Academy Coaching

In a competitive market, candidates naturally worry about receiving any acceptable job offer. Of course, receiving job offers doesn’t eliminate all of the challenges. In fact, it can produce many new ones. Many of my clients have to juggle multiple offers with competing time lines for acceptance and it can be overwhelming to say the least. So let’s break it down into something that is more manageable.

First, make sure you really have an offer. The search committee member who tells you confidentially that you’re the committee’s first choice is not offering you a job, they are merely expressing optimism. Don’t bank on optimism. A job offer becomes a real offer when someone has put it in writing identifying responsibilities (yours) salary and term of appointment, summer ninths, and internal grant funding to support initial research startup costs, technology, office space, travel funds, moving expenses and benefits as well as a “respond by date”. If you turn down a job for which you have an offering letter in favor of one for which you’ve been told, “We’re certain that funding will be available….” You are taking a significant risk.

Get the information you need before you sign the dotted line. The time to get any and all clarification you need to make the right choice is before you sign anything. If you are given a verbal offer, graciously thank them and inquire when you might be able to expect the offer letter via email. Once you have the initial offer letter the institution has made it clear that they hope to bring you on board. Have a good idea of the information you need so that you can thoughtfully respond with questions verses going back and forth half a dozen times with the department.

Consider confirming, in writing, how many courses you are expected to teach? Is there a possibility of released time for research in your first semester or year on the job? What resources will be available to support your research?

If the prospects for obtaining tenure were not clearly discussed at the campus interview, ask for more detail now. How many tenured and nontenured members does the department have? How many junior faculty members would come up for tenure the same time as you? What are the standards the department would expect you to meet in order to recommend tenure?

Ask for support in making a second visit to take the opportunity to ask all the questions you might have as well as ensure it is the right place for your significant other and/or family. This is particularly important if you are a academic dual career couple.  Perhaps you would like to talk to someone who can knowledgeably discuss local housing and school options. Whatever you need to know, share this with the person who makes the offer so that arrangements can be made for you to obtain the information you need to make a decision.

Negotiating

Before you propose a time to make up your mind, ask the school how long it had planned to give you. Convey enthusiasm for the offer at the same time as you ask for time to decide.

It is standard practice and good common sense to negotiate an offer. Institutions anticipate it. The key, preserve a positive feeling between your potential colleagues by focusing your negotiations on those conditions that are of particular importance to you based on what you need to be successful in the position. Not based on every single desire you have.

Keep in mind, in the short period between when a department offers you a position and the time you make a decision, you are a “buyer” in the strongest position to ask for salary, start up package, research support and teaching load and schedule, travel funds, start date etc. Make the most of this rare opportunity by not rushing into agreements you may later regret.

Need help with sorting through your negotiations? Make an appointment with me by registering for career coaching http://www.academycoaching.com/career-coaching/index.html

Are you and your partner both searching for academic opportunities? Are you confused about how academic dual career hiring takes place? The more you understand about the process and the behind the scenes negotiations that are take place the better able you are to navigate through this often tricky process.

Myths about dual career hiring in Academia

• All Universities have committed resources for dual career hiring
• Universities with resources can guarantee long term appointments
• Junior faculty aren’t eligible dual career resources

How academic dual career programs work

• If the institution has an established dual career program, request a referral from the hiring department Chair to the Dual Career Specialist who will then secure information from your partner regarding their career interests. Your partner’s materials will be vetted throughout the appropriate departments and Colleges within the University to assess fit and match for long term strategic needs, from the University’s perspective. If there is a match between your partner’s work (assuming it is competitive with the market) and the institution’s strategic plan and budgeting allocation negotiations behind the scenes will unfold between your hiring department, the potential departments interested in your partner, the Dean’s Office and the Office of the Provost. Once an agreement is reached, funding is secured from all parties and an offer can be presented to your partner.
• Generally speaking, funding is split with 1/3 coming from the original department, 1/3 from the department hiring your partner, and 1/3 from the Office of the Provost. This arrangement lasts for a number of years (usually 3, but sometimes 5) and then your partner’s salary must be absorbed entirely from his/her department.

Options for when to disclose dual career needs

• In the cover letter
• On the phone when you are invited to an interview
• During the campus visit
• After you have received an offer

Negotiating a dual career offer

• Support the University in exploring options for creative funding arrangements by understanding your partner’s needs (think broadly from funding to title) timeline and areas of flexibility.
• Non-Tenure –Track and Adjunct Positions (consider bridge positions)
• Research positions (understand funding arrangements and evaluation processes)
• Tenure track positions (consider joint appointment across two departments)
• Negotiate your partner’s package before accepting your offer

Improving your chances for a successful dual career job search and negotiation

• Dual career accommodations are most likely where the initial hires are highly desired- whether because of their national stature, research interests, and/or support of diversity goals. Be realistic about how competitive you are in this buyer’s market.
• Understand the short and long term strategic needs of specific departments. Don’t assume your partner is an automatic fit. Be realistic about how competitive your partner is.
• Have clarity both individually and as a couple regarding your individual career trajectory. Talk before you begin your search about the various options you would be willing to consider. The more clarity you have as a couple the better .

