Vocabulary

IDIOMS

Ex. 1. Idioms are a common stumbling block for learners of a language. Can you agree? What is a stumbling block? Read the definition of the idiom⁶⁵ and translate the sentences into Russian.

stumbling block Fig. something that prevents or obstructs progress. First introduced in 1526 to translate the Greek word “skandalon” with the meaning of spiritual ruin in the New Testament: "Then let us no more pass judgment on one another, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother." (Romans 14:13)

1. Jim's over sixty. His age is a stumbling block to getting another job.

2. Money is a major stumbling block to realizing a project of this size.

3. Poor English can be a serious stumbling block for Russian students to pursue their studies abroad.

4. His lack of a degree is a real stumbling block to his advancement.

Think about some stumbling blocks you might face in getting a good job after graduation. Make up three sentences. Discuss your ideas with your neighbor.

READING

Alternate Angles

By Sabine Hikel ⁶⁶

I sometimes get mail from readers who are at the very beginning of their academic careers. They аre looking for advice about how they can situate their research to make themselves as employable as possible when they have finished. This is, of course, a very smart and practical question — but makes the liberal arts lovers among us sigh a little bit. The thing is, these days, it is the students with the greatest passion for the liberal arts who find themselves having to ask the question.

I recently heard from someone who is currently in a master’s program and is being groomed for a spot in the Ph.D. program. “I enjoy my classes,” he wrote, “and I'm thrilled by thinking about what I might do for a thesis project, but at the same time I feel a bit torn between pursuing my intellectual interests, and focusing on developing the skills I need for the ideal job I want.”

Testify! Now, this person did recognize that a thesis project and developing job skills do not have to be mutually exclusive. However, the problem is that once you are immersed in a doctoral program of research, your focus has absolutely nothing to do with your transferable skills; in fact, the higher up you climb on the academic ladder, the more you feel you do not have any skills at all. The work, then, of convincing yourself that you are not totally useless once you exit a Ph.D. program is exhausting and emotional. And re-packaging yourself and putting yourself onto the non-academic job market is just plain hard.

I see two solutions for the young academics who think they might want to pursue a Ph.D. program but also want to be realistic about their academic job prospects.

The first has to do with making the process of skills-building during graduate school a transparent one. This involves the kind of regular maintenance and upkeep that most scholars do with their academic CVs. As you move through the different steps of your graduate program — coursework, writing the dissertation proposal, serving on committees, teaching, and so on — keep track of the skills you used to get each of those things done. These are skills that may be invisible to you before doing this exercise, but are quite essential on the non-academic job market. Won a $5,000 scholarship? Mark that down under fund-raising and grant writing skills. Served for a year on the tenure and promotions committee? Tick the make-believe box next to administrative and teamwork skills. Taught an introductory course? Check, check and check for project planning skills, doing oral presentations/public speaking and conducting evaluations.

By keeping track not just of the outcomes of your academic success but the actual skills you used to produce those outcomes, you are well on your way to combating the all-too-common feelings of simultaneous overqualification and underqualification that plague newly minted Ph.D.'s. Moreover, when you go to write your two-page employment résumé, your skills won’t be invisible to you. You will be just that much more prepared to speak fluently about what you did in school and what you can offer to prospective employers.

Anyone who wants to pursue a life of the mind and yet also feel confident about their employability at the end of the Ph.D. experience should make the job of tracking their skills a crucial and vital component of their time in graduate school. Any time you update your CV, update your skills inventory. Update it, too, whenever you jump over a fresh academic hurdle.

The second way to broach the quandary of wanting to conduct academic research and not be stuck jobless at the end of the academic road is by taking a more mercenary approach with your work. So far, I have not met a single former academic who was able to apply their research directly into a non-academic job. However, I have met lots of former academics who realized in retrospect how their research happened to intersect with their post-academic work.

But if I were going to go back and be really strategic about my research, this is what I would do. I would take time to think about an organization that I would really love to work for. It could be an organization that uses research (like a non-profit or health care agency, for example), conducts research (like a corporation or think tank) or research commissions (like the federal government). I would try to develop contacts inside of that organization and do some information interviews. I would let them know what I loved about the organization and how I could see myself working there in a research capacity. And then I would ask them about what their needs were. I would find out about their problems, their stumbling blocks, the issues that they face. And then I would dedicate my research to solving their problem.

I would keep in touch with them over the years, through staff turnovers, office politics and, perhaps, through their own internal solving of their problems. I would accept the risk that my research itself may be outdated by the time I finish, or that the solution I had developed was not workable or consistent with their organizational culture.

But the point of the exercise — other than getting a Ph.D. — would be to demonstrate my deep knowledge of the organization, my commitment to the organization’s cause/mission, my strategic thinking skills, and my savvy at attempting to keep one foot in the academic camp and the other foot in the “real world.” At the end, even if the organization did not hire me, I would still be able to display those attributes (knowledge, commitment, strategic thinking, savvy) to another employer who would value that kind of worker.

