Advice for the job search

Before I begin this post, I want to clarify that I did not come up with these bits of advice myself; rather, this is a collection of words of wisdom that I have received from professors/mentors/coworkers over the past few months.  Recording these tips here is just as beneficial for me as it is for potential readers =)

1)  Start early.
Although we do not graduate until May, nearly everyone I've spoken to about careers in higher education emphasizes that beginning one's search early is the key to securing a job not too long after graduation.  To avoid confusion, I have been stating in the beginning of my cover letter that I will not be available to start working until late May.  However, a common start date for jobs in higher education is July 1st, the start of the new fiscal year.

2)  Be flexible.
One mentor told me that for your first job after graduate school, "You can choose the location, or you can choose the exact type of job, but it's difficult to choose both."  Given my experience and current education level, I think it's important to just get some professional experience at this point.  I really want to stay in the Philadelphia area though, so I've been seeking out specific schools and looking at jobs in both admissions and event-coordination.

3)  Don't be afraid to negotiate a salary.
One of my professors talked to us about this earlier today.  She said that the concept of negotiating a salary may seem taboo, even though many jobs provide a salary range rather than a set dollar amount.  My professor encouraged us to leverage our skills and education to try to negotiate the best possible situation.  A classmate who works in the Career Services office at Penn added that referencing data about average starting salaries in a certain field is also helpful.  

4)  Networking is key.
Another professor shared with my class that 80% of today's hires are a result of some form of networking.  Especially for recent graduates, networking seems very intimidating.  I enjoy talking with people, but navigating how to work in the fact that you are looking for a job can be difficult.  One thing that I have realized is that networking does not have to be akin to "schmoozing"; it can just be mentioning that you are on the job market and maybe contacting the person a few weeks later to ask about potential openings at their institution/department.  

I hope these tips are helpful!  I'll add some more as I receive/think of them.  Have a great week, everyone!

Comps, job-seeking, and Ed.D. weekend

Happy Friday!  Hope everyone enjoyed their snow day yesterday (which was most of the East Coast, it seems).  It was nice to catch up on some reading and apply for jobs.  It's difficult to know exactly when to start applying considering we wouldn't be able to start until the end of May, but there are some positions that are looking for a later start date.  It would be amazing to have a job lined up at graduation, but I don't think that's feasible considering the hiring timeline for most Higher Ed jobs (people who are leaving tend to do so at the end of the school year, so a lot of job openings are posted in the summer).  This year went by SO quickly.  This time last year, I came to visit Penn during my spring break from teaching in Miami, and I remember the current students saying that the Higher Ed program flies by since it's only two semesters.  I believed them, but this takes on a whole new meaning when you experience it for yourself!

Speaking of graduation, next weekend is our comprehensive exam for Higher Ed Master's students.  Eeeekk.  What this means is that at 9AM on Friday, we get an email with two essay questions, and then we have the weekend to write a 2,000-word response.  Even though the actual paper is short, this exam is high-stakes since passing it is required for graduation.  We are also allowed to draw upon materials from our courses, but we have to do some outside research as well.  Needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to this being over!

This weekend is our second doctoral weekend, but this time for Ed.D. applicants.  The events will be the same as those that I blogged about last week.  I'm looking forward to meeting some new people and eating delicious food! =)

Ph.D. weekend

This past weekend was extremely busy but also a lot of fun.  It was Ph.D. weekend, where GSE brings its top applicants to campus to find out more about the school and its programs.  We had applicants fly from as far away as Asia to visit Penn, so we wanted to make sure that they had the best time possible.  There were a lot of dinners, programs, and activities over the weekend, and myself and the other GAs had the opportunity to help with all of these.  Rather than describing everything, I decided to use pictures to illustrate the weekend.  

This is the Penn Museum, an on-campus venue where we held a dinner and reception on Saturday night.  The Ph.D. applicants as well as GSE faculty and staff had a busy day, so we wanted to plan a relaxing and enjoyable evening for them.

This is the room in which we held the dinner and reception.  Since the Penn Museum focuses on Archaeology and Anthropology, this room had an Egyptian theme and featured artifacts and paintings around the space where we had dinner.  It was really interesting!

A hallway of paintings in the Penn Museum.

The string quartet who performed at the event.  They played both modern and classical music, which was really cool!

 I shamelessly took pictures of my food the whole time.  Our first course was Caesar salad.

I ordered the filet for dinner...it's not often that us grad students get to eat steak!

Dessert!!

Myself (middle) with Amanda and Wesley, my co-GAs in the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid.

Myself, Amanda, and Joe (also a GA) at dinner.

The lighting was dim in the room where we held the reception, but this was a group picture of our table!  From left to right:  Jesse (GA), Monica (GA), Natalie (Director of Admissions and Financial Aid), Lauren (Assistant Director of Admissions and Financial Aid), Joe (GA), Amanda (GA), and myself.  Wesley took this photo (thanks Wesley!).

On Sunday morning, we had breakfast at a restaurant downtown that was attached to the hotel where the applicants were staying.  At this point I was feeling a little under the weather due to lack of sleep, so this was my morning "cocktail" (Emergen-C Vitamin C powder mixed with water)!

At breakfast we had 4 current Ph.D. students form a "New to Philly" panel, during which they answered questions about moving to and living in Philadelphia.  They did an amazing job!  They all made us laugh as well as provided so much helpful information (I've only lived here since August, so I learned a lot from them too!).  From right to left:  Demetri, Cecilia, Kelsey, and Jinsol.

After breakfast, we took the applicants on a tour of historic Philadelphia.  Our tour guide was wonderful--he used to be an 8th grade U.S. History teacher and is also a native Philadelphian, so he had a wealth of knowledge about Philadelphia history.  This photo in front of the Liberty Bell is of myself, Andrea, and Jesse, two of our GAs.

So those pictures pretty accurately sum up the weekend!  Last but not least, I wanted to give a huge shout-out to Lauren, our Assistant Director, for planning the whole weekend so successfully.  Everything went very smoothly due to her diligence and careful planning!