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3 Strategies to Advance Your Career

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Earlier this summer, the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) hosted a Gender Equity Summit. A session titled “Skills, Strategies, and Lessons on Postdoc Career Advancement” was led by HERC’s own Training and Development Director, Jessica Wise, and featured three speakers. The goals of the session, as described by Wise, were for each attendee to think strategically about their spheres of influence and plan what their careers are going to look like, at the individual, community, and institutional levels.

Here are three strategies to help you advance your career:

1. Claim a professional identity

The first guest speaker was Camille Johnson, Ph.D., the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Success in the College of Social Science at San Jose State University. Johnson had three goals for the audience: to name their contribution and professional identity, to claim their professional identity within an institution, and to use their personal narrative to guide decisions.

Johnson encouraged attendees to claim their expertise early on with the simple phrase “Hi, my name is _____; I am an expert in _______.” She also asked attendees to identify ways that they want new colleagues or a hiring panel to describe them, which is a way of claiming how you want to be perceived, i.e., “I’m the one who is/who does _______.”

Johnson explained that once an identity has been established (I am an expert in _____, and I am the one who does _______, ________, and _______), then it could be used to guide academic activities and behaviors. Being guided by a professional identity also increases the resolution of activities or opportunities that should be avoided. In other words, if you know what you want to be, then you have a better idea of what not to do and when it is better to say “no”. Postdocs must value themselves and learn to prioritize because time and effort are zero-sum.

2. Networks require intentional cultivation

The second speaker was Claire Horner-Devine, Ph.D., the founder of Counterspace Consulting, LLC. The goals of her session were for attendees to name the role of community in their careers, develop their own growth network maps, and commit to one action to get what they want and need to thrive.

Horner-Devine emphasized that communities are important for personal and professional growth, but there are three key attributes of a successful network. According to Horner-Devine, each person’s network should be you-centered, needs-based, and requires self-agency. She encouraged postdocs to first identify what was missing that they needed (e.g., honest feedback, role modeling, professional development). The next step was to identify who (or what) would fulfill that need and how they would do so. While the strategy behind building this network is similar to that suggested for defining and identifying mentors, not all members of your network need to be mentors! Instead, there may also be peers, coaches, family, friends, training programs, or workshops.

3. Know what you need and what you can compromise on

The third and final speaker was Alicia Simon, the Dual Career Coordinator in the Office of the Provost at the University of Michigan (UM). Dual career couples, those where both partners are academics, face a difficult path to dual employment at a university. In 2018 and 2019 at UM, there were three dual career coordinators handling 242 cases with an average length of 11 months.

While universities want to hire and retain outstanding faculty (especially the opportunity to bring two exciting and talented individuals in a dual career couple), some departments are being asked to consider a dual career candidate they haven’t planned for and may not match their strategic goals. It’s important, then, that the dual career couple has a plan from the start.

The dual career couple should do their homework on each institution and understand the support and resources available. Simon emphasized that the levels of support and resources vary by institution, as do the faculty and/or staff that facilitate dual career support. To make the most of a dual career search, the couple should identify three things that they expect from an institution as well as three things that they are willing to compromise on. Remember to consider both work and life in the community.

Simon says that when the faculty partner (the partner who already has a relationship with an institution) applies for an appointment, the dual career partner should be preparing their application materials for the institution. The faculty partner should ask the search chair or department chair for dual career support as soon as they are comfortable.

Additional resources on dual careers are available from HERC and the University of Michigan.

Each session of the NPA Gender Equity Summit was recorded and is available to watch for free.

About the Author:  Dr. Ada Hagan is a microbiologist with a passion for making science accessible. In 2019, Dr. Hagan founded Alliance SciComm & Consulting, LLC as a means to use her strong background in communications and higher education to help make scientific concepts more easily understood and make the academy more inclusive to future scientists from all backgrounds. Her writing and research have been featured by BBC Radio 4, Science Careers, The Scientist, Massive Science, and the American Society for Microbiology.

Get to Know a Higher Ed Professional: Dr. Carmen Suarez, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

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The “Get to Know a Higher Ed Professional” series features people working in various positions in higher education, to get an inside perspective of what they do and what inspires them.

Dr. Carmen Suarez is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Educational Administration and Higher Education Department of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She served as vice president for global diversity and inclusion at Portland State University and the founding chief diversity officer of the University of Idaho.

What would you say is the main benefit of working in higher education, and the top challenge?

The chance to do extremely meaningful work is super satisfying. We’re all here for the purpose of the students, helping them achieve their goals to the best of our ability, partnering with them, and hopefully meeting them in a way that is one of equity and equality.