Those are two totally different approaches that young researchers could take if they’re concerned about life after the Ph.D.

Answer the questions

1. Are you the one who chose his/ her research with a job in mind?

2. What is the ideal job you want? Have you got the skills necessary for it?

3. What skills have you developed while in your graduate program? Make up a track of your skills.

4. Do you know how to turn your research project into a career?

5. What will you do if you cannot find a job that matches your research skills?

LANGUAGE TRAINING

Ex. 1. Fill in the correct word from the list:

strategic, take, conduct, vital, update, newly minted, keep, prospective, pursue, two-page.

………………………….thinking skills ……………………………..employers ……………………………….your CV …………………...intellectual interests …………………………………Ph.D.'s

……..…………..a mercenary approach ……………………..academic research ……………………………..component ………………………track of the skills …………………...employment résumé

Ex. 2. Fill in the correct preposition, then choose any item and make up a sentence.

To be concerned ……. smth; to be savvy …………. doing smth; to keep in touch …… smb; to be strategic ……… smth; feel confident …………... smth; to have a passion ………… smth; to be ………. a master’s program; to be thrilled …… smth; to focus ….. smth; to be immersed …..

Ex. 3. Match the expressions to their synonyms.

t o face an issue to keep in touch with someone to broach the quandary to climb on the academic ladder to be groomed for smth to re-package yourself for a new job to jump over a hurdle to keep a foot in to display attributes

to remain to demonstrate qualities or features to maintain communications with someone to find new ways of selling your skills on the job market to overcome an obstacle or difficulty to confront a problem to pursue academic career to be prepared for a specific position or purpose to get uncertain about what to do

Ex. 4. Read the definition⁶⁷.

qualified, adj being skilled or educated for a certain job

Think about its related forms well-qualified, quasi-qualified, under-qualified, overqualified. Explain what they mean. How can you characterize yourself? Is a person with a college degree qualified for every position available? Have you ever been told you were under-qualified for a job? What job are you overqualified for? Discuss these questions with your partner. Then complete the sentences⁶⁸.

1. Job candidates that significantly exceed their job requirements…

2. An experienced high level manager who seeks a low level management position…

3. Employers when they do not want to reveal their true reasons for not hiring an applicant…

4. When an employer concerns that an applicant wants a job on a temporary basis, while he or she seeks another more desirable position, or an applicant is too old ...

5. In the corporate world, some Ph.D. graduates have been criticized as being…

Ex. 5. Fill in the ovals with the words that contain the same root. Then complete the sentences below.

1. The secretary was busily ……….. in typing letters.

2. Knowledge and skills are basic factors that make people …………………….. .

3. His ………. dismissed him without providing a justified reason for firing.

4. A person’s ………….. depends on the knowledge, skills and abilities he or she possesses.

5. She is of those ………… whose knowledge and skills are not easily replaceable.

6. Each year the U.S. private sector ………. over one hundred million people.

7. The conference participants discussed the problems and prospects for youth ………… in Russia.

Ex. 6. Arrange a dialogue with your partner discussing your plans after graduation. Don’t forget to ask him/ her

• if he/ she is going to pursue the graduate studies or start a job search

• what the criteria of a good job for him/ her are

• what salary would satisfy him/ her

• what benefits he/she would like to have

• if he/ she would prefer to work as a university teacher. Why?

• what actions he/she is going to take in the process of job search

• what the best way to find a suitable vacancy is

Ex. 7. To apply for a job a candidate has to send a curriculum vitae (CV) and a covering letter. These documents are very important as they are the first impression you give. Does an academic CV have any specific features? Study the sample⁶⁹ in the exercise and decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F)⁷⁰. Give your comments.

1. e.g. An academic CV is longer and more detailed than any other type. (T)

