr program; Asia only)

On Campus Resources:

Career Services (http://www.albany.edu/career/) to copy/send recommendation letters & search

Office of Sponsored Programs (http://www.albany.edu/osp/) quarterly publication “Accent on Research” lists upcoming grant opportunities/deadlines including a few postdoc positions

Future Faculty Leadership Council (FFLC) Resources: (selected related topics listed below)
http://uafuturefaculty.blogspot.com/p/job-search-links.html

http://uafuturefaculty.blogspot.com/2012/03/to-be-or-not-to-be-post-doctoral-fellow.html

http://uafuturefaculty.blogspot.com/2012/11/grant-writing-for-graduate-students.html

http://uafuturefaculty.blogspot.com/2013/04/tales-from-search-committee-recap-from.html

Tales From The Search Committee: A Recap From A Panel Discussion

By Caroline Girard Cartier

Earlier this month the FFLC hosted a panel discussion for graduate students entitled, “Tales of the Search Committee”. We invited representatives of search committees from a variety of disciplines and institutions to enlighten us on what it is that committees are searching for when they review applications for faculty positions. Questions were asked by graduate students attending the event and the responses of the panelists are summarized below. The guest panelists were:  Sally Dwyer-McNulty, PhD, an associate professor and chair of the History Department at Marist College; Jack D. Harris, PhD, a Professor of Sociology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges; Timothy Groves, PhD, Associate Head of the Nanoscience Constellation; Empire Innovation Professor of Nanoscale Science; Director, Center for Nanolithography Development at the College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering at the University at Albany; and Robert ‘Sid’ Whitaker, a professor of Political Science, at Hudson Valley Community College.

What is the application review like at different institutions?

The application review and interview process at each institution varies. When submitting an application package it is important to keep in mind the type of institution to which you are applying. While the representatives of a community college and the two liberal arts colleges stressed the desire of their institutions to select candidates with a particular interest in teaching, our representative from the Nanoscience school stated that while teaching is important, a committee’s interest at their institution is in the research background of applicants. It is important to be aware of what the focus is at each institution to which you apply and each application you submit should be unique with a focus on what the particular institution is looking for in a faculty member.

What gets an application to the top of a pile?

Study and know the institution to which you are applying. Use that knowledge to demonstrate what you can offer that particular institution. It is also important to illustrate your flexibility and ability to juggle teaching, research and service to the community. For institutions with a focus on teaching, evidence of outstanding teaching is significant. In your letter demonstrate that you can communicate ideas and knowledge in powerful and meaningful ways. In your teaching statement do not simply state your interest in and passion for teaching, but rather provide information about your teaching philosophy. Having experience teaching the courses that the institution requires you to teach may also be beneficial. For liberal arts colleges and research-focused institutions it is generally important to clearly articulate a plan to build your own research program. Demonstrate your ability to collaborate and obtain grants or other sources of funding. For all institutions it is necessary to make evident your leadership abilities. Having a PhD in hand is also considered favorable and is required prior to the start date for many institutions.

What is “the kiss of death” for an application?

Applications require thought. An application that is not thoroughly thought out will fall to the bottom of the pile. “Boring” and “cookie-cutter” applications will also find themselves tossed aside. The need to tailor applications for each institution was once again stressed. Make your application stand out by demonstrating knowledge, energy and confidence.

What is a good number of classes to have taught?

Most institutions like to see that you have experience teaching at least one introductory course and one upper level course. If you have not taught the courses that the institution requires you to teach, it helps to at least have taken the courses you will be expected to teach. Many institutions are now providing online courses and consider applicants with experience designing and teaching online course desirable. For some institutions, demonstrating an ability or interest in classroom technology may be beneficial as is some experience with Blackboard, etc.

What is a good number of publications to have authored/coauthored?

While it is favorable to have publications listed on your CV, there is not a set number that is required. The importance of publications varies depending on the discipline and the institution. The name of the journals, etc. may be of some significance to reviewers.

How do you demonstrate a passion to teach in an application?

Search committees are often looking for an indication that you have a connection with students. Provide ideas on engaging students with student presentations, discussions, etc. Currently, many institutions are interested in faculty with teaching styles that encourage active participation of students. Members of search committees are often looking for clues in your application to determine whether you are a “guide from the side” or “sage on the stage”.