Because of my field, the most challenging though is you’re an expert at the table, and you’re telling people how you know things need to be done and they argue and they think they know better. People don’t argue with accountants when they tell you this is how you should do things, but people seem to have many opinions and do not necessarily respect DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] as a profession.

And another challenge is we don’t value education. I find it appalling that we don’t invest in our institutions of higher education. That’s fact, that’s quantitative. You look at the contributions, state and federal, over the years. And we have been greatly hobbled by, not only the lack of financing, but the direction of the financing. We focus on STEM [science, technology, engineering, and maths] rather than STEAM [science, technology, engineering, arts, and maths]. I read some articles recently that in the U.S. we’re actually becoming less inventive and less creative. For over a hundred years, we’ve lead inventiveness. And we’re not anymore.

How did you decide to lead DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] education initiatives?

You don’t wake up one day saying I’m going to work in diversity or I’m going to be an affirmative action officer. I feel like the Forrest Gump of DEI. You know, “I was there when…” Certainly not in that first wave at all of our civil rights pioneers and heroes, you know the Martin Luther Kings and the Cesar Chavezes, but I’m one of the first wave of students to receive what they called then “minority fellowships.”

My experiences growing up led me to this field as well. I remember in third grade when I was first called a Hispanic slur. In addition, I went to a Catholic school in Chicago, we saw those documentaries of the liberation of the Holocaust camps with people looking like little skeletons with tattered clothes. That’s horrible for a child to see, but we learned. We learned that we counter that message of hate with education about what happened. Despite the Holocaust deniers, most of us around the world know it happened, even if memories are fading of the direct view of it, but it becomes a reality. Hate is ever prevalent against those that appear “different.”  Education is a key to counter the continuum of oppression.

Why is this an exciting time for higher ed professionals to consider jobs in DEI?

There are many successes with so many universities now having chief diversity officers and slowly migrating it to a vice chancellor/vice president position. I think that’s all super, super gratifying to see that growth and understanding. Some specific kinds of institutions have done this, but we have 3,200 institutions of higher education in this country, and it needs to happen more. We’re a long way from fully getting that this is real, that it’s concrete. It’s not just values that we’re trying to teach others, this is just survival of higher education to understand diversity. We are a diverse multicultural society. We’re not going back.

The numbers and percentages of the faculty ranks are still just as difficult, as well as in senior staff positions. Look at fundraising, or institutional advancement, look at finance, look at human resources, look at the deans across the country—you pick the title and we’re still dramatically underrepresented. That hasn’t changed, and you look at percentages and the area that’s gone well is community colleges. But we have to ask ourselves, so why do Latinx and Black faculty and staff cluster at community colleges?

We’re in the middle of it right now. In any significant historical time when you’re in the middle of it, it is very hard to work through it and move forward. I am a glass-half-full person. I’ve always been an optimist—the optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. And I think that we will work our way through this but not without a whole lot of pain along the way. The pain is here, more pain to go. But I think that we will work our way through this as we’ve done when we look at all the tragedies of history, we do tend to move forward, we do become much more cognizant.

About the Author: Harold Gutmann is the director of brand and marketing strategy at Santa Clara University. He is a longtime writer and editor who is proud to work in higher education, and encourages all job seekers to consider it.

Write Your Diversity Statement in Four Steps

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The diversity, or inclusion, statement is becoming a staple of the academic job packet. But unless the hiring institution is clear about what they expect, how do you know what to write? And further yet, how do you go about writing it?

A 2018 paper from the University of Michigan described the common elements of diversity statements written for a postdoctoral fellow-to-faculty program. The program informed applicants “that the university was looking for indicators of demonstrated commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion and valued the different ways this might be demonstrated.” Arguably, any department or institution that incorporates the diversity statement into their evaluation of a candidate would have similar expectations.

Below are four steps that you can use to craft a diversity statement. The first three steps will guide the incorporation of three key components to a compelling statement: your background, what drives your commitment to diversity, and how you demonstrate that commitment. The final step provides resources and suggestions to refine your statement for inclusion in your job packet.

1. Provide Your Context

This is where you write your life’s story. Well, part of it anyway. Your experiences, expectations, and identities as a human all influence your perspective on diversity. Furthermore, they are potentially important context for the reader to fully understand your commitment and solutions. Since step four is revision, go ahead and write down any potentially important background information that comes to mind.

There are reasons (e.g., legal, personal, political) why you may not want to reveal all of your identities and there are professionals who advise against it. If that is the case for you, skip over them.

