GIVING AND GETTING
CAREER ADVICE:
A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY
This Guide was prepared by Pamela J. Smock and Robin Stephenson, with assistance from Janet E. Malley
and Abigail J. Stewart. An early draft was reviewed by several colleagues, who provided valuable advice:
Rebecca Bernstein, Aline Cotel, Danielle LaVaque-Manty, Mika LaVaque-Manty, Marvin Parnes, Martha
Pollack, Michelle Swanson, Janet Weiss and Nicholas Winter. The most recent draft was reviewed and
revised by Denise Sekaquaptewa.
Suggested citation: Smock, P. and Stephenson, R. (2016). Giving and Getting Career Advice: A Guide for
Junior and Senior Faculty. University of Michigan ADVANCE Program.
For more information or additional copies of this resource, please contact:
A
DVANCE PROGRAM
advance.umich.edu
734 647-9359
1214 S. University Ave.
2nd Floor, Suite C - Galleria Building
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2592
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why is Career Advice Important?...................................................................................................... 3
What Exactly is Career Advising? Is It the Same Thing as “Mentoring”? ......................................... 3
What is the Goal of Providing Career Advice? ................................................................................... 4
What are the Dierent Forms of Career Advising? ........................................................................... 4
Common Issues for Junior and Senior Faculty Regarding Career Advising ..................................... 5
Tips for Senior Faculty ....................................................................................................................... 6
Tips for Department Chairs and Directors .........................................................................................7
Tips for Junior Faculty ....................................................................................................................... 8
Integrating Work and Personal Life: University Policies ................................................................... 9
Summary: Questions to Ask and to Answer.....................................................................................10
Additional Resources on Career Advising and Mentoring ............................................................... 11
GIVING AND GETTING CAREER ADVICE: A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY | AUGUST 2016
Why is Career Advice Important?
Faculty careers develop over time. Along the way, and more than
in most occupations, individuals are free to make decisions and
choices about how they spend their time and about what they
do. Making those decisions requires information and judgment
about consequences, since the decisions you make now are likely
to matter for the long term. With limited information, individuals
lack the basis needed to make informed judgments. That’s not
likely to lead to the best decisions! And since time is finite, “yes” to
a new commitment today also means “no” to a current activity or
future opportunity. Career advice from people with information and
experience can provide a crucial context for decision-making and
career development.
Lack of access to career advice—often because of few opportunities
for informal interactions in which information is conveyed casually—
is one of the most widely reported barriers to career advancement.
Moreover, there is evidence that white women and women and
men of color are particularly likely to suer career setbacks from
lack of career guidance (see e.g., Bowman, Kite, Branscombe, &
Williams, 1999). In one study (Preston, 2003), one third of women
interviewed who exited science cited a lack of guidance as the
major factor leading to the exit decision, while none of the men
interviewed identified this as a factor influencing exit.
What Exactly is Career Advising? Is it the Same Thing as “Mentoring”?
Many people think of “mentoring” as something that is part of the
graduate school relationship between an advisor and an advisee,
and one in which the advisor sets relatively strong and clear limits
on the advisee’s range of choices. To avoid confusing this type of
mentorship with the kind of interactions that junior faculty—who
should proactively pursue their own career development—need to
have with more senior colleagues, we are using the term “career
advising” instead of mentoring.
There are many dierent forms of career advising and all of them
are valuable to junior faculty. Some of them may, in fact, be similar
to the mentoring of graduate students; but many are not. For
example, Zelditch (1990) pointed out that junior faculty need several
dierent kinds of people to help them: “Advisers, people with career
experience willing to share their knowledge; supporters, people who
give emotional and moral encouragement; tutors, people who give
specific feedback on one’s performance; masters, in the sense of an
employer to whom one is apprenticed; [and] sponsors, sources of
information about, and aid in obtaining opportunities.” In a similar
vein, the University of Michigan Gender in Science and Engineering
Subcommittee on Faculty Recruitment, Retention and Leadership’s
April 2004 Final Report broadly defined a mentor as a person who
“facilitates the career and development of another person, usually
junior, through one or more of the following activities: providing
advice and counseling; providing psychological support; advocating
for, promoting, and sponsoring the career of the mentee.”
Senior faculty can provide some or all of these forms of career
advice to their junior colleagues. However, it is not feasible
or desirable to single out one individual to fulfill all possible
mentoring roles or provide all possible kinds of career advice.
