It’s that time of year again (again) I have noticed that for the past few years that I have been keeping this blog, I seem to feel compelled to say something about job interviews around this time of year. Two years ago, it was about “the before” preparing for a job interview. Last …
Category Archives: The job search
An improvisational approach to job seeking
My ten years of experience in improv has taught me that we all can do things that on the surface may seem impossible. Collaboratively improvising scenes and entire performances out of nothing seems like it should be impossible. How on earth can you come up with characters, contexts, relationships and on top of everything else, …
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This I know for sure (about jobsearching)!
This process is hard work. But Lx is hard. You did not choose to study linguistics because you thought it was going to be easy, you came here because you felt called to challenge yourself. The good news is that the job search process is going to continue to present you with plenty such challenges. …
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Does LinkedIn have a perception problem?
If you are not currently on LinkedIn, you probably have some reasons why. But if you are currently jobseeking or even just trying to educate yourself about careers, these reasons really need to be reexamined. As I explore some of the more common ones that I have heard, you will have to let me know …
Asking for what you don’t want
A strategy that I have become very aware of lately in professional self-presentation is that of telling an interlocutor who you are and what you want by way of talking about what you don’t (or something that you didn’t like, or were told you couldn’t have). A recent example was a student beginning a statement …
The opposite of jobsearching
In many ways, learning how to tell your story can feel backwards. You look at the past to think about the future, you read job ads to see if you are a fit for the organization by listening for what they DON’T say (the “noisy nots”), and as you do research within the organization, you …
Skills cultivated by studying Linguistics
Applying for jobs is all about skills. Creating the job that you want means recognizing the skills that you possess and figuring out ways to use them in contexts that make you happy. Getting the job that you want is all about communicating this awareness (with enthusiasm) in texts like cover letters. So what skills …
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How LinkedIn talks about itself
The fact that LinkedIn’s “about us” section of their website is somewhat hard to find speaks volumes about their orientation as a buisness. Like Facebook, LinkedIn’s website promotes the product and service that they provide – the means of connecting- and so you have to dig to the very bottom to chase an elusive link …
Interview questions in the wild
Anthrodesign is a great resource for folks thinking about careers in design anthropology. I am new to the site, but one of the first posts I read convinced me that this is absolutely WaLK territory. The poster (Steve Portigal) talks about job interview questions that he has recently received: http://anthropologizing.com/2013/07/19/some-design-research-job-interview-questions/ Talk about an invitation to …
The geography of networking
Often when I speak with jobseekers, they speak as though they regard it as a disadvantage to have particular requirements (or dream locations) around geography. But I would encourage you to see this as a tremendous advantage, especially when it comes to reaching out to people who you want to have help you with your …
Career Linguist 