Not That Kind of Doctor - Job Hunting
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03/11/2024
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Nick makes his argument that the academic job market can be as evergreen as Martha Stewart's holiday wreaths, reappearing each year with its own set of challenges and opportunities. In this episode of Not That Kind of Doctor, Guy and Nick continue their discussion of the ins and outs of job hunting in academia, particularly for doctoral students nearing the end of their dissertation journey.
🎓 What You'll Learn:
Understanding the academic hiring cycle and timing your job search
Balancing dissertation work with the demands of the job market
The importance of setting boundaries to protect your time and focus
Tips for effective networking and leveraging professional connections
How to strategically manage your job applications and avoid burnout
Whether you're a graduate student preparing for the job market or an early-career academic seeking new opportunities, this episode is full of practical advice to help you navigate the hiring process with confidence. Don't miss out on these strategies to make your academic job search more manageable and successful.
Like, comment, and subscribe for more episodes where we offer real-world advice and insights into the academic journey. 🎓✨
#AcademicJobSearch #DissertationTips #HigherEdCareers #TimeManagement #JobMarketTips #AcademicCareers #GraduateStudents #FacultyPositions #AcademicJobs #AcademicCareer #Academia #ZoomInterview #InterviewPrep #InterviewPreparation
Job Hunting - Not That Kind of Doctor with Nick Husbye and Guy Trainin
www.youtube.com/@tltenotthatkindofdoctor
Searchable Transcript
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- [00:00:00.000](upbeat music)
- [00:00:10.350]You know I love Martha Stewart.
- [00:00:12.000]You do?
- [00:00:13.380]I do.
- [00:00:14.231]Okay.
- [00:00:15.064]And so, okay, so the thing about Martha Stewart is
- [00:00:18.330]she will have these things
- [00:00:20.880]that she does really, really well.
- [00:00:23.190]And then she kind of reinvents them
- [00:00:26.040]and reintroduces them year after year after year.
- [00:00:28.830]And I don't know that she does this now
- [00:00:30.000]'cause she's kind of living her best selfie Instagram life.
- [00:00:36.360]But every Christmas special, she reintroduces wreaths
- [00:00:42.480]like they were something that was brand new.
- [00:00:45.690]So if you look at her first Christmas special,
- [00:00:48.960]she's doing some things with wreaths,
- [00:00:52.080]then the next Christmas special, ooh wreaths.
- [00:00:54.960]Third Christmas special, wreaths.
- [00:00:56.610]I think we have found our wreath.
- [00:00:58.260]And that is?
- [00:00:59.640]Job hunting.
- [00:01:00.473]Oh, yeah, that is a wreath.
- [00:01:02.363]That is our wreath. It's evergreen.
- [00:01:05.880]Oh, look at you.
- [00:01:10.192]Oh yes, it's evergreen.
- [00:01:12.960]Yeah, I just had a call actually from a past colleague
- [00:01:19.170]who was reentering the job search,
- [00:01:23.730]or she's been in the job search for a while,
- [00:01:26.370]and she was kind of wondering,
- [00:01:29.250]because we are doing this, it is March already,
- [00:01:32.970]this is late in the academic hiring season.
- [00:01:36.300]And she was wondering, should I stick with where I'm at?
- [00:01:40.110]Should I aggressively keep on looking?
- [00:01:43.050]They're gonna ask me to sign a contract,
- [00:01:45.270]do I sign a contract?
- [00:01:46.470]Do I not sign a contract and hope something comes on?
- [00:01:50.280]So this is actually a really interesting time, I think,
- [00:01:52.830]to start thinking about
- [00:01:54.960]that idea of the academic hiring cycle
- [00:01:59.520]and what comes up and what doesn't.
- [00:02:01.740]And just recently,
- [00:02:02.790]I actually saw some ads that were new and I'm like,
- [00:02:06.075]this is is late in the year,
- [00:02:07.350]but there's always a few institutions that are looking.
- [00:02:09.570]Yeah, so timing,
- [00:02:11.670]particularly if you are a graduate student
- [00:02:15.120]who's in the final throes of your studies,
- [00:02:17.940]so you are working through your dissertation,
- [00:02:21.360]you might be in the middle of data analysis,
- [00:02:23.370]you might be in that phase
- [00:02:25.500]of finishing out your initial version
- [00:02:31.200]and you're trying to think through,
- [00:02:32.970]when do I start the job market search,
- [00:02:35.100]when do I start looking for a job?
- [00:02:38.730]It becomes a lot about timing.
- [00:02:40.950]Yes. A lot about timing.
- [00:02:42.360]And we've talked a lot about the job hunt here on,
- [00:02:45.630]oh ha, Not That Kind of Doctor.
- [00:02:47.700]Look at me also segue into that.
- [00:02:50.190]I'm Nick Husbye.
- [00:02:51.270]I'm an associate professor
- [00:02:52.350]of elementary literacy education K-6 here at UNL.
- [00:02:55.830]And I'm Guy Trainin, a professor here at UNL.
- [00:02:59.190]And so here on Not That Kind of Doctor,
- [00:03:02.070]we've talked a lot about the various pieces of it,
- [00:03:04.650]but I don't necessarily think we've focused in
- [00:03:06.810]on the temporal kind of elements of it.
- [00:03:10.560]And given that we're recording this in March,
- [00:03:16.050]it'll probably come out closer to late April, May,
- [00:03:20.130]that's a really good time for rising graduate students
- [00:03:24.030]who are finishing out dissertation work
- [00:03:27.300]to begin thinking about in academic year 2024-2025,
- [00:03:33.090]what's that job market gonna look like for them?
- [00:03:36.180]Because you're gonna have to balance out that strategy,
- [00:03:41.220]that notion of you need to finish your dissertation.
- [00:03:44.220]Yeah, and there's a lot of work there.
- [00:03:45.477]And there's a lot of work there,
- [00:03:46.680]but there's also a lot of work with the job search,
- [00:03:49.590]and so how do you balance that?
- [00:03:52.350]And so that's kind of our topic for the day.
- [00:03:59.040]And key to this is what you were talking about earlier,
- [00:04:02.010]is understanding that higher education hiring cycle.
- [00:04:08.340]And we're seeing based upon how funding is changing,
- [00:04:15.780]we're seeing some anomalies, right?
- [00:04:18.870]Mm-hmm.
- [00:04:19.703]But traditionally,
- [00:04:21.690]the higher ed hiring cycle has been fairly routine.
- [00:04:27.510]Talk to me about that.
- [00:04:29.310]So institutions try to put the ads out early in the fall,
- [00:04:36.210]as early as possible in some ways, but it always gets into
- [00:04:40.080]the September, October kind of period, put the ads out,
- [00:04:45.840]especially if they're trying to compete for talent.
- [00:04:48.630]Because most institutions are thinking,
- [00:04:51.570]if I want talent, I want to be out there early.