1
For
example, a particular faculty member may be a great example
of a programmatic research approach and successful external
funding, but may not be a particularly constructive citizen of the
department; another may work in an area very distant from a junior
colleagues’ interests, but be a marvelous teacher and beloved
mentor of graduate students; still a third may simply seem to
radiate good judgment and a balanced and humane approach
to life. Each of these people has valuable things to oer to junior
colleagues, but no one of them is likely to be able to help with all
aspects of someone else’s career development. In addition, it may
be important for junior faculty to find mentors who are like them
in terms of their social identities (gender, race, class background,
etc.) and/or their life circumstances (single, with children, caring for
elders, etc.).
1
While this guide is particularly aimed at the needs of untenured faculty, tenured faculty also need, and should seek, career advice—about the next career stage (e.g., promotion to full
professor), or about taking on leadership roles or choosing not to, or about their next project, or next life stage (e.g., the period after children are grown, or retirement).
3GIVING AND GETTING CAREER ADVICE: A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY | AUGUST 2016
What is the Goal of Providing Career Advice?
The ultimate goal of giving career advice to junior faculty is to enhance their chances of career success in earning tenure (for instructional
faculty) or advancement and promotion (i.e., for research or clinical track faculty) through achievements in scholarship, success in obtaining
external funding, teaching, and/or service. Thus, senior faculty can oer information and assistance not only by providing advice about one’s
area of scholarship, but by:
• Providing information about promotion and tenure processes
• Demystifying departmental, research center, college, and
university culture
• Providing constructive and supportive feedback on specific
work or on career progress
• Providing encouragement and support
• Helping to foster important connections and visibility
• Looking out for junior faculty interests
Junior and senior faculty alike should consider these topics for their discussions:
• Inside story on departmental culture
• How to navigate department and institution
• Grant sources; strategies for funding
• Publishing outlets and processes
• Teaching
• Research
• Key conferences to attend
• Service roles inside and outside the University, including work
on committees
• Relationships to cultivate
• How to recruit students or post-doctoral fellows to your
research group
• Advice about the career ladder and alternative tracks
• How to plan a career trajectory
• External visibility
• Tenure and promotion processes
• Family issues
• National sources of support
• Publishing outlets and processes
What are the Different Forms of Career Advising?
Where will junior faculty find career advice? We believe they may
find it in many kinds of interactions and relationships, including with
peers. The following identifies several types of career advising:
Specific (one-on-one) advising: This kind of advice depends on
conferring with someone very familiar with specific issues unique
to the junior faculty member’s field, or involves direct and specific
feedback from a supervisor such as a department chair. Types of
specific advising include:
• Review of current activities and future plans. These may
include:
o research activity, including publishing, grant activity, etc.
o service activity, on campus and nationally
o teaching activity, both in formal courses and mentoring
students
o clinical assignments
• Review of documents, like curriculum vitae, annual reports,
required professional statements
• Critical feedback in the crucial years prior to tenure reviews
or promotions, with delineation of the exact criteria by which
that faculty member will be evaluated at the annual or third
year review
• Personal advice on sensitive issues that individuals do not feel
comfortable discussing in groups
• Identification and facilitation of specific opportunities for
faculty members to grow into leadership positions
Group advising: Not all career advice requires one-on-one
interaction. “Group advising” refers to advising that can be
accomplished for the benefit of multiple individuals simultaneously.
Sessions can be led by one or by a few senior faculty and address
broad issues such as a collegial conversation about the intellectual
concerns of the department or program, developing new courses,
teaching evaluations, time management, or policies on tenure.
Zone advising: This refers to interactions with individuals with
particular areas of expertise (zones) such as successful grant
funding, university service assignments, or teaching and learning
resources such as the Center for Research on Learning and
Teaching (CRLT). In this variation on the group advising idea, one
senior leader can serve as a resource on a particular topic for
multiple junior faculty members.
Advising committees: All career advising programs, whatever
their structure, should be available to all, be well developed and
routinely monitored as part of institutional policy. Recently there
has been increased interest in constructing one-year “launch”
committees to help junior faculty in their first year. ADVANCE can
provide guidance on how to set those up if they are desired.
Peer advising: Another variation on group advising is provided
by facilitating career-relevant interactions among peers. Junior
faculty can assist one another by sharing information, strategies,
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GIVING AND GETTING CAREER ADVICE: A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY | AUGUST 2016
knowledge about resources, and general moral support. Types of
peer advising activities include:
• Dissemination of information on institutional policies similar
to the packages provided to all junior faculty/new hires. Topics
may include dual career programs, modified duties, delays of
the tenure review, leave policies, and work-family resources.
