darcylear.com
May 5, 2014 - In This Issue:
CAREER PREP & HUMANITIES IN THE NEWS
From The Chronicle of Higher Education... 


Preparing students for a life of the mind and the 21st century professional workplace is a challenge. Here are a few things we can urge students to do:
  • represent their humanities degree in job search materials.
  • develop and highlight technical skills.
  • develop true teamwork (not group work) skills.
For more on this, read my blog post.
  
From LinkedIn...


Career prep should be woven into the curriculum, not just tacked on at the end.  For foreign languages, this is easy: letters & numbers as the basis for phone skills, formal letter writing as email communication skills, introductions & small-talk as networking skills.  

Each month, I include specific tips in the Weaving Career Prep into the Humanities Curriculum column at right. 

From Inside Higher Ed...
 
 
This article tackles the debate over student preparedness for the workforce and who's to blame when it's lacking. There are calls to action for both campuses and employers--urging both to work actively toward a solution to the perceived divide over student preparedness.  Having these two groups--colleges and business--on the same page is a priority. 
WEAVING CAREER PREP INTO THE HUMANITIES CURRICULUM
Try This: Make Every Presentation Practice for the Job Interview
When it comes to student presentations, we all hate the same things: 
  • reading or reciting, 
  • lack of practice, 
  • poor dictionary use, 
  • students not even knowing what words they are saying,
  • abuse of PowerPoint.
Students hate sitting through these presentations, too!  But when it comes time to present, we all default to the same hated presentation paradigm. 
 
How can we break out of the old patterns? 
 
By treating academic presentations as if they were job interviews. This is a win-win. It improves academic presentations while providing students with genuine career preparation (as long as you are explicit with them about this being career prep).  
 
To get started, run every question about the presentation through this filter: Would you do that in a job interview?
 
-Can we use note cards? 
 
-Would you take note cards to an interview? No! You have to prepare and practice so that the content is internalized.  
 
If you've practiced and polished your presentation enough, you will achieve the perfect balance between scripted and spontaneous. 
 
-Can I "cram" for this the night before?
 
-Sure! But you won't get a job offer if you cram for the interview the night before. And you won't get a good grade if you start preparing your presentation the night before either.
 
-Should I put everything on a PowerPoint and then read from it?
 
-No! If visual support is appropriate, then PowerPoint is a possibility, but it must support you as the presenter, not serve as a duplicate or repeat your presentation.
 
In future issues of this newsletter: 
 
How do you get students to engage with their topics so that it is as important to them as a job interview would be? 
 
How do you design PowerPoint presentations that provide visual support without duplicating or repeating the presenters' content?  

Be Explicit with Students: Let them know they are practicing for job interviews every time they present in college.
DID YOU KNOW...?
Career Coaching Available to Academics
Karen Kelsky of "The Professor Is In"

helps PhDs secure tenure-track jobs, but she also has great advice related to academic publishing and graduate student advising. Check out her Facebook page and website.

 
My services for academic clients are geared toward those who need a task master / writing coach to get tenure articles submitted or dissertations completed. Check out my services for Academic Clients. 

Considering hosting a job search workshop for your students? CU Boulder posted this video of a workshop I led there in April. 

Please forward this link to colleagues who might be interested in hosting a job search workshop for their students.

Darcy Lear
919-793-4429


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