Even though the academic year is a couple of months off, I am doing some serious prep in anticipation of my upcoming job search and next year’s conferences. A friend who is a new faculty member at another institution advised me to make my CV look like a new prof’s, not a grad student’s, so I’m taking his advice. I’m working on 3 different proposals for a conference that isn’t until late April (!!!) because the deadline is July 15th, and I’ll be pretty busy between now and then. I’m also finishing up on my presentation for my upcoming trip, and I think/hope my presentation will be interesting.
My institution is certainly improving its graduate student services, but one thing they aren’t doing is giving us business cards for passing out at conferences, interviews, and the like. I’m seriously considering ordering 100 cards with my contact information printed on them in case anyone wishes to continue contact after the conference. Has anyone ever done this, and if so, was it worth it? I would of course be sure to get something that is tasteful and professional-looking.
I did purchase business cards from my grad school’s print shop. I don’t know how important it is for you to have nice card stock or the University crest, but I figured anything was better than VistaPrint! They were about $30 for 250, 200 of which I still have somewhere. I got a lot of compliments on them. So I recommend them pretty wholeheartedly–my only regret is that I purchased them too late…I would have gotten them the summer before my final year.