• Guidance in preparation of annual reports and tenure and
promotion dossiers.
• Discussion of the level of achievement expected for promotion
in various areas (e.g., research, teaching, success at obtaining
external funding).
• Communication of eligibility for internal awards and external
national and international recognition.
In general, career advising activities can take many forms and do
not have to occur in formal settings. In addition, they can include
both on-campus and national resources. The following list of
potential locations or settings for career advising activities is
adapted from the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) website
on mentoring: awis.org/Mentoring
Career advising contacts can be through:
• Informal oce visits
• Phone calls
• Email
• Meals and coee breaks
• Campus Events
• Professional society meetings
• “Shadowing” a senior faculty member by agreement
• Poster sessions or other special presentations
• Touring a lab or workplace
• Symposia
• Recreational activities
• Conferences
• Travel support
• Lectures
• Workshops
• On-campus faculty organizations and networks
Common Issues for Junior and Senior Faculty Regarding Career Advising
• Think of yourself as establishing a respectful collegial
relationship. Try to engage in ongoing conversations with one
another. Try to meet at least once each semester to discuss
professional development and progress in all key areas. Don’t
be invisible or cancel meetings unless absolutely necessary.
• Work together to define your roles and to set goals.
Remember that the career advising process is a two-way
street, and you both have to establish the ground rules. This
may include agreeing on what you will ask of each other.
Things to consider regarding career advising may include:
o Reading drafts of grants or papers
o Helping create opportunities or connections
o Providing feedback about progress
o Providing advice about teaching issues
o Providing information about the department
o Meeting yearly. Every semester. Or monthly
You can avoid letting each other down, or surprising each other, if
you have an explicit sense of the nature of your expectations. And of
course you both need to listen and be respectful, and recognize that
both of you can benefit from these interactions.
• Don’t expect career advising to be a panacea for every
academic and career problem; it can’t address every issue,
and no one relationship can encompass all aspects of
anyone’s career. Sometimes there are problems or issues
that cannot be solved through the career advising process,
although often the process can help redirect eorts to other
sources of assistance (other faculty, colleagues at other
institutions, or even institutional assistance, such as the
Center for Research on Learning and Teaching). It’s also
true that sometimes you may give or be given genuinely bad
advice (usually unintentionally!). A good way to guard against
taking bad advice is to gather advice from multiple sources
and compare what is said. Just because advice is given
doesn’t mean it must be followed!
• Finally, like all other human relationships, relationships
between junior and senior faculty may produce discomfort,
despite everyone’s best intentions. For example, some people
(junior or senior) may feel that career advising requires
them to expose vulnerabilities they are more comfortable
concealing (a frequent concern of academics, who are
occupationally subject to “impostor” anxieties) or to permit
another person some degree of “control” over their decisions.
A career advising relationship may even lead someone to
feel more grateful, or more nuturant, than is comfortable in
a professional relationship. If these uncomfortable feelings
arise, they should not provoke alarm; instead, they are
signs that the relationship may need some adjustment
or fine-tuning. It is often possible to gain perspective on
uncomfortable feelings like these from another colleague,
preferably one not too directly involved with the other faculty
member.
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GIVING AND GETTING CAREER ADVICE: A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY | AUGUST 2016
Tips for Senior Faculty
As a senior faculty member, you can help shape careers and
encourage successful outcomes. You know and can explain the
system, pointing out pitfalls, shortcuts, and strategies. Often, junior
faculty need to learn what they may not even know to ask.
Think of your own experiences as a junior faculty member and how
you achieved your current status. Giving valued advice is usually
rewarding for the senior faculty member, as well as for her or his
more junior colleague—in part because it can be an invigorating
connection with people in touch with the most recent advances
in the field you share. But recognize that it is often dicult and
intimidating for junior colleagues to articulate their questions and
needs, and to approach more senior faculty. Recall that things you
say may—without you intending it—lead them to feel more anxious,
more inadequate, or hopeless about their own future. It’s important
to contextualize your feedback so it is constructive rather than
undermining, and oers direction rather than simply criticism.
1. Let your junior colleagues know that they are welcome to
talk with you. The gift of your full attention is often the most
important one you can give a less experienced colleague.
2. Clarify expectations about the extent to which you can, or will,
oer guidance concerning personal as well as professional
issues. If you are not comfortable assisting in some areas,
suggest another faculty member who may be able to assist.