2. Identify Your Diversity Conflict

Why are you committed to diversity? What realization or life experience(s) prompted your commitment? These are the questions that need to be answered during step two. I call this a “diversity conflict” because the answers to these questions are generally the situation(s) where an internal (or external) conflict arose. As an example, my own diversity conflict occurred when research on gender inequity in STEM shattered my long-held belief in meritocracy. Because I have a strong, motivating desire for everything to be fair, the resolution of that internal conflict was a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.

Like in step one, think back and list any personal experiences, or experiences that you witnessed, that prompted a similar internal conflict. Importantly, the conflict(s) need to resolve into your commitment to diversity. If that resolution hasn’t occurred yet (it hadn’t for me!), then I encourage you to use this exercise as a means to identify it for yourself.

3. Demonstrate Your Commitment

How do you demonstrate your commitment to diversity? Many (if not all) of the answers to this question are already at your fingertips, in your CV or resume! List every position you held or project that you worked on (yes, even your research!) that furthered equity and inclusion. Remember, the goal is to demonstrate commitment, so historical (even pre-diversity-conflict) examples are fair game — dig out your old CVs and resumes, too.

Next, think outside the nine to five. In many cases, your personal diversity conflict and resolution also led to changes in your everyday that also demonstrate commitment. For example, did you start a blog or YouTube channel to talk about your diversity conflict (e.g., the challenges of LGBTQA+ life in the rural U.S.)? That’s furthering diversity through outreach.

4. Revise and Refine Your Statement

Now it’s time for the hard part. You need to sort through everything you wrote in steps two and three to find a cohesive message for your diversity statement.

To know what needs to be kept or tossed, first brush up on diversity statement etiquette and revise accordingly. Next, chose your diversity conflict and flesh out the details: what happened, when, where, how did you react, what was your resolution, etc. (Remember, if appropriate, ask permission before sharing another’s experience!) After the conflict has been described in the appropriate detail, go back through the first section to set the appropriate context. Ensure that there is enough detail (but not too much) for your reader to understand the full impact of the conflict for you.

Ideally, the context and conflict will comprise the first half of your statement and the second half will focus on how you demonstrate your commitment to diversity. Be sure that you’ve crafted a logical flow that seamlessly transitions your reader from your background, through your diversity conflict, and the demonstration of your commitment to diversity.

Finally, get several colleagues (from diverse backgrounds) to give your diversity statement a read and incorporate their suggestions as appropriate. By the end, you should have a diversity statement that reflects both your values and your value.

More Diversity Statement Resources:

Vanderbilt Center for Teaching

The Professor Is In: Making Sense of the Diversity Statement

Check out more Top Articles on HERC Jobs.

About the Author:  Dr. Ada Hagan is a microbiologist with a passion for making science accessible. In 2019, Dr. Hagan founded Alliance SciComm & Consulting, LLC as a means to use her strong background in communications and higher education to help make scientific concepts more easily understood and make the academy more inclusive to future scientists from all backgrounds. Her writing and research have been featured by BBC Radio 4, Science Careers, The Scientist, Massive Science, and the American Society for Microbiology.

Defining and Finding Your Mentor(s)

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Mentorship is a multi-faceted relationship with many benefits for the mentee:

This combination of benefits means that mentoring relationships are particularly important for job transitions. While it’s true that advisors may also provide some of these functions, according to Dr. Beronda Montgomery, the key difference between an advisor and a mentor is the specificity of the advice for you. Montgomery is a plant biologist and mentorship expert at Michigan State University. She argues that a mentoring relationship is a bilateral flow of information between the mentor and mentee that allows the mentor to provide advice, sponsorship, and encouragement based on the unique qualifications, attributes, and experiences of their mentee. This is distinct from the role of an advisor, who provides general advice that might suit anybody.

The necessity of bidirectional communication (read: trust) in a mentoring relationship, however, can make these relationships difficult. Furthermore, each phase of an individual’s career is likely to require a different mentor, and “breaking up” with or “retiring” your mentor is tricky business. This is why Montgomery also argues that mentoring relationships should begin with clearly outlined goals and expectations; so that both parties can easily identify when it’s time to move on.

Finding Your Mentor(s)

The likelihood of finding a single mentor that can aid in all facets of your career is unlikely. That’s part of why Montgomery advocates for mentoring networks and the evidence suggests that mentoring networks are particularly important for women.

To identify the types of mentors that you need for your network, Montgomery suggests self-reflection to answer four questions for yourself.

