Author: Jennifer Polk
-
Transition Q & A: Jo VanEvery
Jo VanEvery earned her PhD in sociology from the University of Essex. She’s now an independent academic coach and research facilitator. Find her online at JoVanEvery.ca and follow her @JoVanEvery. What did you hope for in terms of employment as you completed your PhD? When I completed my PhD, I did what seemed to be…
-
Elevator pitch
My coaching class homework from last week was to come up with elevator pitches for possible coaching niches. It’s a great assignment, because it really forces us to zoom in on what exactly we’d like to do, and what we think we can do! I decided to focus on “career changers,” a niche that would…
-
Working on it
My life’s changed a great deal over the past year. In mid-June 2012 I received my diploma, my PhD in history from the University of Toronto. It was a big moment, getting that piece of paper. I’d been through some less-than-pleasant administrative experiences, and did not fully trust that I would actually graduate. So even…
-
Transition Q & A: Kyla Reid
Kyla Reid earned her PhD in philosophy from the University of Sydney. She’s currently a research facilitator in the Faculty of Public Affairs at Carleton University. Follow her @kylareid. What did you hope for in terms of employment as you completed your PhD? To be completely honest, I wanted a job, of any kind. In…
-
Chris Peterson: “And then the rest of my life began”
Like many academics, I spent my young adult years postponing many of the small things that I knew would make me happy, including reading novels for pleasure, learning to cook, taking a photography class, and joining a gym. I would do all of these things when I had time—when I finished school, when I had…
-
Signature strengths
I’ve been reading positive psychology books the past couple of months. I love the focus on helping people improve their lives, and agree that a happy life is a personally fulfilling life. One of the exercises offered up at the Authentic Happiness website is the VIA (Values in Action) Survey of Character Strengths. [Edit, 16…
-
Transition Q & A: Rachel Mueller-Lust
Rachel Mueller-Lust earned her PhD in psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She began her career as assistant professor of psychology at Oberlin College, and is currently owner of Wondrance Weddings & Ceremonies. In between, she held executive positions in media including executive vice president, The Nielsen Company, where she was global business…
-
Transition Q & A: Will Deyamport, III
Will Deyamport, III, earned his Ed.D. in educational leadership from Capella University. He’s an instructional technologist for Hattiesburg Public Schools. Follow him @peoplegogy. What did you hope for in terms of employment as you completed your PhD? Originally, I had hopes of becoming a professor and one day leading a digital learning center or institute at…
-
Training for jobs we won’t get
Today, a year after graduating and with no intention of returning to academia, I found myself at . . . an academic conference! And no, it wasn’t the annual meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, my old summer conference stomping grounds; instead, I was at Worldviews 2013: Global Trends in Media…
-
You’re invited! Post-PhD brainstorming session
What do PhDs most want? How can PhDs be best served? What are PhDs most interested in? What are PhDs biggest strengths? What resources do PhDs have? What helps PhDs achieve their full potential? These questions are purposefully broad. I think they make a good beginning for some brainstorming sessions, conversations, blog posts, and Twitter…