Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Alumni Corner: Joseph Allen
by Logan Justice
Name: Joseph A. AllenWhen did you graduate?
December 2010
What is your current job role and where?
Assistant Professor, Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Assistant Editor, Journal of Business and Psychology
Department of Psychology
Creighton University
What are your greatest memories of OS?
Working with various faculty members and realizing how much they care about the success of the students. They don’t get enough credit for working with the students or for the amount of time and energy they put into the students. Because of their support, I could go to any of them with questions and they were all very helpful.
In reflecting back, what are the top three things you are taking away from the program?
1. Continued collaboration with OS faculty.
2. The teaching experience I was allowed to have while at UNCC and having a faculty mentor to guide me thru that process. Being exposed to that in a more supportive environment helped me be more prepared for my role at Creighton. It helped prepare me for dealing with students and teaching.
3. Making time to help others around you. If someone, at some point, hadn’t taken an interest in me, I would not be where I am today. The faculty and students in the OS program tend to keep an eye out for those who they can help and serve. I’m in essence trying to give back to the institution and process that helped me get here.
What advice do you have for new students on how to succeed in graduate school?
Work, work, work! There is no satisfactory substitute, especially as a grad-student. Thankfully, my wife and daughters were very supportive. I could work long hours and they were always there telling me to keep going and get it done. Also, “Celebrate the victories by climbing the next mountain.” Every time you achieve something don’t just sit there and think about how wonderful you are. Take a little time to enjoy the moment but keep on task. It is a marathon. If you don’t keep on task you will never get it done.
What job search tips do you have for current students?
First, please recognize I can only speak to the academic side of the job search. However, don’t be too picky at first in terms of the jobs you apply for. Although you should be selective to within a particular field (Management, I/O, Org. Comm., or Sociology), you also need to be open to opportunities you might not have considered before. Due to the publication lag, you MUST begin working with a professor during your first semester on publishable projects. It could take up to 3 or 4 years to be published and being published is very important. For example: I applied for 30+ jobs in the summer of 2009 with no publications and a lot of things under review. No one (absolutely, no one) wanted to talk to me at conferences or over the phone. However, in October 2009, I had 5 manuscripts go to “in press”. I then sent another 13 applications with this new information and received several interviews, invites, visits, etc. The only difference in my CV was the publications. Everything else, (e.g. teaching experience, dissertation progress, conference submissions, internships, consulting, etc.) was the same.
What about for preparation for going on the job market?
1. Publish or Perish
2. Gain teaching experience
3. Learn about the job search process in your first year
4. Keep track of everything you do
5. Get your vita started (look at examples of peers)
6. Be optimistic…OS students are seeing some real successes in a bad job market
Working with various faculty members and realizing how much they care about the success of the students. They don’t get enough credit for working with the students or for the amount of time and energy they put into the students. Because of their support, I could go to any of them with questions and they were all very helpful.
In reflecting back, what are the top three things you are taking away from the program?
1. Continued collaboration with OS faculty.
2. The teaching experience I was allowed to have while at UNCC and having a faculty mentor to guide me thru that process. Being exposed to that in a more supportive environment helped me be more prepared for my role at Creighton. It helped prepare me for dealing with students and teaching.
3. Making time to help others around you. If someone, at some point, hadn’t taken an interest in me, I would not be where I am today. The faculty and students in the OS program tend to keep an eye out for those who they can help and serve. I’m in essence trying to give back to the institution and process that helped me get here.
What advice do you have for new students on how to succeed in graduate school?
Work, work, work! There is no satisfactory substitute, especially as a grad-student. Thankfully, my wife and daughters were very supportive. I could work long hours and they were always there telling me to keep going and get it done. Also, “Celebrate the victories by climbing the next mountain.” Every time you achieve something don’t just sit there and think about how wonderful you are. Take a little time to enjoy the moment but keep on task. It is a marathon. If you don’t keep on task you will never get it done.
What job search tips do you have for current students?
First, please recognize I can only speak to the academic side of the job search. However, don’t be too picky at first in terms of the jobs you apply for. Although you should be selective to within a particular field (Management, I/O, Org. Comm., or Sociology), you also need to be open to opportunities you might not have considered before. Due to the publication lag, you MUST begin working with a professor during your first semester on publishable projects. It could take up to 3 or 4 years to be published and being published is very important. For example: I applied for 30+ jobs in the summer of 2009 with no publications and a lot of things under review. No one (absolutely, no one) wanted to talk to me at conferences or over the phone. However, in October 2009, I had 5 manuscripts go to “in press”. I then sent another 13 applications with this new information and received several interviews, invites, visits, etc. The only difference in my CV was the publications. Everything else, (e.g. teaching experience, dissertation progress, conference submissions, internships, consulting, etc.) was the same.
What about for preparation for going on the job market?
1. Publish or Perish
2. Gain teaching experience
3. Learn about the job search process in your first year
4. Keep track of everything you do
5. Get your vita started (look at examples of peers)
6. Be optimistic…OS students are seeing some real successes in a bad job market
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