  • What do I need?
  • When do I need it?
  • Where/in what area?
  • Where can I find it?

Once you identify the strategic areas where you need mentoring, it’s time to begin searching for individuals to fill those roles. On campus, look for institution-sponsored mentoring programs, affinity groups, and/or ask people in your existing network for suggestions. You might also consider contacting someone that you don’t already have a connection with to initiate a mentoring relationship. LinkedIn and other social networking sites are good places to look for mentors. Examine the list of people you follow and look for people with knowledge in your strategic area(s) and post things that resonate with you.

Whenever and wherever you find these potential mentors, consider establishing your goals and expectations before approaching them. Montgomery lists four key items to consider when establishing a mentorship.

  • The framework (i.e., the relationship purpose and type)
  • The frequency of interactions
  • Goals of meetings/interactions
  • Expectations

Finally, there are a few other things that you should keep in mind when you reach out to your potential mentor.

  • Be gracious (but you know that one already).
  • Lead with your framework, goals, and expectations; demonstrate the thoughtfulness of your contact.
  • Offer an out. Everyone is busy, so invite your potential mentor to suggest someone else who might better fit your needs and/or schedule.

To learn more about mentorship and how to maintain an established mentoring relationship, check out Montgomery’s “Mentoring Roadmap” and her other thoughts on mentorship.

Read more HERC articles on mentoring.

About the Author:  Dr. Ada Hagan is a microbiologist with a passion for making science accessible. In 2019, Dr. Hagan founded Alliance SciComm & Consulting, LLC as a means to use her strong background in communications and higher education to help make scientific concepts more easily understood and make the academy more inclusive to future scientists from all backgrounds. Her writing and research have been featured by BBC Radio 4, Science Careers, The Scientist, Massive Science, and the American Society for Microbiology.

Use Your LinkedIn Profile to Tell Your Story

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When creating a LinkedIn profile, some people simply copy and paste sections from their resume. Using your resume is a good starting point for your LinkedIn profile, but doing only that doesn’t make use of all the bells and whistles offered by that social media platform.

A resume on its own can be quite flat, with facts and stats about your professional background and experience. With a LinkedIn profile, you have the ability to showcase your work, creativity, and, perhaps most importantly, professional story.

“LinkedIn Rock Your Profile” webinar presenter Bryant Ramirez’s LinkedIn “postcard” (i.e., top portion of a LinkedIn profile)

Focus on these sections of your LinkedIn profile to get noticed by potential employers and your peers.

Profile Photo

A profile photo is a basic element of a LinkedIn profile, but it’s surprising how many people skip uploading one. When people view your profile, being able to see your face shows that you’re a real person, not a fake account. It can also help your connections recognize you, whether you’re trying to add them to your network or if they’re looking for you.

Headline

The second text element of your profile that people will see (the first being your name) is your headline. The default headline on LinkedIn is your most recent job title and company. Since that information appears later in your profile, you should change your headline to communicate something else about you. Your headline could reference aspects of your work that you are most passionate about or your strongest skills or your values/mission statement. Keep it fresh – don’t be afraid to revisit and change your headline every now and then.

Cover Photo

The cover photo is another highly visible part of your LinkedIn profile that many people don’t bother to add. While your profile photo shows who you are, your cover photo is another visual way to demonstrate who you are, what you do, and/or what you’re passionate about. For instance, you could upload a photo of you in action at work, such as giving a lecture, or it could showcase something you produced, like a photo at an event you organized. Instead of a photo, it could be the cover artwork of a report or presentation that you put together.

Experience

Descriptions

In the description sections under “Experience,” it’s easy to stick to the bullet points included in your resume. During the LinkedIn Rock Your Profile webinar hosted by HERC, many participants asked if it was better to use bullet points or prose. Our speaker, Bryant Ramirez, recommended using both, but he emphasized that you can use this space to highlight your story and professional journey.

You can’t tell from those standard resume bulletpoints why someone chose to take that position at that company or what having that position meant to that person. Perhaps it was this person’s dream job since childhood or maybe they had a special connection to the community served by that organization. Share that story as prose, then use bulletpoints to convey your job responsibilities and accomplishments.

Media

Included in the “Experience” part of your LinkedIn profile are places to upload “Media” – work samples or other pieces that illustrate your skills and expertise. Potential employers may not see samples of your work until after your resume reached their radar and you’ve been invited to be interviewed. LinkedIn makes it easy for you to call attention to projects you’ve completed right away. Add media to your profile, whether it’s a report or case study that you wrote or a link to a video or article that you produced or participated in.

