Tough decisions: turning down a job offer

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Jo VanEvery

In the past couple of weeks I’ve had 2 clients book sessions with me to talk about jobs they were turning down.

Yes, that’s right. Even in this tough labour market some of my clients are deciding not to take jobs. These aren’t easy choices to make.

I’ve written before about how you are not desperate. That post focused on applying for the right jobs. What happens when you actually get an interview and get the offer but learned along the way that this wasn’t right? Or when you have an option to renew the contract on a job you know isn’t right for you any more?

Any of the points below could also be negotiating points. When offered a job, you want to ask yourself “What would make it a no-brainer to take it?” (HT Victoria Brouhard) Some issues you will compromise on but walking away is always an option.

Know your goals

You need to measure the rightness of the job against some criteria. It is best if those criteria are your own and not some vague sense of what you should want.

Will this job take you further down the career path you want to be on? Even if this particular position is not ideal will it offer opportunities to develop skills, experience, and networks that will enable you to move into something better later?

Or will it take you away from that path? Can you see right now that if you took this job you would be in a worse position 2 years from now?

Your job isn’t everything

What will taking the job do to your family and other important aspects of your life? Does this job require you to move away from people who are important to you? Or does it mean that your partner needs to make considerable sacrifices to accompany you?

Are you part of a community? Will it be possible to build that kind of community in the new place?

Do you have hobbies that are important to you? Will you be able to continue those if you take this job? How difficult will that be? (This is particularly important for things like skiing that require particular weather conditions. And for those who are involved in competitive sports.)

You get to choose your compromise

You are not entitled to the perfect job that meets all of your needs. However, you get to pick what you compromise.

  • You don’t have to be willing to move anywhere.
  • You don’t have to accept a crappy organization culture.
  • *add your personal priority here*

However, if you won’t compromise on that thing you may have to compromise on something else.

What helps?

Knowing what’s important to you. Specifically.

Being open-minded about the variety of jobs in which you could have those specific important needs met.

Having a financial cushion.

Support from friends, family, mentors.

Self-confidence.

I’m honoured to be on the list of people these clients wanted to talk to before they make that decision final. I recognize that I am only one of several people they talked to about this. Sometimes it is helpful to have someone who is not emotionally invested as a sounding board. And my superpowers do include asking good questions.

If you need help with a tough decision maybe I can help you, too.

How many sessions?
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It’s more than the grant

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Jo VanEvery

I often feel ambivalent about helping people with grant applications. I know there is a need. I know I can help. But the funding situation is such that many excellent proposals don’t get funded, even with my help.

Fortunately, my clients get a lot of value from the support I provide even when they don’t get the grant.

On a recent trip to Windsor, I met a client for lunch. I’d helped her with a grant application back in 2009. She didn’t get the grant but the enthusiasm for her work was obvious. This is what I want for all my clients, whether they ever apply for a grant or not: love of the work and the sense that you are accomplishing things.

I asked her if I could blog about it an she helpfully summarized what we’d talked about

The workshop I took with you helped to turn my research thinking upside down (in a good way like the hanged man of the Tarot deck). Focusing on grants is really perverse in the humanities where much of our work goes on in the privacy of our own heads. The workshop I originally took with you helped me focus my research concerns back on myself, on what I want to do; looking for appropriate grants became secondary.

Developing my grant proposal helped me win a self-funded but highly prestigious fellowship at Stanford that has invigorated my research.  And now I’ve got an internal grant to see me on to the next stage as the plan I envisaged begins to bear fruit. Without a grant it takes longer, but having a plan helps maintain the momentum from one piece of research to the next.

I understand that professionals who work on our own getting few social cues that we are on-track or off tend to suffer from an “imposter syndrome.”  Having a research vision helps me negotiate the relative isolation of my work, proceed confidently and effectively.  I’m now thinking a book ahead of the one I am currently writing, and that long-term view helps me to stay on track and give myself credit for my progress so far.

If you’d like me to help turn your research thinking upside down and develop a long-term view that can guide you, the best place to start is by booking a 1-hour coaching session. Grant applications can be part of the discussion about your research plans and when you are ready to apply, I can help you put together your best proposal.

A 1-hour session is $175 plus applicable taxes. You pay in advance and the book an appointment using an online scheduling application that shows you my availability in your time zone, and sends you a reminder the day before our meeting.

