Advice to My Younger Self About the Academic Job Market

A better understanding of the realities of academic hiring would have relieved some of my job-search stress years ago.

Photo by Hans Isaacson on Unsplash

I’ve been reflecting lately on my experiences on the academic job market. From the moment I set foot in graduate school, I was acutely aware of the precarious nature of our profession and that securing a tenure-track job was not a foregone conclusion. I spent a lot of time developing a marketable profile throughout my PhD program and began reading about the process years before I even dipped my toes in the water. I believed that if I meticulously crafted flawless application materials and prepared endlessly for interviews, I would be able to secure that coveted position. I followed advice from resources like The Professor Is In with unwavering precision. My documents were flawless, and I frequently received compliments during interviews that the committee was impressed with my level of preparation.

In spite of all my hard work, I was rejected over and over again for positions that seemed perfect for me. For the first couple of years, I was devastated by each “we regret to inform you” that seemed to roll in endlessly. (For more on dealing with rejection, see this post.)

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

It was not because of perfect documents and over-preparation that I eventually got a visiting lecturer job and then a tenure-track job at my current institution; it was more about fit and being in the right place at the right time. I am older and wiser about this process now, and I think about it differently. I wish I could tell my younger self a few things that I now share with you today, because I think I would have saved her a lot of angst.