- [00:04:54.840]Institutions are also worried about,
- [00:04:59.640]quote, unquote, failed searches,
- [00:05:01.350]so you don't find the right person
- [00:05:03.120]and everybody's afraid to lose funding.
- [00:05:05.400]So they want the most amount of time,
- [00:05:09.480]I would argue, at least that's been my experience here
- [00:05:12.930]and in a few other places I've worked with,
- [00:05:14.910]you want the most amount of time
- [00:05:16.320]to be able to select the best candidates that are out there
- [00:05:20.220]or from the best candidates that are out there.
- [00:05:22.320]And you think, if I'm out early,
- [00:05:24.090]I'm much more likely to capture everybody.
- [00:05:27.300]If I'm waiting for March,
- [00:05:30.780]then many of the people who were available
- [00:05:33.150]at the beginning of the year will not be there
- [00:05:34.860]and my pool will be diminished.
- [00:05:36.330]Is it still possible to hire?
- [00:05:38.250]Well, they're still hiring so obviously, yes.
- [00:05:41.820]But the traditional way was you publish in the fall.
- [00:05:45.900]Actually, before Zoom,
- [00:05:48.240]many institutions used conferences to do interviews.
- [00:05:51.810]So you would go to the conferences
- [00:05:53.280]and that's why national conferences were really critical
- [00:05:57.630]for newly-minted PhDs
- [00:05:59.730]or ones that are going to be graduating that year
- [00:06:03.030]because that was the place
- [00:06:04.260]where you can get a quick screening interview
- [00:06:08.790]of 15, 20 minutes.
- [00:06:11.250]That has gone away because now we have Zoom
- [00:06:13.500]and people can interview without having to rush through.
- [00:06:17.220]Because it wasn't great to be at the conference
- [00:06:19.560]and having to interview candidates
- [00:06:21.090]because they're like,
- [00:06:21.960]I came here to be at the conference not to hire people.
- [00:06:24.780]So that's always a little bit of a challenge.
- [00:06:27.720]But those are the main things that I'm thinking about.
- [00:06:30.960]It seems to have stretched.
- [00:06:33.690]So I think that the change has been that
- [00:06:36.120]we're seeing more hiring later in the season when suddenly,
- [00:06:39.510]or because of budget difficulties,
- [00:06:41.610]finally the money is released
- [00:06:43.230]so suddenly an organization is hiring.
- [00:06:46.200]There's always been the people who decided to retire
- [00:06:49.500]and then finally the money is released
- [00:06:52.440]because there's a letter
- [00:06:53.640]and therefore an institution is saying,
- [00:06:55.890]hey, if we can get somebody this year, that'll be great.
- [00:06:58.980]And I think that's happening more.
- [00:07:01.530]Again, I think technology is helping in that way.
- [00:07:03.825]Yeah.
- [00:07:05.047]Well, and so what I'm hearing you say is,
- [00:07:10.560]you're gonna start seeing postings
- [00:07:12.630]for the following academic year,
- [00:07:14.340]starting in, I mean, I've been seeing them as early as July.
- [00:07:18.540]Yes. Right?
- [00:07:19.560]Yeah.
- [00:07:20.670]Kind of mid October-ish deadlines for things,
- [00:07:26.040]that tends to be when I start seeing materials due
- [00:07:30.690]as I was doing some background research
- [00:07:33.540]for talking about this.
- [00:07:36.960]And starting mid-October, moving into early-ish November.
- [00:07:44.250]And the thing that becomes important for graduate students
- [00:07:49.350]who are working on their dissertations is thinking about,
- [00:07:53.520]one, the amount of time that it's gonna take for you
- [00:07:57.000]to apply to these jobs.
- [00:08:02.160]And if you are, it's kind of this balancing act,
- [00:08:06.750]because if you are a doctoral student
- [00:08:10.500]who does not have your dissertation finished yet,
- [00:08:13.200]there's going to be increased scrutiny around,
- [00:08:18.090]are you going to be done by the time
- [00:08:22.290]your contract with that new institution starts
- [00:08:24.510]if you get hired?
- [00:08:26.250]Versus, so you're gonna have to be able
- [00:08:29.310]to talk to what kind of progress you've made.
- [00:08:32.100]They're going to want us to talk to your advisor.
- [00:08:35.520]So being prepared for their-
- [00:08:38.070]That conversation.
- [00:08:38.903]Yes. Yes.
- [00:08:39.736]It's not as though you can put off your dissertation
- [00:08:44.700]in order to engage in the job market.
- [00:08:46.350]You're gonna have to juggle those things
- [00:08:49.560]and be thinking about,
- [00:08:51.930]this is the time that I have for this job market.
- [00:08:54.780]You're gonna have to prioritize
- [00:08:55.950]which ones you are definitely wanting to apply to,
- [00:08:59.670]which ones you're not.
- [00:09:00.780]We've done previous episodes on how to read those ads,
- [00:09:05.010]how to make that happen.
- [00:09:08.340]Because then when you're on the job market,
- [00:09:11.670]that's gonna take time away from your reading
- [00:09:13.830]and your writing for your dissertation.
- [00:09:16.440]So planning for that October 15th deadline
- [00:09:20.010]or just keeping track of when your deadlines are
- [00:09:22.830]in tandem with the milestones you've set with your advisor
- [00:09:27.510]in terms of completion of your dissertation,
- [00:09:31.500]and plan on losing additional time
- [00:09:35.550]for those Zoom interviews and then hopefully campus visits,
- [00:09:38.910]which can be-
- [00:09:40.350]And going back to our episode, the time is not the time
- [00:09:45.120]that half an hour you're spending on the Zoom interview,
- [00:09:47.580]the time is about prepping well.
- [00:09:50.700]And I've worked with a few people
- [00:09:52.230]in the recent few weeks actually on,
- [00:09:55.770]here's how you need to read the ad,
- [00:09:59.460]go and find out whatever you can about the program.
- [00:10:02.640]You want to show up ready and knowledgeable
- [00:10:06.780]otherwise your odds go down significantly.
- [00:10:12.630]They want to know that you know something about them,
- [00:10:14.490]that you really wanna come,
- [00:10:15.660]all of these things take time and preparation,
- [00:10:18.300]and that takes time away from what you're doing.
- [00:10:20.580]I've spoken in the last few,
- [00:10:23.460]again, in the last couple of months
- [00:10:25.350]with graduate students who've said,
- [00:10:27.420]I want to be almost done or done with my dissertation
- [00:10:30.840]before I start applying, which I understand,
- [00:10:35.100]so if you have that capacity, that is great.
- [00:10:37.470]But that may create a financial value
- [00:10:41.550]where you stop being graduate students
- [00:10:43.560]so you're not getting that support and you're not yet hired.
- [00:10:47.910]So you have, that's a fine decision,
- [00:10:51.090]and sometimes from a family perspective, that works well,
- [00:10:53.940]but you've gotta be ready for that.
