Career Change for Academics

Here’s a really interesting look at the potential for individually-tailored freedom to learn within higher education in the future.

Stanford 2025

At first, it looks like a self-serving description of how good Stanford thinks it is now, but then it switches gears and describes an experimental look at what higher education COULD be, after an imaginary “major paradigm shift that ‘happened’ around 2025.” And, it invites us to look at the imaginary future of higher education in the year 2100.

At the bottom of the page, you can choose “a future to explore,” beginning with any of the following segments, Open Loop University, Paced Education, Axis Flip, Purpose Learning, or Design A Future.

Each of the first four describes a utopian segment of an entire system that rights so many of the parts of the system that are wrong for our current socio-economic system, with its embedded system of education, in lock step with the past.  Read it and ask, along with me, “Why not do this NOW?”

The last-mentioned segment, Design a Future, gives you the chance to do just that. You have three sections to begin forming your own ideas: first, for reflection; second, for imagining; and third, for trying out activities and suggestions to get started.

Try it – it’s a wonderful opportunity to loosen our unthinking adherence to the cultural patterns that tend to trap us with in-the-box thinking – by simply asking “Why?” and “Why NOT?”

Resources on Networking for Academics

http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media/Files/Reports/2013/Social%20Networking%202013_PDF.pdf  Pew Report on Networking, 2013
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/03/07/millennials-in-adulthood/  Pew 2014 Millennials now 18-32
http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/sep/26/academic-conference-five-tips-research useful article on networking at a conference

Note that, while I use Skype often, this article is compiled also from the advice and experience in many articles listed in Google searches for “Skype interviews.” I also asked for (and got wonderful) help from colleagues in a LinkedIn discussion group.

Video interviews (Skype, Google Hangouts, etc.) are very different from traditional face-to-face interviews, and, if you’re new at this, be ready for considerable preparation. Trying to “wing it” in a video interview just makes it easier to be shot down.

In addition to the usual interview preparation research (on your strengths and skills, the organization and the job, and how well they match) plus practicing verbally, video interviews include the obvious technical differences. But more important and less obvious is your “on-screen presentation,” redundant backups, behind-the-scenes organization and advance preparation.

More organizations are becoming more comfortable with video interviews, and some of my colleagues are reporting more job offers coming after the video-only interview. For cross-country interviews, video interviews are far less expensive than airplane tickets.

Also, more organizations are adopting what almost amounts to video applications, when you may be sent to a website that will give you specific questions to answer, while you are being videoed in an interview format. It means that you can make the video any time of the day or night (within the deadline given) and interviewers can watch your “canned” video any time.

I see the main areas of preparation for a Skype falling into six areas: First Impressions/Presentation, Appearance, Location/Lighting, Organizing for the Interview, Potential Technical Glitches and Practice, Practice, Practice

First Impressions and Presentation

Although the fears most interviewees have of Skype interviews revolve around an unfamiliar technology, the failures most interviewers mention relate to the so-called “soft” skills: etiquette, appearance, unconscious behaviors, and lack of preparation. Some of it is caused by nervousness, but most is easily cured by practice with friends.

The first impression you give fixes your image as a professional. It begins with your Skype name. If it is along the lines of stud4you or sweetiegal, change it or begin a new Skype account for the professional you. (You already know that your online other profiles should be consistent in projecting the same professional image, too, right?)

Be prepared to introduce yourself and be sure to know the interviewer’s name. If you have multiple interviewers and you haven’t “met” them before, write down their names. Address them individually when you have questions, and realize that you may find yourself carrying on several different conversations simultaneously.

If you don’t know already, ask how much time they have scheduled for the call. Most interviews won’t exceed an hour, but exceptions happen, especially with academics, and it will be useful for you to know their time limits.

Eye contact remains critically important in video interviews (although there may be cultural differences). Remember that “maintaining eye contact” means that you’ll be looking at the webcam lens, not the video image of the interviewer, which may be in a lower corner of your screen.

