Doctoral Student Skills
Using Your Comparative Advantage to Succeed in Grad School and Prepare for the Job Market
Preview
Book Description
Doctoral Student Skills offers a comprehensive overview of the key skills doctoral students need to succeed in their studies and prepare for academic and non-academic jobs. Revealing the often-hidden rules of graduate school success, it guides students through challenges like selecting a research topic, choosing an advisor, preparing for conferences, publishing their work, and entering the job market.
The book begins by explaining how to survey the job market and identify "signifiers" that will signal to future employers the student’s suitability for a job. It then guides students to reflect on their own experiences and abilities to identify their areas of comparative advantage. Providing detailed instructions on how to acquire key signifiers – including conference presentations, publications, grants, awards, and teaching experience – the volume prepares students for future professional success, while teaching them how to leverage these activities to enhance their progress in their present studies. The book is designed to be used as a course text or for self-study. Each chapter features reflective exercises that can be used individually or in small groups, along with recommended readings and additional resources to enhance student learning.
Table of Contents
1. The Need to Develop Professional Skills, 2. Responding to the Job Market, 3. Developing a Roadmap to Marketability, 4. Finding Your Comparative Advantage, 5. Developing Your Research Agenda, 6. Engaging with Your Advisor, 7. Applying to Your First Conference and Writing an Abstract, 8. Attending Your First Conference, 9. Publishing Your First Article, 10. Winning Funding, 11. Getting Started in Teaching, 12. Managing Your Time and Motivation, 13. Going on the Job Market
Author(s)
Biography
Christopher L. Pallas is Associate Professor of Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University, USA. He has been training and mentoring doctoral students in research methods and professional skills for over ten years. He is winner of the European Consortium for Political Research’s European Political Science Prize.
Reviews
Doctoral Student Skills: Using Your Comparative Advantage to Succeed in Grad School and Prepare for the Job Market is an absolute must-read for doctoral students. Not only does it succinctly communicate the essential professional skills doctoral students need in order to be competitive on the job market, the book also lays out an easy-to-follow, thorough plan for students to gain these skills and produce the outputs that signal marketability. From developing a research agenda, to publishing, to attending conferences and securing funding, this book provides doctoral students with a clear roadmap for success. – Kelly Ann Krawczyk, MPA, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Ph.D. Program Director, Auburn University Department of Political Science
As PhD study and the academic job market have changed, much of the advice to research students has remained the same. This valuable book changes that, providing relevant and practical advice about both completing your doctorate and developing your career beyond your viva. – Dr. Neil McLean, Director Academic & Professional Development Division, London School of Economics
In Doctoral Student Skills, Pallas will show you how to develop professional skills for success, understand your job environment to find your comparative advantage, and create a roadmap for an early academic career. – Helen K. Liu, Professor of Political Science and The Graduate Institute of Public Affairs, National Taiwan University