The Scholar's Survival Manual by Krieger Martin H.;

Author:Krieger, Martin H.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indiana University Press

SEVEN

Your Career (#184–219)

A. FUNDAMENTALS

184 You Are in Control of Your Career, Your Grades, Your Promotion

You are more in control of your career and grades than perhaps you imagine.

1. If you want to do excellent work, you need to do more, and with more care and attention to detail, than is normally expected. Excellent work is not just a bit better, it is much better. (If you think it is a matter of fulfilling a list of requirements, then you will not do well in the rest of your career. Excellence is always beyond expectations, in innovative and new ways.)

2. Same for your career. You need to deliver and deliver excellently, and you will be recognized. Yes, there is lots of prejudice and unfairness in the world, and you will have to work twice as hard if you encounter that. And through political action you might try to change it. But, in the end, what you have to do is to take charge of your work and your career.

3. As for tenure and promotion in a university, it’s not rocket science. You are expected to do certain things, and despite all the talk, they are fairly clear. Publish, early and often, in the strongest journals. Do work that others recognize as significant and as a contribution. Be sure that if you work with collaborators, your contribution is clear and recognizable. You cannot publish in the important journals unless you do excellent work, and then some. You have got to get the grants or whatever you need to do your work. No excuses.

People get A’s in graduate school with specious work, move up in their careers because they are charming, and get tenured and promoted having done less than is expected. That’s no reason for you to join this cohort. You do not want to depend on the kindness of strangers. You want to be in control of your career. Yes, the world is often unfair. Fight unfairness. But for your career, do more than you have to, maybe twice as much, so you can control what happens to you. And if you do not get the A’s or that job or get tenured, go elsewhere, where they appreciate your strengths.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.