Transcript From Viva to the Job Market Katharine Ellis, IMR

From Viva to the Job Market
Katharine Ellis, IMR
1
Preparing for the viva
• Your examiners: what do you know about their work and
their approaches?
• New work published on your subject? New
perspectives?
• Re-acquaintance with your own thesis
• Re-acquaintance with the degree regulations
• Errata list
• Knowing when you’ll get to know the result, and how
• Accepting that the viva is very rarely the end of the
thesis process
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In the viva: examiners
• NB the Americans call it a ‘defense’…
• A long viva is not a sure sign of examiner doubt
• The examiners are there to test you, not to compliment you. They
want to know:
a) whether it’s genuinely your work
b) whether you are abreast of and building on the most recent thinking
c) whether you considered all relevant choices/hypotheses
d) why you made some choices and discarded others
e) whether you have the capacity to stretch further
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Types of question
• Orientation and context: what drew you to doing what
you did?
• Conception, methods and approaches: how else might
you have done it?
• Content and structure: why is X missing? Why discuss Z
before Y?
• Technique: how professional a job? How could you have
communicated your message better?
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In the viva: you
• Stay calm even if you feel under attack
• Try to open up answers to any closed questions. (Examiners find the
situation stressful too.)
• Take time to clarify a question you don’t quite understand
• Ask what’s behind a question if you think there’s a subtext but can’t
work out what it is
• If you think a question is irrelevant, say so and (politely) explain why
• If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging
• Answer directly but amplify, exemplify, where you can. Don’t answer
a conceptual question with a detailed example until you’ve
addressed the conceptual aspect
• If you need a break, ask
• If you get the chance, ask examiners to make a distinction in their
final report between amendments that are required, and those that
are desirable
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After the viva
• Common experiences: exhaustion, hurt at ‘hostile’ questioning;
feeling that examiners read superficially and quizzed you about
things that were self-evident
• Corrections and revisions: can be painful if reconceptualisation is
required, or cutting of favourite passages, or significant further work
on a project with which you are thoroughly fed up
Corrections
• Be clear about what you need to send to whom, and when
• Don’t run late
• Recording corrections in tabular form helps examiners check them
off, and makes you look (even more) organised
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Jobs market
• Academia and PhD oversupply
• Recession and possible HE cuts / new priorities
• The PhD as ‘passport’?
• The CV as affirmation of PhD-related skills?
• Importance of transferable skills
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Common employment directions
Academic
Academic-related (or not)
• Artist in residence
• Research assistant (becoming
more common)
• Short-term (often replacement)
lecturer
• Funded research fellow
• Part-time academic posts
• Casual HE teaching
• Assistant/adjunct
professorships in North
America (non-tenure-track)
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Artist in residence
University admin
Other management
Public service
Librarianship / archivist training
Arts management
Journalism
Broadcast media
Publishing
FE teaching
Freelance / portfolio
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Non-academic desiderata
• PhD-holders can routinely sell what employers want:
Independent initiative and/or team-working abilities
Ability to perform under pressure
Critical thinking, lateral thinking, creative thinking, logical thinking
Planning, organisation and attention to detail
Concentration for long periods, stamina
Motivation, courage, potential leadership skills
Ability to communicate (presentations, written work)
Ability to finish large-scale projects
• Make sure your CV extrapolates transferable skills from
academic content. Potential employers won’t necessarily
make the connection.
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The academic market
http://www.jobs.ac.uk
Times Higher Education (THE)
Guardian Education Supplement
American Musicological Society bulletin board (AMSAnnounce) http://www.ams-net.org/index.php
IMR bulletin board http://www.music.sas.ac.uk
Specialist / industry journals
Funding body websites (British Academy etc)
Internal university publications (often on web)
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Academic employer desiderata
Evidence of:
• Tailored application
• Research & publications potential
• Teaching experience + willingness/ability to extend range
beyond PhD specialism
• Administrative/organisational potential
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Your boundaries
Leading questions:
• Are you prepared to go anywhere in the UK?
• Are you prepared to go anywhere within the Anglophone
teaching community (inc. Netherlands, Scandinavia,
Hong Kong…)?
• Can you teach in a second language?
• Are you prepared to undertake long commutes?
• How easy would you find it to be the only ‘Xxxxx’ in your
new environment?
• To what extent are you happy to reinvent yourself within
a first post?
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Long-term preparation
Good things to do:
• Teaching (wherever, including private)
• Conference presentations / other relevant practice
• Reviewing
• Potential satellite publications to thesis
• Networking (actual and virtual)
• Research-related administrative jobs
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Medium-term preparation
• Referees (get three on side well in advance)
• Experts (for research fellowships—identify three useful
and potentially empathetic externals)
• Academic-tailored CV and / or non-academic CV
• Understanding of HEI environments, current debates etc
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The CV
Weight/relevance, not bulk, is what counts
Clarity and flawless presentation are essential
Never exaggerate or double-cite
Be clear about the status of items pending: accepted, in
preparation, under consideration?
• Ordering of sections: adapt to different jobs. Initial
default will probably be: 1) Education & Qualifications, 2)
Publications, 3) Conference papers, 4) Teaching
experience, 5) Administrative roles
• Present items in each section with the most recent first
• Feel free to add explanatory text to lists of
achievements, but keep them short
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Preparation for a specific post
The tailored application letter:
Check the institution website: staff, courses, ‘feel’—not just
the further particulars
• Ask for student handbooks if they are not online
• What do you think they want? Why?
• Can you offer it?
• How can you convince them you are what they need
without insulting them about their deficiencies?
• Thinking laterally about your skill-set
• Extra-curricular things you would want to offer?
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The selection process
Being clear about what is required:
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‘Teaching’ presentation (level?)
‘Research’ presentation (variegated audience?)
Interview (cross-faculty representation?)
In the U.S.: Assistant Professor posts can involve three
days of interviews, real teaching, student/staff socials…
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Presentations
• Don’t underestimate ‘first’ (average 10-second)
impressions. Body language, eye-contact, dress, are
crucial
• You’re projecting your personality/potential as a
colleague, not just your expertise
• Answering the ‘so what?’ question is the most important
aspect of a research presentation to a general audience
• Less is more: three good, illustrated, points might be all
you need
• Get the timing right. Practise
• A mixed presentation (2 minutes of ad lib context, then a
more formal presentation) can work well
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Interviews
• As for vivas, mainly.
Additionally:
• Always have a couple of questions of your own. At the
very least, you’re showing curiosity/interest
Good luck!