Fellowships: interview rejections and success

Guest post by Pamela Jacobsen: Fellowship interviews tend to get burned into my memory for all the wrong reasons. One moment from an interview a few years ago has always stuck in my mind with terrible clarity.

What does it take to get a fellowship?

Take all the (~100) people who have talked to me at any length about fellowships over the past five years. So far, nine of them have completed a draft of an application. Six have submitted their applications. Two have ultimately got fellowships. What’s special about those who do succeed?

Embarrassed by success

Do you sometimes find your (academic or clinical) success embarrasing? Even when you know it’s well deserved and you are proud of what you’ve done or achieved?

Do as I write, not as I do

During a recent clinical shift in the ambulance service, I attended a patient. You know, doing the thing that people consider to be real work (as opposed to the rest of what I do). And something about this patient set me thinking.

What kind of a leader do I want to be?

I’m one of those people who believe one needs to be a leader, not just act like one. I’m happy for others to differ, but I believe being a leader is a full-time always-on kind of a thing, not just a role to take on in some situations.

Struggling to find a clinical role?

Clinician academics are meant to work in both clinical and academic settings. Most AHP and nurse clinician academics I speak to struggle to achieve this.

Networking: how to do it?

How does one “network”? What do people actually do when they “do networking”?

Eat me alive

To me, one of the weirdest aspect of being a clinician academic is regularly feeling that someone seems to want to chop my head off, without me clearly knowing why.

Talking professional

Today was my clinical day. In comparison to my usual clinical days, it was an especially good one.

Women? What about it?

The third post in July Special Issue: Women Clinician Academics comes from Chantal Camden. In writing this, Chantal had not seen the two previous posts, was about to go on leave