Transcript CAREERS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE Paige Johnson Tan, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Political Science Radford University.

CAREERS IN
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Paige Johnson Tan, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Political Science
Radford University
Political Science Prepares You . . .
• With Skills Employers Say They Want:
• Critical thinking
• Information literacy
• Oral and written communication
• Ethical citizenship
• Problem solving
• Understanding of diversity/global issues
• Collaboration
• Use these terms in
your cover letters,
resumés, and
applications.
• Be prepared to
illustrate how
you’ve developed
them through
projects, papers, inclass activities,
extracurricular
activities,
internships, and
jobs.
Be a Skillseeker
• http://uncw.edu/career/skillseeker.html
Things To Do While at Radford for
Success Later
• Careers class.
• Get help from Career Center to develop professional job search
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documents (resume, cover letters, portfolio).
Get help from Career Center/Alumni with informational interviews
of alums in fields you are interested in.
Get to know your professors, so you have references and rec letter
contacts. Spend time in office hours.
Attend talks on campus. Become more worldly. Ask questions.
Join a club (Model UN, Political Science Society).
Study abroad (show you’re independent, adaptable, and
international).
Intern. Apply early. Good internships’ deadlines October for the
following summer.
Read real, quality news sources, so you can have adult
conversations.
Political Science Careers
• Political Science Prepares You To Work For:
• State and local government (town manager, city planner, HR, tax).
• Federal agencies (Defense, CIA, FBI, Interior, State Department,
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National Parks, Justice, Commerce, Peace Corps, ICE).
International organizations (United Nations, World Food Program,
UNHCR, World Bank).
Non-profit organizations (Amnesty International, Environmental
Defense Fund).
Economic aid agencies (Save the Children, World Vision, US Aid).
Political aid agencies (National Democratic Institute, International
Republican Institute, National Endowment for Democracy, IFES).
Corporations (Government relations/lobbying).
Academia and think tanks (University professor, researcher).
Activism (political parties, political campaigns).
Law (lawyer, paralegal).
Job Search
• Network (Linkedin, professional associations, informational
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interviews).
Hire a Highlander.
POSC Careers website (choose the spreadsheet on the right
hand side).
Think of organizations you’d like to work for and search their
“careers” and “internships” sections for opportunities.
Indeed.com (search job and area).
USAJobs.gov for government jobs.
Don’t use: Monster.com (thousands of applicants per position).
Beware of job search scams. Asking you for personal
information, money.
Found a Job: Ready to Apply
Resumés
• A one-to-two page statement of your
knowledge, skills, and abilities geared
to obtaining a professional position.
Tips
• Resumé standard is reverse chronological.
• Don’t lie.
• Be aware of keyword searching (many times the first cut of resumés will
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be by a computer, get the right words in there).
The resumé should be skim-readable by a human reviewer in 30
seconds. That’s all the time you have to grab their attention.
Take anything from high school and earlier off (unless it’s completely
amazing, Olympian!).
No reference list or “references available on request.” This is wasted
space.
Appearance must be perfect: Periods at the end of all lines. Bullets all
line up. Dates line up. Spelling flawless. No crazy colored paper or
scents (see Elle Woods in Legally Blonde).
No extraneous personal information (love football, single, hope to travel).
NOTE: Rehashing your old resumé from your drug store job won’t do.
You must update your resumé thoroughly. The resumé must be tailored
toward obtaining a (preferably specific) professional position or
admission to graduate school.
Sample Resumé
• Review and critique resumé. NEED LINK.
• Radford University Career Center Tips for Resumés and
Cover Letters
• http://www.radford.edu/content/careerservices/home/students/resume-cover-letter.html
• Purdue University OWL:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
Ready to Apply: Cover Letters
• Standard tips for the structure of your cover letter:
• Sentence 1: How I found out about the job.
• 1st paragraph. Why them? Show you’ve done research on the
company/organization.
• 2nd paragraph. Why you? Highlight important aspects of your
resumé, but go more in depth. Don’t just repeat.
• 3rd paragraph. How to contact you.
• Important note: Authors sometimes focus on their attitude
toward the proposed job. “I am so excited to work for XXXXX.”
The company doesn’t care how excited you are. Focus in your
letter on company’s needs, the requirements of job, and how
you can fill those needs/do the job.
My Take on the Cover Letter
• When I write cover letters, I focus on the key
competencies from the job ad (four to five) and show how
I meet them with extensive examples.
• I do not use the 1st paragraph above from the standard
tips.
• I find as this is typically written it usually turns into drivel
about how much you’ve dreamed about working at the
company since grade school. It does nothing to sell your
candidacy. It is useless to both you and the hiring
organization.
Tips
• Dear Ms. Jobgiver: (colon)
• Create a personal letterhead with a striking font of your
name, address, phone, and e-mail address (striking, not
freaky)
• Resumé (insert symbol, accent é)
• Under recipient’s address, before salutation, use Re:
Legislative Intern Position.
Resumé Got You Noticed. Now, Time to
Interview
• Learn everything you can about the company/organization.
• Prepare answers to common questions (Google, check the
Career Center).