2. Including a photograph is a must.

3. A standard list of headings should be arranged in a certain order.

4. The key features of an academic CV are: publications, descriptions of research and details of funding awarded.

5. Unlike all others, an academic CV should list the most recent experience first.

6. Like all others, an academic CV should be tailored to the job description.

7. Include the title of your last dissertation and the name of your supervisor.

8. A list of publications should be compiled - the more in higher ranked journals the better.

9. Outside information (hobbies, conjugal status, etc.) is not regarded as irrelevant.

10. A brief outline of past, present and future research is optional.

11. Highlighting any funding received is a must.

12. Attendance at conferences and seminars is not given in a reverse order.

13. Professional affiliations section includes membership of learned societies or professional bodies.

14. The quality of stationery is not really important.

15. A CV must be always accompanied by a covering letter.

Katrina Srigley History Department, Nipissing University 100 College Drive, Box 5002 North Bay, Ontario P1B 8L7 Phone: (work) 705 474-3450 ext. 4503 (home) 705 476-2055 Email: katrinas@nipissingu.ca _________________________________________________________________________ Education 1999-2005 University of Toronto M.A. History Dissertation Title: “Working Lives and Simple Pleasures: Single, Working Women in a Depression-Era City, 1929-1939.” Supervisor: Carolyn Strange Areas of Specialization: Oral History, Canadian History, Women’s and Gender History, Race and Ethnicity, Immigration 1997-1998 University of Western Ontario B.A. History and Anthropology Languages English, German, French (reading) Academic Positions 2005- present Instructor, Department of History, University of Toronto Awards 2003-2004 University of Toronto Foundation Award $ 600 2001-2002 Ontario Graduate Fellowship $15,000 1999-2000 University of Toronto Fellowship $10,800 Publications Articles Katrina Srigley, “Clothing Stories: Consumption, Identity, and Desire in Depression-era Toronto,” Journal of Women’s History, forthcoming. Katrina Srigley, “In Case You Hadn’t Noticed!”: Race, Ethnicity and Women’s Wageearning in a Depression-Era City, Labour/Le Travail, 55(Spring 2005), 69-105. Book Review, Joan Sangster, Regulating Girls and Women: Sexuality, Family, and the Law in Ontario, 1920-1960, (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2001), Labour/Le Travail, 51(Spring 2003), 284-286. Conferences May 2004 “Living ‘the family’ ideal?: three Toronto families during the Great Depression,” Feminism and the Making of Canada: Historical Reflections, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec May 2002 “Help Wanted – Single Women and the Boundaries of Employment During the Great Depression in Toronto, 1929-1939,” Canadian Historical Association Conference, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario Teaching Experience Winter 2004 Instructor Immigrants and Race Relations in Canada, C45SHIS, lecture course (45 students), University of Toronto 2001-2002 Teaching Assistant American History, 1608-1980, 271Y, survey course (250 students): responsible for running all tutorials and completing all marking for 5 tutorial groups (75 students), University of Toronto Other Teaching Experience Summer 1999 Secondary School Teacher English OAC, (45 students): responsible for course design, teaching, and marking, York Region Board of Education Selected Research Positions Jan.-Feb. 2004 Assistant to Professor Ron Pruessen: conducted data analysis and compilation. May 1999 Assistant to Professor Carolyn Strange: conducted a participant observation study of the visitor center in Port Arthur, Tasmania. Acknowledged in: “From Place of Misery to Lottery of Life: Interpreting Port Arthur’s Past,” Open Museum Journal, Volume 2, August 2000. Professional Experience/University Service February 2003 Member Graduate Student Committee, Canadian History Tenure Track Search, Department of History, University of Toronto 2001-present Member Toronto Labour Studies Group Professional Affiliations Jan. 2002 – present Labour and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA)

Ex. 8. What is the purpose of a covering letter⁷¹? Read the sample of a covering letter⁷² and fill in the missing sentences.

1

A

My research interests are in oral history, women and gender, immigration, and social history.

2

By drawing upon more than one hundred interviews and looking at traditional sources in social and cultural history (census data, newspaper advertisements, and radio programs), my dissertation uncovered the Depression as a period in which work, family, and leisure were sources of oppression and exploitation, as well as emotional support and self-expression for women. An article based on this research appeared in the Spring 2005 issue of Labour/Le Travail.

3

This study will open an important window into the history of women’s immigration, an undeveloped area in Canadian History.

4

I have arranged for Professors Carolyn Strange and Michael Wayne to send letters of reference directly to you. Please, find enclosed my curriculum vitae, teaching philosophy, and teaching evaluations for your consideration.

5

In 2002, I have initiated conference panels at the Canadian Historical Association and other meetings, acted as a mentor to incoming graduate students, and served on departmental search committees.

6

I have achieved this in a number of ways in the classroom - interactive lecturing, talking circles, debates - and in my selection of course topics. When evaluating students, I have always provided detailed comments that clearly explain assigned marks. My teaching evaluations indicate that students find my approach thoughtful, innovative, and challenging.

Now match the prompts (1-8) to the paragraphs (A-G) and draft a plan for a covering letter when applying for the position of a university teacher.

1	A	basic information about your research interests
2		teaching experience
3		interview for a position
4		why you are writing
5		why you are interested in this position
6		teaching evaluations
6		brief outline of your past research
7		skills and knowledge which make you a good fit for the department needs
8		your future research
9		teaching philosophy

SKILLS

Read attentively the job advertisement⁷³. Make a list of the qualifications and personal qualities that are required for the job. Apply. Design your CV. Write a covering letter to accompany your CV. The samples above will help you to complete the task.