Work Your Career

Loleen Berdahl is Professor at the University of Saskatchewan.Jonathan Malloy is a professor of political science and the Honourable Dick and Ruth Bell Chair in Canadian Parliamentary Democracy at Carleton University.

"Work Your Career is a breath of fresh air, in that it is directed not only at scholars pursuing academic careers but also at those who may be struggling and may face a decision that leads them towards what is often regarded as a non-traditional route outside of academia."- Dana Gold, University of Western Ontario (Canadian Journal of Political Science 1-3)

• Acknowledgments1. Get What You Want from Your PhDIs this book really for me?What should my career goal be?What does "work your career" mean?What career competencies am I building over the course of my doctoral program?Do I really need this book? Won’t my supervisor and program train me to work my career?Why are most PhD programs so focused on academic careers?Why should I listen to you two?Why are you writing this book?2. Select Your Program CarefullyShould I bother reading this chapter if I am already in a PhD program?How do I decide if a PhD is right for me?How do I decide which programs to apply to?What should I put in my application?Should I apply for external funding on my own prior to entering a program?How do I decide which program acceptance to take?What is the difference between a scholarship, teaching assistant (TA), and research assistant (RA) offer?Is there a chance that additional funding opportunities will emerge during the course of my program?What do I do if I have already started my program and see things I could have done differently?So, what should I do?3. Work Your ProgramHow do I select the best courses to advance my future career?What skills will help me excel in my classes?How do I select assignment topics within my classes to advance my future career?Should I pick my dissertation topic and supervisor before I am done my coursework?How do I select a dissertation topic?How do I find a supervisor?How do I know if I should continue my program after finishing the coursework?How much should I fear my comps?How do I prepare for my comps?How do I know if I should continue my program after my comps?How do I write a dissertation proposal?How do I work effectively with my supervisor?How can I progress through my dissertation? (Or, "how will I ever get this done?")How do I know if I should continue my program during the dissertation stage?Can I use a copy editor or a statistical consultant for my work?How do I know when my dissertation is done?What should I expect for the dissertation defence?I am well into my program and didn’t do any of this. What can I do now?So, how can I work my program?4. Go Beyond Your ProgramShouldn’t I focus solely on my program and dissertation?What am I looking to gain from non-program activities?What are the options?How do I determine what is a sound investment of time?My side gig led to a real career opportunity. Should I finish my program?What do I do if I am at the end of my program and didn’t do any of this?How can I make the most of a postdoc position?How do I balance my program and non-program activities?5. Establish Your Funding Track RecordWhat is a funding track record, and why do I want one?When should I start building my funding track record?How do I learn about grant and award opportunities?How do I make my grant application competitive?How do I ask someone else to nominate me for an award?How can I learn grantsmanship from a faculty grant application?What do I do if I am at the end of my program and didn’t do any of this?How do I get comfortable with all of this?6. Build a Strategic Publishing PortfolioDo I really need to publish during my PhD?What should I publish on?Should I publish from my dissertation before I defend it?Should I publish on topics unrelated to my dissertation topic?Where should I publish?Should I pursue scholarly publications if I have no interest in an academic job?Are book chapters or journal articles better?How can I get a journal article published?Should I write a book chapter for an edited book?Should I edit or co-edit a book?Should I coauthor?If I do coauthor, how do I make it work?I am at the end of my program and didn’t do any of this. What do I do?So, bottom line, what should I do about writing and publishing?7. Cultivate a Professional ReputationHow can I cultivate a professional reputation?How can I be productive?How do I communicate professionally?How can I network effectively?How can I use social media effectively?I am at the end of my program and didn’t do any of this. Where do I start?These ideas are interesting, but how do I actually make them work?8. Launch Your CareerDo I need to choose between pursuing a "regular" career or an academic career?What are my career options as a PhD?How do I figure out what I want to do?Once I have an idea of what I want to do, how do I get started?How can I make my application materials more competitive?Who should I list as references?How do I prepare for an interview?What do I do after the interview?I found a great non-academic career. Should I try to keep one foot in the academic door?So, how do I launch my career?9. Approach Academic Jobs StrategicallyHow do I figure out the problem that a particular academic job is seeking to solve?How do I decide if I fit the position enough to apply?How can I make my application materials more competitive?What do I need to consider if I am an "inside candidate"?What do I do after I have applied for a job?I received an invitation for an interview. How do I prepare?I haven’t heard back after my interview. Why is it taking so long?Overall, how should I approach the academic job market?10. Work Your CareerAppendix: Faculty Call to ActionIndex