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Making sense of the cuts

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Jo VanEvery

There has been a lot of head shaking, confusion and anger in the wake of the recent Canadian federal budget. Academics value evidence, reason, and rational argument. The cuts just don’t make sense.

What happens if we turn the question around? How do we make sense of what appear to be nonsensical policies?

The Conservative government is not stupid

The more I think about what they are doing the more I think there is a genius at work. Possibly an evil genius but a genius nevertheless.

Any government can ignore evidence when they make policy. Any government can make ideologically based policy and then look for the evidence that would support it.

This government not only ignores the evidence (e.g. in their crime policy) but is systematically destroying the ability of future governments to use evidence even if they wanted to by cutting inter alia

Not only does this tie the hands of future governments, but it also makes it very difficult for anyone to challenge policy directions or make policy proposals based on evidence.

For example, in his post about the UCASS cuts, Leo Charbonneau points out

Much of the faculty chapter in Trends in Higher Education, published by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, is derived from UCASS data.

AUCC uses their Trends in Higher Education document to influence policy. As the organization of University and College presidents they might be in a better position than most to find other ways to collect this data, but that is not the case for many private and non-profit organizations.

What can be done?

I have no idea, really. What I do know is that arguing that we need this evidence for policy-making to someone whose agenda is precisely to prevent the use of this kind of evidence in policy debate is not going to be effective.

Somehow we need to start from a recognition of the enormity of what is happening. The legacy of these cuts will be significant.

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SSHRC Insight compulsory Intent to Apply

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Jo VanEvery

If you are planning on applying for an Insight Grant this October you must submit a Notice of Intent to apply in August.

I am unsurprised at this development. The compulsory Notice of Intent enables the program officers to determine the number of applicants in each area and form committees based on those numbers and areas. This is especially important given the flexibility built into the new program architecture through the “groups”.

Keep these purposes in mind when filling in the forms. Make sure it is clear who your peers are: discipline, methodology, etc. That is also the main purpose of those drop-down menus about your discipline and area of research. Set aside your own desire not to be boxed in (if you have that desire), and think about the boxes the most appropriate reviewers would be found in.

Not sure if you want to apply this October?

A 1-hour coaching session could help you get clear on your research goals and decide whether you are ready this year. If a SSHRC application is a priority, I also provide further assistance with grant proposal development. Or, if your priorities are elsewhere, I can help you pursue those goals more effectively.

How many sessions?

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Practical implications of this year’s Insight results delay

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Jo VanEvery

I missed something in my earlier post about the what the delay in communicating the results of the SSHRC Insight competition might mean for you.

If you are awarded a grant, a delay of even a couple of weeks can have some serious practical implications about what you can do with your award.

The one big advantage of being grant-funded is that you can hire research assistants. You get more done than you would on your own.

When results are announced April 1, you can get started on the ethics paperwork and whatever else is required to actually get your research account set up. You know you have the money and can advertise RA positions, talk to students you want to encourage to apply, and so on. You’ll get permission to start the work at about the same time those students’ term-time TAships wrap up and can get moving on your research.

What you submitted in October was a proposal

Whatever happens, you should not assume that you have a plan ready to go once you find out whether you were awarded a grant.

You submitted a proposal. Things have moved on since you did that. The budget you are awarded may be different than the budget you requested, either because of an across the board cut or because the peer adjudicators disagreed with your assessment of how much you need.

You need to plan for this summer regardless of the outcome. I wrote about this around this time last year: From Proposal to Project Plan.

Plan for not getting the award, then adjust

You should never be in a position where if you don’t get a grant you can’t do anything.

Given the delay to the announcement and the consequent likelihood that there will be either fewer grants awarded or lower budgets than expected, you should make a plan for this summer now. If you have internal funds, use those to hire one RA now. Or figure out what you would be doing without the grant and get started on that.

Set yourself up so that you are already busy and getting the award disrupts your flow. You want to be frustrated that you need to remake your plans. You’ll do it because who wouldn’t remake their plans to incorporate more funding, hire more help, etc.

By the way, the thing you plan to do if you don’t get the grant is not write another grant application. That shouldn’t take you the whole summer. What research are you going to do? Get that started now, ramp up if you have the extra funds.

Not sure how to do that?

I can help. A one-hour coaching session will help you sort out what you want to achieve and what you can do this summer to achieve that. My superpowers include asking good questions and helping you see the positive possibilities even when you are discouraged.

How many sessions?
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