Just over a year ago, we got the idea for a TIP column aimed at new I-O professionals, and we wanted to pitch it to Allan Church, the editor of TIP. We spent weeks preparing our caselibraries, Web sites, conference callsheck, one of us even practiced the argument on her dogwho incidentally agreed that the column was a good idea. Finally, armed with all sorts of ironclad reasons why TIP should allow us to start a column targeting early career types, and prepared to overcome any obstacle thrown in our path, we dialed Allans number. About 5 minutes into the conversation, he said, Sounds good. When can you send me your first column? We were stunned, perhaps even a bit disappointedwe hadnt even begun to tap our admittedly impressive arsenal! Of course, once the shock wore off, we were absolutely thrilled.¹ After receiving the go-ahead, we published our inaugural issue of Early Careers, proposing a column with two regular segments: The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, designed to illustrate models of successful I-O careers and provide a person behind the name glimpse of the individuals who are shaping our discipline, and Career Gear, which offers advice on topics of particular interest to early career folks.

¹ We should mention that the preceding anecdote exemplifies just a fraction of the support Allan has offered over the years. For his encouragement, and for providing us the opportunity to work with I-Os finest, we thank Allan from the bottom of our hearts and wish him the best of luck during his final days as TIP editor

This issue provides a synopsis of what weve learned so far about the people and the topics influencing our future. Yes, its time for our annual review. But, wait! Before we go any further, you may have noticed something different about this issuethe picture. It was Allans idea. For his final issue as editor of TIP, he asked the regular columnists to include a photo along with their pieces. Luckily, Loris recent wedding provided just the necessary photo op. Sure, posing for the column photo held up the receiving line a bit; but alas, TIP fame and fortune does not come without its price!

As you read on, youll discover that the picture is not the only thing thats different about this issue. After reviewing past columns, we make good on a promise from a previous edition of Early Careers. It has been suggested that in addition to the broad issues described in the Career Gear segment, specific examples of effective and ineffective career-related behavior would also be of benefit to new professionals. With this in mind, we have spent the past year gathering critical incidents to share with you. Chances are, youll be able to relate to at least one of these episodes. If not, youll at least get a kick out of the blunders the rest of us are making! 

The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 

We begin our musings with a special thanks to the four individuals who have been featured in this segment: Eduardo Salas who kicked the column (and not his dog) off to an incredible start in January 2000; Shelly Zedeck, the former Brooklynite who, though not necessarily comfortable with the lime light, was wonderfully accommodating and gave us great material in April 2000; Nancy Tippins, who offered up her office, travel, cellular, and home telephone numbers so that we could accomplish our July 2000 task; and Kevin Murphy, who made time to chat with us while in the midst of relocating, starting a new job, and preparing to pick up the kids! Throughout our first year, The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist segment has passed along insights regarding both the professional and the personal sides of these individuals. A few abbreviated highlights follow.

The professional. As professionals, theyve been busy! We learned that our featured psychologists are actively involved and assume leadership roles inside and outside the workplace. They have been and still are department chairs, managers and directors, presidents and fellows of SIOP, APA, and APS, and editors or board members of JAP, Personnel Psych, and SIOPs Professional Practice Series for starters. Adding to the action, all four of these successful psychologists demonstrated the ability to maintain a scientist-practitioner role in our profession, with the practitioners publishing prolifically and the academics offering their insights to industry.

The personal. As persons, we discovered that our featured psychologists are characters (um, we mean they have character, yeah, thats it!), as indicated by their various and sundry nicknames, which include but are not limited to Egg Salad, Nan, and Kaz. Our interviews with these intriguing folks have addressed questions regarding stress coping techniques, leisure-time activities, favorite beverages, daily routines, preferred reading material, and advice for early career success. Heres what we learned:

In response to stress, 3 of our 4 featured psychologists generally engaged in some form of physical activity, ranging from cooking and walking the dogto jogging and racquetball. Leisure time? Well, some of these interviewees admitted that they dont really have leisure time, not much anyway. Nevertheless, those few treasured moments are filled with a wide assortment of activities including cultivating herbs, visiting art museums, attending symphonies, shopping, dining out, going to the cinema, supporting youth hockey games, and sitting down with a good bookbiographies of sports legends for some, political commentaries, and the classics for others.