Resources

• Higher Education Recruitment Consortium http://www.michiganherc.org
• University specific website(s) “Dual Career” resources

Once you are at the on-site interview stage, the job talk plays a large role (some would argue too big of one), so it is important to take this very seriously. Preparation here can go a long way:

• Prepare your job talk content.
  Your job talk should help to give a broad picture of who you are and what your research agenda is. That said, you also need to be careful about trying to do too much in your job talk.
  Time is limited. Think about your “take home message” and build the talk around that one point.
• Prepare attractive presentation materials.
  Use a mixture of graphs, text, and other things. to best convey your information. Avoid gimmicks. Limit the amount of information provided on a single slide.
• Tailor your talk to the audience.
  Ask questions prior to your visit that provide insight into the expectations and norms of the department with regard to job talks. Ask who will attend the talk and modify your presentation and/or speaking notes as needed to fit their knowledge levels.
  Further tailor the information to demonstrate how your research fits with that of the faculty where you are interviewing. If the department is creating a new arena for research highlight how you can contribute to that initiative.
• Prepare for likely questions.
  Anticipate theory, practice, and methodological questions and practice your responses to them. If it is a joint appointment, carefully consider questions and interests from each department. Prepare backup slides where relevant.
• Practice, practice, practice.
  Practice your talk in front of a critical audience, treating your practice sessions as though they are actual job talks. Academy Coaching provides coaching for job talk, consider contacting us for help in practicing your job talk and gaining confidence before you hit the campus interview.
• Have back-ups for emergencies.
  Anxiety can be healthy if you use it to plan accordingly. Have electronic and hard copies of all materials.

During the job talk itself:

• Pace yourself. Know your time limit and pace yourself accordingly.
• Demonstrate poise and enthusiasm. It is important to be professional yet engaged with your audience. Balance humility along with self assurance!

Answer questions effectively.

• Listen to the question—don’t interrupt. Feel free to ask questions to clarify if you do not understand.
• Demonstrate confidence. Asking for feedback on your responses (e.g., “Was that answer okay?”) undermines your competence. Instead, ask if there is more information desired.
• Be aware of signals that indicate defensiveness and/or condescension and self-monitor accordingly.
• If you don’t know the answer, say so. However, also state how you might get the answer through future research.

“Interviewing in the Academy; Off-Site and On-Site Interviews. Open the power point and then click the podcast and follow along for tips on how to prepare for conference, telephone and on-site interviews. Pod cast is roughly 30 minutes”

Download Powerpoint

Audio - Podcast

To view the webinar, please click here.

I came across this on You Tube and couldn’t help but think how life as an academic can often feel as though you are a “one man band” How do you create the right balance in your life, even if only for a day?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2TJmyuG5Mc&feature=related

To view the webinar, please click here.

Presentation on effectively selling your strengths UM/MSU Career Event: “Job Search 2.0 : Your Future”

Sell Yourself, Not Your Dignity

In a tough job market, approach your job search like an entrepreneur preparing to create a new start-up.

What Does Behaving Like an Entrepreneur Mean?

It means being comfortable in taking an unconventional path, in digging deep to understand opportunities.

It means saying  yes  when others say  no .

It means seeing opportunities where others see loss.

It means being tenacious, passionate, competitive, and innovative.

In a tough market, strong qualifications and accomplishments are necessary, but not sufficient, to find a job

Networking should be the primary focus of everything you do

Sell Yourself by Developing a Positioning Statement

Throughout the last _____ years I have worked primarily in the field of _________________ as a (title)________________providing (functions)____________________________I have specific expertise in (indicate skills, functions, type of activities or processes you have become skilled ___________________________________________________________________I am seeking opportunities to (describe the position or role you want, not title and how you can contribute ___________________________________________

Sell Yourself by

Being Focused and Knowledgeable

Create a target list of companies

• Wish list
• Research specific organizations by industry
• Identify Hiring Managers

(C of I)

• Create an outreach plan
• Maintain accurate records of contacts and follow-up on leads

Resources for researching companies

• Review their website
• Utilize social media websites to identify/talk with current or past employees
• Wetfeet.com
• www.hoovers.com
• Alumni Association

