Question: I thought I was prepared to go on the job market. I knew I had to draft a CV, a statement of research interest, and a statement of teaching philosophy, and I had to write good cover letters. What I wasn't prepared for was how strange it would all feel, as if I were fabricating an identity.
Julie: Immersed in putting together her job-hunting materials, this graduate student finds herself composing a self or a persona on paper that, while it represents her, doesn't really feel like her. Job-market candidates, particularly those on the market for the first time, often say they feel "schizophrenic." There is the person and there is the candidate, and although the candidate is part of the person, sometimes it feels as if there's a disconnect.
Mary: For some of you, this sense of creating an artificial persona might be mixed with concerns about whether you're being honest and about how much of your "real" self it might be necessary to sacrifice in order to get a job. It can be helpful to know that many people undertaking an academic-job search feel this sense of confusion, in addition to anxiety about the outcome of the process. Try to take these feelings in stride as much as possible. Even successful job-hunters, if they're honest about their search, will tell you that it had its highly stressful moments.
Julie: Writing down your academic credentials and seeing them on paper can make you feel accomplished or inadequate, depending on many factors. The frequent practice of using a colleague's CV as a guide can often lead to feelings of inadequacy. The reality is that most people who have completed a Ph.D. or are about to complete one have good experience, education, honors, and other accomplishments appropriate to the stage they're in.
Even if you're not exaggerating your accomplishments, putting them down on paper can make you feel as if you are. It brings to mind a line from the Broadway musical A Chorus Line: "Who am I anyway? Am I my résumé? That is a picture of a person I don't know."
Mary: You need to make decisions about what to include and how to include it. If you have only one published paper, do you have a separate "Publications" section on your CV, or a combined "Publications and Presentations" section? Should awards and honors be listed with the relevant educational experiences or in a separate section? If you were a research assistant for two years and teaching assistant for only a semester, do you have a section called "Experience," a section called "Research and Teaching Experience," or separate sections on each? Will these two sets of experience look weaker on their own? Or is there some other way to organize your CV -- such as a section called "Teaching Experience and Interests," where you can mention your TA work and also describe the courses you can teach? The answer to these questions will vary depending on what kinds of jobs you are applying for and what your experience has been.
Julie: That's why it's essential that you use other people's CV's as general guides, rather than copying their format. The ideal form of organization for presenting someone else's qualifications may not be the best one to showcase your strengths.
Mary: Keep in mind that looking for a job is basically about showing that your background, abilities, and potential are a good match for a particular position. While it may feel as if you are presenting a persona, basically you are talking about your set of skills being the set of skills that the employers have indicated they want. It's important to remember that your academic skills are just one part -- although, at this time in particular, a very important part -- of you. So if you are not selected for an interview, it's not a rejection of you, but an indication that this aspect of you, this set of skills, is not the one the employer is seeking.
Julie: As you move beyond the preparation of written application materials, it is extremely helpful to begin to prepare for interviews. Try practicing your answers to questions out loud, preferably with a partner. Of course you need to develop answers that show you at your best and stress your fit for particular positions. As you practice, you will become more adept at saying things that feel like "good" answers and feel true to you. There is some element of gamesmanship in interviewing, but most hiring committees are fairly sensitive to insincerity and will find themselves uncomfortable with candidates who somehow don't seem to be themselves.
Mary: You can use practice interviews to experiment with the professional identity you're crafting. For example, some job candidates who are still finishing their dissertations have a difficult time discussing their future research plans, since finishing the dissertation at all is as far as they can imagine into the future. However, it's essential to have a convincing answer to this question. By practicing answers, you can try out different hypotheses and, in fact, begin to develop some research plans through the process of discussing them.
Julie: In your quest for sincerity, however, watch out for one trap. Many people have been brought up to think that saying negative things about themselves is being honest while saying positive things is "bragging." To interview successfully, that attitude needs to change. Try to think of positive statements about your abilities and accomplishments as simple statements of fact, which indeed they are. For example, if you are a good teacher, but hesitate to say so, you're actually giving a less accurate portrayal of the truth than if you were upfront about it. Get comfortable, through practice and daily life, in talking about yourself with "success" statements: "I've had good success with ...," "My analysis identified the crucial variable," and so on.
Mary: For new Ph.D.'s, the job search is actually a time of changing identity. You are no longer a graduate student. The idea that you are a peer or a potential peer may take some adjusting to. You need to stop thinking of yourself as a "lowly" graduate student and think of yourself as an emerging scholar, as an equal, as someone with a significant contribution to make. You must hold on to this attitude as you compose your written materials and as you prepare to talk with search committees.
Julie: This can be particularly difficult for people who are truly in limbo. The candidate who is finishing his or her dissertation still has a status and an affiliation with a university. The candidate who has received the Ph.D. but has no job yet may feel she or he doesn't really belong anyplace. Losing the institutional affiliation of the graduate school may also mean loss of library privileges, of admittance to special resources and programs, etc. One identity has been taken away before a new one can be assumed.
Mary: When you are in between academic roles, it's a good time to strengthen the other aspects of your identity. Your roles as family member, friend, member of a religious community, athlete, musician, volunteer, etc., may be somewhat affected by the stress of a job search, but they don't vanish depending on the outcome of this year's search cycle. Taking the time to enjoy and strengthen these other roles can help keep your job search in perspective.
Julie: It's also very important to keep your scholarly identity distinct from your employment status. Whether you get a callback from a particular interview, you remain the authority on your dissertation. Your knowledge of your field and your teaching ability remain unchanged. Continuing to participate as actively as you can in scholarship and research while you are searching can be helpful, both in strengthening your sense of scholarly identity and in enhancing your qualifications.
