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Archives: Advice Posts

Seven Strategies for Negotiating Salary

At a GO–MAP Power Hour, a group of women of color discussed salary negotiation strategies. Here are seven key takeaways from their conversation:  

1. Confidence is key

Believe in your abilities and strengths. Don’t sell yourself short.

2. Do your research

Use Glassdoor to figure out the salary ranges for the organization and position. If the organization is a non-profit, this information will be available on their 990 forms (tax returns). Don’t be afraid to ask for a salary range at the end of your first interview, so you have a ballpark going in. And research doesn’t need to be web-based – use your friends and networks to gather information about salaries at companies and industries that interest you.

3. It’s about more than salary

Look at your entire benefits package, not just your salary, when considering an offer. Use a list or spreadsheet to track the many facets of the offer. This can help facilitate comparisons between offers and aid in negotiations, especially for academic jobs where an offer will include line items for research, summer salary and the like. Not sure what a package might include? Here are some other important benefits and perks to consider:

  • Medical insurance, including dental. Pay attention to premiums and out-of-pocket caps.
  • Short and long-term disability
  • Life insurance
  • Vacation allotment
  • Maternity leave
  • Sick leave
  • Stipends for medical expenses
  • Transportation benefits

4. When asked how much you’re looking for…

You may want to give a range, which can help with negotiations later on (it can also be considered a risk, others said). If you give a range, the bottom of the range should be the minimum you would accept to feel comfortable at that job. The top of the range should be no more than 20% of the average salary of that position in the city. For example, if the average salary is $45,000, the top of your range should be $54,000.

5. Plan ahead

Don’t just negotiate for how much you need to survive — picture yourself thriving. How much will you need to earn if you want to start investing, or saving toward a major purchase?

6. Negotiate differently

Say the salary at the job you really want is too low, but totally fixed. Consider asking to work fewer hours — say, 32 instead of 40 per week — for the same amount of pay. Then use those eight free hours to start a side-hustle!

7. Continue the conversation

Organize a group of friends and peers to share tips and strategies for negotiating salaries and other resources on professional development.  

Being Intentional and Productive This Summer

Summer is the perfect time to make room for activities and experiences that will help you be—and feel—prepared for the coming academic year! The pace can feel slower during this time of the year, and there’s a little more wiggle room to be intentional about visualizing and achieving your intellectual, professional, and interpersonal goals. Maybe you’re starting from scratch (or already have some initial goals) and just need a plan of action. Maybe you need some structured time and support to work on a writing project? Or maybe you’re interested in career development activities?

No matter where you’re at, below are some initial strategies that can help you create intentional space for productivity this summer!

Create a plan to meet your goals

As graduate students—and as whole people with complex lives—we know that completing your graduate degree is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to meeting your goals. And we know it takes time to reflect on the skills you already possess—and the academic, professional, and interpersonal competencies you’d like to develop in the future.  Creating an Individual Development Plan (IDP) can help you map out realistic, achievable goals for your time in graduate school and beyond. Use your IDP as a roadmap for meeting with mentors and advisors. What’s great about an IDP is that you can adapt and revise as you see fit!

Make progress on your writing

Whether you are working on a thesis, dissertation, or an article for publication, set achievable and concrete writing goals for yourself this summer. In past Core Programs newsletters, we encouraged you to start out by setting aside 15-minute blocks of time to write each day. Then try working your way up to 30-minute chunks of time. You’ll eventually see that you’re making progress. Reach out to peers (they can be peers outside of your graduate program too) to schedule skype and/or in-person writing support group meetings. You can receive and share constructive feedback on writing projects and hold each other accountable to getting tasks done. Finally, here are great tips on how to move past feeling stuck in a writing rut from Dr. Kerry Anne Rockquemore, President of the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity.

Get involved in professional development activities

There are many ways to brush up on your professional development this summer.

  1. Update your CV or resume with skills and professional experiences you have gained from 2016–2017.
  2. Identify conferences you’d like to present your work at for the coming year and mark those proposal and registration deadlines on your calendar.
  3. Set up informational interviews to network with professionals currently working in fields or companies you’re interested in working for. 4) Volunteer in your local community to gain skills and to give back.
  4. Contact your UW career center (Bothell career center, Tacoma career center, Seattle career center) for guidance with your internship or job search.
  5. Check out just a few of our Core Programs newsletter links below on professional development:

Research funding opportunities

Whether you are seeking travel funds to participate in an academic or professional conference or grants to fund your research, start by learning about the breadth of possible funding opportunities available to you. Because application deadlines and eligibility requirements vary widely—and can sneak up on you when you’re busy during the academic year—it’s always a good idea to plan in advance.