Recommendations

References are often requested near the end of the interviewing process and, usually, only final candidates are asked to provide them. If you have some impressive references or you have too many to include on your reference list, ask those connections to post a recommendation on your LinkedIn profile. Their stories about you and your work could make a difference and give a strong first impression to potential employers.

Social media platforms like LinkedIn have changed the way job seekers and employers find and interact with each other. Use their features and tools creatively to stand out and differentiate yourself from other job seekers!

About the Author: Marcia Silva is the director of marketing and communications at the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium. She strives to create engaging, research-informed content that empowers job seekers and employers committed to creating inclusive workplaces. She is passionate about supporting nonprofit organizations in using digital media and technology to encourage participation, build trust, and strengthen communities.

What’s Next? Take Time to Explore Your Career Options

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This article is from the National Postdoctoral Network. Mark your calendars for July 12 & 13! HERC is partnering with the National Postdoctoral Network on its 2021 NPA Gender Equity Summit. The summit will explore issues across the full spectrum of gender, delving into obstacles surrounding gender equality in the postdoctoral community. Over the course of two days, the virtual summit presents a series of interactive, roundtable discussions, meant to further discussions on the importance of gender equity. Registration is free – sign up today!

Career development is an iterative multi-stage process of self-assessment, career exploration, career choice refinement, and finally focused job searching. Career exploration allows you to consider aspects to incorporate into your future career and learn about potential career options to start.

Self-assessment tools take inventory of your skills (things you’re good at), your interests (things you like to do), and your values (job attributes that are important to you) to identify satisfying careers that might be a great fit.

You can also explore by talking to people who are in various careers through informational interviewing and networking, researching different career fields, and trying out careers using a job simulations tool or taking on part-time internships.

Self-Assessment

Self-assessment is important throughout the career process. An initial self-assessment can help you identify and refine your interests, ideal work tasks and environments as well as your work style. Periodic self-assessment can also help guide you in creating your individual development plan and refining your goals as you move through your postdoc.

Some good self-assessment websites oriented toward those with doctoral degrees include myIDP and ImaginePhD. If you are interested in pursuing an academic career, check out the Academic Career Readiness Assessment developed by UCSF.

Informational Interviewing and Networking

Another great strategy is to conduct informational interviews. Informational interviews are informal conversations that help you learn more about what it’s like to work in a particular type of position.

Networking is also a critical part of the career exploration and job search processes. Networking involves creating focused connections within your area of career interests. Networking can serve many purposes, including identifying sources for informational interviews, potential job leads, or potential professional collaborators and mentors. Many people are uncomfortable with the idea of networking, but good networking involves a mutually beneficial connection, and it’s important to remember that you also bring value to the relationship. The Career Center at UC Berkeley has compiled a guide for Informational Interviewing.

Creating and maintaining an up-to-date LinkedIn profile is great way to stay in touch with people you meet. Many recruiters use LinkedIn to search for talent, so having a complete profile is very helpful for the job search.

An important tool during both the networking and interview processes is the elevator pitch. The elevator pitch is a short statement that briefly explains your research and career goals. Developing a succinct and focused statement that can be adapted for different contexts is an art developed with practice. The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) has created a short video that discusses tips for elevator pitches, introductions, and etiquette.

Career Paths and Options, Particularly for Postdocs

There are a variety of career options after the completion of your postdoc. Fortunately, there are resources to help you understand and explore these different paths. Some common paths include research, teaching, administration, policy, communication, consulting, and entrepreneurship. The positions can be in all areas of research enterprise including higher education, other non-profit organizations, industry, government agencies or a business you may start yourself.

Excellent tools include:

You have a huge variety of career options available and this may sometimes feel overwhelming. However, it is important to remember that there are many career resources available to help you with the process. Working with others, whether a career specialist, a mentor, or others via social media, are all great ways to stay focused, receive feedback and feel supported through the process.

This content was adapted with permission from the National Postdoctoral Association’s “A Postdoc’s Guide To Career Development” – access the full guide and other career resources at the NPA’s Postdocs Resource Library.

I Don’t Know How to Talk About Race: How to Prepare Yourself for the Conversation

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A group discussion with focus on a participant's hands

Have you engaged in conversations about race at your workplace? If you think these conversations are hard, you’re not alone. There are many books that focus on how to talk about race. It’s hard to talk about race because we’re coming from different perspectives and using the same words which sometimes have different meanings due to our unique perspectives.

