Friday, June 8, 2018

Hired Education: Career Advice from Someone who Doesn't Know What She's Doing

I have only been a Masters graduate for about a month now, but I began that soul-sucking, hair-tearing, and other-cliché-causing process of job searching since March. It made the emotional roller coaster of grad school seem like nothing--in any given week, I went from excited, to nervous, to despairing, to hopeful, to hopeless, to eating a tub of ice cream. I was so sure I wouldn't find a job remotely related to my field, I applied and interviewed for a vet assistant job at an animal hospital I'm pretty sure was a "forced positivity" cult.

Others told me, "you will find a job. Trust me, you will." I did not trust them. Instead, I looked up things such as "how to be homeless," and "should I sell my soul to the sciences?" But today, I'm going to show up in your Internet-space uninvited to tell you why you should trust those people who are saying those things, as well as give you some unsolicited advice about landing said job.

Because nothing says "obnoxious blogger" quite like a list, am I right?

1) Start early.
This is essentially my mantra for everything in life, but it's especially important in regards to the job search. I didn't start looking at job postings until I was actively applying. When I looked at the CSU administrative jobs page, I realized that while the job descriptions fit my career goals nicely, I was missing a lot of the preferred (and sometimes required) skill sets. Had I looked at the jobs page a semester or year earlier, I could have started building those skills. Granted, you never know what jobs will be available at the time of your search, but I've noticed that many of the administrative jobs I applied to required similar skills and experiences.

I will say, however, that I started making connections early, and that is a hugely important step, even if it doesn't land you a job right away. For instance, having gained a preliminary interest in instructional design, I met with an instructional designer early on to discuss career options. She appreciated being able to help a fellow Rhet/Comper, and, almost poetically, that job opened up a month before graduation.

2) Don't despair: ditch the "worst case scenario" mindset.
I have a habit of conjuring up the worst possible outcomes in my mind (not the aforementioned "how to be homeless" Google search). But you will drive yourself mad if you maintain this idea that your degree and life amounted to nothing, and you might as well live in a cave.

I once received advice from a professor who said that "when you're feeling worthless, look at your life as a data set. Take your life experiences and résumé as evidence that counters the hypothesis that you're not good enough." Then he went on to tell me I wasn't good enough, but that's beside the point.

You have a degree. You have unique qualities and experiences that you can bring to a job. And if your dream job committee doesn't hire you, someone else will. It just takes time. Which brings me to my next point.

3) Be patient (and do not, for the love of everything good in this world, compare with your colleagues).
It's easy to deem the academic calendar as the norm. Things happen far in advance in academia--I knew that I would be heading to grad school in August by the start of April. But even if you're applying to academic jobs, the timeline is much tighter (and can also change).

I applied for a teaching job at CSU in February, and got rejected in May. Then, just yesterday, something changed, and I was offered some sections. I remember, after applying to 30+ jobs, despairing that I wasn't even getting interviews, only to get interviews two months later. Recognize that hiring committees have hundreds of applications to wade through, and just because you aren't hearing anything within two weeks, doesn't mean you're automatically rejected.

It also means that just because your colleague was offered a full-time job before you, that doesn't mean you will never get a full-time job for as long as you live.

4) In order to have a realistic timeline, keep a spreadsheet.

As much as I'm obsessed with organization, it's not in my nature to keep a spreadsheet. But once my partner was all, "hey, you should probably keep a spreadsheet," it changed my life completely. I had a visual representation of when I applied, when I should follow up, and what my follow up status was. I was able to create a system in which I would follow up after two weeks so I wouldn't have to play any guessing games.


5) Be prepared--but not too prepared.
This is a tricky one. I don't need to tell people who go on for advanced degrees to be prepared--for many of us, research is more akin to an obsession than an obligation. When I started interviewing, I had a tendency to be over-prepared, for fear of freezing up during a question (especially during phone interviews, which are quite possibly the most dreadful experience ever). What I realized, though, is that by getting to the interview stage, I had already established that I was qualified and knowledgable. What the committee wants to know is if you are a person that could see themselves working with. I initially had an air of desperation and "yes ma'am, no ma'am." It's not cute in dating, and it's no more successful in job interviews.

When I interviewed for the job I eventually accepted, I was so exhausted, I thought, "I'll just go for it and be myself." I still prepared, but left room for me to just...talk. I made jokes, talked about this blog, and called my former supervisor a superhero. I was, like, a person in the world with a personality. And apparently that worked in my favor. 

And, always remember that this too shall pass. 


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