Necessary Steps To Make Yourself More Competitive

I thought I had read a post on this site where someone broke down the necessary steps or things you should consider when making yourself more competitive when looking for a job in academia. It mentioned of course publishing, teaching experience, and service. But it also talked about something else that I can recall right off hand. Oh I know what it was, try to get into a post doc program. Does someone recall this posting, or could someone provide information on this subject. I am still researching programs, but I just found out an acquaintance is getting a Phd from NCU (I think he told me NCU) and I told them about this site, and that I was researching doctoral programs. I thought I had bookmarked the original post as it was very well written. He would like to know how to make himself more marketable. How do you go about getting published or presenting at conferences? How do you go about getting into a post doc program, etc.

Thanks

 

bot

 

I am just starting an MBA so I don't know much about the business field. I used to a be a Ph.D student in literature, however, so I know generally how publishing works. The huge disadvantage of a distance PhD is that you probably don't have as much of a network... this network helps a lot in getting published and going to presentations. On the whole, presentations are much easier to achieve than getting published.

1. You sign up for email lists for "calls for papers" in your subject. Your university should have links to these, and you can also simply Google "calls for papers".

2. You find an academic conference in the right place and time (e.g. not in Fairbanks Alaska on Dec. 24th). Here's an example:
http://www.triof.org/emt/call.htm

3. You dig up a paper you wrote that vaguely has to do with the subject of the conference, and possibly rewrite it so it applies more specifically to the subject; or else you write a paper from scratch. You submit copies of the paper and wait to see if you're accepted.

4. Go to the conference and read the paper. Do not read it in a Speedy Gonzalez voice because you neglected to chop it down so it would fit in your allotted presentation time, because if you do that your audience will hate you.

5. Go home and put it on your CV

If you know a lot of academics in your discipline, a teacher or colleague may have volunteered to chair a panel at a conference, and you'll have a greater chance of getting a place there, but this isn't totally necessary for presentations.

Getting published is cheaper because you don't have to travel, but it's more difficult.

 

This may vary from field to field, but one of the problems with trying to use publications as a way of making yourself more competitive is the time involved. By this I mean the length of time between your submission of an article to a scholarly journal and the time it actually appears in print. I've been led to believe that this time span can sometimes be measured in years. In this regard I'd be interested in hearing about anyone's experience with online journals. Apparently, over the years some have become downright respectable. The one that I'm most familiar with is the Journal of Buddhist Ethics. Are online journals any faster to actually get an article to print?
Jack