Speaking of classics, when asked about their beverage of choice, our featured psychologists responded with some age-old favorites: old fashioned egg creams, rum and Tab (yup, this antiquated cola is still around), wine (which improves with ageit seems the older we get, the more appealing it becomes), and black coffee (the cup-o-coffee tradition is believed to have begun in the early 1400s, with the first coffee houses becoming popularized in Arabia during the mid 15^th century).

Although enjoying at least one of these beverages is a daily constant for most of our former featured psychologists, the predictability of the remainder of their daily routines spans the gamut. As we learned, Eduardo is a creature of habit, more so than most it seems. He gets up, runs, goes to work, heads home, refreshes himself with a splash of cologne, reads the mail and newspaper with munchies and a glass of Chardonnay, has dinner, and gets ready for tomorrow. At the other end of the spectrum, due to the nature of his work and his family responsibilities, Kevins day is structured by only a few guidelines: he finds time every day for his research/writing projects, and he doesnt generally schedule meetings after 3:30 p.m. As for Shelly and Nancy, they fall somewhere in between.

Conversely, we found little deviation in response to our question addressing keys to success. Across the board, we got an initial Successful? Who me? kinda reaction. Our featured psychologists were extremely modest in that respect, oftentimes suggesting that if people consider them successful, its due to a mixture of serendipity, strong professional cohorts and colleagues, and being able to do something they love, which allows them to enjoy life. Nancy added that preparation allows one to make use of luck when it comes along. This comment complements the themes underlying a variety of other responses: the importance of continuous education; taking advantage of opportunities to learn and grow; and remaining open to projects that broaden your scope of knowledge.

Most of our formerly featured psychologists repeatedly emphasized the impact of colleagues on success, the importance of finding an appropriate mentor, the need to surround yourself with motivated people who complement your skills, and the importance of collaborating and being involved in the field (e.g., professional and industry associations, journals, etc.). Shelly also noted the value of being bold in approaching issues from alternate perspectives. Finally, these four impressive psychologists suggested that it is fundamentally important to love what you do, and do what you love. This applies not only to your profession, but also to your life outside the office.

Career Gear 

Now, as psychologists, we appreciate the importance of modeling. Yet, we urge you to suppress your newfound yearning for egg creams, herbs, cologne, and black coffee for just a few more moments. Our featured psychologists have clued us in on some of the more essential components of early career success. The Career Gear segment has touched upon several critical early career topics, exposing some issues that we werent even aware were issues of which we needed to be aware (phew)! Heres what we mean:

Getting smart. Would you believe it? We finished grad school with flying colors, and the first thing were told is that we need to get smartorganizationally smart, that is! The January 2000 issue provided a crash course on the importance of developing an understanding of whats going on behind the scenes in your organization. An organizationally smart professional understands the culture, the politics, and the informal rules that shape a workplace and often an early career. The pursuit of organizational intelligence involves a data collection effort that is bound to yield significant resultsat least in the context of your career. As our sources advised: Keep your ear to the ground, ask questions, pay attention to informal communication channels (How about a nice refreshing drink from the water cooler?), and figure out as much of the politics as you can. Collect data on the organizations structure, its members, and its history. Such knowledge, which can be acquired from a variety of official and unofficial sources, will improve your chances for success.

From the sidelines. The April 2000 issue considered the ins and outs of side work. Many new academics strive to supplement their careers with part-time consulting, just as new practitioners have been known to accept classroom gigs and publish in top journals. Indeed, this is the stuff that scientist-practitioners are made of. How can an early career psychologist effectively manage these aspirations? Two pieces of advice emerged. First, wait a while. Whether youre working in a university or an industry, firmly establish yourself in your primary position before taking on extra work. Second, take a resourceful, opportunistic approach. Double up, or kill multiple birds with one stone. For a consultant, this might mean taking the survey results you presented to a client and turning them into a paper or a conference presentation. For an academic, this could mean initially limiting your field work to projects that are likely to provide publishing opportunities.

Some really general advice. The next leg of our journey was spent in the human resources (HR) department. Apparently, many I-O practitioners are pressured to become HR generalists at some point during their careers. For the practitioner, such a move often involves more money and power, nonI-O responsibilities, and a significant migration away from our profession. Our sources collectively weighed the pros and cons of such a move and suggested that new psychologists be prepared for the day when the boss calls them in and offers an opportunity to manage a broader or different function. In all likelihood, this decision will have to be made within a very limited time span, so it is important to consider all angles of this issue, many of which are discussed in the July 2000 column.

