Jenny: Ready or not, here it comes: another faculty hiring cycle. Candidates who did not end the last cycle with a job offer no doubt have been evaluating the search process and trying to decide if they should go on the market again — or not. How do you know when to say, “Enough!”?
Julie: We have written about this subject before, most recently in a 2011 column, “Deciding When to Leave,” but it is worth revisiting. As has been said many times, earning a doctorate is a marathon, not a sprint. As you approach completion of the degree, exhaustion or excitement about reaching the next phase can set in; sometimes both at once. Many job candidates have one foot in the past — that is, still in graduate school as they finish writing their dissertation — and the other foot in an uncertain future as they apply for jobs far and wide. That bifurcation can lead to fatigue with the whole process.
Jenny: For other job candidates, wondering when to say “when” comes after a series of adjunct positions, visiting assistant professorships, or postdocs. Some Ph.D.s may have moved repeatedly for a series of visiting positions as they sought to build their credentials. Others may be driving from one side of a city to the other as they try to cobble together an income teaching courses on multiple campuses. Still others, particularly those in the sciences, often find themselves working long hours in postdoctoral positions, hoping to get results that will lead to strong publications.
Julie: The fact is, however, it can take several years to find a tenure-track position in many fields, regardless of how strong a candidate you are. So people rightly have concerns about throwing in the towel too early. Academe is likely to have long been their first-choice career, and they want to make sure they’ve tried their best to achieve that goal.
Jenny: There are those who say you are less viable as a candidate after you’ve been on the market for five years in a row. While we have seen Ph.D.s get tenure-track offers after many years on the market, many search committees do seem biased in favor of “newer” candidates. One way to overcome that bias is to make sure that your research program is moving forward productively, and that you’ve had the opportunity to teach a variety of courses. It’s important not to get stuck in a series of temporary positions that don’t allow you to develop professionally.
Julie: At the same time, most people want to be able to start achieving other life goals — settling in a particular geographic location, saving for retirement, buying a home, being able to live in the same place as a partner, or having children. The structure of academic careers — especially in the early stages — often makes it very hard to make those things happen, which is what can make the faculty career path so frustrating.
Jenny: Keeping in mind that different candidates will have different challenges, here are a few signs that it might be time for you to think about other career paths and plan one final year on the faculty job market:
- Other parts of your life have gained in importance. For example, many people, particularly those who have a baby or small children (or who hope to have them) feel life is too complicated to deal with another go-round on the market.
- You are heavily in debt and see no hope in sight for increased income if you stay on the faculty path.
- You have never started paying into a retirement plan and you are into your mid-30s or beyond.
- Your current position offers no opportunity for advancement, professional growth, or time to do your research.
- You are far from family and friends and don’t like where you are living.
- You’re no longer feeling the passion for your field that you once did (and it’s often hard to stay passionate in the face of repeated disappointments).
- Your self-confidence has gone down so much that you can’t envision yourself speaking confidently about a research plan.
Julie: What can you do to take some productive next steps?
Strengthen your candidacy. If you do want to go on the market for another year or two, think about how you can look both experienced and involved in cutting-edge research and/or teaching. Work on getting your research published. If you’re someone who doesn’t have a lot of teaching experience, what’s going on in your field in pedagogy? Do you have the opportunity to try out new techniques? Speak frankly with advisers and other faculty members you trust about what might make you a better candidate.
But be honest with yourself. Do you really want to do all of those things that might strengthen your candidacy? Are you excited and motivated to continue your research and get your work published? Will that make you happy?
“If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success.” Whoever said it, it’s good advice. Is there a way for you to define your own terms for succeeding in academe, rather than letting faculty culture or your discipline’s customs define you? What might your definition of success look like? Could you find fulfillment in teaching one course while working another job — example, a math Ph.D. who works in banking and teaches a stats course once or twice a year. If you love your research, could you find a way to continue it although it’s not your “day job”? If you know where you want to live, would you be willing to take any type of job — faculty or not — so long as it gets you to, say, Seattle?
Build a network of supporters. That may include fellow former graduate students who got tenure-track positions as well as those who did not. It’s best to have people who are honest and knowledgeable enough to give you practical advice about your situation. You also may want a few people around you who can help you to be optimistic about your future.
Then broaden your circle. Did you know that there is a LinkedIn group, “PhD Careers Outside of Academia,” with more than 61,000 members? Use it and other resources — such as your undergraduate and graduate institutions’ alumni networks, and The Versatile Ph.D., a web-based community and resource for exploring the wide range of career options for Ph.D.s — to learn more about possible directions to move in.
Jenny: One of the hardest things for us to see is Ph.D.s whose self-esteem is tied up in their not getting a job offer and feeling like a failure. That can interfere both with their ability to connect with others (a key aspect of any job search) and with their ability to imagine new possibilities for themselves. Remember, there are many others in the same situation. The notion that the cream will rise to the top — if you’re the best, you’ll find a tenure-track job — is an academic myth that serves only to undermine Ph.D.s. You are so much more than your degree.
Julie: So think ahead. What are you hoping will transpire, and how likely is that to happen? Talk with some people who already said “when” and get a sense of how their lives are going. Know that as you move forward, you may feel some sadness, as Kelly J. Baker writes in “The Hard Business of Letting Go.”
Jenny: But you may also feel a sense of relief. Allison Ford, who planned to be an actress and, after many years of auditioning, moved on to something else, wrote about this in “I Gave Up My Dream, And I’d Do It Again,” an essay that has a great deal of relevance for aspiring academics.
Julie: If you decide to apply for faculty jobs for another year, be confident, positive, and realistic. If you have access to career advisers, consider meeting with them during your job search. If you decide to look at other career possibilities, be in charge of your exploration but, again, meet periodically with career advisers. Having a second perspective can help you through the daunting process of deciding whether or not now’s the time to say “when.”
Julie Miller Vick has retired as senior associate director of career services at the University of Pennsylvania and now works there part time as senior career adviser. Jennifer S. Furlong is director of the office of career planning and professional development at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York Graduate Center. They are the authors of The Academic Job Search Handbook (University of Pennsylvania Press).
