A “special” podcast? What do you mean?
Periodically I ask if there is anything else that I can do on the podcast that would be valuable. And just over a week ago someone responded:
@VivaSurvivors Any chance of a podcast discussing the academic job market? Really enjoying the podcasts, keep it up!
— Christopher Daley (@cr_daley) November 9, 2012
This is a great idea! I’ve been mulling it over and think that it would be difficult for me to do by myself. This is where YOU come in: do you have time at some point in the next few weeks to contribute to a special Viva Survivors podcast?
What might we talk about?
It would be good to look at trends in academia, the kinds of jobs that people go for, competition, skills that help in academic jobs, CVs, what helps you to stand out… There are so many things that we could cover! What other questions or topics could we discuss? Email me, tweet @VivaSurvivors or leave a comment below if you have some ideas.
What’s all this “we” business?
As I said above, I can’t do this alone. I work in parallel with academia as a skills trainer, but I’m not a researcher in an institution now. This is where YOU come in, whoever you are. What can you tell us about the academic job market? How did you get your position now? What skills do you use in your job? Or do you work in a careers service and have time to share your experiences with the podcast? Please get in touch!
New podcasts coming soon!
This doesn’t mean that I’m stopping the regular flavour of podcast! I’m always looking for more people to share their PhD story and their viva experiences. If you would like to contribute to the podcast then please let me know. And thank you to everyone who tweets, RTs and tells me about how valuable they’re finding the podcast. I do this in my free time, and it’s nice to hear that people are getting something from hearing the stories that our @VivaSurvivors are sharing.
I’m working my way through the podcasts, and in the descriptions I don’t see anything yet on how to handle a “hostile” viva, or people who’ve survived them. The tweet you posted about relaxing because “if you’ve made it to the viva, they’re giving you the PhD” isn’t entirely true! A friend of mine recently went through a really tough viva where one examiner was antagonistic, and I think it might help preparations to have some tools in the bucket to deal with that. Apart from throwing up profusely. 😉
Thanks for your comment Lyle! I’ve come across very, very few people who have had “nightmare” or “hostile” vivas, which is why I’ve not had anyone on yet who has had one. I have exchanged emails with someone who wasn’t sure about taking part because they had a bad experience. I agree that it would be good to cover, I’ve just not figured out how to do it yet.
That said, I can’t say no to a challenge these days, so leave it with me 🙂