I’m the 4th year Experimental Psychology student who is also visiting at a SLAC this academic year back again with another question. I didn’t notice a “faculty” section and, since I’m still a graduate student technically, hopefully this tag is appropriate since I got this gig after I ran out of funding for this academic year (fortunately, I only need extension credit hours).
I guess the Psychology faculty thought I wasn’t in the office or something and they were talking about me a bit.
They mentioned they were disappointed in me and the only tenured faculty went, “We tried.” One of them also joked that they’re not going to hire someone who doesn’t have their Ph.D again (I have my MA, albeit from a prior institution).
Brings back a lot of memories about when policies or something else was changed regarding my behavior or something similar.
As for why this is a concern, it’s one reason only. Letters of recommendation. I know that letters that come from your last employer are basically essential for someone else’s next job. I’m not sure if I’m going to get one now. How can I mitigate this issue (if at all)?
Many non - academic employers do not require letters of recommendation.
Some employers may ask for a professional reference.
Others just confirm with human resources that you actually were employed; many human resource offices no longer give descriptions or recommendations about their employees/ contractors.
Your job search mentor may be able to help.
Your supervisor at the SLAC may be reminded of ADA protections, etc. as well by the human resource office of the SLAC.
It seems like you’ve been leaning toward leaving academia. Since letters aren’t required for most non-academics jobs, you don’t need to worry about it.
If you are asked to list names of references, just use people from your other positions rather than the SLAC.
Even if you stay in academics, it’s not uncommon for someone to clash with a supervisor and not ask them for a letter. I know LOTS of successful academics in that situation.
But you’re correct that this isn’t a great forum to ask these kinds of career questions.
You’re right that I have been leaning heavily towards leaving academia. Not only that, but I’m going to do positions where I’m underemployed given how few technical skills I have and my “soft skills” aren’t good either. The things I’m seeing required of folks with their Ph.D like presenting and such are things I’m just not capable of doing without it taking a huge energy toll on me from how socially and emotionally draining it is. I attribute this to being a big part of the reason I flopped as hard as I did in this position.
Few companies check references - and most companies won’t provide them if asked, other than job titles and dates of employment.
Don’t sell yourself short on what you’re capable of achieving - you may have to work at things (presentation skills, etc. as do many of us) - but that doesn’t mean you won’t be a valuable contributor to an organization. And you’ll improve with time as many do.
On a previous thread you discussed that you contacted multiple journalists to complain about the school and program you were a part of.
You have burned that bridge and should assume that no one affiliated with the school will write or convey support for you. This is a consequence of your actions that you should have considered in advance of…,
As others have said you would likely benefit from some professional mental health support.
Listen to this advice please…
Stop looking backwards and consider the impact of your current actions going forward
I’m still not as savvy with this site but if you mean burning a bridge at my R2 Ph.D program then that hasn’t happened yet due to the budget cuts not getting publicly announced yet. This SLAC where I’m visiting is a different college 20 minutes away from where I am right now.
Granted, I’m not in a good spot with this SLAC either but I can assure everyone it’s not for the same reason.
I guess the question is: What are you trying to do?
Is this for a job?
Is this to finish school?
Are you applying to another program?
You may have burned bridges, but do you not have any friends? Your “colleagues” could be another fellow graduate student who worked with you. There may be at least one faculty who would be sympathetic to your situation, no?
Truth is, human being like to make fun of people. That’s just locker room talk. They making unpleasant remarks, but doesn’t mean everyone present believe in that.
Speaking strictly academic, almost all programs have incentive to place their students somewhere. Having unemployed graduates looks negative for the program. The department will write you a letter out of formality. Just ask and remind them it is equally beneficial for you to finish and get a job to the program.
I have left jobs on bad terms with the bosses. BUT I always have a few friends who did agree with my reasons for leaving and support me for references.
You need to consider jobs where people with autism and social anxiety can be successful. Something like 85% of people with autism are unable to hold a job because of their social disability; concomitant ADHD interfering with their ability to complete their work only makes it worse.
You’ve already posted about your fears of being caught for having “embellished” your prior credentials on a resume/CV. I don’t know if in reality you committed this offense, or are only obsessing over something that others would not consider to be a violation. But if you did, and if you continue to do so, it’s a ticking time bomb that will eventually explode.
You’re not going to get a letter from someone who has hired or supervised you at this gig at the SLAC. The issue is not that you don’t have your PhD yet - I suspect that it has more to do with your mental health issues having interfered with your ability to do your job there - after all, you did mention that you were entering a partial day hospitalization treatment program for mental health only two months ago.
Please, reconsider your career goals, and what you can do for fulfilling work that is relatively low stress, that does not depend upon social interaction. Even if you were able to get the letters of reference that you need for your next position, if it requires social interaction and the ability to efficiently plan and execute job responsibilities, you’re likely to run into the same issues.