Recognize and evaluate what you can oer, and keep in mind
that you cannot be expected to fulfill every function.
3. Inform junior faculty about how frequently you will be able
to meet with them. Be explicit if you have a heavy travel
schedule, are about to take a sabbatical, or will be assuming
an administrative position. Discuss alternative means of
communication (e.g., email or telephone) and encourage
them to consult others who have proven to be reliable
advisors. Try always to keep appointments you do make.
4. Provide specific information about as many topics as you can,
such as the informal rules of the profession and of navigating
the department and institution. Help junior faculty learn what
kinds of available institutional support they should seek to
further their own career development. Tell them about funds
to attend a workshop, for example, or release time for special
projects.
5. Recognize that sometimes your own experience is relevant
and useful to colleagues who are more junior; hearing
accounts of how you accomplished something (or failed
to), including obstacles you faced, can help normalize and
contextualize experiences for them. At the same time, it’s
good to bear in mind that circumstances change in academia,
in the various colleges, units, and in departments. So it’s
good to underscore the need for junior colleagues to look into
specific rules, policies and practices as they currently exist
rather than relying on information passed on anecdotally.
6. Share the “tacit” rules of being successful in the business of
research and within the relevant unit with junior colleagues.
7. Provide opportunities for junior colleagues. For example,
suggest his/her name to be a discussant at national meetings
or other such opportunities that will increase his/her visibility.
Generally, take opportunities to promote the junior faculty
member’s research.
8. Ask your junior colleague to develop and share a work plan
that includes short-term and long-term goals as well as a time
frame for reaching those goals.
9. Give criticism as well as praise when warranted. Always
present criticism in a private and non-threatening context
with specific suggestions for improvement in the future.
Rather than emphasize past problems or mistakes, focus on
future actions that may remedy or redress those problems.
10. Tell junior faculty where they stand—how they are doing,
whether they are meeting your expectations, and if they are
showing what it takes to move up. Be specific. Don’t just
11. tell a junior faculty member that it’s necessary to publish
more in high-quality journals, but suggest which journals
those are, and give guidelines about approximately how many
papers to shoot for in those journals before tenure.
12. Take responsibility to encourage junior faculty to be proactive
about asking questions, seeking feedback, and making
connections with senior colleagues. Take the time to make
sure junior faculty are doing so.
13. Communicate. Failing to communicate is the biggest pitfall
for all relationships. Remember that face-to-face meetings
can often clear up misunderstandings better than email.
Problems need to be discussed as soon as possible.
There are a number of specific areas in which you may be in a
good position to help, or you may feel it is best to point the junior
colleague toward someone who might be a better source of advice.
These include:
1. Grant-writing. There are many features of the process of
obtaining external funding that are unwritten or vague.
Advisors can help by clarifying funders’/referees’ criteria for
successful grant proposals. Sharing negative experiences you
have had in trying to secure outside funding, and how you
managed or overcame them, may also be helpful.
In some fields, junior faculty may be well-served by including
senior colleagues as Co-PIs, Co-investigators, or consultants
in grant proposals. Give junior faculty advice about who might
be helpful to include. Also, encourage junior faculty to apply
for one of several “early career” grants (e.g., K01-Mentored
Career Development Award [NIH]; Young Investigator Award
[NSF]) and be available to provide substantial feedback on
their early eorts.
2. Fostering networks for your junior colleagues. Whether or not
you can provide something a junior colleague needs, suggest
other people who might be of assistance: other U-M faculty
or colleagues from other universities. Introduce your junior
colleagues to those with complementary interests within
your unit or department, elsewhere on the U-M campus, or
at other universities. For example, at conferences, a simple
introduction at a coee break or an invitation to join your
table for lunch may be sucient to initiate a lasting advising
relationship for a junior colleague.
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GIVING AND GETTING CAREER ADVICE: A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY | AUGUST 2016
3. Providing forthright assessments of their research through
close readings of their work and trying to provide these
assessments in a timely manner.
4. Providing opportunities for junior colleagues. For example,
suggest his/her name to be a discussant at national meetings
or other such opportunities that will increase his/her visibility.
Generally, take opportunities to promote the junior faculty
member’s research.