• “Tell me about a time when you’ve persuaded others to
adopt your ideas.”
• “Give me an example of your ability to make decisions
under pressure.”
• “Tell me about your experience in dealing with a variety of
different people.”
• “Tell me about a time when your first solution didn’t solve a
problem. What did you do?”
Interview Tips
• Stay positive. Don’t badmouth
previous employers (the new folks will
imagine you doing it to them some
day!).
• Actively listen. The interviewer is
sending important signals about the
work environment. Do you want to
work for them?
• Don’t be a supplicant. Be confident,
enthusiastic. Be positive about you
and what you can do.
Interview Tips
• Eye contact, eye contact, eye contact. Reflects on
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your interest, confidence, and trustworthiness.
No lame handshakes. Man or woman, firm and
strong (but not crushing).
Be polite to everyone, including the receptionist.
Sit up straight.
No nervous habits, playing with hair, fidgeting.
Be yourself. You can’t fake it for three years if the fit
isn’t right.
More on Interviewing
• Whatever you’re asked, add “in relation to the position” to the
question. So, the interviewer says “Tell me about yourself,”
and then you add “in relation to the position” to decide how to
answer.
• Going in to the interview, be sure you can talk about your
strengths (5-8 of them!) and be able to illustrate each with
examples.
• Be able to address your REAL weaknesses and don’t give a
fake weakness strength. “I’m just too much of a
perfectionist!”
• Be able to address anything negative in your application, bad
GPA, bad semester of school.
More on Interviewing
• You’ll be asked why do you want to work here.
Have a good answer. Do research and be able to
discuss in relation to your own
personal/professional goals.
• A final question is “What questions do you have for
us?”
• What questions you ask reveals something
about your interests and priorities.
• You should have questions but ask some of
substance, about advancement opportunities,
potential training opportunities.
• Not all about how much vacation time (that
suggests you’re thinking more about not being
at work than being at work!).
Questions for Them
• What are the main objectives that you have for this
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position?
Describe the typical first assignments.
What are the challenging aspects of the job?
What is your organization's culture?
What do you enjoy/dislike about working here?
What characteristics does a successful person have
at your organization?
Will there be opportunities for increased
responsibility and broader experience?
How will I and how often will I be evaluated? Who
does the evaluation?
Who’s Who and What is Their
Interest in You/the Position?
• Not all interviewers are equal.
• Some have direct hire authority. Want a good worker.
• Some meet out of politeness. Want a good colleague.
• Some meet because they meet all women interviewing for
positions. Want to encourage you to stay in the process, take the
job.
• Some are engaged in political battles within the organization and
your position is part of the war. Hard to tell what they want unless
you know what the war is about. Is the organization going in this
direction or that one?
Things to Bring to an Interview
• Pen, paper.
• Questions.
• Research on people you’ll be
meeting, company/organization.
• Portfolio?
• Copies of resumé for everyone
you’ll be meeting.
• Turn off your phone and put it
away.
Phone Interviews
• Used to winnow down a pool to
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decide who gets invited for final
interview.
Special difficulty. Don’t have visual
clues. Don’t know if they’re
responding well or if they hate you . .
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Hard to know when to talk, especially
when speaking to a panel of
interviewers.
Nail down place (quiet)/time
(timezone).
No cellphone, if at all possible.
Don’t talk too little; don’t talk too
much.
After the Interview
• Follow up with a thank-you letter (in some cases, an e-
mail is okay).
Practice! Practice! Practice!
• We are not all born interviewees. You must WORK to
develop this skill.
• Practice on your Mom, Dad, cat, boyfriend, pal,
classmate.
• https://radford.biginterview.com/
You’ve Got a Job: Professionalism in the
Workplace
• Make your employer’s life easier.
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Anticipate problems and solve
problems for your boss.
Ask questions. Do you want
double sided copies, stapled, will
a .pdf do?
Have mastered basic skills:
error-free writing, oral
communication.
Act professionally with clients
and co-workers. Work on people
skills. It’s not all just about
technology.
Be able to manage time. Arrive
early, leave late.
Skills Employers Want You to Have
• Prioritize.
• Inter-personal skills. Be able to
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have a conversation with another
adult that doesn’t involve texting.
Team work.
Work hard.
Take pride in your work.
Avoid time wasters like personal
calls, texting, and Facebook.
Evidence integrity in all your
dealings with/about your work.
Skills Employers Want You to Have
• Show an interest in your organization,
company. Think about opportunities and
trends that affect. Apply your creativity to
the solution of problems—even in your off
hours.
• Knowledge of basic software: internet
search, Word, PowerPoint, Excel.
• Be able to think critically. How does
today’s issue relate to broader trends?
How does it relate to what company B is
facing? Can we un-think and do things a
different way and do things better?
• Continue learning. Do trainings, attend
conferences and seminars.
Skills Employers Want You to Have
• Be confident yet humble. Be willing to be
corrected. Seek out feedback on how to
improve. (Don’t be a know-it-all when
you’re just starting out.)
• Dress professionally. Make a good first
impression.
• Go to sleep at a decent hour, so you’re
ready to go for work the next day.
Maybe stop watching late-night comedy
if you need more sleep.