On balance. Ironically, the most recent Career Gear segment emphasized the fact that your career is not the only component of success, nor is it the most important. This discussion was designed to help us all rise above the forces that obstruct worklifefamily balance during the beginning of a career. Pearls of wisdom flowed forth from our readers, who believe that balance barriers stem from the workplace (e.g., those who spend all of their time at work are promoted, recognized, and reinforced with far greater frequency than those who choose to have a life outside of the office), and they also pop up on the home front (e.g., kids and/or spouses who dont appreciate your need to work some nontraditional hours). According to our sources, such hurdles can be overcome by adopting balanced philosophies to live by, including communicating your values and expectations at home and in the workplace, actively working to achieve and maintain that balance, and attempting to put yourself in a family-friendly work environment. 

Whats an Annual Review Without Behavioral Feedback? 

A wise man once said, Mistakes are the greatest teacher. Maybe so, but who wants to become a Rhodes scholar before their time? We hope that the Career Gear advice provided in the previous issues has facilitated a few professional victories, while heading off some nasty slip-ups. Speaking of triumphs and tribulations, we have a few to share. In the inaugural issue of Early Careers, we asked you, our faithful readers, to identify job-related achievements or catastrophes, describe the conditions and the problems that you faced, the actions that you took, and the consequences of your behavior. We received some great critical incidents, and its high time we let the rest of our readers in on them. Sometimes theres nothing so practical as a good specific example of what (not) to do. So pay attention, it could happen to you! 

Academic Critical Incidents 

Situation: I was new to the university and swamped the day after I unloaded my U-Haul. In addition to my research requirements, the teaching demands were quite heavy, especially because I had only taught one class 3 years prior to my first semester at the university. Time was at a premium. A week before classes began, I received an invitation to attend a luncheon orientation to the universitys technology initiative. On the first day of classes, I was called to the faculty convocation, which was followed by the college of arts and sciences orientation. Next, a new-faculty luncheon hosted by the vice president of academic affairs took place. The following week, I received an invitation to a new-faculty professional development seminar, which occurred the day before my lunch-time benefits and retirement planning workshop.

Action: Although no longer a starving graduate student, I was still in never-pass-up-a-free-lunch mode. I attended each of the meetings.

Result: Even though the meetings overlapped with lunch (hey, you gotta eat, said I, during my rationalization phase), the pre- and post-lunch chatting and presenting extended the meetings well beyond lunch. I got more and more behind in my course preparations, and I had no time for research. I ended up spending many late hours devising lectures for the next morning. My stress level skyrocketed.

What I wish I wouldve done: I should have listened to Steffanie Wilk when she said, Your time is worth more that than a ham sandwich! at a SIOP 1999 workshop I attended on keys to success in academia. Clearly, some of those meetings were necessary but not all of them. I wish I wouldve gone to a more senior colleague and asked which meeting(s) I needed to attend and which I could have skipped.

Situation: As a new assistant professor, I struggled through the first few weeks of my job. Between the course preparations and the orientations, I was down to 4 hours of sleep per night. Meetings involving the chair and program director invariably resulted in additional responsibilities. We need to get our course materials online, the chair said during an early faculty meeting. We need to increase our presence at APA, the program director professed during an area meeting.

Action: Sacrificing large chunks of my time, I put all of my course materials online and cranked out two proposals for the APA conference.

Result: An entire year later, Im the only one with online materials, and I went to APA alone last summer.

What I wish I wouldve done: This problem boiled down to my misinterpretation of the phrase We need to. I construed this expression as Lets, when in fact it meant Wouldnt it be nice if we, or Hey, maybe someday we should.... I soon realized that I need not jump at every suggestion. Some suggestions boil down to wishful thinking or people with nothing better to say. 

Situation: I am a relatively new assistant professor under some serious publication demands. Because I am a member of a small graduate program, Im also responsible for supervising multiple masters theses. My goal is to combine my publication and thesis supervision responsibilities. I am constantly thinking up research questions and methods for testing them, yet when it comes time to help a student form a masters thesis topic, I can recall only a fraction of the interesting research designs I previously developed.

Action: I decided to keep an easily accessible journal of research ideas. I tag appropriate ones masters thesis.

Result: Now, when a graduate student approaches me for guidance on thesis topics, I already have some specifics to offer. This has resulted in several publishable masters thesis projects that are directly tied to my program of research. 

