Academic Administration Jobs

Today we had another awesome professionalization event--two recent alums came to speak to us about their jobs in academic administration.

Both said that they like their jobs and that academic administration is the best of both worlds--they are engaged with scholars, but don't have to play the game; they teach and advise, but don't feel the pressures of tenure review; they sit on a lot of specialized committees, but get to see the university from a "big picture" perspective. They like their jobs.

Our conversation basically covered two general themes: 1) skills necessary for any job and 2) how to sell ourselves to potential employers.

Both said that having a PhD is good and that it gets them respect that they might not receive otherwise (both are women). PhDs make them more than glorified secretaries in the eyes of many faculty and administrators who they deal with in the academic administrator jobs. But despite the years of theoretical training which the PhD degree rewards, to successfully get a job we have to pitch our practical skills.

Training they wish they had received while in grad school:

--computer design courses. Not just website design programs for unit/organizations webpages but also print media design programs for cleaning up images, and publishing programs for producing pamphlets and other publicity material.

--database courses. Every job outside of academia pretty much requires basic knowledge of Excel (and Powerpoint). Bonus points if you are familiar with Filemaker and its ilk.

As grad students, we can take these courses for cheap/free through the university's tech services. If you are already out or away from campus, community colleges regularly offer these kinds of classes.

They said that they often are told to "make a website/pamphlet/newsletter/etc." They are never asked, "can you make a newsletter?" They said that having even basic design and database skills puts us ahead of the pack in terms of marketable skills but also demonstrates that we've put in the time to learn a new skill. If you've taken a class on web design, put it on your resume. Even if it was a two day seminar.

--They recommended taking courses outside of our home department. This plugs us into other networks and the information about grants, organizations, resources, and people that circulate through these networks. If I know my interest lies in NGO work I should take courses that analyze NGOs but which also plug me into networks of actual NGO workers. Take these types of classes in several different fields to cast our nets as widely as possible.

Focus on courses that can count towards another degree (say a masters in social work or a masters in community health) or towards a certificate (ex. certificate in international business, certificate in women and gender studies).

--Network, network, network. Do internships on campus. Go to conferences. Join cross-campus/off-campus committees.

A lot of this advice feels too late if you are ABD or graduated, but not really. You can take many of these classes (especially the applied ones) at community colleges and you can network where ever you are--go join a local group. Several different authors and listserv posters have recommended Toastmasters. Seriously. And if Toastmasters aren't your thing, find something else. I wouldn't recommend this kind of club since it's not really resume-ready, but who knows, maybe your networking skills would improve?

How to successfully pitch ourselves to potential employers:

This was the most interesting part of the conversation, for me at least. First and foremost, we need to learn how to write resumes. And just an FYI--you have to write a new resume for every job application. So while it's good to have a basic skeleton, know that resumes are not like CVs--we have to be strategic in what we include or cut.

Resumes are awesome, because unlike CVs which have pretty standard formatting, terms, and expectations, we can tweak a resume however we want. One speaker said that in some cases she doesn't even identify herself as an anthropologist if it seems too specific for the job--she'll use "social scientist" instead. Resumes are where you showcase your experience and make the argument that your experience and knowledge are relevant to the job. Grant writing skills are transferable here. (How many grants/fellowships have we applied for which really weren't relevant to our actual line of study, but with some creative rewriting we made it work? The speakers said to just channel that highly refined grad school BSing skill and we'd be fine.)

On cover letters and interviews we must demonstrate that we are committed to helping grow a program or develop a project (or whatever the aim is of the hiring group). We need to argue that we are not just a second-rate academic who couldn't hack it in the teaching/theory world. Instead we need to argue that our strengths are non-academic areas like conference organizing, grant writing, supervising. We need to show that we are versatile and resourceful. If we don't understand or know an answer, we need to show that are willing to ask questions or request help. Most important, be sure that interviewers know that you want to learn and are willing to always learn more for the job.

Per my concern from last week, I asked how exactly do we demonstrate "versatility" or "commitment," or "political sense" or some other intangible quality. Their answer was so simple and genius, I'm not surprised I didn't figure this out sooner [I am still a practicing grad student, afterall]. Use examples and be concrete. So on a resume write: "organized 300 person conference, supervised 5 undergraduates, coordinated 6 sponsoring organizations, managed $5,000 budget". Gesture to these key qualities in the cover letter. "My commitment to LGBTQA issues is longstanding, beginning in 1996 when I was a student officer-at-large for my undergraduate college's diversity committee." Make sure that committee is on the resume.