Association www.hoovers.com

Sell Yourself by Leveraging Your Portfolio Tools

Cover letters can open doors when used for:

Responding to an advertised opening

Following up on a personal referral

Introducing yourself to a decision maker

A networking  follow up

Rules of thumb for a well written cover letter:

Customize your message

Highlight and expand on the most relevant facts on your resume

Give a relevant, customized example that is not on your resume

Show that you familiar with the company

Sell Yourself by  Leveraging Your Portfolio Tools

Resume building blocks include:

Contact Information

Summary of key skills

Education

Professional experiences

Affiliations and memberships

Publications and presentations

Honors and awards

Resume guidelines

Be brief

Be specific

Be active

Be selective

Be honest

Sell Yourself by Leveraging Your Portfolio Tools

• Create list of professional references
• Request letters of recommendation

Sell Yourself by Preparing for Common Interview Questions

Educational, volunteer and work history

Qualifications

Career goals, length of commitment to the area or organization

Strengths

Weaknesses

Questions for them

Sell Yourself by Following Up After the Interview:

Make notes on questions you were asked, reflect and respond

Send a personal thank you note  address questions that may have been left unanswered

Follow up with a telephone call to check on the status of the process

Sell Yourself by Negotiating Wisely

Do extensive research, preparation and practice beforehand (wwwsalary.com)

Know exactly what you need and exactly what you want

Establish the real value of an offer

Ask yourself : Is this the right fit?

Creating a Successful Post Doc Opportunity

“Only you can be in control of your career and nobody cares more than you about your future.”- Peter S. Fiske, Putting your Degree to Work

According to the National Science Foundation (NSF) there were 45,000 post docs in the US in 2004, more than ever. The numbers are growing both in the Humanities as well as the sciences and the commitment can be enormous. The average researcher in the biological or life sciences spends five to seven years as a post doc and the time must be well spent if it is to result in an academic position down the road. Although some things have changed over time, such as the number of people pursuing post docs as well as the length of time spent in a postdoctoral research position, some changes lag far behind. According to Steven B. Sample, president of the University of Southern California and chair of the Association of American Universities (AAU) Committee on Postdoctoral Education “Postdoctoral education today is almost exactly where Ph.D. education was in the 1890s - very ad hoc.” Given the increasingly competitive environment both in academia as well as industry, you can’t afford to leave your post doc opportunities at the whim of the institution. You have to be proactive and strategic in finding and negotiating the best position for you.

Here are a few steps to success for your post-doc career:

1)      Consider your long term goals prior to deciding what postdoctoral fellowship to consider and then structure an opportunity that will lead itself to that goal. If you are in the sciences you have many options from Educator, Principal Investigator/Bench Scientist, and Consultant to Lobby Groups, Administrator or Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology CEO. Different career objectives require different post- doc opportunities.

2)      Check the research group’s history. Verify the publication record and track previous group members to determine whether the research setting is conducive to your career development. Explore how many papers group members generate and the order of authorship. Does everybody generate first-author papers as well as contribute to other papers? Do they publish in high-impact or obscure journals? Do you think that performing similar work would further your career ambitions?

3)      Consider contacting lab alumni for questions. This is preferably done by phone or in person: people, when contacted directly, tend to tell you more candidly about potential issues. If you have access to established people in the field, you can also inquire about the PI’s reputation and connections among his/her colleagues. For example, working with an established PI will be very helpful for easing the publication process in the short term and for connecting to the right career opportunities in the medium-long term. Ultimately, connecting with a scientifically cutting – edge, creative mentor who is also a terrific colleague is crucial.

4)      Get a detailed letter of appointment. To ensure that you and the group you select understand one another’s needs and expectations, secure a letter outlining the source and duration of funding, expectations for research productivity and authorship, lab space, student assistants and access to support staff and resources.

5)      Create an individualized development plan. According to Alyson Reed of the National Postdoctoral Association “You need to know what your long and short term career goals are and discuss them with people who are in a position to help you look at things from every angle”. Next, you should meet periodically with your mentors and even a career coach who can provide you feedback and help keep your post doc career on track to success.

