A lot of my friends work at desk jobs in big offices, or at their own business, or on planes as they shuttle from one meeting to another. They often wonder why I like working in the academe, especially when I could easily get an industry job, sit in a big office, have lots of money, and travel whenever I want.
My answer is always the same. My office is pretty much my cubicle plus the world at large, since I don’t have a certain amount of hours that I have to report each week. I look for my own grants, and if I look hard enough and never flag in submitting grant proposals, then I won’t go broke. I go to training workshops and seminars, which are often outside the country, so I still get to travel.
The pay isn’t as high, I still have to teach, and I won’t get the million dollar houses that my friends either have or plan on buying. Nevertheless, the academic workplace has charms of its own, and I’ve found that there are specific personalities that thrive in such a place. There really is a place for every kind of personality to make a mark in the world.
You just need to know what makes the academic workplace different.
This post branches out from yesterday’s post about phone interviews.
Pete asked the following question:
What if part of their screening process is asking for a salary price? I have heard that withholding that information is more important for negotiation later in the process. Do you feel that’s true?
Personally, I don’t think that withholding this information would be in your best interest, or the company’s.
A few weeks ago we were discussing resume submision strategies to deal with, probably, the toughest part of the recruitment process.
In my opinion, the most difficult part is getting picked among the thousands of resumes that live in job portals, companies’ databases and social networks.
Once your resume has been screened and selected for a phone interview, you may say that you are formally into a company’s recruitment process and thus, competition decreases from tens or hundreds of candidates to just a handful.
If you are trying to jump into the steel industry or advance your career within the largest steelmaker in the US, send me an email to fernando.tarnogol [@] myrecruitmentservices.com and don’t forget to attach your resume.
I’m mostly looking for manager level candidates but if you are interested in other types ...
Guest post by Kristie Lewis - Every professional working in an office environment experiences feelings of burnout and work-related fatigue from time to time. Some days you just don’t feel like putting 110% into your job, and that’s a perfectly normal feeling—no one can expect to perform perfectly all the time. But there’s a difference between having a bad day and chronic un-productivity. Problems arise when you let lose the motivation to work altogether, letting your lazy and careless days stretch into month-long streak that seriously affects your work ethic.
If you feel like you’re in a rut at the office, the best thing you can do is identify it early on so you can try to make changes before it turns into full-on work related depression or resentment. If you find yourself in an extended office slump, you might benefit from these easy tips designed to revitalize your work ethic. Give them a try!
A few weeks ago we were discussing the importance of making sure you meet the job requirements (I recommend reading that post before you jump into this one) when you submit your resume. Today we are going to take this a step further.
The strategy most widely used by job seekers is the “fire at will strategy”: submitting as many resumes as possible to as many employers and open positions as possible. At first sight it may seem like the best approach; after all, you don’t wanna leave any stone unturned.
An academic career can be difficult to sustain, much less imagine, especially if you’re still in college and worrying about exams and grades. An academic career might not be for everyone, but it can be fulfilling, especially when you love research and what well-planned, well-designed methods can do.
An academic career ...
We often talk about how to deliver effective performances, showcasing our skills or taking control of job interviews.
I’ve also said before, that interviews are short and those minutes are all the time that we have to make our point; and all the time the interviewer has to get to know you and your capabilities.
Adding insult to injury, on top of interviews being limited in time, the time it takes an interviewer to make a decision about your viability is even shorter:
But what if you could keep the recruiter or hiring manager thinking about you after the interview is over?
What if you could have yourself working after the fact to pull up from a “failed” interview without moving a finger?
What if you could keep making your case after you are gone from the manager’s office?
Making this possible is today’s tip.
Despite rumors to the contrary, bosses are people, too. By virtue of their common humanity, they run the gamut, from humorless to funny, from lackluster to inspiring, and from dumb to brilliant, but, rightly or wrongly, the ones we usually remember years after we either quit or were fired from a terrible job are the bosses from hell.
So how exactly does an academe-aiming undergrad start doing research? The recipe for success is simple: don’t let anyone drag you down or take you away from your goal.
Working the recipe out, however, can be difficult. You’ll need to steer clear of peers who want to turn college into one big party-fest with nothing in it but beer and booze. You’ll need to pay attention to professors and really be adept at asking questions.
You’ll need to be focused, and you probably won’t be the most popular person on campus if you focus too much on your work.