On the cover letter or during the in person interview, use examples to not only demonstrate that we are organized, but use those examples to then gesture towards other strengths. In an interview: "Not only does chairing a conference require lots of attention to detail (i.e. organization), but discipline since funding applications for the event all had firm deadlines. As a result of these competing timelines, I became very competent at multitasking and prioritizing tasks."

Both speakers said that we need to pitch our strengths and be confident, but do this all without being cocky. This is a fine line. This is the main reason why we should gesture towards skills (instead of thrusting them in the hiring committee's face), but again, we don't want to make our interviewers do too much work. Here's one example they suggested of how this is done: on the resume list the 5 languages you speak. In the cover letter mention the language institute you helped run during the summer before you went to grad school. In your interview talk about how fluency in 5 languages has helped you save the day with some recent crisis.

Letters of recommendation are common in academic administration jobs--help your letter writers out and tell them what strengths you want them to speak to. (You don't necessarily have to have your advisor write on your behalf if you don't want.)

Key terms to use in all materials and conversations: multitasking, responsible, organization, manage, delegate, supervisory. Here's some other "action words" for resumes and in-person conversations.

At the base of it all they said that we have what people want, it's all about the packaging and transferring knowledge from one realm (academic classroom) to another (job application materials).

Informational Interview, part III

Just back from round two of informational interviewing with the same group I visited earlier this week. Today's meeting with the other Co-director went awesome!

I initially emailed this group two weeks ago, saw one Co-director earlier this week, and visited the other director today. The director I met with on Tuesday was the politician side of the center, today I met with the policy/academic director today.

The center was in a bit of a crisis when I arrived (3 minutes early, versus the 10 minutes I did on Tuesday). The co-director didn't have much time with me. We kept exactly to the thirty minutes I had requested. [2 points for Leadfoot.]

Despite the flusteriness of everything, I immediately felt comfortable with her. Partially because I already knew the center was laid back and cool, also because I knew she was the "academic" side of the center. The interview felt like being in my advisor's office before Advisor is about to teach--the Director was multitasking the whole time, but also listening very well. It was entirely familiar. Also, early on in our conversation she asked me where I was originally from. Coincidentally, she did an advanced degree in the city I grew up near. Our mutual love for HomeCity certainly didn't hurt anything.

She jumped right in with me, asking me about what I do, why I was visiting her, how I found out about them, etc. As a result, my carefully crafted intro went out the window, but all the prep I did with that was still good because I was able to quickly, and, mostly to the point, answer her questions. She asked if I had a resume with me. [Leadfoot totally had a resume! 5 points.]

I gave her my "policy" resume. I had my CV with me but it was clear that she only had time to read one page. Having now spent some time cleaning up both, I must say that resumes are way cooler. Why would anyone want to read seven pages about the stupid classes I've taught or all the dinky on-campus grants I've received, unless they were looking for a teacher or a grant writer? Resumes are to the point.

She asked a lot of questions about my dissertation research--what was my hypothesis, how did I do the research, did I have comparison sites, etc. Some of her questions were asking for more information and clarification--this indicated to me that I need to revise my resume to better explain that I really did live fulltime in Site for 12 months straight, and that I spent a lot of time hanging out with people on the ground. She said "being in the field" [i.e. talking to lots of different regular folks] is a major asset that I should highlight.

She actually seemed a bit impressed with my one publication (which hasn't been published yet). She asked about the editor, what the collected volume was about, etc.

As she was going through my resume she asked when I would be graduating. I explained that even though I wouldn't graduate until December, I was moving to City in July and that I was trying to put feelers out now in preparation for that relocation. I also told her that because I have little interest in teaching undergrads, I wanted to use my knowledge of State and research skills to make real changes. She was down with that.

I told her I didn't want to teach undergrads because 1) it's the truth, but also because 2) she would know better than anyone else in Center that academia is not hiring and there are lots of PhDs looking for temp jobs to tide them over till the academic market stabilizes (hahaha, as if that will ever happen). I made sure to say that I had "little interest" since I would certainly take a center job that had a teaching the public component to it.

