Download - Sophia Donaldson, UCL Careers - AGCAS
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Dealing with the emotional side of career thinking: lessons from a researcher workshop
Sophia Donaldson, UCL Careers
AGCAS Annual Conference 2019
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Touchy-feely icebreaker exercise part 1
• Think of a time when someone asked you for advice about a situation they weren’t actually emotionally ready to address.
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Touchy-feely icebreaker exercise part 1
• Think of a time when someone asked you for advice about a situation they weren’t actually emotionally ready to address.
• Now draw how you felt when trying to help them/how you think you might feel.
• DON’T worry about your artistic talent! You can draw words or ‘sounds’ if you would prefer.
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Touchy-feely icebreaker exercise part 2
• In pairs, share:
• What was the situation you were thinking of? What were the emotions you felt?
(You can refer to your drawing and what it represents if it helps).
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happyoverjoyedcheerfulbuoyantmerryproudsatisfiedcontentmellowrelievedserenelight-heartedgladgratefulecstaticsafepleasedtriumphant
saddepresseddismayeddisappointedgloomydeflatedashamedguiltylosthelplesspowerlessgrief-strickendejectedusedhumiliatedpainedlonelyabandoned
excitedpanickyunsettledsurprisedanxiouscurioussuspiciousfrustrateddeterminedtenaciousafraidterrifiedapprehensiveself-righteousvindicatedinsecureuselessrestless
angryfurioustetchyannoyedirritatedaggrievedjealousvicioushostilevengefulcheatedrejecteddefiantresentfulpeevedchurlishinsecureimpatient
downcastconfusedbemusedwoefulcrusheddefeatedpathetictrappedcold-bloodedsullenhaughtymischievousridiculoussillyfoolishamusedboredbashful
Put a name on it
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The situation
• The UCL Careers Researcher Program offers workshops on analysing skills and preferences, exploring options, and marketing oneself to non-academic employers
• Many researchers attend workshops and ask for practical one-to-one advice, but are unable to progress because of emotional barriers
• We decided to dedicate a workshop to exploring and overcoming these emotional barriers
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The pilot
• We wanted something…
…which showed researchers they’re not alone
…that recognised the issue
…practical
…evidence/theory based
…researchers would actually show up to!
• We consulted UCL Psychological Services throughout and ran a pilot in Summer 2018
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Title: Why does it have to feel this way? Exploring the emotional side of changing career
New title: Managing your career change emotions
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Emotional Intelligence: Implications for Personal, Social, Academic, and Workplace SuccessMarc A. Brackett*, Susan E. Rivers, and Peter Salovey. Social and Personality Psychology Compass 5/1 (2011): 88–103.
Research/evidence-based
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League of European Research Universities (LERU) - UK figures
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Case studies
I was relieved because I knew research wasn’t for me. But everyone I knew was a scientist, so I also felt lonely. And lost. If I wasn’t a scientist, who
was I?
University sector
I felt disappointed my research hadn’t turned up anything earth-shattering,
and disappointed academia wasn’t what I’d
hoped it would be – I’d been wrong. I also felt afraid I’d get it wrong
again, that anything else I tried would be even
worse.
Pharma
I felt guilty and ashamed, like I’d let people down. Maybe I hadn’t
exactly failed – but I clearly hadn’t been good enough to make it in
academia.
Charity sector
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Cognitive behavioural theory
Thoughts
BehaviourFeelings
How might the feelings you identified influence your behaviour?
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“I took post-doc roles after my PhD because it felt like the path-of-least-resistance,
and they were interesting roles and the pay was ok. I was relieved when I finally
made the decision to leave academia because I knew research wasn’t for me. But
everyone I knew was a scientist, so I also felt lonely. And lost. If I wasn’t a
scientist, who was I? I found it difficult to speak to people about my decision to
leave because some of them (usually inside academia) clearly didn’t understand
it.
In order to increase my awareness of my options I attended workshops and
events where I met PhDs who wanted to leave academia, or who’d already left. As
a bi-product, this made me feel less lonely. Once I started a new role, I met lots of
new people with the same interests and motivations as me, so then it got even
better. I also worked out who made me feel good about the move, and who (albeit
unintentionally) made me feel bad. For a while, I proactively spent more time
around the former, until I’d built enough confidence about my new direction. Now
no one can make me feel bad about it.”
Case studies – methods and hope!
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Outcome• Added to our regular programme – run once a
term in 2018-2019
• 6, 11, 13 attendees (< other workshops –marketing still not perfect?)
• 100% positive feedback• Realising not alone
• CBC exercise and changing attitude
• Case studies - seeing there is hope and approaches to tackling these emotional barriers
• For next year: highlight coping mechanisms more explicitly, create online version…anything else?
• The same workshop structure can apply to anyone – “Managing Job Hunting Emotions”?
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Discussion
• Do you and/or your service explicitly tackle career exploration/change emotions? How?
• Is there anything (more) you could incorporate into your practice/service to do this?