If you can drag the interviewer’s image to the top of the screen just below the webcam lens, it will be much easier to give the interviewer the impression of eye contact. If it doesn’t drag, you can make it easier for yourself to remember to look at the camera by taping a photo of a smiling friend near the webcam, perhaps even with a hole cut in it for the webcam lens to show through it. As you look at the photo of your friend (preferably smiling), you’ll find it much easier to feel that you’re speaking directly to another human (and the interviewer will feel that you are talking directly to him/her).

Smiling and focusing on the speaker (behind that lens) also will make you look much more confident and positive. Get a feel for the mood/energy of your interviewer and engage them – respond to an upbeat mood with your own, and slow down or speed up if you find yourself talking much faster or slower than your interviewer.

If you anticipate being nervous, spend a few minutes before the call smiling into a mirror, or watch a few cat videos to help you relax and actually laugh. The smile on your face will come through in your voice, too. To raise your nonverbal confidence (especially if you are female, watch this TED talk of Amy Cuddy (http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are) and try the power pose before your interview.

Be especially aware of smiling occasionally during the interview because a solemn you may appear stiff and ultra-serious – or dull. Interviewers need to see your enthusiasm for them and the position. (If it’s your first interview by video, don’t be afraid to mention it. Most will be sympathetic, it will help break the ice, and you’ll be more comfortable.)

Respond verbally and nod occasionally as the interviewer speaks, to confirm to her/him that you are able to hear and are listening. Remember that they may have distractions in their office, and may not have as much interest in you as you in them. If you sense that you have lost their interest, ask a question and engage with the interviewer.

Relating to all the above points, be nice, be courteous, and show your interest in them as individuals. You want to like/respect them, and them to like/respect you, at least enough to want to work together. They will be looking at you, wondering if you will fit in, and be good for the team already in place. They’ll be wondering if your style is compatible with theirs. Finally, assume that the interviewer wants to hire you. It will keep your attitude positive and you will give off a more positive impression than if you respond defensively.

Your body language may be distracting or may reflect well on you. Sit up straight, but find a comfortable position, lest you look like you’re sitting on nails. If your hands are not visible to interviewers on the screen, and you gesture with your hands, interviewers will see them flitting in and out of the screen area and be distracted. (Some advisors recommend that you position yourself so your hands are visible at all times, and others recommend that you lean in to the webcam so that you become a talking head, so your facial expressions are more visible. Choose one format, practice, and stick with it.)

While a transmission delay may be caused by technical issues (discussed later in this article), it may cause you or interviewers to speak over one another. You may need to slow down and be sure their sentence has ended before you speak. Simply adjust your speaking speed and don’t let it make you nervous.

If technical issues keep you from hearing or being heard, suggest stopping the call and call back to try for a better connection. If so, you’ll appear confident, technically competent and you’ll give the impression that you know what you’re doing. (Plus, it might work.)

Appearance

Dressing for an interview to look the part of an employee of the organization is important in face-to-face interviews, but video introduces a few complications. Because non-verbal communication is a huge percentage of our total communication, your “appearance” becomes more important when “on camera.”

Be aware that some colors and assertive patterns, especially stripes, don’t show up well on screen, and some become overly bright and “clash” electronically. Beyond noting that blues usually show up well, I’ll suggest that you experiment if you like bright colors.

What you wear also may depend on what you know about the organization and the job you want. Your earlier research on company culture should give you clues for preparation, but this is more difficult to do at a distance. One young woman did well in a screening telephone interview (for a position as a worldwide tour guide). For the next interview which, which was by video, she took special care with her hair, make up and attire. She did not get the job, and found out later that the interviewer couldn’t imagine her guiding tourists through jungles wearing makeup, a suit and heels.

In any case, you’ll want to appear well-groomed – and comfortable with yourself. Record some trial runs with video and revise to improve your appearance. A male student recorded a test interview and discovered that one piece of flyaway hair stuck straight up on the top of his head like a unicorn. (He changed his hairstyle.)

Too many interviewees have been caught on camera, looking fine above the waist, but wearing pajama bottoms (or less) below that. Don’t take the chance. Dress completely and professionally, to fit the organization’s style. Recruiters have reported video interviewees wearing sweats, looking like they had just rolled out of bed. Pretend you’re dressing for a 9am weekday, even if the interview is 5am or 9pm in your time zone.