Does age make a difference when applications are reviewed?

Life experience is often viewed as a strength. It is important, if you are switching careers later in life or have taken some time off, to demonstrate a sense of renewal and excitement. Be sure to fill in the gaps in your CV, even with experience that is not directly related to academia. It is important to account for the years. Put some thought into how your experiences have informed your teaching and what you bring to the institution from those experiences.

Some other helpful pieces of advice from our panelists:

·         Present yourself as a problem solver.

·         Demonstrate your energy and willingness to try new things.

·         Be sure that your letters of recommendation are good. “Cookie cutter” letters of recommendation are not beneficial.

·         Be sure to utilize resources such as Career Services to assist with the job search process.

·         Start thinking about your application packages now. For instance, do not wait until the last minute to put together a teaching portfolio.

As you prepare for the job market, the following are some helpful resources provided through the university:

The Institute for Teaching, Learning and Academic Leadership provides many services for graduate student professional preparedness: http://www.itlal.org 

Career Services may be helpful in providing information about non-academic job searches: http://www.albany.edu/career/job_search/jobsearch.shtml

Best Practices for Creating Effective Prompts and Assignments

Kristen Hourigan

At the recent Eastern Sociological Society annual conference, I had the opportunity to attend a mini-conference on Teaching at which I was introduced to the ideas of Dr. Cheryl Laz from the University of Southern Maine. She discussed a paper she is in the process of completing entitled “Creating Effective Writing Assignments.” Below, I have transcribed her top seven best practices, as described during this mini-conference. These practices are meant to guide instructors, step-by-step, in effectively constructing writing assignments that will get students thinking in the way the instructor intends.

You’ll notice that Dr. Laz differentiates between the ‘prompt’ and the ‘assignment.’ She describes the ‘prompt’ as the specific task that specifies what the students will be writing about. For example, this may be a question the students are expected to answer. The ‘assignment’ is the criteria for evaluation, which includes the prompt. So the assignment specifies how the writer will write, including things like page length, reference style, and audience.

Best Practices for Creating Effective Prompts and Assignments

•        Identify/clarify your outcomes and objectives for the assignment. Develop a prompt that is appropriate in scope.
•        Develop a rubric for evaluation as you develop the prompt. Your rubric should be polished in tandem with your prompt.
•         Be as clear and concise as possible in writing the prompt and giving instructions.
•       Avoid the twin dangers of under-specifying and over-specifying. Under-specifying occurs when students are not given enough direction or the assignment is written with too implicit of expectations. Words like “discuss” or “explore” often lead to under-specified instructions. Over-specifying occurs when instructors give too many suggestions and too much guidance so that students cannot differentiate between the actual question they are being asked to answer and the suggestions the instructor is offering for guidance.
•      Develop prompts that connect the students to the subject/material and offer them the opportunity to use their authentic voice. This may include having them develop critical reviews, action plans, op-ed pieces or other types of ‘real world’ writing.
•     Get creative and provide opportunities for the students’ creativity. Give them options.
•          Don’t reinvent the wheel. Go to the National Writing Project website (www.nwp.org), national associations within your field, or seasoned colleagues for ideas.

Communicating Your Research to Colleagues and Beyond

Abraham Hmiel

Being comfortable with communicating your ideas is absolutely essential in your field and frequently important in your private life as well. Over the course of your career, you may be asked to give hundreds of talks to colleagues or laypeople. Usually, the audience you will be speaking to has never heard of you, has never read your papers, is unfamiliar with the terminology or methods of your work, and is woozy from not having enough coffee on that particular day. Therefore, you should plan for this ahead of time and craft a captivating presentation that will leave everyone in the audience eager to read your paper.

Typically, presentations made in professional settings (in 2013) require either the use of Microsoft Powerpoint, its free equivalent, Openoffice Impress, or using a .pdf  file (Portable document format). The style and flow of the presentation you create should have synergy with every word that comes out of your mouth. The following tips on giving a good talk are not exhaustive, but should be a good general-purpose guideline as most researchers were never trained in how to give these talks besides 'just doing it'. Additionally, some of these tips can be applied to improve your classroom lecturing skills.

