CV of Failures

As a positive psychologist, I believe we can all learn from our failures and rejections. Presented below is my CV of Failures, a deliberate effort to transparently showcase my journey of being rejected almost all the time :-).

The idea is not mine. I drew inspiration from an insightful article by Melanie Stefan and several other academics who courageously shared this aspect of their professional paths. The list is based on memory and might not be complete (I tried to remember them)!

CV of Failures – Dandan Pang

Academic positions I did not get

Assistant Professor, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland

Professor, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland

Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Postdoc Researcher, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Degree programs I did not get into

Master in Psychology – University of Heidelberg | Free University of Berlin | University of Bochum | University of Jena | University of Konstance, Germany

Bachelor in International Finance – Sun Yat-sen University, China

Bachelor in Biology – Zhejiang University, China

Entry/intern positions I did not get when I was a Master’s graduate

ABB, Audatex, Apple, Audi, BASF, BCG, BMW, Deutsche Bundesbank, Global Launch Management, Helsana, ICUnet, KPMG, Roche, Siemens, SRF, Stadt Zürich, swatch, Swisscom, Swisslife, Unispital Zürich, Wesser und Partner

Paper rejections from academic journals

Mindfulness

Journal of Positive Psychology

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

Work and Stress

Journal of Vocational Behavior

Journal of Career Assessment

Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

Social Psychological and Personality Science

Research funding I did not get

Health and Well-being Project Call, Swiss National Science Foundation

Project Seed Funding “Humane Digitale Transformation”, BFH, Switzerland

Project Seed Funding “Caring Society”, BFH, Switzerland

Strategic Japanese-Swiss Science and Technology Programme, Swiss National Science Foundation

UniBE Initiator Grant, University of Bern, Switzerland

Branco Weiss Fellowship, Switzerland

PostDoc Mobility, Swiss National Science Foundation

Forschungskredit, University of Zurich, Switzerland