She said that I needed to hone my "political sense". When I asked her how I do that, or rather, how do I demonstrate that on an resume, she said that from here on out I need to talk about my academic work in terms of how it applies to the real world. I asked her if I should try working for state government--she nixed that idea immediately. "State has no money, they wouldn't be able to pay you". I'm still unsure how to demonstrate my political sense exactly, but perhaps I'll come up with some ideas.

In the end, she said that I should call Center when I move to City. She said that State needs critical thinkers who can do research and synthesize material--i.e. the brain drain has left the State in a complete crisis. She seemed optimistic that I would find something. In fact, she sort of hinted that maybe in the summer they would have a need for me (or at least would need some kind of help). Nothing was stated explicitly, but she say that the center was going to do a review of goals and projects soon and that they may be taking on more projects in the future. She asked when I was moving and what my availability might be.

So even if she was not thinking of me specifically, she did seem optimistic that I might find something.

Lessons learned from this informational interview:

-Be ready to be interviewed. Although I wanted to ask questions about breaking into policy, she asked most of the questions. Many were job interview-y.

-Be ready to talk about dissertation/research in nontechnical terms. I definitely flubbed this and totally did the rambling grad student bit. Keep it succinct and brief. This is one of the cards I need work on. (At some Career Services talk I learned about developing answers to about 20 different common interview questions-- answers should cover all information within 30 seconds, or the amount of space you have on a 3x5 index card).

-Coincidences get you far. Our love for HomeCity was a definite plus. She almost went into anthropology/sociology but didn't--me being an ethnographer instead of a statistician was actually an asset for once. At the end of our interview she also told me that she was once offered a tenure tracked job at my PhD institution. We talked about Collegetown and the departments she would have hired into. She said that sometimes she wonders what would have happened if she had taken that job.

Overall, the informational interview went very well. I will definitely send her an email as soon as school is done to remind her I'm still around. In fact, even if absolutely nothing pans out from this week of interviewing, I think I can still contact folks at Center and ask for recommendations/help once I move to City. And, even though Director is way too busy to mentor me, I think she might be willing to let me shadow her or tag along to a few meetings/events.

Upshot of this week of informational interviewing? Informational interviews are awesome.

Informational Interview, part II

Just back from the informational interview I scheduled last week. It went well and I'm feeling better now that I actually did it and didn't have a total meltdown.

First things first. Here's the email text I finally sent:

Dear Associate Director:
I read Center's recent publication "Publication" and have found it incredibly timely as I finish writing my dissertation on social changes in Fieldsite. I am a graduate student in cultural anthropology and upon graduating I hope to find a policy job where I can practically use my knowledge of small city transitions in the industrial Region. I'm not officially job hunting yet; I simply would welcome the opportunity to talk with you about how one breaks into policy work.

Would you be willing to meet with me for thirty minutes to discuss how you got started in policy and State government? I'd appreciate any advice you can offer. I will be in City Date-Date and can meet in your office if that is most convenient for you. Alternatively, if you are unable to meet with me in person, I hope you would be willing to correspond with me by phone or email in the near future.

Many thanks for your time.

Sincere regards,

Leadfoot

signature line

Associate director replied 3.5 days later with a very nice email saying she would be out of town but recommended I speak with Co-director. She CC'ed Co-director on the email. After a bit of back and forth with Co-director on meeting logistics, we were set.

Now, contra to what a lot of websites and handouts say regarding informational interviews, I contacted Center and arranged everything via email. I did not do a followup phone call (i.e. "I will call next week to schedule a mutually agreeable time to meet"). I don't know about you, but I don't like to talk on the phone. And most people I deal with at my hourly Press job and in my academic life seem to prefer email. You get to it when you can, it's archiveable, it's searchable, and you get a lot of information about the person just from their signature line, etc. Unless there is a compelling reason not to, I will continue contacting people for info interviews via email.

Day before my info interview I did a walk-by of the office so I knew where it was and I added their general office number to my notes, in case my bus caught fire, or there was a freak snowstorm, or an impromptu parade, or something else that prevented me from arriving on time.

I read through their website, read the publications they had published recently (and had pdf'ed on their site), I became their fan on facebook, I did a little googling on the Co-director I was meeting, etc. I fixed my grant writing resume and what I think might go on a policy center resume (both I made up as I went along) and fixed my CV. I wanted to be prepared.