Tips for Department Chairs and Directors
Department chairs and program directors set the tone for how many faculty in the unit—senior and junior—will view the issue of career
advising. If the chair or director does not appear to truly value the practice, or merely gives it lip service, it will be clear to all concerned that
it is not a valued activity in the unit. By taking career advising seriously, and consistently communicating that it is part of the responsibility
of all faculty, chairs and directors can help create a climate in which better career advising takes place.
1. Create formal mentoring structures that are routinely
monitored for ecacy in their implemention. Formalized
career advising that is available to all equally, and that is part
of institutional policy, can help with early identification (and
ideally, resolution) of problems and issues.
2. Build into the evaluations of senior faculty a share of
responsibility for mentoring new colleagues. For example,
during reviews for merit increases, chairs and directors can
take into account the quality and quantity of career advising
by asking explicitly for this information on the annual review
forms. Have senior faculty document in their annual report
their eorts to assist junior faculty in getting research grants,
establishing themselves as independent researchers, and
having their work published in peer-reviewed outlets.
Collaborative research—especially when the junior scientist
is the lead author—may also be a sign of a productive career
advising relationship. You may also want to ask juniorfaculty
to indicate which senior faculty have been helpful to them, as
a sort of check on these self-reports.
3. Take multiple opportunities to communicate to senior
colleagues the importance of providing career advice to junior
faculty.
4. Ensure that the procedures and standards involved in the
tenure and promotion processes are clear to junior faculty.
5. Ensure that all junior faculty know about University policies
intended to ease
6. the work-family conflict such as stopping the “tenure clock”
and modified duties.
7. Create opportunities that encourage informal interaction
between junior and senior faculty. You might create a fund for
ordering pizza, a lunch budget, a gift card for a local coee
shop for them to share, etc.
8. Provide a “tip sheet” for new arrivals. A tip sheet would
include items such as contact people for key services around
the Department or unit. More broadly, check to ensure that
the newly-arrived faculty have access to the information,
services, and materials (e.g., computing or lab equipment)
needed to function eectively in the environment. A Launch or
mentoring committee can provide extra pairs of eyes to catch
junior faculty falling through the cracks.
9. Recognize that senior faculty may not be completely certain
how best to engage in career advising. Help them! For
example, sponsor a lunch for senior faculty in which the topic
of discussion is career advising and faculty can exchange
information and ideas on
10. the subject. Serving on mentoring or Launch committees can
help senior faculty become better career advisors.
11. Provide the junior faculty member with a yearly review—in
addition to a formal interim (3rd year) review—of her/his
accomplishments and discuss goals for the future. Recognize
that junior faculty may find it dicult to assess the significance
of criticism; be careful to frame criticism in a constructive way,
but also be as clear as possible. Be sure to provide some written
follow-up, summarizing the discussion (or to ask your junior
colleague to do that, so you can review it).
12. Use email or other digital platforms as a mechanism to
ensure the entire faculty has equal access to key decisions,
information, and career opportunities.
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GIVING AND GETTING CAREER ADVICE: A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY | AUGUST 2016
Tips for Junior Faculty
Ideally, career advising programs should be well developed and
routinely monitored as part of institutional policy. However, many
units or departments will formally assign one or more senior faculty
members to assist junior faculty, and then leave it to the individuals
to develop and maintain their mentoring relationships. Sometimes,
these relationships never develop or additional people are needed.
In the worst case, the relationships set up formally may actually
be destructive. More benignly, but still seriously, sometimes senior
faculty appear to have no available time; then junior faculty feel they
are either not getting what they need or fear they are intruding.
In these cases, junior faculty should feel that they are in charge
of establishing and maintaining mentoring relationships. If a
relationship is destructive or unhelpful, allow it to languish. It is
much better to avoid interaction with a senior colleague who is not
helpful than to continue it. However, avoidance alone is not enough.
At the same time that you let one relationship dwindle, be sure to
seek alternative relationships that are more helpful.
Despite appearances, most senior faculty are committed to the
development of junior faculty and will readily provide career advice,
if asked. Try to identify senior faculty in your department—or even
in another department—who you think might have helpful advice
for you; be the one to initiate a meeting. Alternatively, ask for an
introduction from a colleague if you are uncomfortable introducing
yourself.
The ADVANCE Program at the University of Michigan
2
oers advice
and help connecting faculty with career advisors, or your chair
or director can assist in identifying someone who would be an
appropriate career advisor.
Additionally, don’t limit your search for career advisors to your own
institution. To establish a relationship with senior faculty in your
research area from other institutions, ask them if they would be
willing to meet with you on the phone, over email, at a conference,
or invite them to present a seminar or talk in your department.