Know your audience

Communicating your research to a professional conference, a colloquium in your department, at a meeting within your own group, and to grant reviewers all require a different approach. While you are preparing for your talk, ask yourself who you are presenting to, as this will affect the focus of your presentation. If you are giving a talk to a broad audience, take special care to include enough introductory information that a layman can follow you. For a departmental or conference talk, the main focus should be your data and methods. For your dissertation or a job interview among people who already know your research well, the discussion of your results is of prime importance. Your motivations and goals for your research should be crystal clear no matter who your audience is. Remember that your papers are the main events in your research career, the presentation is just an advertisement for a single paper. The purpose of your talk should be to give your audience an intuitive feel for your idea and to engage, excite, and provoke them to read your body of work.

Mind your body language and speaking style

Speaking clearly with confidence comes easier to some than others. People who are performers in theater or music may have shed their 'stage fright' long ago, and it can certainly be intimidating to speak to a large audience regardless of experience. Rehearsing your talk in front of a mirror may help get your timing issues straight, but it's just as important to practice giving your talk to actual people who can give you feedback on grammar, style and flow even though they might not have a clue what your research is about. The most important thing is to be natural, in the moment, and know what you are doing. Remember that you know this research topic better than anyone else on the planet!

You are in control of the room when you are speaking and if you act cool, composed, and enthusiastic, your audience will follow what you're saying better and not lose interest as easily. Don't over gesticulate and whatever you do, don't overuse a (laser) pointer. A pointer should be used very sparingly to indicate trends in figures or to quickly show your audience the specific item you're talking about on a slide. It should never be used to rapidly circle anything or point to words as you're saying them like a bouncing ball on a karaoke machine. You should not read sentences off your slides, rather, the words should be a carefully-chosen guide to sum up the main ideas that you're talking about. Speak to your audience (not your slides!) and shift your focus to various people seated. Avoid saying “uh” or “um” or doing things like touching your face and yawning. Plan on using about one minute per slide. Use a professional, readable font- not comic sans!

Present your data in a clear visual manner

A picture is worth a thousand words as they say, but the art of displaying your data in figures is highly nuanced. In general, the figures you display for your audience in a talk should be of publication quality. For example, when plotting a relationship quickly between two variables in a study to discern a trend for yourself, a group member, or perhaps your advisor, it may be acceptable to plot the data in Microsoft Excel with all the default settings. However, this should never be done when presenting your research to a broader audience. The reason is that the defaults in Excel tend to obfuscate any meaningful trends in your figure by being visually distracting. There is seldom any need for any background to a figure besides a blank white background and you do not need horizontal lines that span the width of the figure. You end up needing to do a ton of pointing and clicking to arrange your data right, and unless you program a macro, your time would be better spent using a different program (Origin or the python library matplotlib come to mind). Don't forget error bars if you took several different samples and averaged them. Make sure your axes are labeled with units, your color schemes make sense and that everything is readable. Also. avoid plotting too much information in a single figure. More than four or five data series on a single plot can be visually distracting unless you have a clever way to present them, like adding them one at a time, and the same can be said for more than two figures per slide. Finally, make sure your slides are visually balanced (that is, avoid excessive whitespace) with figures and a small amount of text with a take home message. 

Cite sources, peers and funding

If you use anything in your presentation that you yourself did not create, you must cite where it came from. This might be prior work by others that serves as motivation for your research, specific theoretical details that you did not derive, or any pictures, maps, or graphs that came from somewhere else. If you make your slides public, having these citations as hyperlinks at the bottom of the slide in which you reference each bit of information could be helpful. Either at the very beginning or at the very end of your talk you should acknowledge your group, your advisor, and any collaborators or technicians with their affiliations. Having pictures of everyone is a good idea to keep your audience engaged and to jog their memories. It's also critical to tell your audience where you got the funding to do your research. The individual grant ID numbers are probably too much information, but the agencies themselves  are essential.

