Author: Aníbal Valentín-Acevedo
Aníbal
Valentín-Acevedo
What to do (or not) with a PhD?
Finishing a PhD has been one of the most exciting and fulfilling goals I have achieved so far. However, the path was far from easy. I believe most of my peers will agree with me when I say that towards the end of our training, the path becomes not only highly demanding, but incredibly stressful...
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Aníbal
Valentín-Acevedo
How to set yourself apart from the rest? The importance of your social skills and attitude in the job
For every job available out there, no matter the discipline, we can find hundreds of applicants equally qualified who can fill that position. A colleague of mine, who worked as Dean of Administration at an academic institution, once told me that no matter how good we are at our job, there will al...
Aníbal
Valentín-Acevedo
The Social Scientist
During my undergraduate studies I took more than 18 credits in the Social Sciences from Theories of Personality, to Sociology and Social Problems. At the time, I wasn't completely clear as to how taking these courses would influence my future, both at the personal and professional level, but th...
Aníbal
Valentín-Acevedo
What is your professional value?
Whether we are starting on a new job or have been in the same job for years, it is always essential to know what I like to call our professional value. In other words, professional value is defined by how competitive we are or how much people are willing to do (or pay) to make us part of their ...
Aníbal
Valentín-Acevedo
How to say no to your boss
Is it appropriate to say no to your boss when he or she asks you to do something, or to take on a new project? First, let me tell you that it is indeed ok to say no to your boss. However, you have to say it in a specific way and only under certain situations. Otherwise, it can hurt your career....
Aníbal
Valentín-Acevedo
Having clear expectations on your job
We all know that we have many more job responsibilities than the ones originally stated on the job description. It is more and more common to see “other responsibilities” listed as a responsibility in many advertised jobs, and these can be anything that your supervisors can think of that mi...
Aníbal
Valentín-Acevedo
Using Our Social Skills to Advance Our Career
If someone ask me what would be the best piece of advice I can give to a recent graduate who is about to start his/her first job, I would have to say: “make sure your social skills are impeccable”. I have blogged about this topic in the past but this time I want to look at it from a different...
Aníbal
Valentín-Acevedo
Getting a job with “no experience”
Finding that first job after we finish our academic training is not as easy as it sounds. These days, we all know that the amount of individuals qualified for a job is very high while the amount of available jobs is very low. To make things worse, when we do find a job that we want to apply to,...
Aníbal
Valentín-Acevedo
Being passionate about what we do
I recently gave a talk to a group of undergraduate students about how to identify their goals and the importance of passion during that process. Although most of them agreed with me on the importance of being passionate, the reality is that most people have a hard time identifying what they are...
Aníbal
Valentín-Acevedo
Preparing for an interview (Part 1): What to expect from the process?
One of the most common questions I get from senior students is how to prepare for an interview. In most cases, they are preparing to go to either a professional school or to a graduate school. Occasionally, some of them are also job hunting and preparing for a job interview. What I have found aft...
