Careers Café

Moving from an academic environment into the workforce is a difficult transition. Think about all those highrise office buildings in downtown Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, … Thousands of people work in those buildings. Then there are all of the people who work outdoors, or from home, or in factories. I bet you have no idea […]

If you’ve had the experience of carefully crafting and revising a resumé and cover letter, you’ve likely also had the experience of wondering whether anyone actually reads the documents you so carefully research and write. The bad news first Blogs by recruiters suggest that recruiters skim resumés in 5 to 20 seconds. That’s not a lot […]

Funnily enough, despite the decades I spent as a student, it has been the informal mentoring that I’ve received from my colleagues and supervisors that has helped me to become the kind of graduate student supervisor that I am today… a good one, I hope. FS taught me to be passionate, RB taught me to […]

Have you been communicating your research to audiences beyond your discipline or even beyond academia? Have you been communicating your research using new media? If so, you may be wondering: How do your put these things on your CV? This problem arises for academics at all career stages: from graduate students to full professors. Whether […]

Tax season always seems like a good time to talk about money. Regarding money, career advice tends to range from “do what you love and the money will follow” variety to “get a practical degree and earn good money.” Money is extremely useful at paying for stuff, and sometimes life or health circumstances mean that […]

In October, I wrote about the stress of applying for the renewal of my NSERC Discovery grant and assured all of our regular readers that I would report back to you once the results of the competition were in. I said that the tri-councils remind me of Fluffy, from Harry Potter … you know, a […]

References play a crucial role at all stages of your academic career. They will be considered in your application for a PhD program, in applications for doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships, and in academic job applications. (The role they play in a non-academic job search may be very different.) Obviously you want referees who will say […]

As long as job search books advise job seekers to sell themselves, job seekers will struggle where to draw the line between honesty and embellishment. Jo VanEvery neatly addresses the topic of honesty on CVs. In particular, she points out the danger of falsely implying that publications are peer reviewed, or that articles have been accepted […]

Usually I try to find the humour in my academic experiences, but today isn’t one of those days. Today I am talking about plagiarism, and there isn’t one thing that’s funny about that. I am still shocked that I must deal with plagiarism at the graduate school level. I have put in place a number […]

Recently seen on Twitter… Question for my Followers: Should job talks be listed on your CV as “Invited Lectures.” I say “no”. Others say “yes”. What do you think? — Stephen T Casper (@TheNeuroTimes) March 6, 2012 The following day, a similar tweet Protip: if it’s submitted, under consideration, or revised and resubmitted IT’S NOT […]

Liz Koblyk describes how one female academic managed to have children while completing her PhD.

Academic advisers (supervisors) and graduate students have different goals for the student’s graduate school careers. While students may be focused on completing a degree and gaining enough knowledge and experience that they can get a job, most advisers expect that at least one of the benefits of supervising students is the opportunity to publish more […]

Stress is inversely related to the amount of control you have over your situation. The job search process can be highly stressful because so many things are out of your control: whether a job in your field will be advertised what the competition for that job is like how the decision to hire is made […]

In most things you do, you get to see progress. You start painting a wall and, an hour later, you can see that you’ve put in an hour’s work, and that less work remains because of your efforts. You incorporate feedback from a reviewer when strengthening an article for publication and, sure enough, you end […]

I have to admit that I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. I swear, I didn’t forget to write this blog post… which is due in 10 minutes, so technically, it’s not late yet. It’s just that I am writing this big grant proposal, and I’m working on the animal ethics for said proposal, and […]

Your CV (or résumé) details past employment, past education, and any other relevant experience. Ideally it indicates your achievements. All of that is organized so that it is easy for a potential employer to find the information they need to determine if you have the necessary skills and knowledge to do the job they need […]

Before moving on from the topic of awkward moments in networking, I want to address one final, painful topic. So far, I’ve looked at situations controlled by the networker. What happens, though, if you run into someone with whom you suspect you have burned a bridge? That question came up in a workshop, in which a […]

I have a confession to make. It’s a bit embarrassing. But here goes…. I have 18 graduate students. If you’re wondering whether that’s an unusually high number for one prof, you’re right… it is. I hardly know how it happened. It was just bit by bit … I’d get a great idea for a project, […]

Welcome back. All of us here at the Careers Café hope that you had a joyful and relaxing holiday season. We’re gearing up to provide more advice and support for your career in 2012. One of the things that is so attractive about an academic career is the job security. If you secure a tenure-track […]

In my mission to abolish networking awkwardness, I’ve written about reaching out to potential future colleagues and following up with new contacts. Getting back in touch with people from your past can be tricky, too.  Most of my clients have had at least one valued mentor with whom they’ve lost contact. By “lost contact,” I mean […]