In the March 2017 GPWomeN-PCCW Speaker Series workshop Negotiating Skills in the Workplace, speaker and PCCW alumna Professor Jill Gross discussed how to negotiate in the workplace and gave participants the following tips:

• Tip 1: Don’t buy into negotiation myths! Women can and should negotiate to improve initial job offers, terms of employment, job assignments, promotions, deadlines, and other key factors that impact professional success.
• Tip 2: Negotiation is persuasive communication and can take several forms. We typically think of negotiation as a competitive and adversarial process, but integrative negotiation is interest-based and focuses on problem solving. In the workplace, using problem-solving techniques to create value for both parties and determine a zone of possible agreement is key for continuing relationships.
• Tip 3: Prepare for negotiation by assessing your interests, your rights, and factors that increase/decrease your power. Compile information such as comparable salaries and benefits from people within your company/organization and at similar entities. Write up a list of questions that will help you obtain relevant information to strengthen your arguments. 
• Tip 4: Practice, practice, practice! Before entering a negotiation conversation, be sure to practice what you will say and how you will respond in different scenarios.

For more information, check out Andrea Schneider’s TED Talk on negotiation and the PCCW-GPWomeN Speakers Series recording of this event.

For more information about GPWomeN and events such as this one, please join the listserv by emailing BigRedGPWomeN@gmail.com, or check out the GPWomeN Facebook page.

By Cynthia Cuffie, from the GPWomeN-PCCW Speaker Series on October 20, 2017.

• Different stress reactions: Each of us has a different personality and a unique set of traits that make us who we are. These personality traits give us our strengths but, under stress, they can become intensified and lead to derailing behavior. For example, when a hard-working person is under stress, this personality trait is amplified and can lead him/her/them to become a micromanager or a perfectionist. 
• Identify your derailing behavior: To avoid this derailing behavior, you must first identify it. Take a personality assessment like the Hogan Development Survey or ask peers, colleagues, and managers to give you honest, candid feedback on your behavior. Be open to receiving this feedback, even if it seems critical. 
• Become more self-aware: Take steps to be more self-aware and set goals to counteract and minimize these derailing behaviors. For example, someone who is prone to micromanaging would need to focus more on the big picture and take steps to delegate work where necessary. 
• Complete list of traits: To view a list of traits and their accompanying derailing behaviors and possible solutions, see “Could Your Personality Derail Your Career?” by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic.

Cornell alumna and PCCW member Janet Gerhard lectured on “Curiosity: The Language of High Performance” at a workshop on November 28th sponsored by the student group GPWomeN and the group of alumna PCCW.

Gerhard covered how to identify curious people, how to create a team of highly curious people, and what organizations can do to foster curiosity. 

Three tips from the workshop:

1. Highly curious people speak and think less about “actions” and instead consider their “options”
2. Curiosity suffers when it comes to time and efficiency –  we have to make time to incorporate curiosity into our work
3. Check out this TED talk Janet shared during her presentation on the importance of curiosity in scientific discovery

Janet Gerhard has extensive experience transforming the way organizations understand and manage customer experience. By analyzing and strategically changing how organizations interact with their customers, she helps clients redefine their growth strategy and customer experience ecosystem thereby driving top-line growth and bottom line results.

On May 17, 2017, Cornell graduate students and postdocs offered advice on how to land a job in academia. Here are some of their tips:

• Start early: Begin your job search early and put your ideas about what makes you a desirable candidate on paper.
• Practice: Run practice seminars to hone your teaching skills, and do thorough research on the institution before your interview.
• Be accessible: Make sure you can speak about your research in a way that is understandable for people across various backgrounds and research fields.
• Sell yourself: Focus on forward-looking, big ideas and your ability to attract funding to the institution.

For more tips on the academic job market, check out this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education.

From the February 15th workshop.

• Being a librarian is like being a professor, but with an emphasis on good customer service.
• Librarians connect with people including faculty and graduate students due to their own academic background but have the extraordinary opportunity to elevate other’s work as a result of their reference capabilities.
• A library career is like being a professional academic student- you conduct small scale research and publish as well as teach both professionals and students. In addition to that, you will have 1) an opportunity to directly impact practice via your research and 2) have the freedom to shift your research interest.
• When applying for a career in an academic library, it is all about how you sell yourself. Pay attention to tailoring your cover letter to the posting to demonstrate why you are a good candidate.
• It is all about transforming your academic skills to transferrable skills that are relevant to your career goals. Developing both an academic CV and resume can help you identify your career competencies that might apply to various careers beyond academia.    
• Use the resources available to you to explore careers outside of academia, such as campus career services- even the most well intending advisor may not have much knowledge/experience beyond the professorate. Speak to librarians about their professional development if you want to pursue a library career! 
• Connect with people outside your department and don’t be shy about telling them what you want! They will be impressed by your passion and may connect you with various career opportunities in the near future. Network, network, and network.

