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.

More Filler...

"Hi. Curmudgeon here, and I'm still away. And so, another pre-recorded message.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is a staple of our culture to begin stuffing Christmas down your throats...ugh...stuffing.

Anyway, if you haven't been hearing Christmas mayhem since Halloween, here's the best Christmas thing I"ve seen so far. I can't decide if I like the line "don't let mankind bogart love" more than the line about asking Jesus for his stash back.

Willie Nelson rules.

I promise I'll be back soon. In the meantime, enjoy."

Thanksgiving

"Hi again. Another pre-recorded blog post to tide you over while I'm away.

Today, in case you missed it, is Thanksgiving here in the states. And though I'm away from home, my dog in the kennel, and I'm no doubt lethargic on someone else's couch having had my fill of the the things that matter on Thanksgiving: mashed potatoes, stuffing, and pumpkin pie.

And so, I'll leave you with a quick list of things I was thankful for two nights ago. Assuming nothing drastic changes, it's safe to say I'll still be thankful for them even as I'm very likely currently suffering from my own inability to turn down nearly anything that can have gravy or whip cream put on it.

I'm thankful for:

• late night phone calls
• the release of "Chinese Democracy" which I haven't heard and probably won't buy but because it provides a useful metaphor for something which seemed unlikely but eventually turned up anyway. It's Guns'n'Roses answer to that one friend we all have who never arrives until 2 minutes before the party's over
• visiting friends and friends visiting
• any chance to sleep late
• all things that haven't gone wrong that could've
• all the the things that might yet go better

Make your own lists and call your own friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving."

This Is a Recording...

"Hi. This is Dr. Curmudgeon. I'm not here right now, but I didn't want you to be lonely while I was away, and so I have created this 'pre-recorded' blog post to cover for me while I'm away.

I saw this over at Academic Cog's who saw it over at New Kid's. And since I'm a sucker for personality tests and the like, I thought I'd run The Doctor Isn't through the Typealyzer to see what the blog's personality is.

You should know that my own Myers-Briggs test varies - usually between ENTP and INTP, but there are others - so this might not be so far off.

In any case, I will be back shortly to fulfill all my usual blogging duties. Later!"

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

A Pre-emptive Thanksgiving Well-Wishing

Somehow I hit my 300th post and didn't realize it. This is 301. Go, me!

Anyway, I'm off for Thanksgiving, and I don't imagine I'll be blogging till I've returned (though one never knows). And so, dear readers, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving wherever you are.

And if you're still reading and need something to do, feel free to click this link and learn to the draw the turkey that's gracing this post. Now you've got one more marketable skill to put on your resumes and CVs.

Don't laugh.

The economy's taking a downturn, and you need every marketable skill you can get. Seriously. There are probably a lot of jobs out there for folks who can draw a turkey. Someone's got to paint political portraits, after all.

So, once more, Happy Thanksgiving!

Cravings

Spending the holidays away from home year after year hasn't gotten so much easier. One year at a graduate school Thanksgiving celebration, I showed up with tamales - a staple around any holiday back home no matter who you are. Everyone stared and wondered, and at the end of the evening, I had nearly two dozen tamales to take home for myself.

For whatever reason, I've been craving mole, which frankly is a recipe that's more involved than I care to deal with. Growing up, my friend Greg's mother would make mole maybe once a year - usually around Christmas. Rare treats are often the best. In grad school, my friend John made it for us once - he was a chef, an under appreciated genius in kitchen who could tell the nastiest stories over a meal and make you love it. Chefs, he said, told the worst stories, the sickest jokes nightly to make the evenings pass. I thought perhaps he was exaggerating until I read Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, and saw that even back in the early 1900s that tendency was there.

One of the things I like about Thanksgiving is that it is like the best moments of grad school: it's people around each other because they really like each other. Grad school Thanksgivings are the best because everyone chips in what they can - mostly in terms of alcohol - and a good time is had by all. That's how Thanksgiving has always been though. When I was growing up, on the holidays, I'd spend time with my family and then would wander down the street to my best friend's place. We'd spend the day, like all teenage boys, eating our weight and glaring at the world, secretly in love with our own surliness and a world that let us be.

It was when I was a teenager that I discovered one of the truths of my life: that I like a certain amount of suffering with my pleasure, a little spice with my sweetness, some surliness in a world that'll feed me and nod knowingly. Those are the things I'm craving right now.

But like I said, making mole is more than I can deal with.So the closest I've managed to get is brownies with green chilies. What can I say? Something about the combination of sweet and spice just does it right now. And I'll be heading out to see some grad school friends in a few days - not all of 'em, sadly, but it's a start. Maybe I'll take 'em some tamales and chili brownies and see if I can't capture the full experience.

Job Tracking - Week 11

The real problem with teaching five courses instead of four has presented itself. Maybe it wouldn't always be this way, but the way my overload has worked is that two of my normal four courses are heavily stacked in terms of student workload - and hence, my grading load - at the end of the term. And it is an additional section of one of these courses that I picked up this term. Effectively, I'm in the midst of directing 44 different independent research projects. During a normal term, that number is at 30. The difference is overwhelming at the moment, and nearly everything has been lost in the shuffle to keep 44 separate student-conducted trains on the track.

I am pooped.

And so there hasn't been much done on the job front this week. But the big news is a phone interview. The school is on the edge of one of my dream locations, and I've got some interesting ties in the area, so I'm hoping that will give me some edge later on. At some point in the not-too-distant future, I'll write a little bit about phone interviews. But if there are any other interview-related topics that people are thinking about, let me know in the comments and perhaps I'll tackle one of them.

And with that, here's the week's numbers (and, of course, you can compare with last week's post by clicking here):

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: 1
Total number of canceled or unhired positions: 0

I'm guessing you're all also swamped at the end of the term, so here's hoping you're getting through it okay. More soon.