As I see it, there are five steps to the process of navigating a job search as a linguist. As I go through this list, I will highlight some of the posts featured here on Career Linguist which have explored and developed each of the steps:
- Become more aware of the skills cultivated by linguistics, and how these might be applied to your job search (i.e. understanding this as a research process)
Transferrable Skills A-Z
Skills Week
What skills are cultivated by the study of Linguistics?
- Learn more about which skills you most want to bring to work through analysis of written description of skills and abilities of actual jobs held by actual linguists (story listening)
Professional Paths of Linguists series
Linguist-Friendly Organizations
Stories around the Campfire series
- Recognize and appreciate some of the differences between your own particular areas of interest and focus (story finding) even among a group of your linguist peers, you will find that you have unique skills, interests, and abilities that have been expressing themselves!
Story finding
Finding your lens through story
Looking back to look forward
recognizing the career path you are already on
- Bring analytical awareness of language to the stories that you tell about yourself – enacting a critical deictic shift: from thinking and talking in terms of why YOU want the job to thinking and talking about why THEY need you
avoiding the kid in a candy shop cover letter
shifting your deictic center
- Cultivate a practice of talking about yourself focused on the WHY (WHY your approach is uniquely valuable)
the why of work
Why every company needs an applied linguist
why is WHY so scary when it comes to career?