- [00:10:56.250]And if you don't have the resources,
- [00:10:58.350]you have to think about, how do I bridge that gap?
- [00:11:01.380]Because that could be a significant gap
- [00:11:02.970]and nobody's promising you a job the following year.
- [00:11:05.910]Right. Right.
- [00:11:06.743]A job search is just that, it's a job search,
- [00:11:09.060]it may end well, and it may need an extra year.
- [00:11:12.150]So having a strategy as to what do you do in that meantime,
- [00:11:16.920]if you are gonna wait?
- [00:11:18.330]That's something you need to think about.
- [00:11:19.467]And if you can't wait, then you've got to plan
- [00:11:21.660]how you space out enough time to do a good job search.
- [00:11:26.910]I'm seeing too many graduate students right now
- [00:11:30.750]waiting way too long.
- [00:11:32.010]So I'm asking them,
- [00:11:32.850]so you're almost done with the dissertation,
- [00:11:34.560]what have you done with the job search?
- [00:11:36.060]And they have this look of fear in their eyes,
- [00:11:39.930]it's like, job search?
- [00:11:41.310]So the way to avoid this look, my recommendation would be
- [00:11:45.210]the year before you think you're gonna go on the job market,
- [00:11:49.110]start paying attention to what jobs get posted.
- [00:11:52.200]Absolutely.
- [00:11:53.250]Start paying attention to what the timing is.
- [00:11:55.380]We've focused a lot on fall dates,
- [00:11:59.010]but there's also this additional wave in spring.
- [00:12:01.800]Yeah.
- [00:12:02.983]And so those, we normally start seeing November-ish,
- [00:12:06.870]late November-ish, January-ish.
- [00:12:10.290]And typically those are institutions where,
- [00:12:15.450]oh, funding has become available,
- [00:12:17.490]oh, we're gonna do this now.
- [00:12:20.010]And even late,
- [00:12:23.430]I think we had three or four new postings in literacy
- [00:12:29.790]just in the last- Yeah, just recently.
- [00:12:30.960]Two to three weeks, which is like,
- [00:12:32.580]huh, what's going on? Interesting.
- [00:12:35.710]But I mean, I don't think that's necessarily uncommon
- [00:12:40.627]as I looked back on, I'm not looking, I swear.
- [00:12:46.768](Guy laughs)
- [00:12:50.515]I had a cohort last year of grad students
- [00:12:54.900]who I was mentoring through the job process.
- [00:12:57.690]And so I kept track just so I could be like,
- [00:12:59.640]is this normal, should I be concerned?
- [00:13:02.340]'Cause it used to be if you saw a late posting,
- [00:13:06.480]ooh, what's happening there?
- [00:13:07.560]Yeah, and that's not necessarily the-
- [00:13:09.630]That's shifting and changing.
- [00:13:11.610]That used to be something that you would go,
- [00:13:14.400]huh, I need to investigate this
- [00:13:16.350]'cause why is this getting posted late?
- [00:13:18.780]But historical data, as I was looking back on,
- [00:13:24.420]what are you seeing out there?
- [00:13:28.650]That's been a pretty common shift
- [00:13:31.620]to the point where there were a couple of jobs last year
- [00:13:35.490]that were posted in May, where fall starts.
- [00:13:38.640]Yeah, and that was quite unusual.
- [00:13:41.970]I mean, it's not unusual, but it is quite sudden
- [00:13:46.980]because that gives you a very limited bandwidth.
- [00:13:49.890]It's a very limited window.
- [00:13:50.780]Because faculty leave campuses sometime in May
- [00:13:53.220]for most campuses so the hiring has to happen in weeks.
- [00:14:00.390]So all of that is to say,
- [00:14:03.660]when you're thinking about planning
- [00:14:05.400]for being on the job market,
- [00:14:09.060]the majority of your work
- [00:14:09.960]is gonna happen probably early-ish fall semester,
- [00:14:13.830]early-ish spring semester
- [00:14:15.210]as you're pulling together materials.
- [00:14:17.250]Go back and look at our videos
- [00:14:18.990]on letters of application, diversity statements
- [00:14:23.640]so that you have those materials ready
- [00:14:25.440]and you can adapt them.
- [00:14:27.030]And then later in those semesters,
- [00:14:31.260]Zoom interviews and preparing for those
- [00:14:33.990]and hopefully campus visits,
- [00:14:36.810]knowing that there's those two big waves,
- [00:14:40.980]but also don't count that out.
- [00:14:44.850]Set up a, I don't recommend checking,
- [00:14:47.790]if you're on the job market,
- [00:14:49.080]I don't recommend checking every day
- [00:14:50.670]'cause that leads to some manic activity.
- [00:14:53.640]Like, oh, my gosh, nothing's coming out.
- [00:14:55.920]Check once a week, see what's there,
- [00:14:59.730]figure out what are your inclusion criteria
- [00:15:03.150]or exclusion criteria for jobs that you're applying to?
- [00:15:05.580]That will lessen that sense of,
- [00:15:08.910]well, I have to apply to everything.
- [00:15:11.040]Apply to the ones that you're really interested in,
- [00:15:12.960]apply to the ones that feel like they would fit.
- [00:15:16.350]But keeping in mind that,
- [00:15:21.840]that first part of the fall semester
- [00:15:24.090]and that first part of the spring semester,
- [00:15:25.710]that's gonna be the busy material submission time.
- [00:15:32.031]And once you have those ready,
- [00:15:33.810]it becomes, I mean, going back to preparation,
- [00:15:36.300]once you have those ready, you are tweaking,
- [00:15:38.820]you're not rewriting everything every time.
- [00:15:41.250]And so if you have time, if you have a lot,
- [00:15:44.280]let's say you are collecting data for your dissertation,
- [00:15:47.730]but now it's summer, you're unlikely,
- [00:15:49.860]unless you're working on something
- [00:15:51.150]that can be done in the summer,
- [00:15:52.470]but if you're collecting data in schools,
- [00:15:54.150]that's not gonna happen.
- [00:15:55.560]So this is a good time to work on your materials
- [00:15:59.100]while you are doing other things.
- [00:16:00.540]But you've got a little bit of a lull,
- [00:16:02.670]identify your lulls and work then.
- [00:16:05.250]I think there are two conversations that must happen.
- [00:16:09.210]There's the family conversation.
- [00:16:11.130]Some of us have families that they need to consider,
- [00:16:13.920]some of us are unattached,
- [00:16:15.960]but that is a conversation to have.
- [00:16:19.290]Where do we wanna move?
- [00:16:20.880]What are the boundaries?
- [00:16:21.900]I mean, thinking about boundaries,
- [00:16:23.190]we talked about geographic boundaries,
- [00:16:24.930]we talked about the kind of institutions,
- [00:16:27.240]the size of the town, whatever your boundaries are,
- [00:16:29.490]and your family's boundaries,
- [00:16:31.350]have that conversations before you apply,
- [00:16:33.780]it often has surprising results.
