My yearlong search for a new position -- either inside the academy or outside it -- has come to an end and I can safely say that I landed the job I least expected to get.
As an assistant professor of education at a small college, I already had a tenure-track job. But as I wrote in my first column, I felt like I had outgrown it. The department was too sleepy, and I feared it would make me sleepy, too.
Now, after posting my résumé all over cyberspace, chasing every promising lead, and making sure my CV was in the hands of multiple search committees well before their deadlines, I wound up landing a new tenure-track job with the one college where I had arrived late to the interview, a large university in the Midwest.
I swear the secretary told me the meeting was at 9 a.m.; she says she told me 8:30.
To make matters worse, I handled that first interview with the confidence of someone who had another job waiting in the wings. I didn't bother embellishing my CV when I was questioned about my lack of experience in a key area of the faculty position. When asked what I enjoyed most about my current role as an assistant professor of education at a small, liberal-arts college, I answered that I enjoyed the opportunity to work one-on-one with students in the classroom. Unfortunately, the job I was interviewing for entailed teaching students online.
I wasn't surprised or disappointed when I received a rejection letter informing me that the college had had many qualified applicants and that an offer had been made to someone else.
Why had I been so cavalier about a position that would have offered a substantial raise, more research potential, and a reduced teaching load? At the time, I thought I could afford to be casual. After all, I was sure that I had already snagged another position, and I was simply going through the motions with this and other job interviews.
The position that I thought was in the bag was for a research fellowship with a very prestigious think tank in a nearby major city. The think tank matches agencies needing scholarly expertise with Ph.D.'s looking for an opportunity to use their research skills to solve real-world problems. I was planning to take a leave of absence for a year from my current tenure-track job to pursue the fellowship. It would not have been the first time my college had lent me out. I had taken a three-year leave to finish my doctorate and had returned then with my job still intact.
The genius of the think-tank arrangement was that I would not have had to give up anything to be a research fellow. And the college would have benefitted from the prestige of having a fellow on its faculty and from the knowledge that that fellow brings back to campus.
The agencies involved pay the scholar's salary, relocation costs, and other expenses. The downside, of course, is that the stint is over in one or two years and you're right back where you started.
Except you are probably a little brighter and maybe even more attractive to other employers. Many former fellows report that after spending a year working outside academe, they find that employers come knocking on their doors, and some very loudly. In the case of one former research fellow, the call was too irresistible and she never returned to her home institution after her fellowship year was over. Instead, she was hired outright by the agency that the think tank had initially placed her with.
I had made the final cut for the fellowship, navigated the interview, and forwarded all my credentials to outside agencies. I was like a kidney transplant patient prepped and waiting for a donor; all I needed was a good match.
The match never materialized, and neither did the fellowship. I didn't die, but I wanted to. What saved me was an unexpected offer from the university where I had shown up late for the interview. Another position had opened up; one of the search committee members had remembered me and called me in for a second look.
This time, I didn't disappoint. I arrived early, enthusiastic, and didn't take anything for granted. Through a series of unexpected events, I was offered and accepted a tenure-track position in the department of adult education. I received a raise, a promotion, and a chance to work in a very innovative department with bright and interesting people.
I shudder when I realize how close I came to losing this opportunity. The very job that I did not take seriously, took me seriously. It was the glitz of the fellowship that captivated me, but it was the long-term common sense of a faculty appointment that won my heart.