Location/Lighting

If you have quiet office space at home, this is probably your best choice of location. Clean/declutter the space and prepare for the visit as if the interviewer were actually coming to you. Your surroundings should reflect your professionalism. Your background gives an unconscious view of you, and can be a distraction if it is “busy” – full of small objects (stuffed bookshelves, wall hangings, etc.).

You can choose the view they have of you, so look at what is behind you as you sit at the webcam, and consider the impression your space will give of your organizational abilities and your personal life. (If it’s a dorm room, remove the teddy bears and beer bottles.) One woman who was a candidate for a retail position in a home décor store was asked in the interview to pick up the webcam and pan the room, which happened to be her dorm room. She did not get the position.

Also, be aware of the angle of the screen if you’re using a laptop. If the angle is too great, the webcam lens will give the interviewer a great view up your nostrils, with the ceiling behind your head. To avoid that, prop the laptop on something so the lens is roughly level with your eyes.

If you have a roommate or family in the vicinity, be sure they understand how important it is to you to have no noise or distraction during the interview. You should be the only living being in the room (no pets, children or other distractions). Put a note on the door to fend off unexpected visitors and deliveries. If you can, disable the ringer on a land line phone and silence the cell phone and computer notification sounds.

Lighting is critical, so the interviewer can see the expressions on your face. You might place your computer/webcam in front of a window so you are in natural light (but not full, bright sunlight, or you may be blinded yourself). A very bright light behind you will cause your face to be shadowed. It may help to position two desk lamps on either side of the webcam, or one above it, focused on your face.

Because this isn’t a friendly chat, avoid having a cup of coffee with you, but you may want a glass of water (not a bottle) at arm’s length, in case your mouth gets dry, or you begin to cough. (Consider the interviewer watching your Adam’s apple slide up and down when you chug a bottle of water on screen. Don’t try to turn away – you’ll just give them a side or back view.) Dry mouth and coughing are actually common until you’re comfortable with video interviews, similar to making presentations to large audiences.

Organize for the Interview

Logistics are your responsibility – be sure you translate their time zone correctly into yours, and be aware that your own geographic zone may not correlate with national time zones. (Even if a miscommunication is their fault, you’ll be the loser.)

Keep paper and pens handy to take notes. You may want to record the conversation, too. If you can avoid beating yourself too much for any small missteps, you can learn from the recording and improve your next Skype interview.

It is perfectly ok to have notes in front of you. You’d even take a resume to a face-to-face interview, perhaps along with questions to ask and points you want to mention. While you can put sticky notes around the screen, which the interviewer can’t see, the interviewer can see your furtive eye movements, when you look away from the lens to focus on the notes, so be sure your notes are easy to read (using an extra-large font), perhaps even within your peripheral vision. Or, you may want to spread your notes on the desk in front of you, and actually be seen picking up the page, as you say something like, “I do have a couple of questions relating to this. Would now be a good time to ask?”

Even though you can be comfortable having notes in front of you, be so familiar with what you want to get across that the notes are merely reminders. If you’re too dependent on the notes, or have to read them, you’ll introduce awkward pauses while the interviewer waits for you to find what you want to say.

Potental Technical Glitches

Skype (and other systems of video interviews) are still fraught with potential technical problems. Even if “everything always works” for you in the system you use, it may not at interview time. So, get used to the idea that “something” may happen, and be prepared for the worst. Most important, don’t sweat it – and don’t let it rattle you if it happens. Most interviewers have experienced all of the technical glitches that can happen, so they won’t be angry with you because of it – unless you are clearly unprepared to deal with it.

In fact, if a technical glitch does happen, and you show that you are prepared and help them overcome the situation, you will create a positive impression with the interviewer, who will see you as a competent problem-solver.

Be sure to contact the interviewer well before the interview and know exactly how the video connection is going to be made (which system you’ll be using and who initiates the connection). Also, get a phone number where you could reach them in case the video connection drops. Be sure that they have a phone number for you at the location you’re interviewing (cell and/or land line). If it’s a cell phone, be sure the reception is good there, and be sure your cell phone and/or cordless phone batteries are fully charged. (At my building, some cell phones don’t get reception in the basement offices.) If the video were to fail irretrievably, and you end up on the phone with the interviewer, offer to connect again, or to continue the interview by phone. Treat it as a problem-solving exercise and rise to the occasion.

Use the highest-speed Internet connection you can get, but try to avoid WIFI, especially on your computer’s battery power. As wonderful as it is when it works, WIFI is still a little quirky, and there are many connections that could fail (the router, the receiver, your ISP, and traffic overloads could slow it). If possible, use a cable connection and use the WIFI as the backup, or less desirable, reverse that. Keep your computer plugged in to electricity. Slow connections can cause audio/video lag or drop the video.

If you’ve had tech problems in practice sessions, tell the interviewer and explain what you’ll do (phone back, try a different connection, etc.). Or, if you’ve were previously unable to get a phone number where you can reach the interviewer during the interview, get it before you begin the interview. Even if the session is technically perfect, you’ll gain points for preparation and competence.

Test your internet connection and computer more than once, using the video system you’ll be using. Take care in learning how the audio, microphone and volume settings have to be set for Skype, especially if you’ve had to change any of those items recently. Headphones give better sound than laptop speakers, but note that the internal settings for audio may be different for headphones vs speakers, and having both turned on can cause electronic feedback. If you plan to get headphones, try to find a set with a mute button and USB connection. Don’t worry that you may look dorky if you’re wearing headphones; you’re just being professional.

Close the other programs in your computer, to give all its resources to the video process, especially if it has limited memory.

When the unexpected happens, you have a chance to shine – if you are prepared, as was the woman who told me this story. “I dropped a glass of wine on my laptop the night before. I thought I had it dried out and I tested it thoroughly. As the computer heated up during my interview, the wine must have gotten wet and sticky and computer completely died forever. Luckily, I had my iPad ready to go as back up and my phone to back up that so I barely missed a beat. It actually launched a great discussion about how people in our field always have to have a back-up. (I didn’t tell them I spilled wine on my laptop, though.)”

Practice, Practice, Practice

Practice makes you comfortable with the whole process. Practice includes doing your research on the organization and having the questions you want to ask or discuss

Your first few video Skype calls are likely to feel awkward, especially if you have to retrain yourself to watch the camera and not the screen. Play around with everything beforehand so that when it’s interview time, you can shine without being distracted by the process or the technology.

On occasion, you’ll have more than one interviewer at the other end. Because the situation can be daunting, try to do at least one trial interview with multiple interviewers to see what that feels like and to get a chance to practice dealing with more than one interviewer at a time. Remaining calm with multiple interviewers is a skill and practice will perfect it.

Doing multiple trial interviews with friends before your interview is even scheduled is critical. Ask for their honest feedback and record the calls. You need to know their impression of you, your appearance and behavior. Ask them about the quality of the video and the elements I’ve mentioned above – the lighting, the sound, any distractions or noise. Be sure to have a list of questions for them to ask you and get feedback on your manner and your facial expressions. Do you appear enthusiastic, yet professional? Is your voice clear and easily understood? Are you smiling enough? Too much? Ask them to pay particular attention to your facial expression and general appearance, and analyze the recording yourself to fine-tune your appearance and behavior.

Here is a wonderful example that shows the importance of feedback, practice, and planning. The result was a great story of a learning curve in action.

“My daughter saw that Skype was on my office computer so she called me from her dorm room. Thankfully, when I answered the call there was no one in the office with me because there she was sitting in a towel calling from her dorm room. We talked about the inappropriateness of her attire even when calling mom. Later that semester she had an opportunity to study abroad with a genetics lab and her interview was through Skype. She made these adjustments:

1. She confirmed the time and date of the call because it was being held from Australia.
2. She checked her computer system and audio to make sure she would have the best chance of being received clearly. She also made sure she had alternative phone numbers and emails in case they should be cut off.
3. She positioned her computer facing a blank wall so there would be no distractions behind her.
4. She spoke with her roommate about the call, the importance of the call, and hung a sign on the door to alert any unscheduled visitors.
5. She dressed as if she were going to a face to face interview from head to toe.
6. She made sure she had a pad and pen handy to take notes, copy of her resume, and study abroad material.
7. She made notes ahead of time and hung those notes out of Skype view, but in her view so that she could continue to maintain eye contact while speaking and be informative with important dates.
She did get the job. She was later told how impressed they were with her professional presence and how prepared she was during the interview.”