These conversations can be difficult, but are worth it because when done correctly they are eye-opening, productive, and help move the needle to make real change. If you’re looking to have a better experience the next time you have the opportunity to talk about race, it helps to consider the before, during and after of engaging in conversations about race.  For example, the first step is to take some time to prepare yourself by doing some homework. You can prepare to engage in conversations about race by assessing your baseline, building your vocabulary, and otherwise engaging in self-study.

Assess Your Baseline Using Personal Reflection

This process of understanding and talking about race begins by learning where you are on your own journey.  Ask yourself where you are on your journey?  Try to understand how your identity influences you and your outlook on the world. How does this shape your perspective and life? By doing that, you are taking the first steps to course correct or lessen the impact of biases.

If you represent an institution, assess where is the institution in their ability to engage in meaningful conversations about race, and to what end?

Build Your Vocabulary

Be intentional about building your vocabulary. You’ll become aware of other perspectives and approaches to this work. Terms build on and borrow from each other, with bias at the root. We have explicit bias, which is bad, and there’s implicit bias. We can use that foundation to talk about microaggressions and how concepts evolve.

For example, people are reframing the word, “racism.” It’s defined by power and position. Terms like anti-racism are important. We talk about white fragility and why it’s hard for white people to talk about racism. Conversations about race can be ineffective if people are talking about two different topics.

There is an entire iceberg, but you only see the things at the tip of the iceberg. If two people are engaged in a conversation, one of them might only think about individual acts of bigotry. They can’t see the impact from a structural perspective. We must get our words right to move forward, otherwise the conversation will go nowhere fast.

Expand Your Perspective Through Self-Study

Come from a place of humility and clarify throughout the conversation. Ask, “Can you help me understand? Can you share an example of what you mean?” This is not the time for being coy or being afraid to be clear. We need to be clear and concise.

Creating a safe space is ideal but doing so can be difficult without a community of trust. People can act out because they feel afraid and, as a result, conversations won’t happen. It’s important to understand that we all enter the conversation from different points of understanding.

Here are a few resources and existing research to start your self-study:
“Talking About Race” – Tools from the National Museum of African American History & Culture
Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre
National Equity Project

If you’re new to the conversation, keep an open mind and be humble. Share your perspective with others. Don’t wait to become an expert before you say anything. Stepping forward and out is important, and it encourages others to participate.

Ready to Talk

Once you do the work to assess your starting place, learn the vocabulary, and do the research, you’re ready to engage courageously in meaningful dialogue. There’s a historical heaviness that is a part of this process. Your confidence is for the greater good, even if you cannot see it.

Nelson Mandela said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

Your bravery comes as a person who does the right thing, because it’s the right thing to do. You need the resolve that things must change, even if you’re afraid – that’s how you conquer that fear. What concrete actions will you take to prepare yourself?

This post is based on “I Don’t Know How to Talk About That: Preparing for Conversations About Race,” a webinar presented by Crystal Roberts, J.D. Associate Director for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion at Oregon Health & Science University. Connect with Crystal Roberts on LinkedIn.

HERC Teams with NEOED to Explore the Future of Technology in Higher Ed Workforces in New Report

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EL SEGUNDO, CA AND SAN FRANCISCO, CA – NEOED has partnered with the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) to publish, “Modernization, Development & DEI: The Future Role of Workforce Technology in Higher Education.” The report, sourced from a survey of nearly 200 professionals working in higher education at a variety of two-year and four-year institutions, finds that with the end of the pandemic in sight, educational institutions are looking to take the opportunity to disrupt the status quo of recruitment, onboarding, and workforce development.  Download the full report here.

Despite early fears about slashed budgets, 81% of respondents expected to hire at the same rate or even higher for the upcoming year, further demonstrating a need to rapidly scale processes by leaning on technology. 75% of respondents said their upcoming investments in technology would focus on modernizing long-standing, outdated processes that hinder their ability to be agile when it comes to supporting a workforce. 

Among the biggest concerns for respondents were attracting and retaining diverse talent, streamlining the onboarding process by going partially or completely virtual, supporting a combination of on-site and remote employees, and ramping up upskilling and training in anticipation of a wave of retiring baby boomers that will depart with institutional knowledge. 

The survey that the report was based on also asked respondents to weigh in on their institutions’ overall digital maturity and how well their systems worked with one another. 50% of those surveyed said they were currently using a combination of software and paper or manual processes, and 45% stated that their HR software did not meet the needs of both HR and Academic Affairs. Elsewhere, only 12% of respondents felt that their campus’ current candidate screening process was extremely effective. One in ten said that better access to data and analytics in recruiting and the employee lifecycle was a dire need.

To get the full report and see where your institution stands in comparison to your peers, download it here.