One person might serve as an advisor or mentor on departmental
matters, another might provide information about and assistance
with career opportunities, and another might serve as a role model
for managing career and family responsibilities.
1. Read the faculty handbook (http://www.provost.umich.edu/
faculty/handbook/), and become familiar with the research
and background of your advisors’ research and career. Read
their CVs whenever you can.
2. Get the unwritten information. There are unwritten
organizational structures, rules and customs defining the
departmental and institutional culture. Respect and become
acquainted with the sta clerical workers and treat them like
the professional colleagues they are; they can be valuable
sources of information about informal structure. Learn what
services are available from the department and institution
such as clerical help, release time, research assistance, and
financial support.
3. Recognize the influential people in the department. Be
observant and find out which behaviors are valued and which
are not.
4. Be proactive. Do not assume that anyone else will look out for
your interests. For example, in some departments teaching
assignments are scrupulously fairly assigned, in others not.
Equally, in some departments, junior faculty are encouraged
only to develop a few new courses during the tenure
probationary period, and they are encouraged to repeat them.
If you feel that any of your teaching assignments is either
unfair or unwise for you, be sure to seek out advice from other
faculty about the issue, and about how to get it addressed.
It is not best to simply suer in silence; it is best to get the
situation remedied and senior faculty in the department or
even in the dean’s oce will be able to advise you about it.
5. For those on tenure track, develop a strategy that will guide
your progress as a scholar, teacher, and colleague over the
next five years. A lot of information about the tenure process
is not written down. Make it your responsibility to find out by
asking questions. Share the information and your strategies
with your peers as a way to build camaraderie and to develop
additional sources of information and support. For those
not on a tenure track, develop a strategy for promotion and
advancement. Again, ask questions about how to achieve your
career aims.
6. Keep careful records of your activities (e.g., research and
scholarship, grants written and funded, service activities,
teaching and/or mentoring). Scrutinize your own record
regularly to judge if your eort and priorities are aligned; be
a proactive manager of your own career portfolio. This will
greatly assist you, while evaluating new opportunities, and as
you prepare for career advancement or tenure.
7. Determine if there are publications that you should avoid
publishing in because they are not valued. Try to not waste
your time serving on committees that are not valued, or
teaching courses that do not strengthen your case for
advancement or for tenure.
2
The ADVANCE Program at the University of Michigan (ADVANCE) began as a five-year, grant-funded project promoting institutional transformation with respect to women faculty in science
and engineering fields. With the University’s commitment to continued funding, the program has expanded to promote other kinds of diversity among faculty and students in all fields.
8 GIVING AND GETTING CAREER ADVICE: A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY | AUGUST 2016
8. Be sure to seek advice from senior faculty members about
what committees to serve on, and then volunteer for those
committees.
9. Seek information, advice, and assistance in developing,
implementing, and revising your strategy; do not make major
decisions without talking to other people.
10. Actively seek feedback from colleagues, senior faculty,
department chair, or unit director. Recognize that other junior
faculty—both at the University of Michigan and elsewhere—
are often sources of valuable advice and help too. For
example, another junior faculty member may have developed
a teaching module that you can adapt for your purposes; or,
as a group, junior faculty in a department or across a couple
of departments may be able to provide one another peer
mentoring; or ask specific administrators or senior faculty to
discuss particular issues.
11. Do not assume that no feedback means there are no
problems.
12. If your position was defined in specific terms when you were
hired, be sure you have a copy of the job description. You want
to be sure there are no aspects of the job you are expected to
do that you don’t recognize.
13. An annual review should be in writing. If it is negative and you
believe the comments are legitimate, you should discuss them
with your career advisors, including your chair or director,
and plan what you need to do to improve. If you believe a
comment is not accurate, provide written materials to refute
the evaluation.
14. Develop your own networks with junior faculty colleagues and
others in your field.
15. Read and discuss any written policies about tenure and/or
promotion with your career advisor(s).
16. Let your career advisors, chair or director, and colleagues
know when you have done good work. Be sure that
professional information is put into your personnel folder.
17. Communicate. Failing to communicate is the biggest pitfall for
all relationships. Remember that face-to-face meetings can
often clear up misunderstandings better than email. Problems
need to be discussed as soon as possible.