During the June 2019 Pathways to Success Symposium, four panelists spoke about their transition from Ph.D.s to careers in museums, non-profits, and libraries. They offered attendees seven tips for shaping future careers:

1. Find the areas you are passionate about and listen to your heart. Sometimes desperation can help you identify your passions; be open to the unexpected expressions of your profession.
2. Know that you have more skills than you think you do. Seek community-based and experiential learning opportunities, connect with your community, and build your networks.
3. Remember that you cannot solve all problems. Failures and disappointments can teach you something that will help you in your next task. Barriers and obstacles can refine your skills.
4. You are the expert in your field, but it is important to explore interdisciplinarity.
5. Let go of others’ expectations. When it comes to considering career opportunities outside of academia, let go of the expectations of staying in academia that you or others have for yourself.
6. Immerse yourself. If you want to go into a certain field, immerse yourself in it by talking to those already working in it and learn to speak their language.
7. Successful careers are a combination of finding your passion, acquiring proper tools, and serendipity.

During the June 3, 2020 Pathways to Success Series career panel, “Careers in and Beyond Academia,” five panelists discussed their journeys from Ph.D. to profession. They offered the following advice to discover a fulfilling career:

1. Be open to opportunities that arise, even if you had not previously considered them.
2. Take the time to explore different options before making a career decision.
3. Identify your skills and interests and let them inform your career path.
4. Know that it is okay to work both inside and outside of academia over the course of a career.

As part of the 2021 Summer Pathways to Success Symposium, Careers Beyond Academia Executive Director Susi Varvayanis and Experiential Program Director Denise DiRienzo spoke with graduate students and postdocs about acquiring and using skills for a variety of careers.

A few session takeaways:

• Skills: Critical skills for success include professionalism, research, communication, management and leadership, mentorship, and disciplinary knowledge.
• Examples: These skills are transferrable from your Ph.D. journey – you have written memos, presented at conferences or been a TA, led open houses, mentored students, and worked in a lab. Employers are looking for these skills!
• Opportunities: To gain and enhance skills, think about short term projects, join a club, attend a career panel or hands-on workshop, volunteer, or ask to do a different task on a grant with your advisor or in your lab. Tasks such as grant writing, managing a budget, or grant reporting are all valuable skills.

Careers Beyond Academia is glad to advise students on additional ways to expand their skillsets and can help students create their own activities to gain experiences. Learn more.

As part of the 2021 Summer Pathways to Success Symposium, Angela Noble-Grange, senior lecturer of management communication, spoke about presenting oneself professionally over Zoom and making communication a personal strength. Noble-Grange left students with a list of tips on behavior to refrain from for most effective communication.

Ten self-sabotaging communication behaviors to avoid:

1. Not speaking up in meetings: Contribute questions and points!
2. Using weak body posture: Make sure your posture is open and positive. This shows you are engaged.
3. Allowing interruptions: Say, “Let me finish with this point then the floor is yours,” and continue your point.
4. Nodding your head excessively: This can be distracting to others in your meeting.
5. Allowing others credit for your ideas: Say, “Thank you for reiterating the point I made earlier. I am glad we are in agreement.”
6. Using weak language: Be confident in what you present.
7. Dressing inappropriately: Be aware of what the norms are for your field and dress to impress.
8. Overusing modifiers and qualifiers: Don’t add filler words – “such as,” “like,” “um,” etc. Have friends check to see if you do this and report back to you.
9. Uptalking: Don’t raise your tone at the end of a sentence. This makes the sentence sound like a question and makes you sound less confident.
10. Avoiding public speaking altogether: Get practice and speak in front of groups!

Abram Coatsee, Ph.D. ’22, shared lessons learned from his pivot from earning a doctorate in English language and literature to working at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the 2024 Summer Pathways to Success Symposium on June 4.

He encouraged graduate students to think about the lives they want to lead, consider the steps it will take to get there, and get creative about turning their time in graduate school into a series of opportunities that move them in the direction of their chosen futures.

Here are five tips to consider when thinking about making the switch from academia to industry:

1. Shift your mindset. Transitioning from academia into industry requires a different frame of mind, said Coatsee. Reframe how you see yourself, from a graduate student with niche interests into a professional.
2. Envision your future. Imagine the life that you want, and then decide that that life is possible. Reflect on the similarities between your graduate program and where you want to be and take steps to connect the two.
3. Use what you have. Leverage your environments in and outside of your program, institutional opportunities, the skills you possess, and the many resources Cornell provides.
4. Think about presentation. Consider how your skills and experiences could be listed on a resume or presented in an interview. Find the points of commonality between what you have done and what you want to do to advance your goals.
5. Be patient. Understand that the job search process and reaching the life you envisioned for yourself can take time. Be willing to put in the work and give the process the time it needs.