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  • The Career Coach Is In: Call For Questions

    By Megan Pincus Kajitani June 15, 2008 8:38 pm

    When we started the Mama, PhD blog, coeditors Caroline Grant and Elrena Evans really wanted to have a career advice component – a place where our readers could ask your burning career-related questions and get support in your transitions and challenges. Thus, my Monday “The Career Coach Is In” Q&A was born. As the newness of our blog wears off, and the school year winds down, the individual email questions I’ve received has diminished.

    So, I wanted to use today’s column to solicit more questions from readers – to ask you to let me know what’s on your mind career-wise. Are you in the throes of a decision? Stuck in your job search? Or, if you don’t have a specific, situational question, are there career topics you would like to see me cover here?

    I'll throw out some topics that came up often from graduate students in my career counseling office at UC-San Diego, and I hope you will let me know if you want to see any of these issues addressed here:

    1. Converting a CV to a Resume (or Improving a CV)
    2. Informational Interviewing and “Networking”
    3. Being Pregnant on the Job Market
    4. Figuring Out the Best Career Fit
    5. Talking With An Academic Advisor About Career Issues
    6. Redefining Success and Failure
    7. Writing Great Cover Letters
    8. Interviewing (Presenting Oneself in Career Transition, Especially)
    9. Researching Alternative Career Possibilities
    10. Discussing a Career Transition with Family Members/Partners
    11. Academic Culture/Career Issues (e.g., professionalizing and covering one’s career bases in a one-track academic culture)
    12. Handling the Stress of Career Transition/Job Search

    If any of these topics strike a chord with you, or if you have other topics you’d like to see, please drop me a line at mamaphd@insidehighered.com, and let’s see if I can help.

    Also, I can interview individuals (particularly mamas, if you’d like) who have successfully transitioned from academia to careers outside of the tenure-track (or out and back in), and share their stories with you here as well. Please let me know if this interests you, and if you have any particular career fields or other specifics in mind.

    I hope you will add your input and join the conversation. I look forward to hearing from you.

    Wishing You Your Own Vision Of Success,

    Megan

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Comments on The Career Coach Is In: Call For Questions

  • another topic - mentoring
  • Posted by Katie on June 16, 2008 at 8:10am EDT

  • I would add another important topic - finding an appropriate mentor. My women peers in my Ph.D. program - mommies and non-mommies alike - and I have frequently discussed the (a) joy of finding a woman established in our field at our university who serves either formally but more often informally as a trusted friend and mentor as we navigate the world of academia or (b) the unexpected and crushing disappointment at having to navigate gender politics with an established woman in the field who sees the more family-friendly policies some women take advantage of now that were not available during their graduate school/early faculty experiences as a "gimme" that discredits the path of those who use them.

    It seems to me that much more explicit discussion of these issues in the corporate realm has taken place; I think it is worthy of discussion from an academic perspective, one that has ramifications especially for retaining women in academic careers.

  • Posted by Physiology PhD Mama on June 16, 2008 at 1:00pm EDT

  • Although I don't personally need help with this topic, the two body problem might be one to discuss.

  • Posted by Elizabeth on June 16, 2008 at 2:50pm EDT

  • Yes! Please talk about pregnancy on the job market, plus going in and out of academia (esp. for humanities PhDs). The two body problem is tough, too, but there is plenty of conventional wisdom out there. I haven't seen much that's helpful about pregnancy in any pre-tenure phase. Thanks!

  • MAKING THE RETRO LEAP!
  • Posted by Shari Pobjecky at Capella University on June 17, 2008 at 11:55am EDT

  • Over a decade ago, I was a single mom, going to graduate school and working full time - but I made a successful transition from teaching to the business world.

    Now, I'm cycling back.

    As a doctoral student and university employee, I am interested in the demographic trends that say there will be an almost 30% increase in the need for faculty in higher education. I will be moving from sales into the online classroom by 2010, just about the time things start heating up.

    Or are they already heating up?

  • "Two body problem" report
  • Posted by Michelle Cale , Associate Director at Clayman Institute, Stanford on June 19, 2008 at 3:25pm EDT

  • For the person who suggested the two-body problem: our research institute will be published a report called "Dual-Career Academic Couples Hiring: What Universities Need to Know" towards the end of July. You'll be able to download it from our website, http://gender.stanford.edu at no charge. This report is based on a survey of 9,000+ faculty across the U.S.

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