Navigating the Melee of the Academic Job Market
This post is for the hordes of grad students and academics who are about to spend the next few months scouring the academic job posts, revising their CVs every other day (don’t forget about your local writing center to help with these!), practicing interviews at conferences, and probably trying out at least a few different anti-anxiety meds (can I humbly recommend a nice blend of Prozac and Wellbutrin? Very calming, very balancing).
When I entered the market almost a decade ago, I was given some great advice—and some flat out terrible advice. And having chatted with more than a dozen writing center admins in the last month and a half, I’ve heard similar reflections on our current positions that might benefit those about to begin the Search:
Do not blanket the market with your CV. During my year on the market, I was told by a very well-regarded scholar in my field that I was clearly not taking the Search seriously, since I did not put out 70-80 application packets that year. He was wrong. He was very, very wrong—and I’m confident enough at this point to say, I was right. I sent out 20 very customized and specific packets that year to places I actually wanted to work—or at least, I would consider working, and I had 5 schools respond favorably—that’s a 25% positive response rate. I had multiple interviews and offers that year.
Instead of blanketing the world with your generic CV like a damn crop dusting…
Select your schools with a list of criteria that matter to YOU—not anyone else! For example, I’m not a competitive person by nature. I did not want to fight for every little step forward in my career—like tenure. I wanted to settle into my role, find my people, and devote myself to my students and my various passion projects—not a “publish-or-perish” lifestyle. I also had young children at the time, so a family-oriented geographic location was important to me, too, as was my spouse’s career options. We wanted to put down roots, buy a home in the country, and be in a place our grown kids would want to come home to. For us, the Adirondacks were perfect.
When you send out those application packets, that cover letter needs to be tailored to E-A-C-H school. Do not send the generic one that applies to several. Trust me. The hiring committee will know that they are just one of many for you, and if you didn’t put out the effort to customize a one-page letter to their institution, what other tasks are you going to slack on? Do you even know what kind of school they are? What their needs are? Their challenges? Don’t waste their time. Do your research, and tailor the letter to show that research.
Don’t rule out smaller schools, two-year-colleges (TYC), or even high schools! Just because a school isn’t an R1 or an Ivy doesn’t mean it won’t make you happy (and there’s nothing that guarantees that those posts WOULD make you happy!). Consider the aspects of academia that you enjoy—and think about ways to bring that enjoyment into the everyday aspects of what you’ll be doing. Hate teaching but love research? Then why are you applying to be an instructor? Hate presenting at conference or publishing academic articles? Guess what you’ll be doing to earn tenure at many institutions. Go ahead. Guess.
But many TYC and even high schools (especially private ones!) pay the same (and sometimes—GASP—better!) than an instructor or even tenure-track position at a higher-ranked institution. The other TYC writing center directors I’ve chatted with this year have felt similarly: we love our jobs. We’re happy with our place in our institutions, we feel respected and treated well, we enjoy working with our tutors, and we enjoy our daily work and lives on campus. It’s not the SIZE or RANK of the school that matters—it’s HOW you USE it. ;)
Don’t forget the benefits package. Sometimes, pay might be lower, but the school has a strong union, retirement, or other benefits that might make the position stronger. During COVID, many, many academics relied on their unions to protect their jobs and livelihoods.
During your interviews, remember: YOU are interviewing THEM just as much as THEY are interviewing YOU. One interview panel I met with clearly detested each other—they shot each other exasperated looks and rolled their eyes at each other. When I asked a question, one person scoffed (for clarity, the question was, “As the writing center director, what would the teaching course load be?” > They hadn’t advertised it, but the position was not a faculty line, and I am a teacher, through-and-through, so this alone was a dealbreaker). I like to relax, make some jokes, and get the job done—and I cannot stomach toxic work environments. That school would have been a terrible fit for me.
On the other hand, one of the first things I noticed when I interviewed with my current post was that they were joking around with each other—laughing, smiling, and friendly. That was a much better fit for me. (Want some ways to peek at this before that first interview? Look for faculty blogs, local newspaper and op-ed mentions of faculty or school, and replies to the school’s social media posts—are they argumentative? Or are there a lot, “Gee, what a great teacher so-and-so was!” What happens when the local paper shares the school’s approved budget? Do people complain or say it’s worth it? These might give you a hint to the campus and local climate!).
Don’t rule out non-academic options, even if teaching is your passion. Non-profits often have positions that pay well and can provide that same “service” oriented life, and many can still involve education or teaching-type roles.
There are dozens of other wonderful columns of advice for the job market. Read a few, but remember: the point of the Search is finding a place for YOU—not finding the place that your grad student colleagues will be jealous over (unless that perceived prestige and endless competition is just the thing that makes you happy—in that case, have at it!).
Now, go drink some water, eat a piece of fruit, and talk a walk. Pet a critter. Or three. And then take a nap. Figure out what it is YOU WANT your life to look like, and then take the next step to get there.