Funding Information Resources

We hope you find these strategies useful, and please let us know of tips that worked for you!

Scavenger Hunt

Compete in a city-wide Scavenger Hunt organized by Crosscut from June 14–June 30 for the chance to win a $1,000 airline ticket gift card.

How Prof. Phillip Levin Works

Phillip Levin, Professor of Practice

Department/program: School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Research focus: Conservation

Phillip Levin is one of only two Professors of Practice at the UW, straddling the academic and professional worlds to maximize impact in both. As the lead scientist at the Nature Conservancy–Seattle, he said in 2016 he hopes to “be a voice of science, to highlight where science can provide answers to our most pressing conservation issues and to act as a scientific adviser.” Levin joined the UW in 2016 after working for 17 years for the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration–Fisheries, where he received the Department of Commerce Silver Award and NOAA’s Bronze Medal for his work on marine ecosystems. His research into Puget Sound’s sixgill sharks was featured on KCTS-9’s award-winning documentary, Wildlife Detectives: Mystery Sharks of Seattle, in 2016.

Work

Give us a one-word description of how you work:

Collaboratively

How do you manage your to-dos?

I’ve tried various apps that sync across devices, but right now my favorite is Google Keep. It’s great for making lists as well as taking short notes.

What are your essential apps, software or tools?

I depend a great deal on my calendar (I use Apple’s calendar to combine my personal and work calendars). I am using Notability on my iPad now as a note taking tool. So far it’s great, and syncs over to my phone and computer. I have also found collaboration tools like Asana to be useful for group projects, but typically only during the start-up phase when there are a lot of moving parts. After that, use by everyone seems to decline.

Where do you most often work?

Right now, because I’m in a new position that requires lots of interaction, I am working quite a bit at our office site. Typically, when I write, I prefer to be in a place where I can experience long stretches without interruption. Often this is at home or on airplanes.

How do you manage your time?

Not very well. I never seem to have enough!

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

I prioritize and spend very little time on low priority items.

What are some of your productivity strategies you’ve honed over your years in academia?

Often I am most productive when I step away from a problem and let my mind wonder. So, when writing or trying to figure out a problem, a long bike ride or walk or gardening will help me. Most of my “writing” is done in my head away from the computer. When I do sit down to actually write, it’s more about organizing my thoughts and trying to express them coherently.

Life

What mundane thing are you really exceptional at?

I’m not sure anything is really mundane. I’m really good at doing nothing, but even then (especially then) the gears in my brain are turning.

What are you currently reading for pleasure?

Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger

What’s the last thing that made you laugh?

I laugh at everything.

How do you recharge?

Gardening

What’s your sleep routine like?

Listening to podcasts takes my mind away from the day. When I do so, I typically fall asleep within minutes.

Inspiration

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

When my paper or grant proposal is rejected it’s MY fault, not the reviewers. Sure, the reviewer missed the point, or is just plain wrong, but then I need to better express my point. This attitude has always helped me improve my products and reminds me that no matter how right I may think I am, other perspectives are important.

Who’s your support system?

My family

What pitfall do you consistently see students falling into?

Failing to consider the larger picture. Why should someone outside your immediate field care about what you do? And letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

What do your most successful students do?

They persevere in the face of many obstacles. Persistence pays off.

How UW Works was inspired by LifeHacker’s How I Work.

How Prof. David Domke Works

David Domke

David Domke, Professor

Department/program: Communications
Research focus: Political communication: messages by candidates, campaign, parties and news media; public attitudes and opinions

David Domke is a popular face on campus. Last year, he delivered a sold-out lecture series focused on the 2016 election and civil rights. He was named the UW graduating class of 2008’s favorite professor, and, in 2015, was selected as the keynote speaker for freshman convocation. In 2002, Domke was a recipient of a UW Distinguished Teaching Award. A former journalist, Domke worked for the Orange County Register and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before earning a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1996.

Work

Give us a one-word description of how you work:

Intensely.

How do you manage your to-dos?

Lists and calendars. I have a daily calendar, of course, but I also have wall calendars that show the whole year in one glance.

What are your essential apps, software or tools?

Google Docs, hard-copy calendar, wall calendar, cell phone for texting.

Where do you most often work?

Everywhere and anywhere.

How do you manage your time?