Answering questions

As sure as the dawn, you're going to have raised a few questions in your audience when you finish your talk. You may have questions during your talk and they should almost always be welcomed, so be sure to periodically scan your audience. Questions are a golden opportunity to connect with your audience and further scientific discussion. Be quick and concise when answering questions. You may have backup slides with technical details or additional data in response to some questions if you anticipate them. In the case that someone asks a question that you cannot answer, it is OK to admit your ignorance and tell the person, “I have not looked into that, perhaps we can discuss it later” or something of the sort.

Other advice

•  The first several sentences of your talk should be very carefully scripted. This is doubly helpful if English is not your first language.

• Finish on time. Audiences get restive and essentially stop listening when your time is up. Continuing is very counter productive and, in a conference setting, rude to the other speakers in your session.

•  Avoid appearance animations for text and figures that are too flashy, unless it helps to illustrate a major point. Usually, the 'appear' and 'fade' settings are enough.
• Any font smaller than 20-24pt is probably a mistake, unless it is a citation.

• Avoid the 'wall of text' where you have several sentences typed out on a slide. In general, the fewer words, the better.

• Use slide numbers on your presentation, as that will both make it easier for your audience to take notes and for you to rehearse your timings.

• Walk to the other side of the room if you have space, occasionally. This one seems kind of silly, but it serves two purposes. First, it gets you to the other side of the room so that the people on that side will have you in the way of the projection (only sometimes since you'll usually be up near the screen); it is only fair to share the discomfort. Second, the sudden bright flash of light reflecting back to the audience as you break the projection beam will wake a few people up.

• The title of each slide should be closer to a 'takeaway message' than to words like 'results,' 'data,' etc.

• Work on your talk the night before you present it. It should absolutely be fresh in your mind, but doing it all in one day can be harrowing.

• In a conference setting where you have precious little time (15 minutes or less), it is usually good practice to omit an outline of your talk. In most other circumstances, it is helpful to include it at the beginning, and, depending on your style, at later points in the presentation where your current position in the outline is emboldened. It may ease the flow of your talk and provide a clear break when you change topics.

• Sometimes, the best teacher is failure. If you give a really lousy presentation to your department, your colleagues will hopefully give you targeted advice on how to improve. If you give a poor presentation at a conference, your colleagues from your own institution could be embarrassed, no one will ask any questions, remember you, or be interested in your work.

Sources:

K.A. Dunn, "How to give a better technical talk," guest lecture, CNSE Student Seminar Series (Albany, New York: College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering, University at Albany - SUNY: March 27, 2010).

http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2009/03/18/why-does-excel-suck-so-much/

http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/67052/giving-a-talk-slides.pdf (although this presentation breaks a cardinal rule: use a readable, professional font)

http://www.cs.duke.edu/brd/Teaching/Giving-a-talk/giving-a-talk.html

The Job Market Time Line: What You Should Do and When You Should Do It

By: Sarah Maynard

So you’ve settled into your PhD program. You’re taking your classes, studying for your comps, and considering your dissertation options. But as enjoyable as being a student is (with the weird hours, limited pay, and endless papers), it will eventually come to an end. And what will you do after that? If you are like me, you are planning to find an academic job - even though you are strongly considering moving to Tahiti and living in a grass hut on the beach with no computers, emails or paper deadlines. While this is an enjoyable fantasy that may help you get through many of the stresses of life in a PhD program, if your actual dream is to find a rewarding academic job, there are steps you can take to achieve this goal.

But what are the steps that will prepare you for a successful job hunt and when should you start? In between daydreams of swimming in the Tahitian ocean, you may want to consider the following timeline to help you prepare for getting that dream academic job.

TWO+ YEARS BEFORE YOUR PLANNED GRADUATION DATE

l  Consider what sort of job you want – research focus, teaching focused, etc.

l  Talk with your advisor and mentors about your goals

l  Look at current job ads to help you get a sense of what is out there and what experience they are asking for

l  Attend conferences to hear new ideas, learn what others are doing and meet people in your discipline

l  Begin to network (See The Power of Networking Blog)

–        http://uafuturefaculty.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-power-of-networking-rebekah-layton.html

l  Work on your CV

l  Depending on your job focus:

–        Seek out opportunities to present your research

–        Build your teaching experience

–        Publish, publish, publish

–        Seek out and write grants

l  Find support – UAlbany’s counseling center offers a Dissertation Support Group

–        http://www.albany.edu/counseling_center/

l  Keep working on and writing your dissertation!

