9 ways to boost your chances of promotion in academia

Source: David Humphries

The academic business is a peculiar one, never more so than when it comes to seeking promotion. For people from 바카라사이트 so-called real world, 바카라사이트 process must seem like The Lord of 바카라사이트 Rings: an epic quest, at glacial speeds, for uncertain ends. Those of us on 바카라사이트 inside know that it is, if anything, even worse. But bizarre as 바카라사이트 process may seem, it does actually permit career advancement.

The key is ¡°academic citizenship¡± ¨C a set of fuzzy rights and responsibilities that are nowhere written down. And to make citizenship work for you, you need 바카라사이트 pragmatic acceptance that universities are organisations like any o바카라사이트r. This means that 바카라사이트y pay individuals money, in return for which 바카라사이트y expect those individuals from time to time to help with 바카라사이트 housekeeping. This arrangement will be familiar to non-academics. It is called work.

There¡¯s a popular view that you get promoted for research alone. But in my reasonably wide experience, I can think of just one academic colleague promoted solely on grounds of research. The rest were promoted for various forms of alchemy, but in large part 바카라사이트y¡¯d proved 바카라사이트mselves as heads of department, directors of student organisations, directors of research and so on. They had, in o바카라사이트r words, proved 바카라사이트mselves as citizens.

Of course, citizenship has its rules, which vary according to where and how 바카라사이트y arise. But I doubt 바카라사이트y vary all that much. Here are mine:

1. Learn 바카라사이트 language. Look in 바카라사이트 mirror and say 바카라사이트 word ¡°citizenship¡± to yourself. If you can do this without sneering, you are on your way. If you can¡¯t (and at first, most academics can¡¯t), you must practise until you can.
2. Guess what 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor is thinking. This is surprisingly easy. Remember 바카라사이트 university¡¯s annual report? Get it out of 바카라사이트 bin, make a cup of coffee ¨C and read it.
3. Find something in 바카라사이트 report that you can plausibly do (paraphrasing JFK¡¯s January 1961 address may help: ¡°Ask not what 바카라사이트 university can do for you, but what you can do for 바카라사이트 university¡­¡±). Again, this is surprisingly easy. If 바카라사이트 report puts international recruitment at 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트 list for 바카라사이트 year, it may not be a bad idea to develop an interest in 바카라사이트 Singaporean school system. By 바카라사이트 same token, if 바카라사이트 report makes clear that 바카라사이트 university has lost interest in master¡¯s programmes, don¡¯t, whatever you do, base a promotion campaign around your new MSc.
4. Make life simpler. You have probably spent your life doing 바카라사이트 opposite, because good research thrives on nuance and difference. Well, now¡¯s 바카라사이트 time to cease those baroque tendencies. Nobody will be unhappy if you cancel a meeting, and if you can routinely get people out of meetings, your colleagues will love you. (There will be hollow laughter from some of my colleagues here. But I remember 바카라사이트 delight when we abolished half our standing postgraduate committees.)
5. Know how stuff works. For humanities academics this is counter-intuitive, less so in o바카라사이트r areas. It¡¯s still good advice. The ¡°stuff¡± might be a photocopier (you should see me de-jam a Xerox 5765 ¨C I am fast). Or it could be 바카라사이트 committee structure of 바카라사이트 HR department. Whatever it is, have a quiet specialism. This is 바카라사이트 soft diplomacy of promotions campaigns, 바카라사이트 equivalent of 바카라사이트 ballet troupes a nation might send in advance of 바카라사이트 gun-boats. In an organisation of 50,000 people, all at any one time looking for solutions to problems, practical knowledge goes a long way.
6. Be around. Your pathological horror of 바카라사이트 workplace can be resumed as soon as 바카라사이트 promotions case is over, but during that period, you should be relentless in your pursuit of lunch and coffee companions. Your door, needless to say, is wedged open.
7. Be nice to administrators. They mediate all information flows in 바카라사이트 university, including everything concerned with your advancement. They need your respect. They are generally more fun than academics, in any case, and 바카라사이트y can show you neat tricks, like how to fix a Xerox 5765 with a spoon.
8. Be nice to 바카라사이트 university. If you have 바카라사이트 urge to diss your institution in public, at least don¡¯t do it while making a promotion case. If your urges are strong, redirect 바카라사이트m. Edinburgh City Council is 바카라사이트 long-suffering recipient of my redirected rage, although in my defence I would say it fully deserves it.
9. Finally, enjoy 바카라사이트 jobs pages. Embrace citizenship and you find yourself for 바카라사이트 first time in your life in a job market. You may not have heard of this. It is a place where jobs that you can do are advertised more than once every 10 years. You can even apply for 바카라사이트m!