I compartmentalize and prioritize. I try to focus my mind on one thing at a time, then finish it and move on. Each day I have a plan for my time; these daily plans fit into a weekly, monthly, and yearly plan. The plans get fuzzier the farther out the dates, but I almost always have a working sense of what’s to be prioritized. This working sense allows me to focus my mind on tasks or work in sequence, which is where the compartmentalization occurs.

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

Being ahead of the curve on things rather than playing catch-up or working at the last-minute. Being ahead of the curve on items reduces stress for me and allows me to operate efficiently without wasted energy due to stress.

What are some of your productivity strategies you’ve honed over your years in academia?

Developing healthy boundaries that guide me in knowing when I’m responsible and when I’m not.

Life

What mundane thing are you really exceptional at?

Being hopeful and seeing positives.

What’s the last thing that made you laugh?

My Twitter feed. I intentionally populate it with funny people so that I have go-to humor at pretty much all times.

How do you recharge?

Reading, eating comfort food (cookies) and thinking big ideas.

What’s your sleep routine like?

Pretty regular. I go to sleep at 11 p.m. and wake up between 6 and 6:30 am.

Inspiration

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Pursue the good, not the perfect.

Who’s your support system?

My spouse and a small group of close friends and colleagues.

What pitfall do you consistently see students falling into?

Negative self-talk and beliefs. You have to believe in yourself if you want to achieve big things; otherwise you’ll convince yourself you can’t do something.

What do your most successful students do?

Try. Just try. Don’t worry about potential success. Trying is the success.

How UW Works was inspired by LifeHacker’s How I Work.

Did you enjoy this series? Check back Wednesdays during the Spring quarter for the latest mid-week motivation! While you wait, you can read more in this series, nominate a student or professor to be featured, or answer the questions yourself! (Students should answer the questions via this form; faculty should use this form. If you prefer to answer the questions over email, drop us a line at gradnews@uw.edu).

Translating Your Postdoc Experience into Practice

An academic journey is an interesting thing. After focusing on developing specialized knowledge in a field during your PhD and then digging deeper during your postdoc, it is understandable to wonder how you might use your specific expertise in different settings – whether inside or outside of academia.

A recent panel of Ph.D.s working in industry highlighted the importance of translating your doctoral and postdoc experience into broader terms. Taking an inventory of your skills, capabilities, and strengths can help you gain confidence as you begin to imagine you do have something remarkable to offer to a future employer or to leverage for success in your career.

Skills learned during graduate school and a postdoc fellowship have set you up to be a competitive applicant for most industry and start up jobs, in addition to the traditional academic track. By the completion of your training, you are highly intelligent, with an ability to learn and teach yourself “what you don’t know.” You are adept at gathering all the available information and making a good decision regarding what it means and what’s next. You have developed great analytical and logic-minded skills, which you can apply to move an issue, experiment or conversation forward. All it takes is stepping back, and reframing your experiences for a different audience.

Need some ideas about how your graduate and postdoc experiences have prepared you for a rewarding career inside or outside of academia? Check out this list from Peter Fiske’s keynote at the National Postdoc Association meeting 2017 (#NPA2017) to get you started:

  1. Ability to function in a variety of environments and roles
  2. Teaching skills; conceptualizing, explaining
  3. Counseling, interview skills
  4. Public speaking experience
  5. Ability to support a position/viewpoint with argumentation and logic
  6. Ability to conceive and design complex studies and projects
  7. Ability to implement and manage all phases of complex research projects and to follow them through to completion
  8. Knowledge of the scientific method to organize and test ideas
  9. Ability to organize and analyze data, to understand statistics and to generalize from data
  10. Ability to combine, integrate information from disparate sources
  11. Ability to evaluate critically
  12. Ability to investigate, using many different research methodologies
  13. Ability to problem-solve
  14. Ability to do advocacy work
  15. Ability to acknowledge many differing views of reality
  16. Ability to suspend judgment, to work with ambiguity
  17. Ability to make the best use of informed hunches

As you develop your own inventory, keep in mind that similar skills or capacities may be called different things in different sectors or fields. Do your research when you are targeting a job prospect and develop tailored versions of your CV or resume and cover letters to reflect the field specific terms.  You are prepared – it just takes a little translation to help others see it easily. We invite you to budget an hour or so a week to explore the references below for more tools and ideas.