- [00:16:38.880]I've had graduate students who said,
- [00:16:40.470]we will never move out of Nebraska.
- [00:16:43.170]And yes, some people say that.
- [00:16:47.310]But they were surprised
- [00:16:50.430]when they had the discussion with their spouse,
- [00:16:52.230]and suddenly the spouse said,
- [00:16:53.670]well, isn't that an opportunity?
- [00:16:55.980]And so there are opportunities out there,
- [00:16:58.200]have that conversation.
- [00:16:59.280]The second conversations you must have
- [00:17:02.700]about other things as well,
- [00:17:04.140]talk to your advisor about your job search.
- [00:17:06.810]A, they can help you.
- [00:17:08.220]They know people, they know what's going on.
- [00:17:10.320]Actually, the reason I know a lot about what's happening
- [00:17:13.650]in a few markets, literacy is one of them,
- [00:17:15.450]technology is another one,
- [00:17:16.890]is I'm on the listservs and I try to keep my ears open
- [00:17:21.300]and my eyes open
- [00:17:22.410]because I want my students to have the opportunities.
- [00:17:25.560]I wanna make sure that anybody,
- [00:17:27.780]even if they're not here and they're assistant professors
- [00:17:31.560]or they're doing a postdoc,
- [00:17:33.390]I want to send the opportunities down their way
- [00:17:35.310]because they might get a great job out of that.
- [00:17:37.470]So I listen and I send all of these job postings out.
- [00:17:41.400]You are very good at that.
- [00:17:42.720]And, thank you.
- [00:17:45.840]And you want to have a conversation with your advisor
- [00:17:49.620]because you want to know what they're going to say
- [00:17:52.801]in that reference check.
- [00:17:54.420]Because if you have not finished,
- [00:17:56.700]one of the things that all committees will do
- [00:17:58.770]is they'll check with your advisor and ask,
- [00:18:02.070]how likely are they to finish
- [00:18:03.750]by the time they get here?
- [00:18:05.760]Because many institutions have hired people
- [00:18:09.270]that were almost done, not quite done,
- [00:18:11.910]and then five years later, they are yet not done.
- [00:18:15.120]And that is the one thing
- [00:18:16.860]that institutions do not want to face-
- [00:18:18.112]Wait, did they make it to five years?
- [00:18:19.500]'Cause normally the stories I hear,
- [00:18:21.540]after that mid-year check, they're let go
- [00:18:24.570]because they do not have their terminal degree.
- [00:18:25.683]Some institutions keep them on for a variety of reasons,
- [00:18:28.530]some institutions, they have to leave,
- [00:18:30.150]either way, this is not a good ending for anybody.
- [00:18:33.780]And the amount of pressure
- [00:18:34.740]of being a new assistant professor somewhere,
- [00:18:37.290]or even a postdoc,
- [00:18:43.470]the pressure of having to finish
- [00:18:45.660]and having a whole new set of responsibilities
- [00:18:50.340]in a new place can be overwhelming.
- [00:18:53.430]I mean, just doing the job can be overwhelming
- [00:18:56.070]the first couple of years.
- [00:18:57.150]So you don't want to drag your dissertation into it.
- [00:18:59.790]If you're just doing final edit, it's one thing,
- [00:19:02.130]if you're really not done,
- [00:19:03.660]it's going to create a situation.
- [00:19:05.070]But what I'm saying is,
- [00:19:06.390]your advisor, while they will proudly talk you up
- [00:19:09.870]and say wonderful things about you,
- [00:19:12.420]will exactly say where you are in the dissertation process
- [00:19:17.640]because they think it's going to help you too.
- [00:19:19.920]If you are getting a job too early, nobody wins there.
- [00:19:23.070]Well, and so as we're thinking
- [00:19:25.200]about strategizing dissertation work
- [00:19:27.120]and being on the job market, there's a couple of things
- [00:19:29.850]that I think advanced doctoral students can do
- [00:19:34.050]in terms of making that progress clear
- [00:19:40.020]and accessible to everyone.
- [00:19:42.630]And a good portion of that is planning for your semester.
- [00:19:50.493]You have to engage in laying out what blocks of time
- [00:19:55.230]you're going to have available to do things.
- [00:19:57.780]You're going to need to assign within those blocks of time
- [00:20:03.420]actual action items versus like,
- [00:20:06.750]one does not simply cross off, write dissertation,
- [00:20:09.450]on your to-do list.
- [00:20:11.588]You should not have that on your to-do list,
- [00:20:14.014]that's not a to-do.
- [00:20:14.847]Yeah, no, that shouldn't happen.
- [00:20:16.230]That's a long-term project,
- [00:20:18.030]so spending the time laying out week by week,
- [00:20:24.360]month by month,
- [00:20:26.520]how are you tackling this dissertation project?
- [00:20:29.490]Is it you're revising your literature review?
- [00:20:32.220]Is it you're analyzing data, you are writing up?
- [00:20:36.030]Set solid actionable goals for yourself
- [00:20:41.490]and share that timeline with your advisor.
- [00:20:46.830]Yes.
- [00:20:47.663]So that you have an accountability buddy,
- [00:20:51.030]and keeping in mind that that plan may change, it is a plan.
- [00:20:57.450]But what that's going to help you do
- [00:20:59.490]is it's going to help you see across your semester
- [00:21:04.350]where your high intensity work is going to be,
- [00:21:08.010]where your lower intensity work is gonna be.
- [00:21:09.870]Knowing what you know about the job market,
- [00:21:12.270]that wave in the beginning of the fall,
- [00:21:14.370]that wave in the beginning of the spring,
- [00:21:16.770]what kind of dissertation tasks
- [00:21:18.510]can you plan around that time
- [00:21:20.310]that are gonna be a lower intensity?
- [00:21:22.380]So that you can shift a little bit of that energy
- [00:21:25.080]without dropping your dissertation entirely
- [00:21:29.400]to be able to focus a little bit more in
- [00:21:31.830]on that job market while also making progress.
- [00:21:36.120]And I think that does a couple of different things
- [00:21:40.110]when you present that plan with your advisor
- [00:21:43.650]is it avoids the, well, they're making progress.
- [00:21:50.340]If I talk to an advisor for a candidate
- [00:21:54.300]who's still working on their dissertation
- [00:21:56.130]and they can only talk about that dissertation
- [00:21:58.590]in the most general ways, that's a red flag to me.
- [00:22:02.100]And so just thinking about as a committee member
- [00:22:05.250]or as a grad student thinking about
- [00:22:07.140]what hiring committees are looking at and talking about.
- [00:22:14.010]If you have a plan
- [00:22:15.450]and you've kept your advisor abreast on that plan,
- [00:22:18.270]oh, they have done this, this, this, this,
- [00:22:20.310]here's what they have left,
- [00:22:21.840]this still feels very doable within what they're able to do.
