CANCELLED: How to Write a Job Talk that Gets You the Job

When you sign up, we ask you to commit to preparing a presentation of 10-12 slides (following the brief and guidance below) and sending it to us a few days in advance. You will not be asked to actually present your slides/give your presentation though. The workshop time will be devoted to giving and receiving feedback to hone and strengthen your talk.

Places are limited to 10 so that there will be enough time to discuss everyone’s prepared slides. 

Please register here: https://ias-ecn-jobtalk.eventbrite.co.uk

Send your job talk slides to Catherine Stokes, c.stokes@ucl.ac.uk by 9am on Tuesday 28th May.

Brief

Give a 20-minute presentation on your current and future research projects

Guidelines

Start by introducing yourself: what discipline(s) do you base your work in, what approaches do take, what themes, topics or questions particularly interest you? Make this as clear and memorable as possible: 1-2 minutes (first slide)

e.g. I am an Environmental Humanities researcher, particularly interested in relations between land, environmental justice and creative life, questions which I explore in the contexts of modern Brazil and Mexico.

Highlight any special skills here, such as languages, ethnographic training, digital humanities.

Then, talk about your current project, covering research questions, methodology, how it relates to existing literature: 5 minutes (5-6 slides)

And then develop an illustrative example, publications arising, significance; OR it can work well (though requires more thought) to present an example first, to intrigue your audience, then frame and explain it to illustrate your approach. 5 minutes (5-6 slides)
 
Then move on to your plans for a new project, showing how it relates to your first project: illustrating your intellectual trajectory is important: 4-5 minutes (3-4 slides).

Next: Opportunities your research creates for community engagement, outreach, and knowledge exchange: 2-3 mins (1-2 slides).
 
Finish with a compelling closing statement about your approach to research, which could include your ethical commitments, your commitment to interdisciplinarity, an inherently collaborative practice, an interest in artistic praxis as research method, significance of your contribution: 1-2 minutes (1 slide).

The other key tip is to ensure that what is on your slides relates closely to what you are saying. Obviously, you don’t want too much material on slides (12 max and 10 better), but make sure that there is a new slide for all the main points and that there are no long periods of you talking without a matching slide. 

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash