Career Lingo: “Ability to Teach the Following …”

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Career Lingo: “Ability to Teach the Following …” August 24, 2015 Image: Men reading the want advertisements for jobs, Melinda Street, Toronto, Canada, 1919, by William James (City of Toronto Archives) Academic job ads are not Rubik’s cubes. They often don’t yield enough information for you to “solve” them -- that is, to know exactly what the hiring department means or wants. It helps, however, to be aware of how common jargon found in those ads can vary in meaning. Hence this series on career lingo. So far we’ve talked about the meaning of: “degree completed by,” “in a related field,” “required” versus “preferred” qualifications, “we will begin reviewing applications by,” and “the search committee.” Now let’s turn to a specific request that, as always, contains more nuance than you would imagine upon initial reading. Here are some factors to consider when responding to an ad that asks about your “ability to teach.” (more…)...
Read More

Career Lingo: ‘Required’ versus ‘Preferred

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Career Lingo: ‘Required’ versus ‘Preferred’ January 6, 2015 Image: Men reading the want advertisements for jobs, Melinda Street, Toronto, Canada, 1919, by William James (City of Toronto Archives) Academic fields are renowned for their jargon -- terms and concepts common among students and scholars in an area of specialization but unknown to outsiders. An aeronautical engineer might refer to a “coffin corner,” a communication researcher to the “spiral of silence,” or a molecular biologist to a “knockout mouse” with their colleagues knowing exactly what they mean without explanation. Academe has another layer of jargon for people navigating its career ladder. From graduate school to job hunting to the tenure track and beyond, there is a host of terms that are crucial to understand. The problems for newcomers in deciphering them are: Keywords are often used loosely and may mean more than one thing depending on the situation, context, or audience. Many of the people using the terms have little experience with all their behind-the-scenes facets and applications. Career-related...
Read More

Know the Vital Players in Your Career: You

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
David D. Perlmutter. “Know the Vital Players in Your Career: You.” Chronicle of Higher Education, August 14, 2014.   Know the Vital Players in Your Career: You Few people can sabotage your career better than you can Creative Commons By David D. Perlmutter In more than 20 years of working in academe, I have seen innumerable people sabotage their own careers through terrible mistakes. A bad outcome is sometimes due to chance or forces beyond your control, but the single most important factor determining whether you achieve your career goals, including tenure and promotion, is you. Of course you do not stand alone: In a series of columns I’ve identified the people who play critical roles in your academic career: the department chair, the head of the P&T committee, the faculty factions, the senior campus administrators, the external evaluators, the university P&T committee, and your graduate-school or tenure-track peers. Now let us turn the spotlight inward to look at the thinking and attitudes that can inhibit your success or lead to career catastrophe. It’s not just a matter of staying positive. In...
Read More