1.) I’m working with vocational rehabilitation and am part of a federal Workforce Recruitment Program at the federal level (who also has a Schedule A hiring letter) and am working with them to find an employer who can give me job duties where I would be most likely to succeed. My “dream gig” right now is to do something similar to what one of my advisor’s MS students (my Ph.D program has a terminal MS program for those who didn’t get admitted to the Ph.D track) are doing right now. He’s a research assistant for eXponent and he runs participants, works with their data, and assists with experiments. I’ve been able to run participants just fine since much of that interaction is just me going off a script and that makes me feel comfortable. I told vocational rehabilitation something like what he’s doing, even thought that requires an MA/MS, would be ideal for me.
For now, I’ve applied to jobs that are noncompetitive and hire disabled folks. I would be a Social Science Analyst, which is a position that requires me to do literature reviews and synthesize information for someone. I wouldn’t need to present or be in front of people myself.
2.) As for the embellishment thing, I spoke to others about it and they told me I’m obsessing over nothing.
I will say that what it reflects (and I just mentioned this to someone else ironically) my extremely poor self-awareness. Part of what I deal with is a poor ability to perceive myself how others would perceive me. For example, if someone has to get going and they want me to be concise before they leave for the day, it’s difficult for me to do so (this happened yesterday to me actually).
3.) My mental health issues did interfere with my ability to do my job, but I’d argue that what was already mentioned (autism, ADHD, poor self awareness) also contributed too.
My post to parentologist should answer your questions, but I have friends from my previous Master’s program. This Ph.D program though? Not exactly.
One of two cohort members who are still in the area who could help me routinely gets jealous of me, even when things came to a head between me and my first Ph.D advisor in the program and I had to salvage my program progress from scratch after my second year.
It should be noted that where I’m doing my Ph.D is not this SLAC, but its an R2 that’s about 20 minutes away from it. It sounds like based on your response and others’ responses that I don’t need one from this SLAC though.
ETA: Looks like this post, which was its own thread at one point, is now merged into this one.
I’m a 4th year Experimental Psychology Ph.D student who earned their Master’s (MA to be exact) back in December 2020. My first year of my Master’s program, I didn’t do well to the point my overall MA GPA was 3.48. Part of the reason (I’d TW this if I could but skip the next sentence if you’re sensitive to dental issues) was due to taking a final exam and final paper for a Research Methods class during my first semester of my Master’s program with a dead tooth. Had I known about incompletes and how they worked, I would’ve done that no doubt. Unfortunately, I got a C+ on the final exam and C+ on the final paper with some already low pre existing grades. This final grade of C+, unlike the majority of Master’s programs, counted toward my degree and I got the credits for it. Thus, I didn’t have to remediate it. I took my current Ph.D program’s equivalent of Research Methods though (Research Design) and got an A though.
I’ve read recently that employers for internships and careers see transcripts. Will the C+ (especially since its a core class) potentially affect my chances of getting an internship or employment at all? I know it can for grants and fellowships, which is partially why I’m asking now.
You’ll get sick of me posting the same thing time after time- but then again YOU keep posting the same thing time after time!
Follow your treatment plan and let this go.
A healthy person understands that they cannot go back in time and change a C+ grade. So they focus on moving forward, figuring out what works for them and what doesn’t. You are stuck in a doomsday scenario where EVERY decision or action you’ve ever taken somehow has a catastrophic consequence to it. The college you picked. The grad program you picked. A grade you got. A test you took. Something you’ve read which means you’ll never get a job or never be happy or never…
You are working with a job coach to find a non-academic role. Call that person on the phone- right now- and ask this question of that person. And if the answer is “employers won’t care about a C+” then reach out to your medical team and ask them for help in letting this go. Forever.
You don’t seem to take ANY of the advice folks here give you when you post…least of all me. But you have a team working to get you happily and productively employed, and back to health. Use them. Lean on them.
I suspect you are posting today because you’ve found yet another procrastination technique-- you’ve told us you are behind at work, on grading student papers, and you need to catch up before the semester ends.
So get off the internet, make those calls, and get back to work on a deadline you have looming. Hugs. I know this is hard, but you can do this if you focus on the tools you need to move forward.
In my case (and this indirectly addresses Blossom’s procrastination point), I spent the majority of my efforts applying for one job per day. I may also spruce up my application materials too. I’ve put that goal aside for now to just focus on completing a background screening for the Department of Justice that takes hours to complete by itself (doesn’t need to be done in one sitting, thankfully).
Main thing’s making sure I’m fiscally secure as I finish my Ph.D since, as mentioned in my earlier post, my program’s strapped for cash right now.
As I’m thinking aloud by typing this post, maybe I’m too future focused instead of present focused.