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Post by Dont Talk on Sept 12, 2011 8:13:46 GMT -5
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yep
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by yep on Sept 12, 2011 8:23:40 GMT -5
I wouldn't say don't talk about it. But you should reframe it in your mind as the start of your research career, and as just one of a series of projects that you will be talking to a hiring committee about. If you're diverging sharply from your dissertation to do your next research project, be prepared to talk about how and why these things are connected, and how they fit into your larger research agenda. I tend to think of this as let's say about 1/3 of my research, with my near next project, and then planned large project as the other two parts. Together they comprise my research agenda.
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Post by hmmm on Sept 13, 2011 17:14:58 GMT -5
Read the Inside Hire Ed, and while the general point about how dissertations don't mean crap makes perfect sense, I'm wondering about how closely people actually follow this advice in their cover letters. Presumably, it is still in one's interest when applying for jr level positions (assuming you recently finished or are about to finish grad school) to spend some time (limiting yourself to maybe a paragraph or so) describing in some detail what you did in your dissertation, is it not? It would be pretty weird to just gloss over your dissertation and to instead talk about how you've already published a bunch from it and are already working on new and even better projects, would it not? I guess what I'm trying to say here is are we really supposed to throw the baby out with the bath water?
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Post by anooon on Sept 13, 2011 17:55:21 GMT -5
Yes, "don't talk about your dissertation" is stupid advice. I'm sure that theda skocpol talked about her dissertation (States and Social Revolutions) in her cover letter...
Look at where the advice comes from too: an academic marketing consultant, or some such thing. Consultants drum up buisness by saying provacative and untrue things...
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Post by Iluvmydiss on Sept 13, 2011 18:10:30 GMT -5
Seriously. If I haven't produced a dissertation worth talking about, what have I been doing in grad school?
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Post by errr on Sept 13, 2011 19:55:07 GMT -5
I talked about my dissertation quite a bit - both in my cover letter and in my interviews (and yes, I got a job offer last year)
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Post by Assist Prof on Sept 22, 2011 14:12:47 GMT -5
As someone who had a productive year on the job market last year (5 campus interviews + phone interviews etc) I can say that I talked about my dissertation a LOT and I was asked about my dissertation a LOT. I am not sure how you can get around answering direct questions.
I am a Feminist Criminologist, which is a turn off for some departments. So, I was faced with packaging myself more generally or as I am. I choose to be up front and honest about my work. The bottom line is, departments want to know who you are and you want to know that your ideas and work will be valued where you go.
If the issue is the quality of your dissertation, well, then that is something else all together.
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Post by Another Asst Prof on Sept 22, 2011 14:34:00 GMT -5
Yep, agree with ^
It's one thing to only focus on your dissertation as the be all end all of your research, but if you are going to be able to pull 3-4 individual manuscripts from it, and use it to set up a number of future related projects, grant funding opportunities, etc., then go ahead and talk about your dissertation and what it will become.
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