Every so often I use a blog post to tell you about things coming up at the Professor Is In. Since we are officially at what feels like the peak-deadline-stress-moment of the 2013 job search, I’m going to do that today. Below, I tell you about a discount on the live Interview Intervention for the month of October, and I tell you about webinars coming up in October, with links to register! Meanwhile, everyone: DON’T PANIC!
Discount on Live Interview Intervention Mock Interviews by Skype!
Interview Intervention slots tend to fill completely for the whole Fall by about mid-October. Get a jump on your interview prep by signing up early. For the month of October only we are offering $50 off of the regular rate of $250 for the Interview Intervention. What is the Interview Intervention, you ask? Interview Intervention is a 50-minute intensive mock-interview, on Skype with either me or Kellee Weinhold. We put you through a mock interview, stopping after each question to evaluate every answer for its strengths and weaknesses in terms of brevity, spin, word choice, tone, body language, etc., and refining it for effectiveness. For some basic questions, you may repeat your response 2-3 times until perfect. It’s grueling, but very effective. We ask you to provide 5 questions that are distinct to your work/the job/the campus you’re interviewing with and/or that reflect issues you’re particularly worried about addressing effectively. We add those to the basic arsenal of interview questions (several of these are described in my blog post, The Facepalm Fails of the Academic Interview). The job-conversion rate of II clients has been nothing short of remarkable (check out testimonials about it on the Testimonials page of the website). Use this link to schedule, and be sure and click on the “Interview Intervention”, even though the price is listed here as $250. After registering, you will be billed at the October rate of $200.
Check out these testimonials!
“Today’s Interview Intervention Session with Kellee was fun! I bet you don’t hear that often, but Kellee is a national treasure. While I had memorized answers to the questions and could anticipate answers to the standards (and even provided an answer for a question about teaching trend, ask Kellee about that one), she was able to pick out what my problem is. It is my delivery of the answers NOT that I don’t know what my answers are or that I’m clueless about things and teaching and stuff. But it is in HOW one presents their whole persona. I’m working on that even with friends. My speech patterns are throwing people off and I’m over-compensating. But Kellee was kind to me and made me step back to present the information differently…and it was vastly improved. Instead of this session being about “the right answers” or “getting it perfect for a unknown search committee” the session turned out to be a conversation about how to take the interview to the next level. And it is not about getting all the information into that one answer polished, it’s about presenting yourself effectively. And if need be, fake it to make it.”
“Karen’s “Interview Intervention” was a tremendous help. I didn’t know many people who had had conference interviews and didn’t know what to think about them. The mock interview with Karen was crucial to building my confidence. She called me out on being “manic” and overly excited in my answers. She helped me calm down, prepare responses, and be ready for what was, for me, the most nerve-racking part of the process.”
” The Interview Intervention with Kellee was eye-opening. I thought that after doing the Interview Intervention Webinar the Skype would be a piece of cake, but Kellee noted my responses were coming across as long-winded and unclear and she helped me hone my responses so they came out clear and focused. I walked into my interviews confident having prepped for questions; I was surprised that the vast majority of the questions I received were covered by Karen and Kellee. In the end, I ended up getting two offers and used Karen’s negotiation assistance to negotiate a $4K higher salary than I was initially offered.”
New Webinars For October
(All webinars at 2 PM Pacific/5 PM EST/22:00 GMT. $100)
“How To Write Your Academic Job Application, Part I–Cover Letter and CV”- next Thursday 10/3
In this 90-minute webinar we examine two of the four primary documents in an academic job application–the cover letter and cv. I explain the role of each of these in presenting your profile, and the relative importance of each in the deliberations of the search committee. I then give recommendations for the most effective content, organization, and tone of each of these documents, with examples. I also show the most common mistakes made by job applicants, and the errors of thinking that lie behind these mistakes, and the ways to correct them. The focus here is both on specific techniques of writing and self-presentation, but also on the unspoken principles and biases that govern tenure-track hiring.
There will be 30 minutes of Q and A at the end.
“How to Write Your Academic Job Application, Part II–Teaching Statement and Research Statement”- Thursday 10/10
In this 90-minute webinar we examine two of the four primary documents in an academic job application–the teaching statement and research statement. I explain the role of each of these in presenting your profile, and the relative importance of each in the deliberations of the search committee. I then give recommendations for the most effective content, organization, and tone of each of these documents, with examples. I also show the most common mistakes made by job applicants, and the errors of thinking that lie behind these mistakes, and the ways to correct them. The focus here is both on specific techniques of writing and self-presentation, but also on the unspoken principles and biases that govern tenure-track hiring.
There will be 30 minutes of Q and A at the end.
“Surviving Your First Year on the Tenure Track” – Wednesday 10/16
In this 90-minute webinar I walk you through the biggest challenges of the first year on the tenure track. Topics we cover include
Dealing with new colleagues
Handling department politics
Finding mentors
Establishing a classroom persona
Learning to say no to service
Establishing a conference schedule
Protecting your writing time (and mental health!)
Most importantly, I walk you through the planning that you need to do, from year one, to situate yourself for your eventual tenure case.
This webinar is based on the advising meetings I used to have as Department Head with my first year assistant professors. They all got tenure. It’s fun, but hard core!
This webinar complements the blog post, Advice For Your First Year on the Tenure Track, but focuses more directly on hands-on recommendations for learning when and how to say no, making choices about time-management, laying the groundwork for your tenure case, and staying sane.
Includes abundant time for Q and A with Dr. Karen.
“Interview Intervention Webinar” – Thursday 10/24
In this 90-minute Webinar I teach you how to interview effectively for an academic job. We cover the most important elements of the interview, the most common errors made by candidates, and the most effective modes of organizing your responses to the major questions. As always, I provide templates for you to use in planning your responses, and abundant examples of both bad and good answers.
I also cover how best to prepare for interviews, whether they are by skype or phone, at the conference, or at a campus visit.
Special tips for the dreaded Skype interview included.
Naturally we’ll touch on how to dress for the interview, and the all important issue of body language as well.
As always there will be plenty of time for Q and A at the end.
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