I wrote out my self-introduction and edited it. [I did this so I could refer to it if I totally froze, but also because I do better if I write it out once]. I complied my questions, bolding the ones I absolutely wanted to cover. At the bottom of my questions sheet, I wrote out key terms the center uses and some VIPs we might know in common. Like I said, I was going into over prepared mode.

Which I am glad I did.

I arrived about 10 minutes early and Co-director saw me almost immediately. [Note to self, arrive only 5 minutes early]. We talked about 40 minutes, then he introduced me to two peeps who have jobs I want. All said and done, I was there about 55 minutes. So 25 minutes more than I said. Oops. Must get better at directing conversation and sticking to established time.

Co-director was a friendly guy. Talkative and jokey. Also skeptical of academia and told me so straight off the bat. Well, actually he told me after I introduced myself as a "PhD candidate in the department of anthropology at the University of blahblah". Note to self. Locate myself in simpler, less pretentious sounding terms.

I told him I wanted to know how to break into policy and research work, but didn't really know how, so I thought it would be best to go straight to the source. I told him, "to better help you answer my questions, maybe I should briefly introduce myself." I told him in two (layman's terms) sentences what my research is about and mentioned that on top of my 5 years of researching in Site, I did undergrad at a university just down the way from his hometown. I told him that "I want to use my experiences as a grant writer, researcher and writer to practically make change and that a research policy center seems to be a good place for me". I told him that I was moving to City in July and that my partner currently works in City for Well-known Organization.

[I told him about my personal life and Honey's job because I wanted to indicate that I had longterm ties to the State, current ties to City, and was obviously planning on being in City for a while. I'm glad I did because later in the convo he and I talked about the budget cuts Honey is seeing at Organization and how things have changed for State in the last decade.]

Below are the questions on my cheatsheet. The bolded questions are the ones I absolutely wanted to cover, the starred ones were the ones I was actually able to ask or Co-director addressed in our conversation.

What is research and policy work like?

**How does one break into these fields, especially in State?

What is a typical day like for you at Center?

What is a typical career path into this kind of organization?

**What is the best way to enter this field?

**What kind of experiences would you encourage or expect for anyone seeking a career in this field?

What skills or talents are most essential to be effective in your job?

**What is the best way to get the skills or experiences that would best qualify me for this kind of job?

**What entry level jobs are best for learning as much as possible about this field?

**How should someone with my lack of policy experience approach prospective employers?

Are there websites or publications that might help me learn more about policy and research work?

Are you aware of job boards, websites, etc. that focus on policy and research work in State?

**Who else should I contact in City? May I use your name?

Overall, I give myself a B. I flubbed my self-intro and ran over on time. But I was personable and got many of my questions covered.

I'm to email the other Co-director who is kind of the head of this center and has ties to another dream job center. Co-director today says other Co-director might give me other insights and pointers, especially as a former academic. Score!

Here's what I will do differently next time:

--Buy a watch battery and remember my women's watch (which is currently sitting dead at my apartment). I had to wear Honey's runner's watch since I didn't want to check my phone for the time. I look appropriately professional, minus the hardcore men's timex dragging down my arm.

--Get new business cards asap!! My are all pretentious and I've hated this batch from the start. They currently say

Leadfoot, MA

PhD Candidate

school address, etc.

I will be getting some that simply say

Leadfoot

Graduate Student

school address, etc

--Get real thank you cards. I've sent my email thank yous to the Co-director and the two peeps I met today. By tomorrow I need to also send a paper thank you; I'm planning on addressing it to the entire office.

So that's my informational interview. Off now to make notes on the specifics and start contacting the various folks Co-director and peeps recommended. Hopefully I'll have informational interviews in the future!

Sorta Big Reveal: Telling the Advisor

I sorta told my advisor today that I'm looking for alt-acad jobs. Sorta.

The conversation was much more framed around my surprise announcement that in the summer I'm blowing my 2 horse college town to go move in with my honey who lives in a city several states away. This is a permanent move (or at least until I move to DC to start the PMF, fingers crossed).

My big "surprise" is complicated by the fact that in moving to City, I'm planning to turn down an on-campus fellowship I received. That's a post for a different blog.