- [00:22:28.950]And that goes back to something you should do anyway,
- [00:22:32.100]and that is when you get to the dissertation phase,
- [00:22:36.300]talk to your advisor on a regular basis.
- [00:22:39.000]Do not avoid your advisor even if nothing happened
- [00:22:41.870]or if you got derailed,
- [00:22:43.410]talk to your advisor because they want to be up to date.
- [00:22:47.220]It doesn't need to be a very long conversation.
- [00:22:49.650]But A, they can guide you, they have experience.
- [00:22:53.610]They will tell you, you are underestimating, for example,
- [00:22:56.550]how long it's going to take to get participants,
- [00:23:00.420]or anything else about your plan
- [00:23:02.790]that you may have not had the experience
- [00:23:05.370]because they've worked
- [00:23:06.210]with a number of doctoral students before you
- [00:23:08.970]and so they know how long it takes and what usually happens
- [00:23:15.600]and they can inject a little bit more reality.
- [00:23:17.820]You are for sure doing it for the first time.
- [00:23:20.160]Oh, yeah.
- [00:23:20.993]The second piece is that your dissertation is important
- [00:23:24.060]because that may be what you talk about
- [00:23:26.490]if you give a research talk.
- [00:23:28.800]It may, it may not.
- [00:23:30.360]It may be at that phase
- [00:23:31.860]where you don't have enough to talk about
- [00:23:33.600]so you've gotta make sure that there's previous research
- [00:23:36.030]that you were central to that you can talk about.
- [00:23:39.030]But your dissertation is very likely
- [00:23:40.650]to be a topic of conversation
- [00:23:42.510]and you have to be able to articulate exactly where you are,
- [00:23:45.720]what are some preliminary finding.
- [00:23:47.370]Even if you're not done with all of the analysis,
- [00:23:50.340]you've gotta be able to talk through it.
- [00:23:52.440]And so that's part of the reasons
- [00:23:54.390]you have to keep moving on your dissertation
- [00:23:57.240]while you're in the process
- [00:23:58.740]because you will be asked about it, no doubt.
- [00:24:02.460]Right, and I think one of the other important strategies
- [00:24:05.580]to utilize during this time
- [00:24:06.870]is you're gonna have to set some boundaries
- [00:24:10.530]around your time.
- [00:24:11.910]And keeping in mind that I get that folks may have families,
- [00:24:19.680]folks may have other responsibilities outside of that work,
- [00:24:23.880]but plan accordingly
- [00:24:29.430]and set up boundaries for your work time
- [00:24:34.920]that your family is aware of.
- [00:24:40.530]This is time that is necessary
- [00:24:44.280]for you to complete the work that you need to do
- [00:24:47.610]in order to go onto the job market.
- [00:24:51.570]There's some stakes here.
- [00:24:56.070]And I often find that one of the biggest hurdles
- [00:24:59.190]is a lack of boundaries within that work.
- [00:25:07.380]Yes.
- [00:25:08.213]Like, oh, but I needed to do this,
- [00:25:10.140]oh, but I needed to do this.
- [00:25:11.550]Did you really need to do that at that point in time?
- [00:25:15.240]And I'm not talking about,
- [00:25:16.530]oh, I had to take my kid to the ER.
- [00:25:18.780]By all means go do that, go do that.
- [00:25:21.870]Yes. But there's-
- [00:25:28.458]I think you're talking about don't fall into the trap
- [00:25:31.050]of being busy for the sake of being busy,
- [00:25:33.930]not considering how much is this contributing
- [00:25:36.690]to the three things I need, maybe four depending,
- [00:25:40.890]I need to do?
- [00:25:41.723]I need to take care of my family and myself, definitely,
- [00:25:44.430]I need to finish my dissertation, and I need to find a job.
- [00:25:47.340]Those are your priorities.
- [00:25:48.930]Everything else,
- [00:25:50.340]this might be a good opportunity to say a lot of no's,
- [00:25:54.360]that's my strategy.
- [00:25:55.350]At that point in time, you are not volunteering,
- [00:25:58.050]you are not doing extra stuff.
- [00:26:00.375]If you are a GA and you're working on a project,
- [00:26:03.360]by all means do that, don't do extra.
- [00:26:05.370]This is not the time for extra,
- [00:26:06.870]this is the time to say, this is all I can handle right now.
- [00:26:10.440]Yes, at this point- Bravely.
- [00:26:12.690]So there's so much emphasis on perfectionistic tendencies.
- [00:26:19.020]See our previous, right?
- [00:26:23.460]This is the time to worry about being just basic.
- [00:26:27.900]Do not worry about being extra.
- [00:26:29.340]I feel like too many people are worried about being extra
- [00:26:31.170]and they don't cover basic.
- [00:26:33.060]And keep in mind that during this point in your career,
- [00:26:38.370]practice your disappointment tolerance
- [00:26:43.860]because when you set boundaries,
- [00:26:47.010]you're gonna disappoint someone.
- [00:26:48.660]You're either gonna disappoint yourself
- [00:26:50.430]for allowing your boundary to be transgressed
- [00:26:53.370]or someone else is gonna be disappointed
- [00:26:55.500]because you're not allowing that boundary
- [00:26:56.760]to be transgressed.
- [00:26:58.560]But I find that if you're honest and say,
- [00:27:02.700]look, I'm working on my dissertation,
- [00:27:04.920]I'm doing my job duties, and I'm looking for a job,
- [00:27:08.640]I just can't do this right now,
- [00:27:11.610]most people in most situations would understand.
- [00:27:15.300]They may be disappointed momentarily-
- [00:27:16.760]Oh yeah.
- [00:27:17.593]But they will completely understand.
- [00:27:19.380]I mean-
- [00:27:20.550]Because it is your future.
- [00:27:21.900]Right, so, but what we know
- [00:27:23.910]about self-perception of disappointment
- [00:27:26.610]is that oftentimes that other person,
- [00:27:29.010]exactly as you're saying, is not disappointed for very long.
- [00:27:32.070]But the perception of disappointment
- [00:27:34.590]is much deeper and longer.
- [00:27:36.540]And so build up that tolerance for disappointment
- [00:27:44.010]and also acknowledge the fact that
- [00:27:45.570]by saying no to something, a no is also a yes.
- [00:27:48.390]You're saying no to something extraneous
- [00:27:50.520]because you're saying yes to finishing your work on time
- [00:27:54.900]and getting out there on the job market.
- [00:27:56.580]So set up those boundaries,
- [00:27:59.790]set up what's gonna be worth your time
- [00:28:03.840]and what's not going to be worth your time.
- [00:28:08.400]Given the goals that you have,
- [00:28:10.380]what is your standard of care for all of those areas
- [00:28:13.530]of your life, is gonna be important.
- [00:28:18.090]And I think that checking in with your advisor
- [00:28:22.440]is one of those strategies.
