Job Tracking - Week 12

Okay, well, I don't have any new job information to report really. I got another rejection, though it wasn't entirely surprising. It is probably premature to think about there being a pattern to the rejections, but so far both of them came from Research I schools. I think my time at an SLAC has pushed me past my research expiration date. It's frustrating, not because I necessarily want to be at an R1 but because I wanted to be at a school where I could do more research than I can here on a 4/4 load.

But having spent the holidays with a number of academics at bigger schools, I can tell you that I don't feel completely bad about it because of the stories I heard them telling. Every single one of them was at a name R1 - though they weren't all at the same one - and every one of them was in a department much bigger than mine. But every one of them was swimming in departmental and university politics in a way I don't have to. I do like that I don't have to spend my time jockeying for position here; I suppose the sacrifice is that I don't necessarily get to teach to my strengths or push ahead with research. It was interesting, in those conversations, to see how many people were in similar situations to myself - financially strapped, not quite so thrilled with their jobs or locations, and frustrated at how little option is available in the market. Want to watch a group of academics' ears perk up? Say, as the wine is being poured, that you're going to look for jobs outside of academia after the New Year.

And of course some of this week was spent dealing with the phone interview - making sure I knew a bit about the department and what they're about. The school doesn't seem a great fit academically, but it's a tremendous fit in terms of my personal life. So I'm trying to decide how I'll juggle that if things move to the next level.

In any case, here's last week's post, to help with this week's numbers.

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 19/25
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $169.97
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $8.95
Total spent in U.S. dollars on travel, etc: $0
Total amount in U.S. dollars reimbursed: $0
WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: 9
HigherEdJobs.com: 0
Other online service (listserv, etc): 14
Friend/Colleague: 2
Personal Research: 1
THE JOB IS IN THE DETAILS
Total number of paper submissions: 17
Total number of e-submissions: 2
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 20.96
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 39
Total number of requests for references: 5
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 8
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy :7
Total number of research packs: 12
Total number of transcripts requested: 2
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 15
Total number of confirmed reference contacts: 0
Total number of phone interviews: 1
Total number of conference interviews: 0
Total number of on-campus interviews: 0
Total number of offers: 0
Total number of rejection letters: 2
Total number of canceled or unhired positions: 0

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. More soon.