Integrating work and personal life: University policies
In March 2004, the University of Michigan Gender in Science and
Engineering Report of the Subcommittee on Family Friendly Policies
and Faculty Tracks published recommendations to modify policies
related to work-family issues. The policies examined as a result
included more flexible and extensive coverage for leave without
pay, modified duties, and stopping the tenure clock. The report also
discussed the need for additional on-campus daycare. The report
and all U-M policies as revised over the subsequent period are
available online at the following links:
advance.umich.edu/resources/
GSE-FacFamilyFriendly-2004.pdf
provost.umich.edu/faculty/handbook
spg.umich.edu
provost.umich.edu/programs/dual_career
Other U-M resources include:
Work/Life Resource Center: umich.edu/~hraa/worklife
Center for the Education of Women: cew.umich.edu
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GIVING AND GETTING CAREER ADVICE: A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY | AUGUST 2016
Summary: Questions to Ask and to Answer
This is a list of questions junior and senior faculty may use to remind them of issues they need to discuss that were outlined in the previous
sections.
Department or Research Unit Culture
❏ Who are the key people in the department or research unit?
❏ What are the appropriate ways to raise dierent kinds of
concerns or issues and with whom?
❏ Who can help me set up an email account, find out about
resources like copying or processes like grading?
❏ How do people find out about and get nominated for awards
and prizes?
❏ What organizations are important to join?
Research
❏ Can you tell me about the Institutional Review Board, which
provides approval for human and animal subject experiments?
❏ How do I set up my lab?
❏ How do I get grants?
❏ Are my grant proposals appropriate for this department or
unit?
❏ Are there research or equipment projects being developed
by other faculty in the department that I can or should get
involved with?
❏ May I read some successful grant proposals, as close to my
research area as possible?
❏ What conferences should I attend?
❏ Are there people that I should collaborate with?
❏ How do you get on professional association panels?
❏ What are the journals to publish in? Have any colleagues
published there?
❏ Am I publishing enough?
❏ How can I increase my visibility in the field?
Teaching
❏ What classes do I need to teach?
❏ How do I get a good teaching schedule?
❏ How do I get to teach important classes?
❏ How do I deal with sticky situations or problems with
students?
❏ Do I have enough graduate students?
❏ How are teaching evaluations handled and weighted?
Service
❏ What are the important committees to serve on?
❏ How can I get nominated to be on them?
❏ Are there committees to avoid?
❏ How is this work documented?
Promotion and Tenure
❏ What are the department’s formal and informal criteria for
promotion and tenure?
❏ What or who can clarify these criteria?
❏ What would you have wanted to know when you began the
tenure process?
❏ How does one build a tenure file?
❏ Who sits on the tenure committee and how are they selected?
❏ How should I prepare for the annual review?
❏ What can I negotiate when I get an outside oer?
❏ How should I prepare for the third year review?
❏ Is my job description matching the work I do?
❏ Are my research, teaching, service and grants of an
appropriate level?
❏ Who should I meet in the institution, in the discipline and even
worldwide?
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GIVING AND GETTING CAREER ADVICE: A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY | AUGUST 2016
Additional Resources on Career Advising and Mentoring
Web and institutional resources
Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: On Being a Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering, National
Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, National Academy Press,
Washington DC, 1997.
nap.edu/readingroom/books/mentor
The Association of Women in Science is a non-profit association which works to promote women’s activities in
all scientific fields, from mentoring to scholarships to job listings.
awis.org/Mentoring
The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) website provides a bibliography and links to online
resources on mentoring. Topics covered include: institutional mentoring programs, mentoring women faculty
and faculty of color, discipline-specific mentoring, and training materials for mentors and mentees.
crlt.umich.edu/faculty/facment
How to Mentor Graduate Students: A Guide for Faculty at a Diverse University.
rackham.umich.edu/downloads/publications/Fmentoring.pdf
How to Get the Mentoring You Want: A Guide for Graduate Students at a Diverse University.
rackham.umich.edu/downloads/publications/mentoring.pdf
Providing Faculty with Career Advice or Mentoring: Principles and Best Practices, U-M, College of LSA, August
20 07.
lsa.umich.edu/facstaff/academicaffairs/policiesandprocedures/tenuredandtenuretrackfaculty/
careeradvisingmentoring/careeradvisingmentoringprinciplesandbestpractices_ci
The University of Michigan Oce of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Aairs has links to
articles and other information on mentorship.
provost.umich.edu/provost/mentoring
The Center for the Education of Women oers free counseling to University of Michigan faculty (as well as to
sta, students and residents of surrounding communities; call 998-7210). Faculty may wish to discuss career
goals, job fit, negotiation strategies, work/life issues, problems aecting career progression or other needs.
