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Academic vs. Non-Academic Applications
While an interview will help to decide whether you get the job you applied for, it is the application letters and CV's that decide whether you will have an interview at all.
In my previous post I wrote about applying for jobs within academia but I realised that most of the advice contained in that article could be equally well applied to both academic and non-academic applications. For example, preparing early, securing multiple referees, removing embarassing pictures from Facebook etc.
So what is the difference between an academic and non-academic job application other than who you send the paperwork to?
On a simple level you are going to want to emphasise your publication record a lot more in an academic job application. Unless you are applying for a research or theoretician position in an organisation that also publishes a lot then you probably don't want to provide such a detailed breakdown of your publication record - probably just select the best ones and provide a summary of the others.
However, the real difference between academic and non-academic job applications is the key skills that you put on your CV and expecially in your covering letter. While an academic postion will probably require a synopsis of your work (research techniques you are familiar with, instruments/methods used, key findings etc.), a non-academic application will want to hear more about the transerable skills you have developed: Project management, leadership, critical thinking, problem solving and analysis.
Instead of stating your postgraduate experiences as skills in themselves, it is up to you to draw out of them the abilities that you can now apply in a new career. For example, almost all postgraduates produce a dissertation at the end of their course. If you are applying for an academic position you should probably mention the title of that publication and the key findings from your work. If you were applying for a non-academic position in an unrelated field, you would use this as an example of you ability to present and report your work in a clear and concise format.
However, the complicating factor is that the simplistic division of academic / non-academic jobs is not an accurate reflection of reality in many cases. In fact most companies that employ postgraduates exist on a spectrum and do still place at least some value on your subject specific knowlege. You must try and discover where your potential employer sits on that spectrum. Only then will you be able to tailor your application well. There are 3 places you should go looking for information to work out how to formulate your application.
- The company website
- Other company employees. Try and attend an event if they organise them or at least read the career stories that are probably published on their website.
- Your careers advisor
Finding the right balance between academic and non-academic emphasis is the only way to produce a covering letter and CV that is both concise and relevant.
Posted by Daniel Colegate, 18 days ago
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Preparing Job Applications
Preparing an Academic Job Application
Most of my recent posts in this blog have been related to the high demand for postgraduates outside of academia, i.e. the large number of companies who are starting to look at postgraduate candidates in preference to first degree graduates due to the increasing supply of postgraduates, their increased skills and the current decrease in graduate vacancies. All of those facts hold true and it is important for postgraduates seeking work outside of academia to make the most of their skills in front of potential employers.
However, for those who do want to remain in academia, a postgraduate degree is more than a desirable qualification that can be used to enhance employment potential. It is in fact a pre-requisite to an any academic career. So the big question is, how can a postgraduate distinguish themselves in a field where everyone has a PhD? Well, to help me answer that question I found this article last week that I posted on Twitter looking at academic job applications.
Despite the obvious American slant on the process there is much good advice buried in this article and I am going to try and distill the key points here. But before doing that I would like to comment on how reading that article reminded me that applying for jobs can be a full time job in itself. After literally 15+ years in education you can find yourself applying for jobs months and months in advance of actually needing one and trying to justify yourself to strangers in a few pages of type. It feels like a frustrating situation and indeed it can be, which is why it is important to prepare well and lay the foundation of your applications in advance. (see the tips below)
But also remember that it needn't always be that way and you don't need to panic if you are coming to the end of your course and haven't found a position yet. When I was coming to the end of my PhD I had a conversation with my supervisor where I said that I was sure I had left it too late to find a postdoc' job as I was due to submit in 2 months time. He said that was nonsense and that I just needed to find the right position. He was right and through a networking connection I did hear about a postdoc' that I applied for and got, starting a few weeks after I submitted - which is a vivid reminder of the importance of networking during a postgraduate course.
Now I admit that I was somewhat lucky that a position came up at the right time and I only mention it here to point out that things can happen quickly and do not have to happen via the traditional, ongoing application process that repeats each academic year. But if you are more prepared than I am and want to lay the groundwork for finding a job in academia (and by jobs I mean both postdocs and tenured positions) than here are some top tips that could help you. (Read the original article here)
- Submit applications early. Academics notoriously "work to deadlines", which is the polite way of saying "do a lot of work the night before the deadline". If you want to prepare a high quality, tailored application then keep your eyes out for positions and write the covering letter and tweak your CV well in advance of the deadline. You will probably be submitting a CV, research statement, teaching statement and covering letter so give yourself time.