- [00:28:24.630]But your advisor, if that is not as helpful for that,
- [00:28:29.760]find out whoever's gonna be that accountability buddy
- [00:28:34.650]that you can check in with and say, here's what I'm doing,
- [00:28:39.240]but you've gotta be honest about what you're doing,
- [00:28:42.570]here's the problem I'm encountering,
- [00:28:44.490]or I'm just telling you this is going great.
- [00:28:46.470]Whatever it is, you've gotta have a person
- [00:28:48.960]who will ask you the hard questions
- [00:28:52.230]that will be really in your favor.
- [00:28:56.130]You've gotta have somebody who's solidly in your corner
- [00:28:59.070]who will help you sort through that and ask the,
- [00:29:02.617]"Do you really need to do that right now?" question.
- [00:29:05.100]For me, especially as a young assistant professor,
- [00:29:07.440]it was Sarah.
- [00:29:08.273]We would have a breakfast
- [00:29:09.120]and I would lay out everything you're doing
- [00:29:10.920]and she would ask the hard questions
- [00:29:12.660]and I would get defensive, and then I would like,
- [00:29:15.420]yeah, she's right, kind of moment.
- [00:29:17.670]But you need that.
- [00:29:18.503]And it's questions, it's not like,
- [00:29:20.340]you should not be doing this.
- [00:29:21.480]You're not looking for advice
- [00:29:22.950]as much as you're looking for a sounding board
- [00:29:25.020]that asks the questions that you have to answer.
- [00:29:27.420]Kind of like therapy but not quite.
- [00:29:29.610]And so that's, in many ways,
- [00:29:34.590]the person you need to identify in your life.
- [00:29:36.630]And again, it could be your advisor, but it's not always.
- [00:29:40.650]Right.
- [00:29:41.483]And so find that person
- [00:29:43.980]and check in with them more frequently than you usually do.
- [00:29:47.250]All the volunteer work, all the service work,
- [00:29:50.280]all of those things that we talked about
- [00:29:52.860]as the things you need to have in place to apply for a job
- [00:29:56.370]should have happened before.
- [00:29:58.170]This is not the time to catch up.
- [00:29:59.940]It reminds me of seniors in high school
- [00:30:01.860]are suddenly remembering that they didn't volunteer enough.
- [00:30:05.190]It's like, this is too late.
- [00:30:07.110]Just enjoy what you have and revel in it,
- [00:30:10.950]the last-minute volunteer in October of your senior year
- [00:30:15.210]is probably not gonna get you enough
- [00:30:17.190]and it's gonna drive you insane.
- [00:30:18.840]So this is the same thing.
- [00:30:20.310]It's too late, should have happened.
- [00:30:22.290]If it did happen, great, plan in advance,
- [00:30:24.990]but now focus on the things that you must do to finish
- [00:30:28.257]and you must do to get the job.
- [00:30:31.680]And everybody will recognize
- [00:30:32.880]that at the last minute you added something
- [00:30:34.590]so just let that go, it's okay.
- [00:30:38.340]Right, forward.
- [00:30:40.590]Forward momentum is important.
- [00:30:41.880]And thinking through who's going to give you
- [00:30:43.590]that actionable advice, versus,
- [00:30:46.470]oh, your dissertation is gonna write itself.
- [00:30:48.480]No, it does not.
- [00:30:49.313]Dear viewer, it does not write itself.
- [00:30:52.980]That is the worst writing advice ever.
- [00:30:55.800]Yes.
- [00:30:56.850]It writes itself, no it doesn't.
- [00:30:58.590]And it's going to feel painful at times.
- [00:31:01.320]Yep. Yep.
- [00:31:02.310]Yeah, because your- And that's okay.
- [00:31:03.480]That's part of the process.
- [00:31:04.620]And you are gonna hate it,
- [00:31:05.670]there are moments where you want to throw it away.
- [00:31:07.950]That also happens to everybody, that's okay.
- [00:31:11.640]So take the advice.
- [00:31:13.470]And you know who in your life can be that person.
- [00:31:16.560]And if you don't know anybody like that,
- [00:31:18.360]go and find somebody.
- [00:31:20.640]Email Guy.
- [00:31:22.200]Email me, that is perfectly fine.
- [00:31:24.510]Find somebody that can talk you through those moments.
- [00:31:27.720]I have people that call me,
- [00:31:30.330]past students, past faculty who moved somewhere else,
- [00:31:33.570]who still like, I need to hear another voice in my life.
- [00:31:37.260]And it's nice to hear a voice that doesn't have a stake,
- [00:31:42.746]that is not the person you're collaborating with
- [00:31:44.940]or that you're writing with that has an agenda
- [00:31:47.670]because they want that piece published or whatever it is.
- [00:31:50.490]Or that data collected or whatever it is.
- [00:31:52.980]And so having a person or multiple people in your life,
- [00:31:58.350]as long as it's not confusing.
- [00:32:00.990]So those are tools.
- [00:32:01.823]So what we're saying is
- [00:32:03.300]when you think about tools and practices,
- [00:32:04.980]you wanna have your own timeline,
- [00:32:06.570]you wanna talk to your advisor,
- [00:32:08.070]but we're really talking about people resources.
- [00:32:10.350]Know who are the people because this is a time that is,
- [00:32:14.970]I would argue,
- [00:32:15.803]emotionally and just from a workload perspective,
- [00:32:18.120]it's a difficult time
- [00:32:19.110]and I think people are the most useful tools at this point.
- [00:32:22.875]But that's also what I go by.
- [00:32:24.510]Yeah, I would keep two things in mind, to summarize that.
- [00:32:30.510]Time is your most precious resource.
- [00:32:35.850]And so you want to balance out,
- [00:32:39.150]don't just talk about your dissertation,
- [00:32:41.280]don't just talk about doing your dissertation,
- [00:32:43.200]do your dissertation.
- [00:32:45.090]Align the way that you spend your time
- [00:32:48.840]with the goals that you have.
- [00:32:52.080]That's the currency that you are paying
- [00:32:55.050]in order to make progress on your goals.
- [00:32:56.760]So be aware of that and check in with people
- [00:33:00.060]who are going to be respectful of that time
- [00:33:02.310]while also pushing you forward.
- [00:33:05.190]So I think those are the two big things
- [00:33:08.790]if I'm caffeinated enough to be able to provide a synopsis.
- [00:33:13.920]So last thing I think we should talk about,
- [00:33:15.780]and we've hinted at this,
- [00:33:18.000]I feel like you're much better at this than I am,
- [00:33:20.730]is the leveraging networks and professional development
- [00:33:25.050]without overextending conferences
- [00:33:29.430]and going and talking with people.
- [00:33:32.160]Networking, that kind of stuff,
- [00:33:35.790]how do you do that as a grad student
- [00:33:37.980]working on your dissertation without overextending yourself?
- [00:33:42.210]So I think that you've gotta do,
- [00:33:45.360]I think that there are three opportunities,
- [00:33:47.340]and some of them happen earlier.