16 MONTHS PRIOR TO GRADUATION

l  Continue talking with your advisor about your job plans

l  Look at current job ads and begin drafting cover letters

l  Gather your portfolio materials such as:

–        Research and/or teaching philosophies

–        Syllabi, teaching evaluations and observations

–        Writing samples

–        Choose recommenders and discuss your plans with them

l  Keep building your CV experience – write a grant, publish a paper, teach a course, present at a conference

l  Don’t stop writing!

TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE

l  Finish your CV

l  Research job advertisements

l  Construct your portfolio – including recommendations

l  Start applying for positions

l  Prepare for conference and phone interviews

l  Talk to your advisor/mentor about practicing with a mock interview

l  Refresh your knowledge of the literature in your area to prepare for interviews

l  Keep working on your dissertation! (do you notice the patter here?)

EIGHT MONTHS BEFORE

l  Continue to network and attend conferences

l  Prepare and practice job talks

l  Interviews

–        Dress appropriately and professionally

–        Think about your long-range plans as they can come up in interviews

–        Remember to send thank-you (notes, emails etc.) after each interview

–        Contact the faculty who interviewed you and express your interest in the position.

l  Don’t forget to finish writing your dissertation!

SIX MONTHS BEFORE

l  Continue to apply and interview for positions

l  Many will be filled, but always be on the lookout for late options

l  Negotiate job offers – See Negotiating An Academic Job Offer Blog

l  http://uafuturefaculty.blogspot.com/2012/02/negotiating-academic-job-offer.html

l  After you’ve accepted a job (Because you Will!) - Make a point to thank everyone who has helped.

And once you’ve accepted that job, consider taking a short trip to Tahiti. After years of work you deserve to enjoy a week relaxing with no computers or paper deadlines before your academic career begins.

RESOURCES

l  Chronicle of Higher Education (chronicle.com)

l  Inside Higher Ed (insiderhighered.com)

l  HigherEdJobs.com

l  Academic360.com is “a meta-collection” of academic job search sites

How We May be Sabotaging Ourselves and Not Even Know It

The Six Ways You’re Acting Like a Grad Student (and how that’s killing you on the job market)

By Karen L. Kelsky, Ph.D.

From: The Professor Is In Blog (http://theprofessorisin.com)

Today we have another Special Request post, this one coming from Liz, who asks, “You’re always telling us ‘not to act like graduate students.’ But how do I know when I’m doing it??”

Thanks for asking this, Liz. It is an excellent question, especially at the start of the conference and job season.

O, you graduate students! What am I going to do with you?

How am I going to explain to you all of the ways that you sabotage and undermine yourselves, with the best of intentions, and with complete lack of self-awareness?

I wish I could grab each and every one of you, get up in your grill, and say “stop it!”

But alas, I have only the means of this blog. So I will do what I can. I will list the ways that grad students act like grad students. I will name the behavior, describe it, and then explain how and why that behavior sabotages you in a job market situation.

1. You drone on and on about your dissertation.

Oh. My. God. People. Stop talking about your dissertation!!!!! Nobody wants to hear about your dissertation!!!!! We do not care about your dissertation!!!!!

Job market: one of the primary “instant reject” cover letter types is the one that spends more than one paragraph on the dissertation. Remember from this post: search committees don’t want to know about your dissertation beyond proof that you wrote one and it’s (soon to be) finished and defended.

What they want to know is how that dissertation accomplishes specific goals that serve the hiring department: ie, produces refereed publications, intervenes in a major scholarly debate, wins grants and awards, translates into dynamic teaching, transforms quickly into a book, inspires a viable second project.

In interview situations, learn to talk about your dissertation in short, punchy bursts, no more than a sentence or two long. This gives your interlocutor the chance to say, “How interesting! Tell us more about that.” To which you respond in another short, punchy burst.

Please recall that interviews are dialogues. They are not monologues. Think of a tennis match. They lob the ball, you lob the ball back. Rinse and repeat.

2. You think people are out to get you in your department.

Enough with the paranoia, people! Finis! Stop now.