For further tips on finding the right post doc for you, register for the upcoming workshop Purposeful Post-doc; A strategic approach to assessing institutional fit and managing relationships on 12/7/09. To learn more http://www.academycoaching.com/professional-development-workshops/workshop-calendar.html#Purposeful

For Post-Doc Position Listings consider the following sites:

Post-Doc Listings for All Disciplineshttp://www.postdcos.com

A database of position listings. You can search the database by category and keyword.The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Career Network
Although the Chronicle’s job listings focus on faculty appointments, they contain a few listings for post-doctoral appointments. Try a keyword search for “postdoctoral.”Higher Education Jobs
Also features some post-doctoral fellowship and research listingsThe Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities at UC Berkeley
Links to information on humanities post-doctoral fellowships. Also see this site for major humanities funding sources, general funding resources on the web, and federal grants and fellowships.H-Net’s Job Guide
Lists some post-doctoral opportunities in the humanities and social sciencesPost-Doctoral Opportunities for AnthropologistsPhDs.org Includes listings of post-doctoral positions in math, science, and engineering.ScienceCareers.org Postdoc Page Resources, articles, and fellowship listings from the organization that was formerly Science’s NextWave.The Scientist
Search for faculty and post-doctoral positions in the “Jobs” section of the magazine’s website.ScienceJobs.com
Contains a database of job listings in bioscience and chemistry, including post-doctoral positions (in industry, government, and academia).

v The new National Post-doc Appreciation Day, is slated for the first time on September 24, 2009

We have all faced this dilemma at one point or another, and if you are in the midst of a career change you understand firsthand the Catch-22: “You can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without a job.”

Recent grads at all levels throughout the Academy have always faced this dilemma. In today’s shrinking job market, people with years of experience also struggle with it. Whether they face the reality of a layoff, or merely the threat of one, many experienced professionals are trying to reinvent themselves in order to become marketable in a changed economy.

Whether you’re launching your career or trying to change its course, you can get around this Catch-22 with some creativity and humility.

Here’s how one of my client’s did it:

She was a clinical psychologist in a community mental health center. It was professionally satisfying and financially unrewarding. As her kids began approaching high school and college tuition loomed in the near future she decided it was time to make more money. She wanted to become a development officer raising large sums of money for a cause she was passionate about – child abuse prevention.

Imagine her surprise to learn that she could not find a single organization eager to hire her. Apparently, they couldn’t see that her ability to counsel sexual offenders was a transferable skill!

She came to Academy Coaching and quickly blurted out “I can’t get development experience without getting hired. I couldn’t get hired without development experience”. What to do?

First you have to reinvent the way you market your skills and abilities for the career you want to pursue not the career you have had. Next you need to network effectively. We began by developing a Positioning Statement (commonly known as an elevator speech) about who she was professionally, the industries she’s served and the particular strengths she can bring to her desired new career. It sounded something like this: “I am trained as a clinical psychologist and have over 15 years providing services within high risk populations in the community mental health system. I think my keen awareness of the issues stemming from child abuse/neglect coupled with my ability to quickly develop working relationships with diverse groups of people assessing the various options they have and to envision new opportunities lends itself well to the field of development. In particular, I am seeking opportunities in fund raising and business development that would lend itself well to a future career in development.”

Next it was time to redesign her resume, highlighting her transferrable skills from her career as a counselor to the field of development. From there we were able to craft a savvy cover letter that left the reader with the impression that this was a very experienced and focused individual who understood the world of fundraising and exactly how she could contribute to its success. Finally, it was time to get out there and network, because every occasion whether professional or personal, is an opportunity to connect with others and create potential options for your career.

At a party, she met Professor “X” an Engineer and entrepreneur with a startup company and connections in the world of business development and fundraising. He was trying to market a new product. He had a good idea and no money to hire someone to help him realize it.

She jumped at the opportunity “I’ll do telemarketing cold calls for your new product. But I insist on being paid. The first payment will be a title appropriate to the job I will be doing - say, ‘Business Development Associate.’” The second payment, if I fulfill my end of the deal, will be a good reference and introductions to colleagues who might be able to help me.”

For the next two months, two days a week, she did her best to help Professor “X” get traction for his new service. She made hundreds of calls –each time becoming more skilled and smooth in her sales approach. She’d performed well and got paid, in the form of introductions to some of his business associates. Those introductions, along with a resume that included her new title, eventually led to a job in fundraising.

How can you use such a strategy to get out of the “Catch 22” loop that circumscribes your professional growth?

Look for an individual / company who have some great ideas but not enough manpower to realize them.

Ø Be specific about what value you will provide. She wanted experience in marketing, sales and business development. She could provide a professional approach and proven ability to connect well with people.

Ø Be specific about what value you will receive. For her, appropriate compensation was a title she could add to her resume and introductions and a reference from Professor “X”. Compensation is about value received for value given - and you’re thinking too narrowly if you define value only in monetary terms.

Ø Be specific about time frame. She promised to work two days a week for two months. Be sure that your commitment doesn’t preclude you from actively continuing a job search - or performing well enough to keep your present job.

What? You’re too proud to offer your services at no charge? Consider this, if you choose the right opportunity, you’ll gain industry or functional experience that has immeasurable value - and will ultimately lead to a real paycheck in your desired field.