I explained that I was going to find a parttime job, be a kept woman [Advisor did not laugh at this :( ], and maybe take out student loans. I quickly moved the conversation to my time to completion. I'm aiming to defend before December. I mentioned that I was glad that I was going to be done writing by the fall because that would give me plenty of time to work on job applications.

[On the timeline printout I gave him, it clearly states Sept-Oct: work on acad and alt-acad job application templates and applications. On same timeline I had listed the deadlines for the PMF and the AAAS Fellowship. Still I didn't exactly explain in detail what these Fellowships are.]

I also said that I was glad that I could work on revising in the fall because I wanted to be sure to publish more. This is true, but also it makes my advisor feel good.

Then as a closing statement I said, "Well, I realize I'm missing out on some opportunities if I decline Fellowship, but moving to City should give me other opportunities. I know plenty of people in City on account of doing research in the same state. [For the record, my honey is not from my fieldsite and doesn't live there now], and Honey also knows important people, like the head of United Way and a big community activist lawyer. Between the two of us, our collective pool of contacts is actually quite substantial. I figure some nonprofit or the government will be interested in taking advantage of all the research I have done. Plus I have all these marketable skills like grantwriting, writing, research. I'm sure some nonprofit would want me around. I'm keeping my options open, but I have to be realistic and start coming up with a Plan B. Working some kind of parttime job in nonprofit or government lets me start to develop those skills. But I will apply for academic and jobs outside of academia in the fall. [Leadfoot kicks self for last sentence].

Advisor: "Well, doing a part time research/policy/nonprofit/ govt job might be a good idea. Because you don't want to be a dissertator for a whole 'nother year [i.e. remain a grad student so I look "fresh" on the market in two years. OMG, don't make me break out in hives]. So that might be something good to do in the meanwhile. But we'll make sure your dissertation is very strong and that you get a job. If you decide to decline the Fellowship I'll support you with whatever."

So Advisor's "I'll support you with whatever" felt rather lukewarm, but I'm going with it. I almost wanted to ask Advisor to put it into writing.

So not a total victory. There was no "big reveal" [i.e. I'm so over teaching undergrads and dumb department politics], but enough that I feel pretty confident now in publicly owning my alt-acad searches. Luckily my go-getterness on alt-acad searches are in line with my Type A personality, so I figure I can avoid direct conversation on this topic till about October when letters of rec are due to exploitative higher ed insitutions. At that point we might have to have a convo about the lack of requested letters and why different nonprofits/government jobs are asking for his input.

Today was a small victory. Which I couldn't have done without the support and suggestions of lots and lots of friends. You know who you are--you rox.

On a related note, if you have a "telling the advisor" story or info on applying for nonprofit jobs, or want to talk about your cool post-academic job, Leadfoot is looking for guest blog columnists. Send me your blog via email and I'll post it. Crediting you, of course.

Informational Interview, part I

I've been gone for a while. Sorry! Dissertation chapters, crying snowflakes, and real life have been claiming my attention these past few weeks.

Tonight as I was finally reading an email from mid-February I found my new dream job. A nonprofit policy center in my research State. It has ties to Brookings Institute, which has long been another dream job.

Next week is Spring Break. I will be spending the whole week in the very city this center is located in. I will be moving to said City this summer and living there until I get a real job. In other words, I would be a complete idiot not to do an informational interview.

Okay, so I've been trying to figure out this whole alt-academic job search thing for a bit. And I'll say right here, I have no idea what an informational interview is. Okay, I kinda know what they are. And in fact I did one in November. But they are still complete mysteries to me. [after writing this I realized how lame an excuse this is. Fear should not equal inaction. Here's an awesome step-by-step, sample questions and reminder to write a thank you note, more questions and discussion about length of query letter]

So although I hate to practice informational interviewing with this totally awesome sounding policy center, I'm going to.

Here's the basic rules I know about informational interviews.

Do not ask for a job.

The Bible claims that this is the #1 unspoken rule about informational interviews. My question is how many people outside of college career centers actually know what I'm asking for when I request an informational interview. Whatever, even if they don't know career center lingo, we can clearly explain--"I'm not looking for a job yet, I'm just trying to gather information about this field."

Keep it to 30 minutes. Or less.

The Bible says this. My fieldwork experiences with busy, VIP, mover and shaker people also confirms this.

Ask open ended questions about the interviewee's experiences.

