“I purchased the Campus Visit and Interview Intervention webinars and both certainly prepared me to provide concise, sophisticated answers. My campus visit went so well and it was the preparation, as you well know, that set me up for success.” ~ webinar participant
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Currently Scheduled Webinars
YES! All participants get access to a recording – even if you don’t attend the live event! This recording comes 24 hours after the live event. Just be sure and complete the full registration process on Zoom. And then check your spam and Promotions if you don’t see the email.
**To purchase the RECORDINGS of previous webinars, please visit the On Demand Courses page. **
FALL 2023 WEBINARS
In most fields of the humanities and social sciences, a sole-authored monograph is the primary criterion for tenure. Getting your book done in time for tenure review is the leading source of stress for new assistant professors. You can do it, but it takes advance planning and organization. In this 90 minute webinar I walk you through the basic timeline for getting it done in time. We will cover the following:
conceptualizing your dissertation as a book
getting leave time to write
coordinating publication timeline and tenure review
writing a proposal
submitting your proposal
approaching editors
choosing a press
getting an advance contract
understanding royalties
knowing what to publish as journal articles
setting up a writing schedule
dealing with positive and negative reviews
revising
indexing, copy-editing and cover art
As always there will be time for Q and A at the end. All who register receive access to a downloadable recording of the webinar for one week, even if you can’t attend the live event.
Avoid unnecessary anguish and stress by understanding the process and planning ahead.
Tuesday Sept 26, 6:30 PM Eastern
$50

In this 90-minute webinar Karen Kelsky shows you how to interview effectively for an academic job. She covers the major questions asked most often, and their unspoken agendas. She discusses the most common errors made by candidates, and how to organize and deliver concise, content-rich, non-desperate responses.
She will provide templates for responses to basic questions about your dissertation/current research, publishing, teaching, and fit, and abundant examples of both effective and ineffective answers from actual client interviews.
In addition, we confront illegal/inappropriate questions, micro-aggressions, and the all important issue of overcoming Imposter Syndrome, and communicating confidence through verbal and non-verbal modes. And she spares a few words for what to wear and how to manage your zoom settings.
This webinar covers the same content, and addresses the same questions, as the live Skype Interview Intervention service ($250); it is an immediately available and cost-effective way to learn what to expect and how to prepare for all forms of academic job interview. Some clients do the webinar as preparation for a live Skype Intervention, if there are slots available.
As always there will be plenty of time for Q and A at the end.
You have access to a recording of the event afterward for one week, even if you can’t attend the live event.
Thursday October 5, 6 PM EST
Cost: $50
Tactics for Using Linkedin To Get Your Post-Academic Job
With Dr. Matthew Nestler
October 12, Time TBA

Many Ph.D.s are confused about how to apply for postdocs in the humanities and social sciences. Is it like applying for a job? Should I apply for them before applying for jobs? When should I apply and how long am I eligible? If I only have to teach one course, how should I discuss my teaching? What am I supposed to produce while I’m in the postdoc, and how fast?
This webinar addresses these questions and more. It builds on the material covered in the blog post, The Postdoc App: How It’s Different and Why. We’ll discuss:
Why social science and humanities postdoctoral programs exist
When to apply
Reading postdoc agendas and missions
Understanding the ethos of a postdoctoral scholar on campus
Composing an effective postdoc cover letter
The elements of a postdoc research proposal
Addressing teaching in a postdoc context
Relating your work to the campus
Understanding the timeline of productivity
Includes 30 minutes of Q and A at the end. All who register get access to the recording for one week, even if you can’t attend the live event.
(Please note that this webinar is not suitable for STEM scholars seeking postdoctoral positions in labs.)
Tuesday Oct 19 at 6 PM EST
Cost: $50
In this 90 minute webinar I walk you through the basic expectations and potential pitfalls of the dreaded Campus Visit (sometimes called a Fly-Out) in a pandemic. We will cover all of the core elements, adjusted for our new Zoom reality, including:
- The three key criteria at play in a campus visit
- The single biggest pitfall for candidates
- The basic organization of an online campus visit
- The initial arrangements and scheduling
- Preparing for the visit
- Meetings with faculty, Head, Dean, and graduate students
- The formal interview with the Search Committee
- The job talk and Q and A
- The teaching demo
- Handling meals gracefully
- Maintaining your stamina
- Evaluating campus climate
- Microaggressions and red flags
- Managing the zoom call, inc what to wear suggestions
As always there will be time for Q and A at the end. You will have access to a recording of the webinar 24 hours after the event good for one week, even if you can’t attend the live event.
Campus visits are hard, in some ways even more so on zoom. A little advance knowledge will save a world of hurt!
Thursday November 2, 6 PM EST
Cost: $50
Since COVID, academic hiring and higher ed budgets have imploded. Everyone, even the tenured, need to contemplate Plan B income streams. This webinar will show you how to prepare for the non-academic job search, whether you’re still in graduate school, adjuncting, or well into the academic career. We begin with the emotional struggle of letting go of the dream of the tenure track, and the social and academic challenges involved in the transition. We’ll contextualize all of this within the COVID19 pandemic and economic fallout.