Before you end the call, it is a good idea to ask about the next step in the hiring process, and when can you expect to hear back from them? If you’ve had more than one interviewer, be sure you’re clear on the person you should contact if you have questions.

Don’t forget to thank your interviewers, first at the end of the call, and again, by email very soon after the interview. (If you’ve had multiple interviewers, send a note to each one of them. Yes, it may take some effort if you have to go find their emails, but you’re creative and energetic, so you can do it.)

In most cases, this interview will lead to face-to-face interviews, although one counselor has been seeing some job offers arrive after the video interview, and she expects the trend will continue. Another suggests that there can be danger in accepting an offer without having seen the environment ( or meeting the people) where you would be working.

More important than the title on your degree…

Ask yourself  “What skills have I gained?” and then focus on the skills you most want to use.

Historians have a wide range of transferable skills, 99% of which are marketable. The skills gained in the study of history are almost always more useful to non-academic employers than the disciplinary knowledge gained within the discipline.

If you can articulate the skills that most motivate you (often called your Strengths), you’ll be able to demonstrate your value to many employers (including those beyond traditional academe). Here are some examples, and following that list are some other resources that may open new avenues of career potential.

• Capacity for solving problems and thinking objectively, yet creatively
• Ability to grasp and explain various factors that may be affecting the actions of groups and/or individuals in complex social organizations
• Research skills of many kinds, at multiple levels of detail, including the ability to find, investigate and asses the value of the material found, and also including the generation of ideas and formal argument, based on the evidence found and conclusions drawn
• Organizational skills, supported by logic and internal coherence
• Intellectual rigor in research, critical reasoning and analysis, extending into the ability to understand and analyze issues and events, and to explain how succeeding events have been affected
• Communication, particularly the ability to explain complex ideas clearly, in both verbal and written format, also including the ability to communicate research findings clearly and persuasively
• Ability to approach problems and issues with an open mind
• Ability to work independently, to manage one’s time and projects, based on frequently changing priorities
• Ability to work in groups, to engage in discussion of ideas, to negotiate, question and summarize the elements of emerging issues
• AND MANY, MANY MORE

Other resources and ideas

The Many Careers of History PhDs: A Study of Job Outcomes, Spring 2013 – A report to the American Historical Association (by Maren Wood and Robert B. Townsend)  Careers in and beyond the Professoriate   Evidence of Change in the Job Market   Field Specializations Mark Significant Differences   Key Differences between Programs   Patterns by Gender and by Mobility   Conclusion

Susan Basalla May interviews Abby Markoe, who left grad school to pursue a  career that began as a hobby/sport. (Note that Susan Basalla May is the author, with Maggie Debelius, of “‘So What Are You Going to Do With That?’: Finding Careers Outside Academia,” now in a revised and updated edition, University of Chicago Press.)

Fascinating article describes how a doctoral candidate’s research edges into the “digital humanities,” and how it can open up the traditional avenues of historical research. Kristina Neumann, a doctoral candidate in the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Classics, says, “I’m trying to help historians think outside the box.” (She had created her own database from published excavation reports and lists of coin hoards, and imported it to Google Earth. The visual results are intellectually stunning.)

Dr. Robert F Pace, Prof of History, McMurry Univerisity, answers the ultimate question of “what can I do with a degree in history?” with the answer,” Anything you want.” He describes a sampling of possible opportunities and mentions some of the traits those employers want in their employees. Dr. Pace’s homepage

Extensive list of organizations that have indicated a general interest in recruiting students majoring in history. Also offers a list of job titles held by history grads, useful for generating ideas, and offers various other websites and lists of career-related information.

Includes some useful description of ways to relate history to other occupations and find combinations that might be of interest to individuals.

