Treating your job search like a business can achieve real results. Walden PhD in Management alumnus, Dr. Corner, strategically applied her business management and organizational skills to land a permanent part-time teaching position within 60 days of completing her program. Dr. Corner sums it up by advising job seekers to start early, set goals, and have an action plan.
Although she actually landed the position 60 days after completing her program, the process started much earlier. Dr. Corner outlines her steps to success:
1. Utilize Walden Career Services
Dr. Corner highly encourages all Walden students to take advantage of Walden’s useful and informative support services, including the Walden Career Services Center. She scheduled a series of one-on-one appointments with a Walden Career Advisor who helped her to set clear goals and action steps to keep her on track. Through the one-on-one coaching and website resources, Dr. Corner strengthened her CV and received tips and strategies for her job search.
2. Keep Evolving as a Professional
Dr. Corner emphasizes the importance of being prepared as the higher ed hiring process is very competitive. She underscores that part of her success in landing the position came back to her experience both as a learner and a teacher. So, if you are lacking teaching experience on your CV, make sure you seek out volunteer teaching positions in your community. She also mentioned that higher ed institutions are very interested in seeing examples of your writing and how you provide constructive feedback to others. Mentoring experience can prove to be beneficial in validating these skills.
- Put Your Research Skills to Work
Doctoral students gain strong research skills. Put these skills to work for your job search, she says. LinkedIn is a phenomenal tool for one to conduct career research by engaging in groups, seeking out potential positions, connecting with recruiters and other higher ed instructors, as well as researching institutions.
With clear goals and an action plan in place, Dr. Corner was able to achieve her top career goal of staying connected to academia. She will be joining Career Services as a guest panelist on our upcoming webinar, The Scoop on Hiring in Higher Edon Tuesday, April 22 from 12 – 1 p.m. EDT. Please click on the webinar title to register.
Following are some resources on the Career Services website to help you launch your higher ed job search:
- Doctoral Webinar Series – http://careercenter.waldenu.edu/1222.htm
- CV Guide – http://careercenter.waldenu.edu/Documents/CV_GUIDE-Final_Version_2013.pdf
Written by Career Services Advisor, Nicolle Skalski