How to be noticed for senior management positions in academe

Getting yourself noticed for senior management positions is not only important because you get to practise the skills required to succeed in such positions; if you aren't noticed you are likely to miss out on opportunities. Most people don't notice when these roles are advertised, and some -- especially women -- do not want to put themselves forward. For these reasons, it is vitally important to be noticed as a potential candidate, before your ideal role becomes available. 

Follow the points below and I may tap you on the shoulder about becoming an academic leader.

Be Seen

Create a LinkedIn profile and keep it up to date, it only takes a few minutes each month. If you're worried you will get unwanted approaches, shut them out in your settings. Keep your university staff page up to date and comprehensive. If your institution's systems make updating it too hard, create your own website, or blog. Don’t forget to add the links to your LinkedIn profile.

Be Known as a Deft Administrator

If people notice you managing well, they are more likely to suggest you for a management role. Serving in Deputy or Acting positions is ideal, but these opportunities are few and can be hard to get. Consider other roles that will get your administrative skills noticed and valued by peers, such as editing a journal or becoming involved in a project. Showing your diplomacy, and your competence in getting things done to a level of excellence, not only earns respect from peers but impresses a selection panel.

In an upcoming post I will address the selection criteria used for academic leadership positions, following a research survey I am conducting of the higher education sector in Australia. In the meantime I will speak generally about the skills and experience required.

Acquire Relevant Skills and Experience

The ability to manage financial outcomes is increasingly important and yet many academics fall short in this vital area. Consider managing a conference or other event, and be able to talk about the financial outcomes (did it make money? how did you raise additional funds?). If you don't understand budgets at all, there are plenty of short courses designed for generalists.

Being able to manage change, is another capability of strong contenders for leadership. As change becomes the ‘new normal’ across campuses and disciplines, there are many change initiatives you can become actively involved in. Remember to be considered in your approaches and evaluate the impacts of your actions, so you can both articulate how you manage change and become better at it. Being able to drive change from the ground up is great for getting involved in your institution, in advocating for changes (both up and down), becoming good at consultation and building support for initiatives. 

Many successful academics do not want to serve in administration for their academic communities. It is true that management positions on campus today leave little time for research or teaching; while a good track record in both these areas remain prerequisite to being eligible. A desire for academic achievement through others, and through the sometimes exhausting processes of modern universities, is mandatory. And we do need more people willing and ready to step into these positions, with the respect and support of their colleagues, if we are to maintain the strength of our universities through the impending retirement of so many baby boomers currently in these roles. 

Why many academic job applications would be graded “F”

As a recruiter, I see too many poor quality applications for senior academic roles. These applications are written by intelligent people. Yet if the applicants were to mark their own applications as student assignments, they would have to fail them.

Here are three of the most common errors that would make a first year blush:

Not answering the question

In the case of a job application, this means addressing the selection criteria – both explicitly in a separate statement, and by tailoring your resume. Make sure your resume contains evidence for all the selection criteria, including outcomes of your achievements.

If you can’t find quantifiable evidence of your skills and knowledge against each and every selection criterion, then you probably don’t meet the job requirements. Reconsider whether you should submit at all, or instead turn the exercise into a gap analysis and work on an action plan to gain the skills or knowledge that you currently lack, for better success in future.

Poor presentation

Some applications seem to be the result of somnambulist writing. Rambling on, throwing in everything that the applicant has ever thought or done, in the hope that some of it will hit bullseye with the reader.  Remember the readers are looking for evidence against the selection criteria, and then they want to move on to the next stage in the process. Help them by putting forward your evidence, and not wasting their time by making them wade through 30 pages. And don’t forget basics like page numbering and consistent fonts.

Poor presentation includes sending your resume as a file called “My resume”. Name your file with the position number, or name, and your last name.

Late submissions

This one’s a doozy. Positions are generally open for applications for many weeks, sometimes months. If an applicant can’t get their application in on time, how does that look to the selection panel? And if there has been a search for the position and you haven’t been tapped by the headhunter, maybe you need to improve your profile (I’ll address how to do this in a follow up post).

Academics: next time you are preparing a job application, mentally get out your red pen and mark it like it’s a student’s assignment. Or I can help you – send it to me at rdesailly@gmail.com for an objective review.

How to find candidates for academic leadership roles

The higher education sector is approaching a capability crisis with many leaders facing retirement. Given the situation, finding good candidates for leadership roles is critical for ensuring continuity during this transition process. So what is working?

This week, my client is interviewing candidates, that I found for them, for two Head of School positions. To be successful, people in these positions spend 25% of their time on research and the rest on academic leadership, including hands-on management from strategic planning through operations. What I’ve discovered is that not many academics want such a role, and even fewer actually have what it takes for their School to succeed under their direction.

Of all the short listed candidates on campus this week, only one responded to an advertisement for the position. Advertising was part of the blended marketing campaign, including listings on major academic job sites in Australia, the UK and North America.

Why didn’t the advertising work? People who are best suited to a leadership position are too busy being successful in their current role and research to notice job ads.

All the other high quality candidates came directly either identified through my research, or my contacts, or referred to me via a ripple effect generated by my online communications campaign, the message travelling via social networks.

Read my next post for insights on how to make sure you are recommended by your colleagues in an active search for leadership positions in your field.