World of Work Blog

The “field” and “fieldwork” are central to the discipline and the ethnographic project. However, ethnographic field schools seem to be on the wane, especially those oriented toward undergraduates. We might step back and ask: Why does such a central feature in identity and practice receive such scant training in anthropology? It’s a good question because together these are critical rites of passage for our professional development. How can we [...]

I’ve been on LinkedIn for almost 10 years now.  While I keep my profile updated, I frequently post news articles about the role of anthropology in business and the benefits anthropology can bring to the workplace. These posts not only keep my profile active, but also help promote the discipline of anthropology to a large user community. I try to post something weekly. I also continually comment on the [...]

Anthropology is my true love; some would even say I’m evangelical about it. But Anthropology has fallen out of favour in academia and in the public eye. It’s been cut from academic institutions across the USA and the UK. Funding for projects and study has declined. People have no idea what Anthropology is. In part, I believe this is because of the focus within Anthropology on the divide between [...]

As an applied anthropologist, I am concerned with solving practical problems. This started with my University of North Texas direct-to-consumer genetics thesis research and has continued into my professional life. Many tech projects I work on, while important, are relatively minor when it comes to their impact on society. My thesis project, however, was not one of them. After I submitted my thesis to the UNT library archive, where [...]

A frequently-asked question to Anthropology students about their choice of major is “What are you gonna do with that?” Inspired by the 2018 AAA Annual Meeting in San Jose, the Rollins College Anthropology department faculty decided to make some structural changes to infuse professionalism into all parts of our academic programs. Some of these changes included: Swapping the Anthropology theory core course for an ethnographic methods course to provide [...]

Hopefully you know that a resume reveals who you are, what you can offer, and what you hope to get out of your professional life, now and in the future. A resume is a roadmap to finding work. When I created my first resume, I wrote it in the “I did this,” or a task-oriented format, which was standard back then. But things have changed, and now, stating information [...]

Great question!  You are not the only one asking this question.  Anthropology instructors have growing concerns that their students are not finding employment opportunities that put their anthropological skills to use. They wonder what more they could do to assist. Some suggest that the students reach out to certain alums they remember.  Others point their students to the career planning office on campus. Many doubt their own abilities to do [...]

Glad you asked. The notion of T-shaped qualifications has been around since the early 90s, but you don’t hear it much in anthropology. It refers to the skillsets needed to actually apply a discipline. Think of the vertical bar of the T as the disciplinary core. The horizontal bar, then, includes the skills and competencies required to actually use the discipline for something. Here’s an example. The application skills will [...]