Many of the questions we receive from readers boil down to some version of "If I do X, will I still be able to get a job in academe?" Here are some recent questions that fall into that category:
Question: Since getting my Ph.D., I have been doing adjunct work at various universities, but my main source of income has been teaching high school. I am entering my fifth year of doing that, and I am ready to begin a nationwide academic job search. Will my experience teaching high school hurt my chances of being taken seriously by a university search committee?
Question: I decided to try my hand at freelance training and consulting in accounting systems this last year after teaching accounting for 16 months at a community college. A few months ago, I came to the conclusion that I miss the academic career track, and I want to pursue it as a lifetime career goal. Now I am trying to get back into the teaching market, but I have run into challenges -- such as "position starts in August 2006." I have been looking into teaching at for-profit trade schools. I was told by the dean at my last job that that type of experience would not help me get hired at a traditional college. But those schools are the ones hiring right now. I need the work, the experience, and the money. Am I going down the wrong path?
Question: What advice do you have for someone with a Ph.D. in mathematics who taught for two years at a liberal-arts college, transitioned to industry to practice applied math for two years, and served as a manager at a telecom company for four years, and who wants to get back into academe? I'm looking for an administrative position, with the ultimate goal of becoming a college president. Are there certain positions that I should seek out that would lead me down the career path toward a presidency?
Jenny: Many Ph.D.'s worry about making a move that would be, as one reader put it, "career suicide." They fear that certain career decisions will take them off the academic track and keep them from getting back on. Readers repeatedly ask us whether working in the wrong type of institution, or temporarily in a nonacademic position, will disqualify them from the type of academic position they have set as their goal.
Julie: That is a real fear. The path to a faculty career is a very narrow one at most institutions, although the job itself promises a good deal of intellectual and personal freedom. Obtaining a tenure-track position is challenging for every Ph.D., but particularly so for those with nontraditional experience.
Jenny: If you're trying to move back to a faculty position after doing something else, a good start is to become involved in the most relevant professional association. Start attending its conferences, reading its journals, and joining its e-mail discussion group. That might give you ideas about research to pursue for publication, something you might want to undertake, depending on the kind of institution you would like to work for. Part-time college teaching, while minimally remunerative, will give you some relevant teaching experience. It's important to be able to demonstrate that you know your intended field well, especially if you are not currently working in it.
Julie: Keep in mind, however, that there are some fields to which it is very difficult to return once you've stepped off the research track. Most scientists and engineers will say that it is hard to go back to high-level research if you have taken more than a year off. Anyone pursuing a research-focused career in science and technology would do well to keep that in mind.
Jenny: People who have had other careers and want to return to, or start, a career in academe should list that nonacademic experience very briefly on their CV under a section called "Additional Experience." Even though your nonacademic work may be a significant part of your background and shows you can be productive, the absence of detail would indicate that you also don't consider it particularly relevant at this point. A potential downside for people who have had other careers is that hiring committees may worry about whether you'll be willing to work for an academic salary, so make sure your cover letter is full of enthusiasm for the teaching and research you want to pursue.
Julie: To answer the first question, from the reader with high-school teaching experience, let us offer this advice: Mention that experience briefly on your CV but that document, and any others in your application, should highlight your work at the university level, unless the positions you are applying for call for some experience at the K-12 level (a job in a university's school of education, for example). Any discussion of teaching, either in an interview setting, or in written materials, should stress your teaching of undergraduates. Draw examples and syllabi from those classroom experiences.
Jenny: Colleges and universities vary widely by type and mission. An institution with a strong co-op program may want to hire faculty members who have ties to the business world. Community colleges may want to hire people who have "real world" experience. However, many institutions are looking to hire people who will earn tenure down the road and the criteria for tenure usually include a record of publications and teaching at the campus level. To our second questioner, we would say: When an adviser tells you that teaching at a technical college won't help your CV, you should pay attention -- unless you want a career at a technical college, which is a perfectly fine thing. But if you want a tenure-track job at a university or liberal-arts college, that kind of experience is not going to get you on any shortlists.
Julie: It's not surprising that most job announcements list an August starting date. Academic jobs are on an academic calendar. Fiscal years for many universities begin in the summer, and during that time, many colleges and universities make decisions about hiring for the following year. Typically, searches are conducted and hires are made during the academic year (fall through spring, when faculty members are on the campus). If you are planning to pursue those types of positions and you are coming from a job where you don't work on an academic calendar, you have to think strategically about how you'll organize your job search. Know that, most likely, you will not be able to start until the next fall. People in the position of our second questioner, who is worried about income, might do well to stay in their current job until just before beginning an academic one.
Jenny: Regarding our third questioner, anyone with a long-range career goal -- whether it's becoming a college president, an ambassador to China, or head of the National Science Foundation -- should take a close look at the biographies of those who have held such positions. That is especially true for college and university presidents, whose qualifications and employment histories will vary greatly according to institutional need. Think about the types of institutions in which you would like to work, and do a bit of research on the presidents of those institutions. You would also do well to keep an eye on Robert Weisbuch's new column on this site, A President's First Year. Finally, because becoming a college president is a lofty and uncertain goal, you might think about what aspects of that job appeal to you, and consider other careers through which those interests could also be fulfilled.
Julie: We are not fortunetellers. Landing a tenure-track job is not always formulaic. We cannot tell you if something you are doing will ruin your career or your chances for a faculty position. Sometimes people who have been away from academe for years are able to get faculty jobs. Others who on paper seem to be very strong candidates and even have strong recommendations have difficulty just getting an interview.
Jenny: A friend of mine who fancies himself a bit of a philosopher used to tell me, "The moment of decision is a moment of madness." (Readers are free to let me know the name of the philosopher from whom he borrowed that idea.) No matter how well informed you are, it is impossible to predict the outcome of your choices (hence, the madness). So, at a certain point, you just have to choose a course of action, and make it work for you.
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Julie Miller Vick is associate director of career services at the University of Pennsylvania. Jennifer S. Furlong, who earned her Ph.D. in romance languages from Penn in 2003, is a graduate career counselor at the university. Vick is one of the authors of The Academic Job Search Handbook (University of Pennsylvania Press), along with Mary Morris Heiberger, who was associate director of career services at Penn.
You can order their book directly from the University of Pennsylvania Press or from either of the online booksellers below.