Ethnography at its best! Here's some suggested questions from the Bible that I am totally going to use (if I get an interview).

-How did you get started in this field? (this field being nonprofit policy work in State)

-What does your typical day look like?

-What do you like most about this job? Are there things you dislike?

-What's the future outlook for policy/small centers/research programs in State?

-What skills are important to have in this field?

-What would you see as the best way to get the skills and experience to best qualify me for this kind of job?

-What do you suggest as the best way for someone with my experience to approach prospective employers?

-How should someone with my lack of experience approach prospective employers?

-Who might be a prospective employer?

-What makes resumes go to the top of the pile?

-Can you suggest any other people in City I should talk to?

Depending on the type of work, you might ask questions about the field more generally (there are some examples above).

This website is aimed for the $100K+ job seekers (ha, in my dreams) but it was recommended by Leaving Academia for its good job searching/job interviewing advice. I like the high roller's suggestion to have four or five insightful questions--that way you show you know how to do basic research. So for example, when I did some casual job searching among the academic publishers at my last conference, I asked how the financial situation was at X school and what kinds of web 2.0 programs they were implementing. I already knew from my hourly gig that most publishers are broke and that the future of publishing is electronic or perish. I got so much juicy good insider info because I demonstrated that I knew these were the two biggest concerns within academic publishing right now.

At my info interview I'll ask how to get into policy work. My "big picture question" will be how to get into the nonprofit scene in City.

I'm going to send my query email to the Associate Director because I think she will have the best info for me all around--she has ties to the state government, her background with economic development offices is closest to mine. Also she's responsible for day-to-day operations (perhaps that means hiring?), and is more likely to be in the office than the executive director.

Here's what my email is going to look like (pending final edits tomorrow).

Subject: Informational Interview

Dear Associate Director:

I read your recent publication XX and have found it incredibly timely as I finish writing my dissertation on social changes in Site. I am a graduate student in cultural anthropology and have been conducting research in Site for over five years. Upon graduating, I hope to find a policy job where I can practically use my knowledge of small cities in Region. I would welcome the opportunity to talk with you about how one breaks into policy work.

Would you be willing to meet with me for thirty minutes to discuss how you got started in policy and State government? I'd appreciate any advice you can offer--I'm not officially job hunting just yet. I will be in City March 21-27 and can meet in your office if that is most convenient for you.

Sincere regards,

Leadfoot.

signature line with my university info, etc.

Stay posted. I'll let you know what my final email looks like, what the response is, and (hopefully!!!) how the interview goes.

More PMF intel

Attended an awesome workshop today, led by our Grad College's Career Services Director. {heart} Career Services.

CSD (Career Services Director) gave us lots of good advice. And I got more information on my dream job: the Presidential Management Fellowship.

I want the PMF. Baaaad.

Here's more behind-the-scenes info I learned today:

First and foremost, CSD says this is the fastest and easiest way to get a government job. Good to know. So not only do you get fast-tracked into a cool position, you get it faster than colleagues who are trying to apply through usajobs.gov

Yes, the application is due in early October. The initial application consists of a usajobs.gov resume and questionnaire. I will confirm soon that the resume and questionnaire are like the "regular" government application. It really sounds similar.

Okay, so you submit your resume, fill out the "I did research a) independently; b) with minimal supervision; c) I made it all up" questionnaire, and get a nomination for the PMF. CSD says we should get our nomination from our departments. Okay, so scratch my previous post where I said that we don't have to get our advisors involved. It sounds like we have may to. CSD says if we really don't want to get our departments involved, CSD would write the nomination (assuming you are in good standing, etc). {heart} Career Services.

Once we are nominated and we pass the basic usagov screening process, we take a screening test. The screening test is like the LSAT and GRE (though more like the LSAT). It's all scantron and covers writing skills (okay that's probably not scantron); analytical skills; and a third section which CSD couldn't remember. Probably logic or something that claims that it isn't math based, but really is (shudder).

If you pass the test you become a finalist. (I really can't believe it is this easy, but that's how it sounded again in the CSD's rendering.) If we are a finalist, we are likely to get a placement in a federal program/department. We go to a jobfair where the organizations shop each us and vice versa. CSD claims that if we want to placement in a program/department that isn't at the jobfair, we can contact the organization and they will likely jump at the opportunity to have a PMF.