ABOUT NEOED: Serving hundreds of educational institutions, NEOED is a leading provider of a comprehensive human capital management solution for education HR, including an applicant tracking system. Designed specifically with educational institutions’ needs in mind, NEOED’s suite of three integrated modules – Recruit, Develop, and Manage – provide a centralized cloud platform for managing the entire employee lifecycle, while maintaining the highest standards of compliance and a special focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. More information at www.neoed.com.

ABOUT THE HIGHER EDUCATION RECRUITMENT CONSORTIUM: The Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) is a nonprofit consortium committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the higher education workforce. With over 700 colleges, universities, hospitals, research labs, government agencies, and related organizations, HERC works to ensure member institutions are sites of belonging, where all faculty and staff can thrive. HERC provides resources, networking, and outreach programs to attract, hire, and retain a diverse and qualified workforce.

CONTACT: John Calderon, NEOED, jcalderon@neoed.com, 310-426-6304; Marcia Silva, Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, marcia@hercjobs.org, 650-417-3193

7 Tips for Improving Pay Equity

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Hand writing Pay Equity on piece of paper

Transparency in salaries and compensation is one way to help close the pay gaps that exist in the U.S. job market. On average, women only make 82 cents for every dollar that a man makes in 2021 and the COVID-19 pandemic has set the participation of women in the labor force back more than 30 years. Unfortunately, employers are often reticent to disclose their budget in job ads, putting the burden of pay equity in the hands of the applicant and at the mercy of arbitrary biases.

Here are seven tips to help you decide your worth on the job market and have a better chance at closing the wage gap.

BEFORE YOU APPLY

Learn to negotiate

From raising children to working in a team, negotiation is an essential skillset. If financial negotiation isn’t a skill that your background hasn’t already taught you, it’s essential that you both learn (and practice!) how to negotiate with money before you start sending in applications. To get started, try bargaining at the farmer’s market or ask for an extra 5% off that dress you’re about to buy. The key to negotiation is not trying to get the most out of a transaction but getting what you need; the first step to negotiation is to decide what it’s worth to you and what you’re willing to trade.

Learn what the position pays

The job ad might not give you a clue about what the position pays, but there are resources that can. At least two higher education-related associations—the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP)—conduct regular surveys to track employee compensation. The AAUP Faculty Compensation Survey breaks data down by the institutional category, affiliation, region, and gender, as well as includes data for medical and retirement benefits. CUPA-HR publishes four reports each survey year with the data for faculty, professionals, administrators, and staff broken down by the position (tenure, adjunct, IT, athletics), institution type, and even demographics. CUPA-HR also publishes a separate Benefits in Higher Education Report that includes data for paid time off, tuition reimbursement, and retirement. Finally, sometimes there are community-maintained spreadsheets on pay data. If one isn’t available in a forum dedicated to your profession, try your own hand at “Google doc activism” to make pay more transparent and hopefully more equitable.

Estimate the cost of living

Compare the cost of living to the estimated pay before you apply. Is the salary a feasible amount to maintain your standard of living or at least close enough to be worth negotiating? If not, save your time and move on to the next ad.

DURING THE INTERVIEWS

Ask about the little things

Make sure that you understand the details that will either contribute, or take away from, your base pay. What benefits are available and what will they cost you? Do they have an insurance plan that will meet your needs? How much of the premium are you responsible for? Is the base salary for 12 or 9 months? Why and what responsibilities will be included (or excluded)? Make sure that you get documentation to help answer your questions and compare your options with other positions. Write notes and consider sending them in a follow up email to ask for corrections and/or clarification.

Ask about pay increases

Evidence suggests that while everyone is just as likely to ask for a raise, not everyone gets it. A PayScale survey of over 160,000 employees found that “Women of color were 19 percent less likely to have received a raise than white men, and men of color were 25 percent less likely.” With that in mind, ask about raises before you start the job. Get the specifics from your potential employer about when and how pay increases happen. Learn what the requirements are and who is responsible for initiating a raise.

Trust, but verify

Reach out to current and past employees of your potential employer to learn what the conditions are, as opposed to what they are supposed to be. Did pay raises happen regularly or hardly ever? Did workplace culture support or discourage the use of benefits?

WHEN YOU DECIDE

Resist desperation

By this point, you should have a solid list of pros and cons as well as a good handle on potential finances. In the case that the math doesn’t add up and options seem few, resist the urge to accept an offer that doesn’t meet your needs. The stress of moving to take a position with a high financial burden will inevitably surpass the stress of waiting for the right job. The end result is likely to be another rushed job search under even greater stress.