How Prof. Adam Summers Works

Adam Summers, Professor, Friday Harbor Labs

Adam Summers

Department/program: Biology & School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences Research focus: Biomechanics and Biomaterials Adam Summers is known around campus as “the fish guy,” reflecting his passion for, and expertise in, all things fishy. With a focus on biomechanics in fish movement, he played a role in bringing Pixar’s most popular fish movie — Finding Nemo — to life. He earned his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Massachusetts, and, after nine years teaching at the University of California — Irvine, now runs the comparative biomechanics and biomaterials lab at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Labs.

Work

Give us a one-word description of how you work: Curiously. How do you manage your to-dos? Wunderlist. Also email ping-backs: I send an email explaining I am working on something and the person who needs it should send me an email if they don’t get it in a certain number of days. What are your essential apps, software or tools? Word, Chrome, Amira (a 3-D software platform for visualizing, manipulating and understanding data from multiple image modalities), Fusion 360 (a software platform for designing, engineering and manufacturing), Photoshop, Illustrator, Papers. Where do you most often work? In my office and lab. How do you manage your time? Google calendar. What is your best time-saving shortcut? Lots of open tabs. What are some of your productivity strategies you’ve honed over your years in academia? Write 750 words every day. Every single day.

Life

What mundane thing are you really exceptional at? Landing in a crosswind. What are you currently reading for pleasure? Half Resurrection Blues by Daniel Older What’s the last thing that made you laugh? Daughter’s self-made spelling test which included ‘Parents,’ ‘Mission’ and ‘Revenge’. How do you recharge? Fly small planes, snuggle with small children. What’s your sleep routine like? Five to eight hours in one block or three and four in two.

Inspiration

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Make your teaching serve your research. Who’s your support system? My wife, kids and brother. What pitfall do you consistently see students falling into? Waiting to write. Write early, often and broadly. It makes writing for work less work. What do your most successful students do? They love morphology and poke at how things work. They tinker and make things.

Digging Deep for the Final Push

Spring is the time of year where several big projects come to the fore.  Your to-do lists may include one—or more—of the following:  doing a job search, writing up your thesis or capstone summary, continuing work on that dissertation, defending your dissertation, or making arrangements to move with your family after graduation.  And by no means are these small tasks.  So it’s no wonder why, for different reasons (a task feels too big, intimidating, or the long-term benefits don’t seem readily apparent because of immediate stress or anxiety), we put off doing these projects.

First things first, you are definitely not alone in these feelings. We at Core Programs hear you and encourage you to dig deep for that final push this quarter.  Fortunately, there are strategies that can help you do just that.  Below are just a few:

Practice self-compassion.  One of the biggest reasons we might procrastinate from doing a task is because we judge ourselves internally before we even begin.  We might tell ourselves that we “need to be perfect,” or that we are “incompetent” or “undeserving” of a graduate degree, getting that job after graduation, or even success in general.  Sometimes these are feelings we internalize, rather than verbal messages.  And all of this can stop us in right our tracks.  One way to move through negative self-talk is to practice being mindful.  When negative thoughts come up, avoid over-identifying with those thoughts and say to yourself, “That’s interesting that I’m thinking that.”  If you do judge yourself for not working on one of your projects, that’s a perfect moment to be self-compassionate. You can ask yourself, “What would a caring friend say to me right now?”

Negotiate with yourself.  We all have ways we can avoid getting things done.  For some of us, it’s spending a few hours on Netflix.  For others, it might be reading a book we enjoy, rather than the required reading for a graduate seminar.  Still for others, it might be playing video games.  And let’s be real—completely denying yourself of a coping mechanism for stress is neither realistic nor the complete answer.  Might you meet yourself halfway?  For example, can you set aside time in your schedule to write for 15 min., then watch a 30 min. Netflix show—eventually working your way up to 30 min. writing increments?  The goal is not to deprive yourself or even judge yourself for avoiding, but to aim for breaking down your projects into manageable tasks.

Be resourceful.  One important skill we know you have as graduate students is being resourceful.  You have developed this skill over time, and this has helped you tap into your strengths to navigate the university system, your graduate education program, and life in general.   It is also perfectly okay to reach out for support when you need it.  Check in with a peer, loved one, or member of your thesis or dissertation committee to hold you accountable to breaking down and completing your projects in a realistic manner—and to remind you to reward yourself for each, no matter big or small.  You can also schedule an appointment with at a UW writing center, form a writing group, or meet with advisors at your campus career center.

We hope you found these strategies useful, and we know you can do it!

Best,

Core Programs Team

Additional Resources