With very rare exceptions, faculty barely even think about the graduate students in their departments. Except to ask, once a year, whether they’re on track to defend so that the Dean can stop hassling the department for its low completion rate.

The people in the department want you to finish. Period. Whatever that takes, that’s what they want you to do. So just do that, ok?

Job market: paranoia is extremely unattractive and a major red flag signalling an immature candidate not ready for prime time. You may think that your dark insinuations of how “my project really offended some people in my department” make you look mysterious and desirable, but actually they make you look tiresome. Regardless of how you were treated in your department, you say nothing but collegial things about it on the market. Period. Because how you talk about your Ph.D. department signals how you will talk about your future department. And your future department wants a colleague who has a positive attitude.

3. You think people are out to get you in your discipline.

You’re sure that your “radical” perspective/argument/position/stance has earned you powerful enemies in the field. It very likely has not. Very likely few people are even thinking about you. If you’re getting negative responses to your work, it’s very likely not because your argument single-handedly overturns the foundational orthdoxy of your field and has inspired widespread jealousy and resentment. No, it’s because the work is not yet good enough. As irritating as most professors are, they generally do respect sound argumentation backed up with intensive evidence. Provide those, and chances are your “radical” perspective will get a balanced hearing. I’m not saying you won’t have to fight for your perspective. But it will be a fair fight, not a case of your total persecution by the “powers that be” in your field.

Job market: Dark tales of victimization at the last conference and mutterings about how “my argument has really pissed off some people in the field” will not make you look mysterious and desirable. They will make you look like a drama queen. And one thing no search committee wants? A drama queen.

4. You constantly repeat your main point.

Graduate students are insecure. This is understandable, because their status is insecure. One outcome of the insecurity is that you tend to “pile on”

examples that “prove” that your topic is a legitimate one. It’s the classic dissertation disease of seeing your topic in every single thing in the universe. Everyone suffers this to some degree while writing the dissertation.

Job market: The “piling on” of examples is a hallmark of immature writing and an insecure identity. Search committees will reject anyone who appears immature and insecure. Search committees are looking for someone who already speaks and writes like an employed colleague. What that means is someone who is confident that their topic is sound, who gives a reasonable amount of evidence for the topic, but then quickly moves on to why the topic is important and path-breaking, and how the topic intervenes in major, top-tier debates in the scholarly field.

5. You make excuses for yourself.

This is the one that if I had superpowers, I would reach through your computer screen, grab you by your collar, and shake out of you. Right now.

Graduate students are so conditioned to dealing with intimidating advisors and committees that they’re like the Pavlov’s dogs of excuses. Professor: Hi, how are you?
Grad student: I’m sorry I didn’t get that chapter in to you! I got sick over the weekend, but I’ll have it done this week, I promise! Professor: You were sick? How are you feeling now?

Grad student: I have a 102 fever but it’s ok—I spent the morning in the library and as soon as I get through teaching my 3 sections I plan to skip dinner and make up for the writing I didn’t get done over the weekend!

Professor: Wow, take care of yourself.

Grad student: It’s ok! I can write through the delirium!

Stop that! Stop it now!

Job market: When someone on the search committee asks, “how would you teach our Intro course?” You do NOT answer in any of the following ways:

“I haven’t really had a chance to teach a big course but I’m a quick study and think I can learn fast!!!” “I’m not sure how your department likes it to be done so I’d definitely follow your lead on that.”
“I taught it last year but it didn’t really go all that well so I’d want to make a lot of changes.”

No, those are excuses. Instead, you answer in one of these ways:

“I love the chance to teach large courses because I get to reach a new set of undergraduates and turn them on to how fascinating our field is!” “I will use XXX textbook because I find that to be the best one, and I will augment it with some interesting and unconventional materials like

xxx and xxx.”
“I will take a balanced approach that introduces the xx perspective and the yy perspective. Obviously my own work falls more in the xx perspective, but it’s important in an Intro class that the full scope of the field is well represented.”

Get it? You are the expert. You are the authority. You are in command.

The cover letter version of this advice: Don’t discuss what your dissertation doesn’t do or still needs to address. Focus exclusively on what it does achieve. Embrace the positive. Banish the negative.