See also: Equal Pay: How to gain ground in the changing equal pay landscape.

About the Author:  Dr. Ada Hagan is a microbiologist with a passion for making science accessible. In 2019, Dr. Hagan founded Alliance SciComm & Consulting, LLC as a means to use her strong background in communications and higher education to help make scientific concepts more easily understood and make the academy more inclusive to future scientists from all backgrounds. Her writing and research have been featured by BBC Radio 4, Science Careers, The Scientist, Massive Science, and the American Society for Microbiology.

How to Build Resilience

by

The word resilience is used a lot. Resilience has gotten more attention lately as popular authors like Brene Brown and Sheryl Sandberg share the benefits of learning from adversity.

Resilience is the process of adapting to a crisis or trauma. Being resilient is part of being an emotionally intelligent person. If you find yourself in a situation where you are facing adversity, a crisis, or a tragedy, this is fertile ground for deepening and growing your resilience.

In this moment of a global pandemic, when many are suffering economic and social crises, is a good time for us to use some science-based skills to build our resilience.

What Can You Control?

When we think about the things we can control, we usually think about our actions, like what we’re putting into our bodies, but we can also gain control over our reactions.

It may upset you when you see people not wearing masks, but you can’t control that. What you can control is how far you are away from them when you are walking down the street. Instead of focusing on the upset or anger at what you can’t control, find what you can do – avoid them, change course, walk at less busy times of the day.

If you can reduce the things you can’t control, and focus on the things you can control, you will be in a much healthier place emotionally. That’s the first level of finding resilience.

Here are four things you can try in order to build up your resilience.

Change the Story in Your Head

A simple way to do this is to physically write for about 10 minutes. Write about your challenges in whatever awful language you want. At the end of the 10 minutes, see if you can find one (or more) positive things that have resulted from that challenge. See if you can pick out one (or more) things that you have control over in that situation. Make it a routine to write each morning or evening about what happened that day. Hash it out on paper and see what you can learn.

Play Out Your Worst-Case Scenarios

It seems like we’re constantly thinking about what can go wrong. But it can be a useful way to face our fears and play the worst-case scenario out all the way. What if all the awful thoughts come true? What are all the possible outcomes? Then for each outcome, check for evidence to see if they are truly eminent or just likely. Usually the worst thing is, “I’ll be fired.” But what evidence is there that that will really happen? This method can be a useful writing exercise to allow you to “check for evidence” and identify what is likely and what you have control over.

Practice Self-Compassion

Being compassionate to yourself is not self-pity; it’s being kind, or like taking care of your very close friend when they need some help. Would you refuse to give your friend a break for exercise or to lunch? Would you talk to a friend like you do to yourself? Most of us would not.

One way to practice self-compassion is to get out of your head and get grounded. Notice the stress you are suffering. For some, suffering is feeling overwhelmed or uninterested; for others, it’s feeling unfocused or unproductive. If you can accept that whatever you may be suffering is part of your identity, it can be easier to be empathetic and kind to yourself.

An example of self-kindness is how you talk about your suffering to yourself. Instead of being angry (“Oh, I am so stupid and unproductive lately! I can’t do anything right!”), try to state what is really going on (“I know that it’s really hard for me to focus right now and deadlines are making me stress.”). And then find a way to accept this as part of the human experience, with something like, “We’re all losing productivity in some way right now, but it’s temporary.”

Be Present

Finally, it’s important to remember that life isn’t just happening from your neck up and being present in your body is refreshing to the mind.

A simple way to help yourself be present is through mediation or a grounding exercise that takes you out of your head for a few minutes.

For example, you can mentally scan your entire body by noticing what the individual parts are doing. Start with your feet. Put your feet on the floor and feel the floor. Feel your seat in the chair. Notice your hands on your lap. Notice if you can feel the top of your head, your forehead, your eyebrows. Now consciously try to relax your forehead, your eyebrows, your mouth, your jaw, your shoulders. Take a slow breath in and exhale slowly.

There are lots of free apps available that can help you stop and be present for a few minutes a day. You might try one like Breathe, Calm or Headspace.

To change what we don’t like, we have to be intentional about our new choices. If you want to build your resilience and find ways to access your “best self,” give yourself time to think about how to practice self-compassion, how to clear your mind, and what makes you feel present and rejuvenated. And forgive yourself if you don’t get it right the first time. That builds your reliance too.

Thanks to Amanda Shaffer, Shaffer Coaching, LLC, for providing the content that this blog post is based on!

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