Situation: I am a new assistant professor in a school of business. As new professors typically do, I quickly got caught up in a whirlwind of courses, research, committees, and so forth, very shortly after I arrived on the job. The people in my department are quite collegial, and I get along well with my coworkers. There are three secretaries serving the department, and they are considered part of the family. Soon after I began my job, I learned that the secretaries liked to chat. In fact, every time I went to delegate a task to one of these assistants, I wound up in a 45-minute conversation. I enjoyed the company, but I just didnt have time for it.

Action: I decided to handle my own administrative tasks. For example, I began photocopying and mailing manuscripts myself, rather than delegating these tasks to the secretaries.

Result: In the short run, this go-it-alone stance saved me time. I could photocopy class handouts in a fraction of the time it took to hear about someones grandchildren. (I know this sounds terrible, but I was really stressed out.) In the long run, my new approach spelled disaster. At my university, there are certain tasks that the secretaries must do, and when I needed their assistance, I became a low priorityeither because Id snubbed them or because they didnt really know me, Im still not sure which. For example, it took one secretary weeks to obtain a purchase order number for a new printer, which I needed desperately. Im convinced that some of my colleagues could have gotten this number faster, due to their relationships with the assistants.

What I wish I wouldve done: I probably should have reduced my contact with the secretaries, yet I shouldnt have eliminated it altogether. Perhaps I could have limited my requests to time periods when I wasnt in such a hurry. In all likelihood, the secretaries were on an information-gathering quest, and the chatter would have ceased a bit once wed had a chance to get to know one another.

Costly Contributions 

Situation: Im a fairly new assistant professor, and I rarely have much to say during faculty meetings. I feel that I dont fully understand most of the issues that are discussed, largely because this is my first academic job, and Im still becoming familiar with the administrative aspects of university education. During my second semester on the job, my department decided to review and revise course catalogue descriptions. The chair of the curriculum committee distributed an e-mail message, requesting changes and revisions. No changes immediately came to mind. Suddenly, I thought why not change the I-O course title (currently Industrial Psychology) to the more modern Industrial-Organizational Psychology? To be honest, I didnt feel strongly about the issue, but I was becoming self-conscious about my lack of participation during faculty meetings, and I therefore sensed the need to contribute.

Action: I immediately e-mailed the entire faculty, suggesting the name change.

Result: Most of my colleagues were indifferent toward the course title change. I was charged with implementing the modification, which involved mountains of paperwork, a half a dozen signatures, and a lot of time that couldve been spent on course preps or research.

What I wish I wouldve done: In the future, I will refrain from taking stands on issues I dont feel strongly about. In other words, Ill avoid participation for its own sake. Above all else, I will explore the ramifications of a suggestion (e.g., what are the steps in changing a course name, and who is responsible for completing them?) before I chime in. 

Applied Critical Incidents 

Getting out of the Bored Room 

Situation: Im a practitioner who has been in the workforce for about 2 years. Approximately 6 months ago, I reached a point where I was no longer learning new things at work. Although my project management responsibilities were increasing and I was getting involved in a few new arenas, I was not encountering new experiences at the rate I had before. I was not quite ready to move to a new job and wanted to maximize my learning opportunities with my current employer. I overheard a more senior colleague discussing a situational judgment test (SJT), which she was developing. I had no experience with this type of measure, and I was interested in learning the ropes.

Action: I went to my supervisor and volunteered to assist with the SJT.

Result: My supervisor spoke to my colleague, who agreed to offer me a limited role in the project, which was already well underway. Although my contributions were minimal (mostly editing critical incidents), I gained the opportunity to learn a few new things, and my relationship with my colleague flourished. Moreover (and this is the best part), I was assigned to a similar project a few months later. This time, I joined the team from the beginning, and I played a more critical role in the development of the new instrument, gaining lots of new experience along the way. 

Situation: I am a new I-O psychologist working for a consulting firm. One of my first projects required me to develop and administer a survey to approximately 1,500 people. The survey was designed to assess, among other things, employees reactions to a new benefits package that the organization was considering. Fortunately, I was not working on this project alone; however, I did play a very large role. The survey turned out beautifully, thanks to the excellent training I received during graduate school, and it was time to present the results to the task force of executives who had authorized the project.

Action: I gave a very data-heavy talk, which was very similar to a presentation that you might see at SIOP.