CEW also supports two professional development networks for faculty women: the Women of Color in the
Academy Project and the Junior Women Faculty Network. In addition, CEW oers other kinds of programs
addressing, for example, salary negotiation, grant proposal writing, parenting in the academy, financial
planning, and research presentation. For more information contact the Center at 998-7080, or visit
cew.umich.edu
Other resources and bibliography
Association of Women Surgeons (2001). Pocket Mentor, Association of Women Surgeons.
womensurgeons.org/aws_library/PocketMentor.pdf
Bensimon, E.M., Ward, K. & Sanders, K. (2000). Creating Mentoring Relationships and Fostering Collegiality.
The Department Chair’s Role in Developing New Faculty Into Teachers and Scholars (chapter 10). Bolton, MA:
Anker Publishing Co.
Bickel, J., Croft, K. & Marshall, R. (1996, October). Enhancing the Environment for Women in Academic Medicine.
Washington, DC: AAMC.
Boice, R. (2000). Advice for new faculty members. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Bowman, S.R., Kite, M.E., Branscombe, N.R., & Williams, S. (1999). Developmental relationships of Black
Americans in the academy. In A.J. Murrell, F.J. Crosby, & R. Ely (Eds.), Mentoring dilemmas: Developmental
relationships within multicultural organizations (pp. 21-46). Mahway, NJ: Erlbaum.
Burroughs Wellcome Fund (2004). Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for
Postdocs and New Faculty. Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
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GIVING AND GETTING CAREER ADVICE: A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY | AUGUST 2016
Fort, D. (Ed.) (1993). A Hand Up: Women Mentoring Women in Science. Washington, DC: Association of Women
in Science.
Goldsmith, J.A., Komlos, J. & Schine Gold, P. (2001). The Chicago Guide to Your Academic Career: A Portable
Mentor for Scholars from Graduate School through Tenure. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
Hall, R.M. & Sandler, B.R. (1983). Academic Mentoring for Women Students and Faculty: A New Look at an Old
Way to Get Ahead. Project on the Status and Education of Women. Washington, D.C.: Association of American
Colleges.
Johnston, S & McCormack, C. (1997). Developing Research Potential Through a Structured Mentoring Program:
Issues Arising. Higher Education 3, 251–64.
Olmstead. M. (1993). Mentoring New Faculty: Advice to Department Chairs. Seattle, WA: University of
Washington, AAPT Conference Talk “Physics Departments in the 1990’s.”
faculty.washington.edu/olmstd/research/Mentoring.html
Preston, A. (2006). Women Leaving Science, Haverford College.
gsb.columbia.edu/leadership/sites/leadership/files/AnnePreston_Columbia_conference_
paper.pdf
Rackham Graduate School (2002). How to Get the Mentoring You Want: A Guide for Graduate Student at a
Diverse University. University of Michigan: Rackham Graduate School.
Sandler, B.R. (1992). Success and Survival Strategies for Women Faculty Members. Washington, DC: AAAC.
Sorcinelli, M.D. (2000). Principles of Good Practice: Supporting Early-Career Faculty. American Association for
Higher Education, New Pathways Working Paper #7.
Toth, E. (1997). Ms. Mentor’s Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia. Philadelphia, PA: University of
Pennsylvania Press.
Trautvetter, L. C. (1999). Experiences of Women, Experiences of Men. In R.Menges and Associates, Faculty in
New Jobs (pp. 59–87). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Waltman, J. (2000–01). Junior Women Faculty Focus Groups. CEW. Unpublished manuscript.
cew.umich.edu/sites/default/files/focusgroup.pdf
Wellington, S. & Catalyst. (2001). Be Your Own Mentor: Strategies from Top Women on the Secret of Success,
New York: Random House.
Wenzel, S. A. & Hollenshead, C. (1998). Former Women Faculty: Reasons for Leaving One Research University.
Unpublished manuscript. CEW, Ann Arbor, MI.
Wunsch, M. (1994). Mentoring Revisited: Making an Impact on Individuals and Institutions, New Directions for
Teaching and Learning, No. 57, 9–13. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Zelditch, M. (1990, March). Mentor Roles. Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Western Associate of
Graduate Schools, Tempe, Arizona.
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GIVING AND GETTING CAREER ADVICE: A GUIDE FOR JUNIOR AND SENIOR FACULTY | AUGUST 2016
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