Friday, April 16, 1999

What to Do When You Don't Get the Job

Question: Now what? I went on the market this year, read your column, took your advice, tried to do everything right, and I still don't have a job. I have one application outstanding I haven't been rejected from yet, but I'm not optimistic that this one will come through. Should I be thinking about a career in business?

Mary: We're sorry your efforts have been so disappointing, at least to this point. Should you be thinking about alternative careers? Only if you would genuinely be interested in pursuing those options even if an academic opening had come through. It's very discouraging to work so hard and not get an offer, but this year's results shouldn't be taken as a predictor of your ultimate success.

Julie: It's not unusual to go on the job market more than once before receiving an offer. In some fields, it often takes a couple of years or more because there are so few jobs. What you need now is a plan that will include preparation for the market next year and productive pursuits for this coming year.

Have you finished your dissertation? If not, obviously that is the first thing to do. An unfinished dissertation may be one of the reasons you didn't get an offer.

Mary: In fact, had you gotten a job with an unfinished dissertation, you might later have come to regret it, since you'd have started a new position a step behind in terms of the tenure clock. Let's assume, though, that your dissertation is completed. What else might have been working against you?

Not getting a job, especially in particularly tight fields, does not necessarily mean that your qualifications weren't outstanding or that you did anything "wrong." At the same time, it makes sense to review everything about your candidacy to make sure that you're as strong as you can be. You need to consider three factors: the strength of your credentials, the way you presented yourself, and the effectiveness of your recommendations.

Julie: Talk with your adviser to see if there is a comfortable way for him or her to speak with the head of one of the search committees with whom you interviewed. Your adviser can ask how you did in the interview and find out how the committee saw you, including what your shortcomings were. That information should help you prepare to do better next time around.

Your adviser might also be willing to speak with the professors who wrote your recommendations to see whether they had any reservations that you could address. You may want to stay in touch with these people as well.

Mary: Also take a look at your vita and consider your qualifications in light of the type of job you want. In many cases the most important aspect of your vita is your publications. Have you already completed work you can now submit for publication? Can you get more work in publishable form over the next several months so that it can appear on your vita (at least with a notation that it's been submitted to such-and-such a journal) by the time the market rolls around again in the fall?

Julie: If you're most interested in a position for which teaching is the primary hiring criterion, does your vita show a broad base of teaching experience? While adjunct positions are likely to pay miserably, they are also generally fairly easy to obtain, and you may be able to add a few courses to a vita. Once you have substantial, and varied, teaching experience, however, another course or two usually makes little difference. Part-time teaching is so poorly compensated that it probably isn't a good choice, except in the special case where you need that extra experience to strengthen your qualifications.

Mary: So now you need to get to work on either publishing or teaching. It will be time to start responding to ads sooner than you think. What else can you do or should you do? First, stay in touch with your adviser. Plan to meet with him or her frequently. Your adviser needs to be your biggest supporter so keep him or her aware of your plans and updated on your progress.

Julie: You're also probably wondering whether we realize that you need to pay your bills. We do. The reason we haven't yet dealt with the question of how you're going to do it is this: If obtaining an academic position remains your first choice, you will want a "bill-paying" position that allows you to strengthen your qualifications.

If you've concluded that you really need more teaching experience, then you'll look at part-time or temporary teaching positions. If you've concluded that you need to strengthen your research, then you'll look for a job that supports research or one whose hours allow you research time outside of work. As a social scientist, for example, you may be able to do contract research in program evaluation; as someone in the humanities, you may be able to perform grant-supported research at a cultural institution.

Mary: If you decide that what you mainly need is more time to do your own research, but must earn some money to pay the bills, you might want to look for a low-demand job on your own campus. You'll be able to use the library and other resources, and stay in touch with faculty members and other colleagues. Your familiarity with the institution will mean you can direct your energy toward research and not have to learn a new place at the same time as you're gearing up for another job hunt.

Don't worry about how a particular job title will "sound" on your vita. Your main goal in the coming year is to strengthen your background with whatever pursuits you've determined will best advance your candidacy.

Julie: Also, if you haven't yet completed your dissertation, consider when your degree will be awarded. If you have substantial student loans, you may need to begin to repay them soon after receiving your degree, and perhaps you'll want to push back your degree date by a semester or so. Consult with your financial-aid office.

Mary: The need for health insurance often drives people to seek full-time jobs. If you can get by on a part-time salary, and currently have health insurance as a student, you should be able to buy an extension of your coverage for the coming year. If you find you can afford to look at a range of part-time and full-time positions, not only may you be able to buy yourself some time to do research, but you also may end up having some interesting experiences. The strong economy will make your job search easier. Consult your campus career centers, at both your graduate and undergraduate institutions, for leads.

Julie: One other thing you might do this year, as your time permits, is to look into alternative career possibilities. There are a number of books that provide helpful advice to Ph.D.'s seeking employers that value their skills. (See for example Outside the Ivory Tower: Academics Considering Alternative Careers, by Margaret Newhouse and Alternative Careers in Science: Leaving the Ivory Tower, edited by Cynthia Robbins-Roth.) Many of the large scholarly associations have information on their Web sites or printed material on career alternatives. Also, your career center may have information on job opportunities for Ph.D.'s, including alumni willing to talk with you.

Mary: If you're able to do even a little research, then next year, when we hope you'll have several academic offers to evaluate, you'll have a broadened basis for comparison and will be able to choose, rather than settle.

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