No. Excuses.

6. You’re submissive.

Graduate students tend to display the classic signs of submission—tilted head (ref: your puppy), bowed shoulders, tightly crossed legs, weak and vague hand gestures, a querulous, questioning tone. They have a wimpy, cold fish handshake. They avoid direct eye contact. They mumble and mutter and talk too fast, and above all, they ramble in an unfocused and evasive way. They will often either smile and laugh too much, or conversely be grimly humorless (a sense of humor being one of the first casualties of the graduate school experience). They also display their lack of capital through old, worn clothes and ungroomed hair.

Few people have ALL of these traits, to be sure. But most grad students have some of them.

Job market: Search committees are hiring a colleague, not a graduate student. You must appear at your interviews as if you are a person who is already successfully employed as an assistant professor. Your clothes must be new and must fit you at your current weight, and be hemmed (sleeves, pants, skirt) to the appropriate length. Your clothes must be more formal than is customary in your department, because interviews require formal clothes. Your hair must be cut and styled. You must wear decent shoes that are appropriate for professional settings.

More to the point, you must square your shoulders, straighten your back, lift your chin, and loosen your elbows. Take up ALL the space in the chair (you can do this even if you are a small woman—it’s in the body language). Make direct eye contact. Do not, under any circumstances, fuss with your hair, clothes, or jewelry. Speak in a firm, level tone. Women, work on any tendency to a high pitched nasal tone. Speak in a lower register if you can— lower tones are the tones of authority, for better or worse. Smile in a friendly way at the beginning and end, but not too much while you’re talking about your work. Your work is important and deserves a serious delivery. If a joke arises naturally in the conversation, though–run with it. Search committees love a sense of humor, when it’s displayed in the course of smart collegial repartee.

Do. Not. Ramble.

Have short and pithy responses rehearsed so that they trip off your tongue easily and fluently. Always give the search committee the chance to say, “Oh, how interesting, tell us more!” And then follow up with another short and pithy elaboration.

To repeat: Do. Not. Ramble.
And lastly, the handshake. Oh my god, the handshake. If you do nothing else from this post, please, I beg you, do this. Get up from your computer, go find a human, and shake their hand. Shake it firmly. Really squeeze! Outstretch your arm, grip their hand with all your fingers and thumb, look them firmly in the eye, smile in a friendly, open way, and give that hand a nice, firm shake. Repeat. Do this until it’s second nature. If it doesn’t feel right or you aren’t sure if you’re doing it right, find an alpha male in your department, and ask him to teach you.

Banish the wet noodle handshake. Seriously, grad students, butch it up.

Life-work balance and burn out

Life-work balance and burn out

By Daniela Pila

Graduate students have a tendency to neglect themselves and to not strive for a work-life balance. The video below is excellent at listing the reasons of why this is the case.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mMAWNw1BwTc

This is a notable problem because for many of graduate students, graduate school is a long-term commitment lasting anywhere from 5 years to 10 years.  Not striving for a life-work balance can result burn out.  While early career burnout does not imply significant, negative, long-term consequences, burnout occurring later in the career might have more serious long-term effects (Cherniss 1992).  Faculty members are particularly more likely to experience burnout, with females faculty members scoring higher on emotional exhaustion and with males scoring higher on depersonalization—burn out also affected the numbers of students taught, time invested in various activities, and quality of student evaluations (Lackritz 2004).  Studies also suggest that burnout is also related with intention to quit school and to translate into physical and psychological symptoms (Koeske and Koeske 1991).

Here are some tips to keep yourself from experiencing burn out in the early stages of your graduate school:

1. Do not define yourself solely through your work. Graduate students often equate their well-being via their work—we often cannot help it because of the pressures to publish, to present at conferences, and to prepare for the tough job market. Define yourself outside of academia—think of who you are when you are not a graduate student. Remember that your identity is multi-faceted and that your identity as a graduate student is not all-encompassing.  A graduate student in the video above explains it best: “Remember that before you were a graduate student, you were a lot of other things as well. You are someone's best friend, you are someone's child, you are someone's gym buddy, you are someone's coach. Remember that in graduate school, you don't drop all those other identities, they are still in play. So I constantly remind myself of that, "Oh, I don't have time to grab coffee with a really good friend of mine because I have to do work." I remind myself that I'm not just a graduate student, that I need time to reconnect with my friends and my family.”