- [00:33:49.290]So definitely here at UNL,
- [00:33:52.050]but quite a few campuses around the country have supports
- [00:33:56.460]for graduate students locally.
- [00:33:58.740]So we have, for example, developing future faculty
- [00:34:02.670]that starts, actually,
- [00:34:04.560]before you are in the dissertation phase.
- [00:34:07.500]And the idea is to create close connections
- [00:34:10.050]with people in your field both on-campus,
- [00:34:12.570]and not your advisor, and in another campus.
- [00:34:16.950]Right now for us it's mostly Big 10 campuses,
- [00:34:19.230]but it can also be anywhere.
- [00:34:21.330]And the idea is to create those personal networks
- [00:34:25.980]where somebody actually from outside the institution
- [00:34:28.320]knows you well.
- [00:34:29.220]So what I'm saying is to a graduate student,
- [00:34:31.770]is first use whatever's available locally and is supported.
- [00:34:35.550]Because part of the deal of having to go to conferences
- [00:34:38.610]and everything else is you've gotta pay for it.
- [00:34:40.980]And if there's a mechanism inside your institution,
- [00:34:43.650]and especially research-heavy institutions
- [00:34:46.260]have supports for that because they want to send people out,
- [00:34:49.110]they want to see more research happen,
- [00:34:52.320]this is an opportunity so take advantage.
- [00:34:54.420]Find out what your graduate school,
- [00:34:56.460]graduate college, whatever, graduate division,
- [00:35:00.030]whatever the title is, what are they offering
- [00:35:02.820]as a career development?
- [00:35:05.070]Because they're gonna pay for it
- [00:35:07.860]and they can leverage their relationship to help you.
- [00:35:12.630]Which is huge because you're just a graduate student
- [00:35:15.180]and you may or may not go.
- [00:35:17.340]With conferences, my assumption is that a graduate student
- [00:35:21.150]goes to preferably two conferences a year
- [00:35:25.080]if you can afford it and if there's enough support,
- [00:35:27.720]one in the fall, one in the spring.
- [00:35:30.570]It's an opportunity,
- [00:35:32.430]you want to try and present something
- [00:35:34.650]with or without your advisor.
- [00:35:37.530]Being a lead presenter is a little bit better
- [00:35:39.420]because it gives you visibility.
- [00:35:41.190]I actually love poster sessions.
- [00:35:44.310]You do.
- [00:35:45.143]You love a good poster session.
- [00:35:46.337]Because you can have conversations
- [00:35:49.170]both as the person presenting
- [00:35:50.910]but also as the person visiting,
- [00:35:53.100]because that poster session invites a personal conversation.
- [00:35:57.450]You can find the people you want to talk to
- [00:35:59.670]and go and talk to them about their work
- [00:36:01.860]and mention your work very naturally
- [00:36:05.040]in a structured opportunity
- [00:36:07.170]where they are in some ways captives
- [00:36:09.210]because they're standing next to the posters,
- [00:36:11.160]they gotta talk to the people around them.
- [00:36:13.140]And so it's an opportunity to have lovely conversations.
- [00:36:16.980]I love those, but no more, I would argue no more than two.
- [00:36:20.850]First of all, as graduate students,
- [00:36:22.290]most of us have taken the vow of poverty
- [00:36:24.240]so we can't afford much.
- [00:36:25.740]And even with support,
- [00:36:27.120]conferences have gotten really expensive
- [00:36:29.880]and travel is more expensive than ever,
- [00:36:32.370]and so you want to consider that.
- [00:36:34.290]And also that it has somewhat limited utility.
- [00:36:38.490]That is, you may meet some good people,
- [00:36:40.950]but there are a lot of people at conferences.
- [00:36:43.920]I actually highly recommend choose the smaller conferences
- [00:36:47.310]that are very targeted on the group
- [00:36:49.260]of people you're interested in.
- [00:36:50.820]So for example, ARA, I love ARA, it's a great conference.
- [00:36:55.080]Yeah, we've had this discussion.
- [00:36:56.187]But is enormous.
- [00:36:57.930]And finding the people you want to talk to
- [00:37:00.300]can be very difficult unless you are very targeted
- [00:37:03.840]and there's a special interest group in your area,
- [00:37:06.570]then there's an opportunity.
- [00:37:08.520]But if you're looking for, for example, literacy,
- [00:37:11.940]I would say probably not your best bet.
- [00:37:15.330]No.
- [00:37:16.163]And even the, if you're in literacy,
- [00:37:20.550]the big NCTE conference and the ILA conference,
- [00:37:23.730]those are also really large.
- [00:37:25.380]Yes they are.
- [00:37:26.213]But they have smaller conferences
- [00:37:28.380]so like the Assembly of Research in NCTE
- [00:37:31.203]is a much smaller, more intimate work-based conference
- [00:37:35.880]that the function of that is slightly different.
- [00:37:40.230]So when you're looking for conferences
- [00:37:42.780]in that final push toward finishing your dissertation,
- [00:37:47.040]there are works in progress conferences.
- [00:37:50.190]And those are particularly helpful in that point in time
- [00:37:54.360]'cause they'll ask you to bring,
- [00:37:56.490]some of them ask you to bring a sticky wicket
- [00:37:58.890]from what you are working with
- [00:38:01.770]and provide an actual space to work through that.
- [00:38:04.470]And so for me, that was particularly helpful
- [00:38:08.010]thinking about that final push.
- [00:38:11.370]Yeah, and again, the smaller opportunities,
- [00:38:14.280]even if it's within a larger conference,
- [00:38:16.800]is important because at that point
- [00:38:19.980]you want to talk about the work you're doing
- [00:38:21.750]and you want to talk about people
- [00:38:23.610]that can give you useful feedback.
- [00:38:26.130]So yes- Exactly.
- [00:38:27.390]Rely on that as much as you can.
- [00:38:30.660]These are opportunities.
- [00:38:32.430]But again, with the decline of interviews at conferences,
- [00:38:37.740]it is somewhat less important than it ever was.
- [00:38:43.290]You still wanna be visible,
- [00:38:44.790]there might be opportunities there.
- [00:38:46.710]Again, I think that whatever your local university
- [00:38:49.770]is offering will be critically important.
- [00:38:53.438]And also thinking geographically.
- [00:38:54.810]If you're limited geographically,
- [00:38:56.580]that might actually open up regional conferences
- [00:39:00.420]as a way to get the people who are working in your area
- [00:39:03.450]that you are looking at.
- [00:39:05.760]I'm a huge fan of not limiting yourself.
- [00:39:08.430]I'm a huge fan of trying to have,
- [00:39:11.280]if you are going out into the job market
- [00:39:13.440]and you're young enough to opening up
- [00:39:17.430]to as many opportunities as possible,
- [00:39:20.280]instead of closing yourself up and saying,
- [00:39:22.530]only this job at this university.
