The Early Career Blog

Dr Steve Joy We don't like networking. You know what I'm talking about. Those people with a loose rein on their narcissism, who oil their way around a room, talking about themselves & how great they are, schmoozing everyone including the invited star professor (how did they get to speak to her, by the way?). It's a self-important, self-promoting way to behave - too smooth, too corporate, not academic. But what's good is that researchers don't need to do it, because, in higher education, it's all about the quality of the publications & a little about the teaching. The best researchers are always & only the ones who get the jobs. Right? No prizes for guessing that I jest. We all need to do networking, whatever our walk of professional life. Just look at the incredible success of LinkedIn (more than 225 million users) and, closer to home, of the Careers Service's GradLink  interface. It works. People find opportunities to forge personal connectio...

Dr Steve Joy I've had some requests for guidance on how to approach an individual or organisation on a speculative basis, particularly when looking to get some non-academic work experience. Below are some pointers - your starter for ten, if you will - but remember that you can book an appointment with me at any time to discuss this & other issues related to your next career step. 1.  It's not really about you. Counter-intuitive? Not necessarily. In writing or in conversation, don't begin by narrating for the employer what you've done in your career, what you want to do in your career, what you would like to get out of a work placement with them, what you are prepared to do, and whatever else you want to say about you. You'll have lost or, worse, alienated your audience before giving them any motivation to be interested in you. 2. It's not really about you, but it is all about them . Don't forget that you are asking people to do something for yo...

Dr Steve Joy It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a postdoc applying for an academic position must have a long list of ‘research interests’. Or so it seems to me, because I have noticed this scourge an awful lot in recent months. That is, cover letters which begin with long lists of interests that are all-too-vanilla and unconvincing: “My research interests include Thomas Mann, German Modernist literature, psychoanalysis, queer theory and performativity, the senses, the body, chocolate ice cream, Western phonocentrism, and Barbra Streisand.” And consider for a moment the thought, called forth by the menacing presence of the verb ‘include’, that these nine interests are only a select list. Hydra-like, there's no cutting them back. Admittedly, the above list is partly a joke (my attempts to work Barbra into my research never came off), but it mimics a type of phrase that I have very commonly found in the opening paragraph of researchers’ cover letters. And that's befo...