University Affairs

I’ve had a few PhDs ask me about the advisability of posting their CV on the web as a passive form of marketing or networking.

This is a relatively common practice. Most Google searches for specific research topics will unearth a few random CVs.

However, I personally would not post my CV on its own online — for example, on my own personal website — because in so doing, I would be providing contact information and other details about my professional life to all and sundry — that can’t be a good idea these days, surely.

Moreover, without any form of context or framing to give my CV relevance, I can’t help but wonder who would find it, and of those who did, who would care? Yeah, someone stumbling across it might see something of interest to their research, but in a knowledge-based economy, we have moved beyond the message-in-a-bottle approach to networking.

For instance, I’ve been recently introduced to LinkedIn — a social networking site focused exclusively on professional networking. You can meet people in academe — or any other field — through people you already know. Their contacts become your contacts through referral, just like in the real world. This would be a good way to find out what it’s like to work in a particular university by asking people who work there. Or you could scope out a conference before deciding to submit a paper by connecting with previous attendees. There is a Learning Centre and a blog on the LinkedIn site to help you become more comfortable and strategic using this tool.

I also just came across Cestagi.com, which markets itself as a “collaborative platform” facilitating interdisciplinary research in the field of sciences, engineering and technology. It even provides a way of posting and updating your CV. I haven’t posted anything on this site, not being in those fields, but McAfee Site Advisor didn’t find any problems with the site when it checked into it.

The advantage both these sites offer over merely posting a CV online is that they provide a purposeful context; this frames the information you post about yourself, making it easier for potential colleagues to find you. There is still nothing stopping creepy people from lurking, but how likely are they to prey on a bunch of academics? The bigger problem would be spammers — anytime you post on the net, you open yourself up to that intrusion — and you will have to decide whether or not the aggravation is worth the benefits. These sites are also a relatively low-risk way for you to find colleagues in your field who could make the challenge of starting in an academic or non-academic career just a little less difficult.

If you find a site that facilitates social networking in your field, be sure to comment about it below so that others in your field can get connected. That’s the crux of social networking: It’s a two way street where what you get out of it is proportional to what you put into it.

‘Tis recruitment season, and with the economy leveling out after the plunge, and all indicators suggesting a bullish 2010, employers are loosening their purse strings for new hires.

If you are graduating from a master’s or doctoral program this year, and aren’t too interested in spending anymore time in academe (I know you’re reading this!), then there are a few opportunities you might want to take a closer look at. As they cross my desk I’ll post them to make them easier to find.

Remember, it’s the bigger, national organizations that have recruitment ’seasons’ where they hire a lot of entry level people all at once. Most employers in Canada have under 50 employees, so they hire throughout the year as people leave, get promoted, or new projects open up.

Bank of Canada – Offers full-time positions to graduates who would be interested in conducting leading-edge research at Canada’s central bank and, in so doing, contribute to the economic and financial well-being of the country. The Bank will be hiring graduates in economics and finance at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels.

The application deadlines are:

October 7^th, 2009 – bachelor’s graduates,
October 13^th 2009 – master’s graduates, and
November 15^th 2009 – doctoral graduates

Students can apply online and find more information about the Bank on their website at http://www.bankofcanada.ca/.

More details are available through the following links:

* Information about the Bank’s priorities and work environment
http:// http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/hr/great.html

* Highlights of our compensation package
http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/hr/compensation.html

Don’t forget, whether you are looking for a faculty position, or an academic administrative position (e.g. Dean, Provost) you can sign up for your own personal Job Alert through University Affairs. This is the easy way to make sure you don’t miss out on any opportunities because you just got too swamped to keep checking the postings.

Transitioning out of academe can be a culture shock when you’re used to the ideological norms of higher ed. I was reminded of this when I was reviewing Dan Schwabel’s megahit in the field of recruitment: Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success. Don’t know about you, but titles like that make me cringe on so many levels. The problem is, once you get past his unabashed embrace of commercialism and egocentricity, at the core of his book is something of relevance to academics.

Schwabel is the boy-genius behind the “personal branding” phenomenon (yuck) that is sweeping HR departments and across the continent. He describes this unfortunate phrase as:

[T]he process by which individuals and entrepreneurs differentiate themselves and stand out from a crowd by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition, whether professional or personal, and then leverage it across platforms with a consistent message and image to achieve a specific goal. In this way, individuals can enhance their recognition as experts in their field, establish reputation and credibility advance their careers, and build self-confidence (his italics, Me 2.0, p. 4).

As much as I thought I would be writing this guy off, he makes many really good points that are uncannily applicable to the academic job market. I thought that right now, on the cusp of the 09-10 academic recruitment season, would be a good time to translate his suggestions into something of relevance to those of you getting ready to mail out application packages.

First, differentiate yourself – you  will be competing against people with very similar backgrounds to yourself, give or take a conference paper or publication. In order to be short-listed, and invited in for a job talk which gives you a chance to really shine, you need to strategically define yourself as a (wait for it) intellectual and pedagogical “product.” What is it about your teaching, your research, your participation within the university community that makes you unique? Schwabel calls this your value proposition – it’s that thing that assures you that you’d be a really good professor.

Second, enhance your reputation and credibility as an expert. Well, if there’s one thing you’ve been trained to do it’s this. Incidentally, if you ever leave academe, your strength in this area, even if it feels more façade than fact, will  help you to achieve the first point of differentiating yourself.

This somewhat tautological concept becomes less so when we apply Schwabel’s third suggestion: keep it real. Ok, he uses the word “authentic,” but that word is now so clichéd it’s unusable in most conversations. If you are honest and clear to both yourself and your search committees about your strengths and skills; if you are strategic about where you would be most valued, even in a tight job market, you are much more likely to find doors opening – both inside and outside academe.

Although the term “personal branding” may make you shudder, try to get past the unsavory connotations and see where it could be useful in your job search.

If you want to hear more about what Schwabel has to say about it you can visit his blog or watch his presentation.