Result: The executive task force was confused. I was mired in statistics, detail, and research, and they wanted to know what my recommendations were and why they should support them. I left the meeting feeling like I hadnt gotten my point across.

What I wish I wouldve done: I wish I would have learned to speak the corporate language prior to that meeting, and I wish I had developed a better general understanding of the way businesses are run. Perhaps some business courses (e.g., marketing and finance) would have helped. 

Situation: I was working at a municipality that wanted to test for an employment position at a park. They wanted me to revise their test and have it ready to be administered in one week. The test was antiquated, more of an IQ and psychological test than anything else.

Action: Although this turnaround time initially seemed unreasonable (How could I produce a valid selection test in a week?), I said yes and thought about how to transition from textbook to real-world I-O. I told the personnel director what I thought I could deliver within the week, and what some of the issues might be because of the quick turnaround required. I then observed the job, gathered work samples, designed a test that reflected the job (content and face validity), tested several incumbents, persuaded the personnel director that this test was better than his IQ test (and less discriminatory), then administered it that Friday.

Result: The best feeling in the world was watching people come out of the test saying they thought it was fair and resembled the kind of work the job was all about. The 3 people they hired as a result of the test performed well on the job. This also resulted in the personnel director changing their other tests to be more work related than IQ and psychological-type tests. Plus, it gave me the reputation of being flexible and not so married to traditional test development and validation strategies that I cannot deliver a quality product within the time constraints given. 

Situation: A few months after I joined my organization, I learned that it offered an optional mentoring program. None of the new people in my department had ever used it before, yet it seemed like a good idea, as I had been told that it was important for new professionals to gain early knowledge of the lay of the land politically; how to maneuver in the organization; who to support, follow, and avoid because they are a political liability; what the good job assignments are and what training to take; and who the key players and administrative gatekeepers are. Hoping to acquire some of this inside information, I signed up for the mentoring program. I was told to choose a mentor who likes sharing experiences with new high-potential employees.

Action: Well, I knew of just the right person. One of my senior colleagues had a reputation within our department for being a great organizational citizen. Although he hadnt moved quickly through the company ranks, everyone in the department loved him. He was always there to lend a helping handheck, he voluntarily trained me to use Excel, after hours, during my first few weeks on the job. I asked the senior colleague to join the mentoring program with me.

Result: The colleague turned out to be a wonderful friend but a poor mentor. Although he was well-loved within the department, he wasnt the quickest person around, and he had no connections outside of the department. I did not gain the political savvy I had hoped for.

What I wish I wouldve done: Yes, it is important to choose a mentor who likes sharing experiences with new high-potential employees. It is, however, also important to choose a mentor who is competent, politically connected, and well-liked in the broader organization. I wish I would have considered this before asking my well-meaning colleague to join the program with me. 

So, there you have itsome real-life, real specific tips for success and pitfalls to avoid! For those of you who feel as though you can relate a little too well to too many of the imperfect incidents above, we offer the words of John Keats: 

Dont be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid.

For those who find the above quote more irritating than reassuring, we provide something else. The forthcoming issues of this column will introduce a brand new interview question geared toward our feature psychologists. It goes something like this: Describe a dark professional hour in your early career. What did you do to get through that time? Hopefully, successful psychologists responses to this query will remind us early-career folks that the seemingly insurmountable challenges we sometimes face can indeed be overcome and that we may some day be among the likes of those weve come to know as Egg Salad, Shelly, Nan, and Kaz. 

Overall Assessment: Substantially Exceeds Expectations 

We bring our annual review to a close by concluding that this columns contributors have substantially exceeded our wildest expectations. Along the way, our featured psychologists have taken us from egg creams to extra-dark French roast, from just growing herbs to actually cooking with them, from cologne rituals to crossword puzzles, from symphonies to soccer games, from regular routines to whatever the day and the mail may bring. Weve even been from Brooklyn to the stars (remember Sirius from the July 2000 issue?). We cant wait to see what the next year brings.

Dipboye and dePontbriand (1981) indicate that an effective annual review provides plans and objectives for the future, in addition to evaluations of past performance. We will therefore conclude by letting you in on our intention to feature Wally Borman in the July 2001 issue. Its an interview that you definitely wont want to miss! Until then, feel free to contact the Early Careers editors with suggestions, questions, kudos, and criticisms at Dawn L. Riddle (riddle@luna.cas.usf.edu) and Lori Foster Thompson (FosterL@mail.ecu.edu). 

References