- Find as many potential referrees as you can and send them a copy of your CV and a request that they act as your referree now that you are looking for work. Do this as early as possible as you don't want to annoy your referree by contacting them on Monday to say you are submitting an application on Tuesday and, by the way, they are your top referee. The purpose of having as many referrees as possible is that different people will have seen different parts of your skill set and you may want to choose a different one for different applications. Make sure you have at least 3 which is normally the minimum for many applications.
- Put the majority of your application material (CV, research background, publications etc.) on a simple, elegant web page that you can link to from your paper documentation, business cards etc. Keep your website updated regularly as interviewers could literally be checking your website moments before you walk through the door.
- Remove any embarassing or unflattering images from the public domain in your Facebook, Myspace, Flickr etc. Potential employers can do background research on you as well and they might not think too much of your mates photos of you.
- Give a detailed breakdown of publications including number submitted, accepted, delivered at conferences etc.
- Ask people outside of your field to read through your material to give you an impartial view on your applications.
- If you are asked to give a talk at your interview then make sure you practice. Most departments are always looking for speakers so email the organsier and tell them you want to give a presentation approximately 1-2 weeks before the interview, leaving time to collect and respond to feedback.
Remember, the application you are preparing is the first contact your potential employers may have with you, unless you have managed to network with them in the past (well done!). Don't leave it until then night before and collect as much advice and feedback as you can.
Most of these tips apply equally well to non-academic job applications as well. In the near future I'll take a look at the interview process and delivering a talk on interview day as well.
Posted by Daniel Colegate, 21 days ago
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Finish what you started
This post is reproduced by the Blog of Alistair Brown at the Pequod
In the London Review of Books, Neal Ascherson writes about the historian, Hugh Trevor-Roper, one of the most influential public historians of the post-war period. Trevor-Roper was despatched to Germany to verify the death of Hitler on the back of which he wrote his most famous book, The Last Days of Hitler, although he is, unfortunately, perhaps more infamous for his verifying the forged Hitler diaries as being authentic. He is somewhat redeemed by his victory in a spat with Margaret Thatcher, when he refused to share her hostility to a reunified Germany.
Yet for all his public and political renown, Trevor-Roper's ultimate academic credentials suffered from his "serial failures to complete a full-length work of history." The only full-length book he produced was his first, on Archbishop Laud. Others were extended journal supplements, collections of essays and lectures, and journalism. His defining achievement was supposed to have been a three-volume work on the Puritan Revolution, which never appeared. Trevor-Roper explained this as being due to writer's fatigue:
I am interested in too many things, and I write so slowly, so painfully slowly, that by the time I have written a chapter I have got interested in something else.
Many researchers will surely identify with this opera of academic adultery. As the initial excitement of a new research project gives way to the tedious days of diligent scholarship and writing, it is more tempting to look for something new than to see the old relationship through to its conclusion.
Ascherson also finds another reason for Trevor-Roper's serial failure to see projects to their conclusion:
It could be that the ‘brilliant examinee syndrome’, the private terror of public failure, had something to do with it as well. No book, no devastating book review.
Trevor-Roper was a notoriously harsh, even malicious, reviewer. Writing about a new work of biography, for example, he declined to discuss its inaccuracies: ‘To make such a charge against this biographer would be unfair. It would be like urging a jellyfish to grit its teeth and dig in its heels.’ So used to serving up vitriol, Trevor-Roper was afraid to receive it himself: better to publish nothing, and not risk a taste of one's own medicine.
Now whilst few researchers will be so amusingly negative in their reviews, the underlying anxiety that the great historian suffered from is one with which many will sympathise. Whilst no academic today could get a cosy Oxford professorship - or even a first job at a former poly - without copious publications behind them, we all understand the trick of avoidance that Trevor-Roper serially pulled off. Better to procrastinate and continually revise that journal article, rather than risk the rejection of peer review; preferable to work on a new book project, rather than suffering the ignominy of having one's revised PhD thesis rejected by a publisher. It may not be a good thing for one's career to suffer from a terminal failure to complete projects, but it should be a relief to know that one is at least in good company when this happens.
Posted by Daniel Colegate, 24 days ago
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