Archive for February, 2008

Butcher, baker, candlestick maker?

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

number of jobs in my job title: 1
roles I actually perform: errr…..too many to mention!

It has been an exciting few months for me, getting married and buying a house as well as, of course, getting my dream job. I had wanted a secure lectureship for several years before I got one. Now, the exciting and scary part about it is that ‘lecturer’ barely covers the tasks I do in my day to day life. It’s not until you actually get into the swing of a job where you do make a full contribution to the life of the department that you realise quite what is involved! (more…)

Informal contact? Always use it!

Friday, February 15th, 2008

It’s easy when applying for a large number of jobs at the same time to give less than 100% to each one, especially if you have had experience of rejection that have made you a bit dispirited. However it’s really important to pay attention to the little details of your application as they can help you get a job. And one of these details is making use of the informal contact – it can really help to swing things in your favour. (more…)

Is your CV a work of fiction?!

Friday, February 8th, 2008

As I now spend many hours on the train each week doing my commute to work, I end up reading all sorts of those free papers that now litter our public transport network. I noticed an article at the start of this week that was common to many of them, which claimed that well over half of us lie (or at least embellish the truth!) on our CVs and among the age group 35-40 the figure rises to two-thirds! Reading that made me think about why is it that so many of us are telling white lies, and some obviously getting away with it, and why is that age group particularly dishonest?! (more…)

Don’t forget the poor jobseeker!

Monday, February 4th, 2008

This time of year it is so easy to become engrossed in academic life and forget those who are still struggling to find a tenured or permanent position in our Higher Education system. As marking, dissertation planning, course designing and so on land on our desks we can forget the struggles of junior colleagues to find their first proper job. It is less than a year since I got my permanent position, but I thought it would be useful to find out what if anything has changed for jobseekers in those months. (more…)