We are often inclined to have career exploration and career-building during times of “onboarding” or when interviewing for a new position – the “where do you see yourself in 3-5 years?” question. After the first few months on the job have passed, academics often shift their focus to meeting career benchmarks expected, or laid out by the supervisor and institution rather than necessarily pausing to reflect on what comprises a fulfilling career, and not just a productive one. If we have learned nothing else in the last several years, it is clear that career ladders replete with benchmark rungs are no longer useful metaphors when thinking about how to construct meaningful academic careers.
Life happens. It takes bends and turns. Unanticipated opportunities and unexpected challenges occur, and plans we carefully laid get put aside and new decisions need to be made. The resume and CV are artifacts we too often assume reflect our careers and yet, there is typically a much more complex narrative behind the decisions that led to what is listed. Our narratives tell about times we wanted to upgrade pedagogical skills to teach a new class, to join a learning community addressing a topic we wanted to learn more about, attending a workshop on grant writing that led to finally submitting and receiving funding for a new line of research, leading a first study-away that resulted in submitting a Fulbright proposal to continue building relationships in a different country, volunteering to serve on a working group redoing unit by-laws that led to assuming academic governance responsibilities, or having a colleague offering to nominate you for one of the many university fellowship opportunities. The professional lives of faculty and academic staff are not often straight lines or formal career ladders as we may have been once told. Rather, they are full of twists and turns reflecting institutional needs and societal changes, as well as the ways in which our own interests, talents, and aspirations unfold over time.
One of the great things of working at a place as large and diverse as MSU is that there are countless opportunities for engagement; the downside is that we are so decentralized, it is often difficult to find and optimize the choices that would be “right” at a given time in one’s life and career. Mentors, networks, and past participants are all helpful in understanding what is available, what are the perceived time commitments and benefits, and what may be useful ways to incorporate new choices into the larger narrative of your MSU career. University planning documents clearly suggest the need to continue investing in professional development and leadership opportunities for staff and faculty that allow individuals to thrive, that build cultures of care, inclusion and respect, and that strengthen our university community to achieve its missions. Waiting until we reach senior titled roles – as important as they are – denies the value to individual growth and institutional capacity from seeing opportunities right in front of us that help us feel motivated and excited in the present rather than putting off only for the future.
We all need to reflect on and consider what comes next and what would energize us as we take next steps. Please consider opportunities offered through OFASD including those where applications for 2025-26 will be due March 13th, or those offered by Human Resources, the Diversity Research Network, the Office of Outreach and Engagement, CTLI, and the many other opportunities across campus. If you have questions, want to talk about an opportunity, or have ideas about things you’d love to see happening at MSU that would enhance your ability to craft a fulfilling career here, please share these with us!