2. Engage in activities that have nothing to do with graduate school. Find an activity that you can do easily when you want a break from working.  It can be reading a book (note: non-academic books!) that you have been wanting to read, going on a coffee date with a friend, painting, or listening to music.  For others, this can be a physical activity, like running or having a short dance party. If you know a friend who has a child, hang out with them, and help out with child care. For those who have friends with pets, use your connection, and get some (free) pet therapy.  Do a day trip or a weekend trip outside of the city where your school is.  Bake and cook new things. Try out different restaurants in the area. Join a group (i.e. a book club, dance club, or language club) that can take your mind away from your graduate school work. Go out there, take time to enjoy yourself, and to relax fully.

3. Train yourself to think about the positives in your life. The stress and pressures of graduate school make graduate students think negatively and makes them forget that life isn’t just about working. Think about how far you have come along and how much you have learned about who you are. Think about how being in graduate school is a privilege—you beat out hundreds of people for your place in your program because the admission committee thought you were good enough.  Wake up and enjoy the sunlight for a little bit. Have that cup of tea and enjoy it. Imagine the life that you want after graduate school and remember that your situation is only temporary. If you make mistakes along the way, acknowledge them, apologize to the necessary parties, and move on. Don’t dwell on what has happened and instead make it a lesson.

4. When it comes to finances, distinguish the difference between a “need” and  “want.” Because the pay is usually quite low for graduate students, many take out loans or use their credit cards to supplement a life style that they want to have.  This is a set-up for a long financial struggle and for future stress and strain.  Before making any large purchases or expensive changes in life style, think long and hard whether the purchase is a.) necessary to your well-being, b.) your finances can afford the hit, and c.) the method of payment for the purchase (i.e. credit card or cash?).  A trick to use is when an urge comes along is to take six months and then categorize the urge as a “need” or a “want.”  Ask yourself “During those six months, did the non-purchase of said item diminish my quality of living?” This is not to say that all graduate students must have a lower quality of life, but there has to be a realization that a graduate student stipend cannot sustain a large house/apartment, a dog, all the latest electronic gadgets, and cable.  Make financial rules for yourself.  For single graduate students, having access to 50% of your income after paying the bills should be the standard. A way to do this is to have two separate checking accounts and a savings account.  One account can be for the bills while the other can be your “spending” account where you make all your miscellaneous purchases. A certain percentage should go directly into the savings account and should only be touched in case of emergencies.  Having a cushion in case an emergency happens will reduce in less stress and, in the long run, less burn out.

5. Stay organized. This might seem like a no-brainer, but often times graduate students don’t realize how disorganization can cause stress and hamper their career trajectories.  Set weekly, monthly, six-month and yearly goals.  Organize your work place to make it more efficient. Consider obtaining a dual monitor to help with your productivity. Obtain both electronic and hard copies of literature.  If you are teaching a course, have a “teaching” notebook on your thoughts on the course so you can remember it for later. Have a “dissertation” notebook of ideas for possible ideas. Set “hard deadlines” (absolute deadlines that cannot be negotiated, like deadlines for submitting a paper in a journal) and “soft deadlines” (earlier deadlines that can give you more time): try to stick to the soft deadlines as much as possible. Graduate students tend to want to excel in just about every aspects of graduate school but focus on prioritizing your own research and developing a plan to finish your dissertation in the time that you want to finish it.

REFERENCES

Cherniss, Cary. 1992. "Long-term consequences of burnout: An exploratory study." Journal of Organizational Behavior 13(1): 1-11.

Lackritz, James R. 2004. "Exploring burnout among university faculty: incidence, performance, and demographic issues." Teaching and Teacher Education 20(7): 713-729.

McLaughlin, Mike C. 1985. "Graduate school and families: Issues for academic departments and university mental health professionals." Journal of College Student Personnel 26(6): 488-491.

Koeske, Gary F., and Randi Daimon Koeske. 1991. "Student “burnout” as a mediator of the stress-outcome relationship." Research in Higher Education 32(4): 415-431.