01 January 2014 27 541 Report

Hearing many complaints from my peers (who are young researchers just as myself) on how hard it is to squeeze yourself into the ever growing competitive academic world, also having discussions on how to build a career in academia with more established scholars, and reading advices from academics (for example, blog entry of Tanya Golash-Boza http://getalifephd.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-smart-do-you-have-to-be-to-become.html or a book by Munck, Gerardo/ Snyder, Richard (2007): Passion, Craft and Method in Comparative Politics) I was wondering whether being a succefull academic is only about skills and hard work? If so, what skills are the most important? Whether having a good acquaintances with the right people from academic circles is more important for building a solid academic career that mere talents and knowledge in the field? Please, share your experience and your view on what skills are crucial for a young researcher to become the part of the respectable academic circles. And whether the chances to enter those circles for those from "academic periphery" (like my country - Kazakhstan) are in fact significantly less than for those who are closer to well known academic institutions?

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