Not clear when the test occurs. The job fair is March 30-31st this year (i.e. 2010). Just in time to get everything wrapped up for a May graduation and June start date. Oh yeah, did I mention this is only open to soon-to-be PhDs? If your degree is already conferred you are ineligible. Sorry.... Also if you are not a U.S. resident/citizen, you are ineligible too (unless you have a green card in process).

CSD said that 80% get it. I thought it was more like 60%. And in fact, if we count all 8700 applications to take the test, etc. I think it's more like 10%.

Oh oh! I see they posted the Finalists for 2010. Sweet.

Check it, they have 880 Finalists for 2010. Whoa.
3 are from my university. 1 are from another campus within my same university system.
37 are from Harvard. (I've heard that the PMF is very Ivy-heavy. Gag.)

There are 3 anthropologists (way to represent!); 3 historians. One religion scholar from Harvard Divinity. A bizillion lawyers and a half bizillion public affairs/policy people.

The PMF has not yet listed the agencies in which finalists are fellows, but that's actually what I'm most interested in. Keep checking in I guess!

For my international peeps and Drs: I'm sorry, I'm really into the PMF which does nothing for your own job searches. I'll keep my ears open to any similar opportunities available post-degree and/or open to internationals.

Flextime and Educational Privilege

One of the things that kept me interested so long in pursuing an academic career was the "flexibility." What other job allows you to work the hours you want (ex. midnight to 2am) and still go for an impromptu beer with friends at 4pm on a Tuesday?

But I started reconsidering this idea of "time off" a while back. The complete sham of academia's flexibility was made abundantly clear to me this past Thanksgiving break when I asked friends, colleagues, and coworkers how their break was. My friends and coworkers at my hourly job all had wonderful, relaxing, enjoyable breaks. All of them. All my friends and academic colleagues lamented the fact that they "didn't get any work done" and all felt guilty about taking time off for family, turkey, football, drinking, etc. Now, I understand the guilt thing. I've lived it for the last 6 years. But this year, I didn't. And I had a hell of a nice break. Also, many of you know that I regularly takes weekends off to drive several states away. Now that I'm on the other side, having drank the 8-5/M-F koolaid, I want more.

And working outside the academic world give me more! Like so much more! It's called educational privilege. I have enough education that I can likely find a job that will give me "flexibility." Even if I didn't have a MA (and soon have a PhD [fingers crossed]) if I can score a job in a big organization, I can get so much vacation/floating holiday/sick time it's crazy. I've also learned from my self-employed father that if I strike out on my own, I can spend as much time in Florida as I want. I think because the last time I labored in a "real world" job fulltime was waitressing before grad school, I still think of work as a world of punchcards, shift trading headaches, and lost pay during time off. Not so my highly educated friends!

Now, as a poster to wrk4us wrote several weeks ago (21Feb2010), you might have to put in the time and do the standard 8-5 slog for a bit. But once you're at the company/organization/government department for a while (12 months maybe more, maybe less), and you've convinced them that you have learned the organization, you are competently finishing your assigned tasks, and you are a member of the work team/family/HRdribble then they'll likely agree to a flexible schedule. At my current alt-acad job, I have coworkers who come in at 7.30 and leave at 4. I have some that are gone every other Friday. Others who take long lunches and work till 5.30. Others who tele-commute. And some who do the 8-5. I work with less than 50 other people at this job. There is one meeting a week that all department heads and important people have to go to. One meeting. Other than that, people seem to come and go as life outside of work dictates. How many classes a week are you required to attend/teach/TA? Just saying.

If you decide to go the corporate route, here's some websites, another wrk4us poster recommended (on 21Feb2010):

http://www.workingmother.com/BestCompanies/node/1671/list
The "see full list" button is blue and underneath the Working Mother 100 Best Companies 2009 header.

http://www.flexpaths.com/connect/search-for-jobs
This is a sketchier website, but perhaps I'm turned off by its faux-sleekness. Still, it really does give you job listings if you select an industry and search. (I didn't specify location or keywords.) The touchyfeely blah blah that is the rest of the site didn't do much for me, but I just skimmed through it quickly.

On the one hand, I do feel salty about taking advantage of my educational privilege and using it, but on the other hand, I also feel salty about participating in the capitalist machine. Might as well do it somewhat on my own terms.