Then, we’ll look at the process of re-evaluation away from a single-minded focus on the tenure track. We confront the incorrect belief held by many Ph.D.s (especially in the arts and humanities) that you don’t have any skills for non-academic jobs. You have a multitude of skills; you just haven’t learned to identify and mobilize them for jobs outside the academy. This webinar gives you the tools.
We’ll cover:
- COVID19 impacts on the job market
- Confronting grief, sorrow, anger, and loss
- Why the non-academic job search matters
- What’s in a name? Post-ac, non-ac, alt-ac, out-ac, and Real-Ac
- How do I tell my advisor?
- Obstacles to imagining a non-academic career
- Identifying your translatable skills
- Managing the all-important “keywords”
- Tips for the non-academic cover letter and resume
- Common pitfalls and challenges for the Ph.D. job seeker in the “real world”
- Job-search strategies that work
- Resources for the job seeker
This workshop is appropriate for anyone on the Ph.D. track–from early/mid-stage graduate students to ABDs, new Ph.D.s, and postdocs, instructors, and those already mid-career. It’s also good for any advisors who wish to learn more about advising for the non-academic career. Includes time for Q and A.
All participants get access to the recording of this webinar for one week, even if you can’t attend the live event.
Thursday November 16, 6 PM EST
SPECIAL REDUCED RATE: $40
“If you can only conceive of yourself as a professor, then you have condemned your labor to the mercy and whims of others”*.
I am so excited to share this knowledge with you! I want you to understand that you, yes you, are already entrepeneurial and can DO this! You can start a small business–it’s possible.
In this newly expanded two hour interactive webinar, I’ll walk you through the basics of starting your own small business. We’ll talk about ways to re-cast yourself from academic to business owner, and the psychological obstacles to the transition, and then the nuts and bolts of setting up a business–from a website to invoicing to advertising. Particular focus on using a website/social media/newsletter for marketing. This new, longer version includes content from 20+ other scholars who have made their own small biz transition, and many other updates/additional content, including the shame/shaming around business that permeates the academy and how to identify and overcome it. We end with amazing inspirational stories.
I. Updated: Getting Used To the Idea
- The fear, pain and grief of the post-ac transition
- The post-COVID economy
- What is entrepreneurialism?
- Academia, dependency, and risk aversion
- Imagining your niche
- Skills vs. outcomes
II. New: Shame and Shaming
- How and why academics “despise” business
- What that judgment conceals
- How to identify that shame in yourself
- How to overcome shame
III. Updated: The Nuts and Bolts
- Steps to starting a small business
- Concept –> Brand –> Name
- Unique Value Proposition
- Creating a simple website/blog
- Establishing credibility
- Setting rates and policies
- Simple ecommerce resources
- Show me the $: Invoicing
IV. Updated: Finding Your Market
- Getting and keeping clients/customers
- Firing clients
- SEO and basic internet marketing
- Blog vs. newsletter
- Using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other Social Media
V. Updated: Growing The Business
- Overcoming the fear of self-promotion
- Money: not the enemy
- Being your own boss
VI. New: How COVID Changed the Way We Work
VII. New: Inspirational Stories!
As always, time for Q and A at the end. All who register get access to the recording for one week, even if you can’t attend live.
You will get the recording whether or not you attend the live event.
This two-hour webinar has been enlarged and expanded to provide even more intensive advice, include advice shared by 20 other scholars who have made the small-biz transition.
[*Nate Kreuter, PhD, in Inside Higher Ed, 2016]
Thursday November 30, 6 PM EST
$100
In this webinar we will delve into the challenges of the all-important job talk, newly updated for Zoom realities.
I will explain the role of the job talk in the campus visit (it’s the single most important element) , and what it is meant to show about you as a candidate (it’s not what you think).
Kel and I together created this webinar because the first drafts of job talks that we see are routinely awful. (And when we were faculty members, in truth, most job talks we heard from candidates were pretty bad.) This is not because your research is poor! It’s because nobody has ever explained to you WHAT a job talk is supposed to accomplish and HOW a job talk is supposed to be organized.
We now understand that most candidates have no idea about the proper ethos and organization of the job talk. They don’t get the “point” of the job talk, what it’s meant to achieve, and then how to achieve that through specific substance and organization.
So I will explain the most common pitfalls of the job talk, which are legion, including:
Excessive lit review (this isn’t your comprehensive exam!)
Forgetting to explain the topic before the analysis
Imbalance of theory and data
Overambitious scope
No clear argument
Overwhelming, illegible powerpoint slides
Managing zoom
And I provide a proven template for job talk structure that will ensure yours showcases your research, engages the audience, and establishes your scholarly profile AND collegiality.
Finally, I will discuss the treacherous Q and A after the talk–what kinds of questions to expect, how to handle the audience, and most importantly, how to handle challenging, critical, or inappropriate questions.
Includes 30 minutes of Q and A.
All participants get access to the recording of this webinar for one week, even if you can’t attend the live event.
Thursday Dec 14, 6 PM EST
Cost: $50