Again, it’s all a matter of balance. Here are a few tips that you might want to think about as you ponder a career in the academe.
Guest post by Sarah Rexman - Getting fired is always hard. You have to deal with a sudden loss of income and a blow to your pride. How do you tell your partner? How do you tell your friends? More importantly, how do you tell the next person you want to hire you? Yet being fired is relatively common, and most people have experienced it at least once in their lives. A termination is not necessarily a resume killer. The key is learning how to appropriately address what happened during your interview so that your past doesn’t sink your future.
Guest post by Ryan Devereux - As the global economy attempts to recover from the global contraction, millions are left with the realization that the job they may have lost is never coming back. Millions of others are entering, in or leaving higher educational institutions with the realization that there’s no market for the skills they hoped to cultivate or have been cultivating.
Whatever the situation, it may be worth considering an alternative employment option. One field that has grown from virtually nonexistent a century ago to bustling today is child therapy. While becoming a child therapist isn’t something you “wander into”, the first step to considering a career as a child therapist is understanding what one does…
I can already imagine my professors running after me with giant scissors, screaming at me to hand them back my diploma. But don’t get me wrong, everyone. Grades do matter, but as in all things in life, grades are not the only things that people will look at when they assess you as a professional.
I’m jumping the gun here, so let me backtrack a bit. To do that, let me invite you to assess what grades are. They’re numerical or alphabetical representations of your ability to do things inside the classroom, or at least in a controlled classroom-like environment.
You can get grades for fieldwork, a formal class with formal examinations, or a thesis/dissertation course. Grades are given by people who have set standards in order to assess whether you are advancing in your knowledge.
Grades can be subjective. Even if you have twenty people coming up with a final grade for you, your grade will still be based on what they believe are standards for assessing your progress.
Guest post by Jason Keane - Finding a job is more than just turning in resumes and going to an interview: it’s all about the network. Learning how to network on social media sites and in person is a great way to learn about new jobs in the area or even side jobs for the weekend.
In the increasing technology of today, social media is the nexus for interpersonal networking. Some companies also use these sites to research information about potential employees—so even if you do not use it to enhance your job seeking skills, be wary what you post! Three of the most popular social networking web sites are Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
I love writing. I love debating. I love getting up on stage and presenting my research. I’ve always loved communication, which is why I find it difficult to sympathize with students who whine about communication courses and how they’re “useless.”
In a previous blog post, I talked about communication courses being a golden ticket to success in the workplace. I can’t stop repeating it: you need a very good communication background to stand out when applying for a job. You need very good communications foundations to succeed in your career. Some people make communicating look easy – but mind you, that’s the biggest illusion.
It’s not as easy as it looks because communication takes years to hone. It takes years of practice and constant activity to keep on talking and connecting with an audience. It takes years of practice and constant activity to keep on writing and sharing information.
If you didn’t have a lot of communications courses in college, or if you feel that you need to beef up your communications credentials, then here are a few ways that you can do it. Remember, it’s never too late to train yourself to be a better person!
During the past few months, I’ve had a dozen job interviews and in many of them, most of the session was focused on my last job; what I did, what I didn’t do. A lifetime of experience reduced to one and a half years. Reduced to a narrative that I can pretty much have invented for the sake of finding a job.
Wanna check references? Let me give my f0rmer boss/co-worker/girlfriend/friend a call and ask him/her to lie for me.
Done. I just tricked you into believing I was the most successful CEO in the history BogusCorp.
On the opposite case, where I did not lie durning the interview, I still couldn’t make my case and tell you how good I can be at this or that, because you have circumscribed the interview to a very narrow and brief moment of my life, asking me about things that may not be a good predictor of future performance, specially when you are coming from a different industry.
In these cases, behavioral based interviews are a good option for recruiters, as they propose hypothetical or past situations -that can as well be lies, but would still force the candidate to come up with a solution to the scenario.
Guest post by Melissa Spears - Just after completing my high school, I was in two minds regarding my academic pursuits. I had this urge of enrolling in a Psychology undergraduate program, but was not quite sure of the professional opportunities and career advancement prospects. Little did I know that seeking a career in psychology has come up to be the hottest trend in the professional industry.
Thanks, to the advancement and acceptance of the discipline in the global professional world. Additionally, changes in the way we live, act, think, and conduct have also propelled the growth of psychologists manifold. Be it in the educational, business, health, or corporate industry – today taking a step without the assistance of a professional psychologist can seldom be dreamt of.