- [00:39:24.540]I mentioned that I had a student who has done that
- [00:39:26.940]and eventually did not get that job.
- [00:39:29.010]So you want to have a wide net,
- [00:39:31.920]opportunities that might surprise you,
- [00:39:33.540]places you don't know,
- [00:39:35.520]opportunities that you wouldn't know were there
- [00:39:38.730]if you weren't open to them is still worth thinking about.
- [00:39:42.780]Yeah, cast as wide a net as possible
- [00:39:44.730]if you can, within reason.
- [00:39:48.300]And then also be on conferences,
- [00:39:50.100]just let folks know that you're looking.
- [00:39:54.720]If you are on the job market, let people know.
- [00:39:59.220]Let people know what kind of jobs you're looking for
- [00:40:01.350]and so when something comes across, they'll email.
- [00:40:05.790]I remember several, when I was on the job market,
- [00:40:09.600]the first time finishing up my dissertation,
- [00:40:11.940]several people calling me and saying,
- [00:40:14.460]this isn't posted yet but it's coming, be prepared.
- [00:40:17.250]We would love to see your application
- [00:40:18.750]'cause we know you're looking.
- [00:40:20.550]And these were people who I had met them briefly,
- [00:40:25.170]we had emailed back and forth, et cetera, et cetera.
- [00:40:27.870]Academia is small, they want good people in their positions.
- [00:40:31.530]Exactly.
- [00:40:32.363]So if you build up that reputation to an extent,
- [00:40:37.890]people will work to get that done.
- [00:40:40.800]And think about, because networking is a difficult task.
- [00:40:47.280]And some of us are more introverts,
- [00:40:49.290]some of us are extroverts at the right or wrong moments.
- [00:40:53.400]So know who you are and work up a strategy of how to network
- [00:41:00.270]given how confident you are in those moments
- [00:41:04.380]and create the situations around that
- [00:41:06.210]and practice how to do that.
- [00:41:08.940]Because especially as somebody who does not speak English
- [00:41:12.150]as a first language and watching our international students
- [00:41:15.150]as they are going out and looking for jobs,
- [00:41:17.970]it's harder, I think, to network
- [00:41:20.340]when you don't feel confident
- [00:41:21.570]suddenly in a social situation or a semi-social situation
- [00:41:24.660]like some kind of a cocktail hour without drinks mostly,
- [00:41:30.360]but some kind of one of those conference events
- [00:41:34.200]where there is an opportunity to talk without an anchor
- [00:41:38.730]like a poster.
- [00:41:39.563]I mean, the poster, I love the posters partially because
- [00:41:42.000]it gives you something to talk about.
- [00:41:42.833]Wait, do you love the posters?
- [00:41:44.370]Yes, I do, I do. I'm unclear.
- [00:41:45.840]I'm unclear about your feelings about the posters.
- [00:41:47.006]More posters, everybody. Okay, just talking.
- [00:41:50.520]But it does give you the opportunity
- [00:41:53.550]to have something to talk about.
- [00:41:55.020]And suddenly when it's social,
- [00:41:56.490]it's this space where boundaries are a little bit harder
- [00:42:00.870]and that just creates that added difficulty.
- [00:42:06.480]So have a strategy.
- [00:42:07.470]If you are going
- [00:42:08.580]and the idea is I'm going to this conference
- [00:42:10.287]not just to present but actually to interact,
- [00:42:12.990]you have to think about
- [00:42:14.070]what are your strategies for interacting?
- [00:42:16.170]What are your strengths?
- [00:42:17.190]What are the things you're not sure how to do?
- [00:42:19.110]And ask other graduate students and definitely faculty,
- [00:42:22.620]how do you do this?
- [00:42:23.880]Because they may have great suggestions
- [00:42:25.920]and maybe that's something we need to talk about it.
- [00:42:28.440]Another episode about networking, yes
- [00:42:29.299]Add it to the list.
- [00:42:31.110]Add it to the list. All right.
- [00:42:33.000]All right, So if you've made it this far, congratulations.
- [00:42:36.540]You are at the point where you are trying to figure out
- [00:42:40.740]how to finish up your dissertation
- [00:42:42.690]as well as be on the job market.
- [00:42:45.810]Keep in mind that there are particular ebbs and flows
- [00:42:50.460]to the ways that the higher education job market works.
- [00:42:53.040]Think through that early fall semester,
- [00:42:54.960]early spring semester.
- [00:42:56.730]The two biggest resources
- [00:42:58.290]that you are going to be able to use during this time
- [00:43:00.600]are gonna be your time and planning for that time
- [00:43:03.000]and aligning that time with what you want to get done,
- [00:43:06.060]and the people that you're surrounding yourself
- [00:43:07.680]who are gonna help give you motivation to push forward
- [00:43:11.100]and advice that's gonna move your dissertation
- [00:43:13.290]and your job market search forward.
- [00:43:16.410]And thinking through strategic marketing of yourself,
- [00:43:20.610]strategic networking.
- [00:43:23.340]It's a lot, but it's doable, it's doable.
- [00:43:27.090]Yes, it is doable as long as you focus
- [00:43:29.910]and limit outside distractions.
- [00:43:31.740]But it does, yes, you have to limit your distractions,
- [00:43:35.730]it's doable, it just feels like a lot and-
- [00:43:39.582]And it is a lot.
- [00:43:40.415]It does eventually end, right?
- [00:43:41.430]Yes, yes, you will get the job.
- [00:43:44.040]Right, hopefully.
- [00:43:46.530]You will get a job. You will get a job.
- [00:43:49.200]Maybe not doing that, no, you'll get a job.
- [00:43:52.273]Right, and we can talk about settling another time.
- [00:43:54.840]But thinking about that job market, it is doable,
- [00:43:59.100]but it comes down to strategy.
- [00:44:00.390]You don't wanna get overwhelmed,
- [00:44:01.890]you want to feel like you're in control
- [00:44:04.650]as much as you can be of that process.
- [00:44:07.620]That's also part of what's gonna keep you
- [00:44:09.270]not losing your mind during a time
- [00:44:11.310]where it's gonna feel like there is a lot of ambiguity,
- [00:44:14.070]there are a lot of things at play.
- [00:44:16.560]So hopefully that has inspired you
- [00:44:19.110]as you think about moving into your job search.
- [00:44:24.810]But that's just random advice
- [00:44:27.150]'cause we're not that kind of doctor.
- [00:44:29.220]Although I don't know that that kind of doctor-
- [00:44:30.660]We are that kind of doctor.
- [00:44:31.900]We are this kind of doctor.
- [00:44:32.733]Yes, yes we are.
- [00:44:34.050]I'm trying to think of what a doctor doctor would say.
- [00:44:38.010]Exercise?
- [00:44:38.843]Get some exercise in while you're doing this.
- [00:44:39.702]Get some exercise in.
- [00:44:41.247]But yeah, happy job hunting.
- [00:44:45.463](lively music)
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