Alright. It's gotten to that point in the job search where some reality has set in.
I have now been passed by for interviews with 10 of the 21 applications I've sent in. One of them was, sadly, The Dream Job.
That ship has sailed. I had myself a good mope, then put on my Big Boy Pants and got the fuck over it.
Of the 11 applications I've still got out, 3 are for fellowships that I Just Won't Win.
That's not me thinking poorly of myself or my accomplishments, that's me recognizing that these are three of the most competitive fellowships available in the humanities. While my research has been aided by the hand of God Himself, I do realize that I am an unpublished graduate student without a PhD, and that's really not helping matters.
The other 8 applications are all for Tenure Track jobs. 3 of them are at large research universities that probably want someone with more experience and/or publications than I have. See above, about being an ABD student with no publications.
The remaining 5 are at smaller colleges/universities, many of which I would be very, very happy at. One would even qualify as a Smaller Dream Job.
But, again. See above. No publications. No degree in hand. Only the promise that yes, I will be finished by this summer.
So I'm toning down my expectations. If one (or more) of these places wants to interview me, I'll be elated, but I'm no longer expecting to hear positive things from anybody else on my list.
I had been told that it is virtually unheard of to get a Tenure Track job right out of graduate school. There's a reason for that. It's really fucking hard.
The second round of one/two year job announcements should come out in the next couple of months, and I'll try again with those - hopefully with more success.
In the meantime, I will plan on going to the Big Annual Meeting with exactly zero interviews and several very nice suits. I will schmooze like it is going out of goddamned style and see where things go from there.
Woo! Let's do it!
5 comments:
::hugs::
Make sure to schmooze. The guy who got the job at our school was friends with the search chair. Why? They met and hung out at conferences. It made a difference.
I am a lurking reader who just got my first academic job (finished my PhD this month, begin the thing in Jan). It's a dream postdoc and I got it entirely through meeting people who know people at conferences. Go network like a champ! I am convinced that you will do great things :) best of luck to you!
Hugs. Many hugs.
It's difficult to apply any time, given the current state of things, but it's especially difficult to apply before having the PhD in hand (even though those ads are often written as if they're considering ABDs the same way). At least that was the experience of my peeps et moi.
I'm sorry it didn't work out this time but it *WILL*. And yes, shmooze!
Procris - Thank you! Hugs are always welcome.
Fie! - I always feel sleazy schmoozing, but it's one of those things that must be done. Glad to hear that it works, though...
K. - Congrats on the job! And thanks for coming out of lurkerdom!
Ink - Ooo! More hugs. Yes, I shall take them. I do keep hearing that ABD posts are quite hard to snag, so that's at least some consolation. Alas and alackaday.
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