Heather Vellers

Meeting candidate- and case-specific academic career development needs and providing a service that caters to all aspects essential to successful academic career development is the motivation that two individuals used to create their recently established companies, targeting postdocs to late-career academics. Their foci are distinct; Faith Lightfoot, owner of Well-dressed Academic, focuses on teaching and building an appropriate wardrobe for academics, while Timothy Lightfoot, PhD, founder of Academic Career Development, provides individually tailored career development services. Using individualized career advice services to supplement postdoctoral offices can provide superior results in a highly competitive job market. In addition, receiving this genre of advice creates  nearly “stress free” experiences among postdocs that have tried these services.

An Individualized Approach Expedites Academic Job Searches

There is no “one size fits all” advice in applying and interviewing for academic positions. The type of position, type of institution, department, field of study, and so on all play integral roles. While other valuable sources of advice exist, academics eventually come to multiple dead-end roads leaving questions unanswered like, “How long should I wait before I inquire about the status of a position I applied for?”, “How do I effectively negotiate once offered a position?”, or “How do I set myself up to successfully navigate the tenure-promotion process?” There are many case- and individual-specific needs that are difficult to find in one source of information, making searching for answers resemble a scavenger hunt to find reliable source(s) of information on developing application materials, interviewing, and presenting.

Academic Career Development targets individual-specific needs from all angles beginning with  application material preparation (e.g. cover letter, research agenda, teaching philosophy, curriculum vitae), to Skype interviews and job-talks, to successfully obtaining tenure. The founder, Lightfoot, is able to leverage over 28 years of experience in academia as a department chair, endowed professor in kinesiology, and currently, professor and director of the Huffines Institute of Sports Medicine at Texas A&M University. Having gained experience and valuable insights painfully, his life goal is to advise those pursuing academic careers. “There are many unwritten and confusing 'rules' in higher education that affect academics from early- to late-career stages,” says Lightfoot.

The primary goals of Academic Career Development are to guide and support postdocs and early career academics in developing a career path to prosper in academia. These services are offered via private sessions, online group classes or workshops and seminars, where he delivers his expertise necessary to streamline the documents, as well as the course of action for individuals to navigate the academic career process. In addition, Lightfoot released “Finding the Best Faculty Job for You: Living and Prospering in Academia, Book 1,” the first book of a series entitled “Living and Prospering in Academia.”

Illustration by Alexandra Taraboletti

Completing your “Professional Image”:

Well-Dressed Academic works with clients to create a positive, and lasting, professional image. Although professional image is a topic not typically taught in academic career development, in the current job climate professional image can give applicants a clear advantage. In academia, professional image is created through the way applicants speak, teach, conduct and lead their research agenda, handle difficult situations with colleagues and students, and their manner of dress. In fact, the wardrobe is arguably at the base of professional image. While that may seem superficial, research demonstrates that all humans unconsciously judge someone within the first seven seconds of meeting them based on their appearance alone. Such judgement calls validate a speaker in the minds of the audience before the speaker utters a single word. Thus, a poor appearance can inhibit an audience from taking a speaker seriously; while, conversely, a professional appearance commands an audience's attention.

Well-dressed Academic begins by asking clients to consider what their appearance say about them. “Do your clothes represent where you want to go in your career, or where you are today?” asks Faith Lightfoot, image and style consultant and owner of Well-dressed Academic. The  focus of this service is on building a “budget-friendly” wardrobe that compliments body shape and proportions, with colors that make you “pop.” The goal is to build an interview and work wardrobe that will leave a lasting impression. Lightfoot places an emphasis on sharing her knowledge and experience for the benefit of others, so they become the masters of their wardrobe.

Professional Career Advice Can Provide Improve the Job Search Outcome

As quoted by Arthur Ashe, "One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” A successful career in academia is no exception to this quote. This is true at any stage of the process, whether for a job applicant for an assistant professor position, a mid-career academic, or even individuals in senior-level positions pursuing leadership positions in higher education. For postdoctoral scholars seeking academic-based positions, the immediate next step is obtaining an assistant professor position.

The academic application and interview is both daunting, and mentally and emotionally taxing. The pursuit of an academic position can feel like a second full-time job, consuming many nights and weekends to prepare for that “perfect job.” Though a simple google search related to the academic career development process will yield thousands of results, few address candidate-specific needs. Candidate-specific needs may range from developing a polished, well-written cover letter and what to wear on a Skype or on-campus interview to delivering an effective “job talk;” all are integral components that must be perfected as an academic job candidate.

Taken together, the academic career development services established by the Lightfoots provide a single source of reliable information with proven success. This genre of service could easily make a large difference in a candidates ultimate success. Applying and interviewing for faculty positions can be stressful. Utilizing such services could drastically decrease the stress and time involved in preparations for applying and interviewing for academic positions.

Heather Vellers, PhD, is an IRTA postdoctoral fellow in the Immunity, Inflammation, and Disease Laboratory at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in Research Triangle Park, NC.