While aimed at undergrads, article has a listing of basic skills gained by studying history, and lists common career paths, as well as offering a list of famous Americans who have history degrees.

Here’s a series of articles, based on John Holland’s well-known Theory of Career Choice, which links Personality and Workplace Environment. Be sure to continue your reading on this site, which helps you to identify your career skills and better articulate them.

So you’re a scientist and you say Twitter is totally useless to you?  Look at this article in Mashable – they list “15 Twitter Accounts for Incredible Science Facts.”

http://mashable.com/2013/11/06/twitter-science-facts/?utm_cid=mash-prod-email-topstories&utm_emailalert=daily&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily

Yes, they’re a little more like factoids, but it’s real information, not just folks listing what they had for breakfast, and the folks doing the Twittering are people like Neal deGrasse Tyson, Chris Hadfield, Carl Zimmer, NSF, Bill Nye and the Science Channel. What more could you want for interesting sources – and interesting information?

Books

The Start-Up of You, Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

I’m on LinkedIn – Now What?  Jason Alba

How to REALLY Use LinkedIn  Jan Vermeiren and Bert Verdonck
(free download at http://www.how-to-really-use-linkedin.com/)

LinkedIn Success  Wayne Breithbart

Job Searching With Social Media  Joshua Waldman

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~

Other Resources and Articles About LinkedIn – Online

http://blog.linkedin.com/topic/member-stories/  member success stories using LI

http://learn.linkedin.com/jobseeker/resources.html  information on webinars and videos about LI
http://learn.linkedin.com/jobseeker/faq.html  info on Job Seeker Premium within LI
http://www.linkedinsights.com/
http://help.linkedin.com/app/home

http://corcodilos.com/blog/6547/linkedin-payola-selling-out-employers-and-job-hunters  less-than-totally-flattering blog July 23, 2013 about LI letting applicants “pay” for top listing among candidates = controversy about LI Premium value
http://careerenlightenment.com/missing-manual-linkedin-success   free download from Joshua Waldman’s website
http://mashable.com/2013/08/12/linkedin-college-students/  for undergrads
http://socialtimes.com/the-linkedin-profile-infographic_b97649  infographic on LI usage (5-2013)
http://linkedin.pbworks.com/w/page/17596255/FrontPage#Explore  a wiki loaded with info on LI
http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/network  to get a map of one’s network
http://www.linkedinsights.com/10-common-mistakes-that-will-cause-you-to-fail-on-linkedin-part-1/  good info on LI
http://www.linkedinsights.com/10-common-mistakes-that-will-cause-you-to-fail-on-linkedin-part-1/http://www.linkedinsights.com/10-common-mistakes-that-will-cause-you-to-fail-on-linkedin-part-2/

It was so easy to find grim news on tenure-track jobs for academics in general (not just historians and anthropologists), that I’m going to include links to a few of the best and yet the most depressing articles, just for your night-time reading enjoyment.  (Note that not all are from the immediately recent past; the problems have been building for more than a few days.)

Academics Receiving Government Aid, (2012)
Four Academics on Food Stamps, (2012)
The PhD Now Comes With Food Stamps, (2012)  These three articles in the Chronicle of Higher Ed in May, 2012, spawned a series of articles in other publications, including the Huffington Post, Number of PhD Recipients Using Food Stamps Surged During Recession: Report, (2012) and Adjunct Nation,  When Faculty Can No Longer Teach: PhDs on Foodstamps Center Stage in Academe, (2012)

State Budgeters’ View of Higher Education, (2013) A report from the National Association of State Budget Officers, described in Inside Higher Ed, unsurprisingly finds that many states have cut funding for higher education – more than for prisons and Medicaid, and warns that tuition raises will not be enough to save the institutions.

Is Your College Going Out of Business? (2013)  Mark Cuban’s startling article generated a storm of comment (760 within just a few months), most of whom agreed with him, and while the article spotlights undergrad education, if public research institutions should “go out of business,” grad schools will go with…

A Grim Year on the Academic Job Market for Historians, (2012) from AHA, Perspectives on History (The title of this article, and the sad facts, could be repeated with any number of academic disciplines, mostly humanities and social sciences, but the “harder” sciences are not immune to the threat.)

