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Happy Friday from Southern California. I celebrated my birthday this week. I’m always grateful for another year!
Onwards…
I receive 30-50 direct messages on LinkedIn per month.
Half of those are people messaging me to thank me for something I wrote or said, or a recruiter finding out if I am interested in a position they have.
The other half are from PhDs and academics frustrated with the job market.
I’ve taken the Myers-Briggs personality test multiple times. I am an INFJ.
Here’s the problem with IFNJs: we think we can fix whatever is broken with the world.
It’s admirable, AND it is a flaw.
When a frustrated PhD hits my inbox, I want to fix it. Oh, do I want to fix it!!!!!
But I’ve finally made peace with the fact that I cannot fix everything.
Here’s the thing: most of the time, people come into my inbox when they are already frustrated and need a job NOW.
Sure. I have advice for short-term, “I need a job now” situations. Here it is:
- Study job descriptions
- Create a banger resume based on that study
- When you get into that interview, own the room like you’re supposed to be there.
This is the exact process I’ve used to land multiple high-paying industry roles. It works.
But…layoffs. AI. Government. Any of those things can happen to your job.
What do you do to fend them off? You play the long game, so organizational or even governmental decisions don’t completely upend your life. And you begin playing it long before you desperately need it.
That’s a whole other email.
For today, here are 4 of my long-term plays.
1. Curating and updating my body of work/portfolio regularly. Because it’s leverage, and it is easy to forget things you’ve done in the past that were amazing.
2. Connecting with recruiters and decision makers in my industry on LinkedIn. Because I like to read what they are saying, even if I’ll never work with them.
3. Writing on LinkedIn to showcase my work and personality. Because I stopped outsourcing my visibility to “hope.”
4 – Making my LinkedIn profile findable. Because what is sweeter than people finding you instead of you begging them to notice you? Nothing.
All very boring. All very effective.
Have a good weekend.
PS – let me know which of the four above I should go deep on in the next email.
Gertrude Nonterah, Ph.D.
Creator of The BoldPhD.com | Author of Navigating the P.I.V.O.T.