Given the way things are around here with my multi-job situation, it is clear to everyone that I am quite likely to be out of a job by, say, May, possibly August at the latest. Not because my employers dislike me but because that's the way the interim position crumbles.
The class I'm teaching ends in December. The language center gig will either end next week, or at the end of the academic year. So I've basically already begun a new-job hunt, and quite the schizophrenic one considering all the "if-then" statements involved.
What this means is that I'm considering going on the tenure-track job market because it's probably my last chance to do so. I'm four years out of my Ph.D this year, and I've been in administrative (not faculty) gigs since I graduated. If I want to give that market a shot, this is probably my last chance.
There are already plenty of committee piles where I will end up on the "no" heap right off the bat because they will look at my publications (varied subject matter, not in first-tier journals) and my recent work record (not solely a lecturer working for a pittance), and discard me without further thought.
However, there are FIVE jobs in my specialty area this year, and two are within commuting distance of where we currently live. The others are in Iowa, (Milwaukee) Wisconsin, and (yes, my Fighting Irish friends!) Indiana.
Not only do I have to be a strong enough candidate to get shortlisted; I have to be intriguing enough to cut a spousal hire deal if we have to move. Matt agrees that two tenure-track jobs would trump our current situation, but I agree with him that it would take nothing less than that for us to even consider moving. We really like it here and he really likes his job. So that's daunting.
I also have a pretty good sense of my odds at getting shortlisted, after spending the interim as an administrator. Briefly, they suck.
I'm not absolutely positive I should put the time into applying that it will take to do it well. If I don't do it, though, I'll probably always wonder how I would have done. (Heck, I've already been wondering that for the last four years!).
And of course I'll also be looking at local academic admin jobs, and local non-profit jobs, and...the sheer variety of people who will be authorized to reject me completely in the coming months is overwhelming. This is why I didn't go into acting all those years ago in college, remember? I couldn't take the rejection after what I felt was a strong audition.
Aack. Thoughts? Advice? Pithy remarks?
4 comments:
I make myself feel better about being single by saying to myself "well, at least I don't have that pesky two body problem!"
Good luck!
i can't comment on the academic side, but, i would not hold your 4 years against you here in corporate america...
you were raising a child, as well as working -- that's gotta be harder than anything a new employer would ask you to do...
for pithiness, i'd go with this is the price you pay for bein' so edjumacated!
teh-noor? isn't that from farm aminals? who da hell wants dat???
I think you should apply--but make sure you remember as you're writing that you're a great catch and convey the appropriate tone. You are offering a much more mature, well-rounded candidate than many of their other applicants!
Please don't let the rejection angle dissuade you. You know as well as any of us how random, how petty, how blinkered the academic hiring process is. You may be exactly what one place wants, but you won't know if you don't submit.
(On the other hand, I'd rather you guys didn't move away. :) )
You should definitely give it a try! You'd be a great professor, and all of those places would be lucky to have you.
-Meredith
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