Here are two more, earlier articles full of devastating statistics, which generated a storm of comments. But not much changed.
The Disappearing Tenure Track Job, (2009), Inside Higher Ed
The Disposable Academic, (2010)  from The Economist

The Chronicle Launches the Adjunct Project, (2013)   The Chronicle of Higher Education recently launched an interesting “Project,” which it terms a “tool.” They began collecting salary data from individuals teaching as adjuncts, and the site now allows a search of adjunct salary data from individual institutions. It also offers advice on working as an adjunct (and teaching).  It may be a little too scary for good bedtime reading.

Actually, most of these articles are a bit too scary for good bedtime reading…

I’ve just discovered LinkedIn’s new blog of networking success stories (only 5 so far), written by members of LinkedIn, who have achieved something desirable while using LinkedIn. Interestingly, only one is a job-getting success.

You can find them all linked above, but in case you don’t have time at the moment…

• One is how a mother (and television producer) was able to find and connect patients and parents of patients with rare diseases and doctors who treat them, and she was able to bring media attention to the problem.
• Another is how an author got a book contract with a major publisher, by connecting with the publsher’s rep.
• Another is how an unemployed undergrad landed several job offers, including her dream job.
• Another is how the Board of a non-prof filled its membership by searching LinkedIn for the kind of people (qualified and local) they wanted to participate with them on the Board.
• The last one is how it happened that an American science writer was invited to Rome to report on a little-known-in-America award for the sciences and humanities (because the awards committee searched for an American to offer the expense-paid trip).

The authors tell their stories here, and how they did it, or how it happened for them. I encourage you to read these stories and take heart. In the spirit of  “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus….” –  Yes, you can do this too.

Some Tips:

Recognize that you have a much greater chance of being found if you have completed your profile, and if you demonstrate that you are worth being found (and contacted).  I don’t mean that you have to be a super-guru in your field, but you do have to show that you’re involved in your work, that you have a genuine interest/knowledge in it, and that you are “approachable.”

Have contact information on your profile.

Remember that networking can include giving as well as getting. Only some of the authors above were searching for success, or trying to make something happen for themselves.  Some of them were found because someone else was searching for them, and some of them were doing something altruistic.

It seems most fitting to end with a quote, the last sentences in the first story —-

“You can find almost anyone on LinkedIn. A great question to ask when you get connected with someone on LinkedIn is: What can I do to help you?” – quote by Cari Levy

More of my colleagues are noticing the new feature on LinkedIn, called Endorsements, which began appearing as an option in September of this year.  By now, a good amount of air (and electronic words) have been used in discussing it.  Most of us either love it or hate it, and apparently LinkedIn plans to keep it.  Here’s a fairly balanced article on it from Forbes, that includes a number of useful tips on actually using it.

I suggest that you read the article and consider your options, especially that of selecting your skills and listing at least ten?

Can I further suggest that you list what we might call your “motivated skills”?  They’re  the ones you prefer using, not the ones you have to struggle to make yourself get started on doing.

That way, you’ll be suggesting to readers of your profile (including recruiters), that they keep you in mind when they are looking for someone to help with the particular skills that you most enjoy and will probably continue improving.

You do not want to list skills that you struggled to learn in grad school, that you did to pass the course or write the thesis, and would have to re-learn before you could use that skill at an employer’s level of expectation.

Just thought I’d throw in a note about the Kindle mania that is at least temporarily causing some authors to lower their book prices – and you don’t even have to have a Kindle to save money.

For example, all of Martin Yate’s Knock ‘Em Dead series of career books (on job search, resumes, cover letters, etc.) have now been made available on Kindle, and they’re on sale at Amazon for $1.99 each – but only until December 15 (five more days from now).  That’s not a bad price for the books that are normally priced around $10 each for paperbacks.

You can find the Kindle versions of Yate’s books here, and you can find all the versions here.

If you want to download Kindle’s software to read on your PC, try this link. (I actually prefer to read nonfiction on my larger PC screen.)