This month we are going to begin with some comments on job search follow-through, something about which we get a lot of questions, then devote the rest of the column to dealing with burnout.
If you are wrapping up a job search, make sure to attend to several kinds of follow-up. If you've accepted a job, you have probably signed your contract or written a letter of acceptance, but there are other things that still need to be done.
Think about the people who've helped you in your search, whether by writing letters of recommendation, giving you leads, serving as a sounding board, or in any other way. Thank all of them. Depending on the person, this can be a call, note, e-mail message, or conversation, but take the time to let them know you appreciated their efforts. If you still have applications outstanding for other positions, contact the employers and withdraw from those searches.
If you still are being considered for a position for which you've interviewed, keep in touch with the department. Every few weeks you can let them know that you're still interested and check on the timetable for making a decision. Use phone or e-mail, depending on which has received the best response in the past. If you get one offer before another you'd prefer, immediately call the institution that is still deciding to let them know you'll have to give an answer to another employer soon.
Question:"As I read your column it amazes me that so many people want so badly to get tenured positions. I've had one for 15 years at the same mediocre institution, and I'm overworked, underpaid, used up and burned out. I feel absolutely stuck. How do I get out?"
Mary: Since your question comes at the end of a semester, and you're, as you say, burned out, the first order of business may be to use as much of the summer as you can to rest and unwind. When you're exhausted, it's hard to prioritize, and you're going to need a fairly clear mind to sort through whether there are changes under your control that could make your present position satisfying again, whether you want to try to stay in your field and change institutions, or whether you want to do something else entirely.
Julie: After you've had a chance to get rested, spend some time identifying what the problems are that cause you to feel "overworked, underpaid, used up and burned out." Think also about what attracted you in the first place to pursue a career as a professor and what are (or were) the things you like or liked about your job. Were you happy in your career at one point and then things went downhill? Did you love research but end up having very little time for it? Try to understand the history of how you feel about your job.
Mary: And this can be incredibly difficult to do when you're sick of it all. But try some "what if" experiments, feeling free to think about changes even if you don't think they're likely to occur. What if your chair were suddenly replaced? What if you could take a semester's sabbatical? What if you got better equipment for your research? What if you were able to teach most of your courses with a colleague? What if you still get stage fright before big lecture courses, but somehow were able to get past that? And so on.
If you determine that you like many aspects of your job and find a few intolerable, that suggests different courses of action than if you conclude that you can imagine no set of circumstances that would make you want to continue in your present position.
Julie: Do you have colleagues either at your institution or at others who have gone through a similar kind of disillusionment? Do you know if your scholarly association has any resources on rejuvenating one's academic career? If you do know of any potential resources, look into them.
Perhaps you are in touch with some of the people who were graduate students with you. Talk with them and see if they have experienced the same feelings you have and find out what they have done about it. You can't be the only person to have encountered the situation you describe. Talking with others and learning what they did may help you see some solutions for yourself.
Mary: However, if you have lots of colleagues who are similarly disillusioned, this in itself may be part of the problem. Departments can develop cynical, negative cultures that are downright toxic. If you want a happy outcome to your current situation, minimize contact with people who like to play "ain't it awful," and spend as much time as you can with people who are positive and proactive This may mean meeting some new people. I don't mean to minimize how truly awful some work situations can be, but if your goal is to move to a better situation, spending time with people whose coping mechanism is sophisticated whining won't get you anywhere but down.
Julie: If you decide to go the "rejuvenation in place" route, you might consider looking for affiliations with additional departments, getting grants to undertake new projects or research, seeking out administrative roles, taking at least a partial sabbatical even at a financial sacrifice, becoming your department's technology point-person, or initiating new courses through your college's distance-learning or continuing-education divisions, to name a few options. If you conclude, however, that you want to change jobs or fields, you may be looking at a longer-term strategy.
Mary: If you think you want to look at career changing, it's a good idea to work with a career counselor. You can do it on your own, but it is very beneficial to have an objective, experienced professional help with the process. For ways to identify career counselors to help experienced people, see our column on career advice.
A career counselor might begin by asking the kinds of questions we have just posed about your current job. This person should be able to help you articulate what you've liked about your job and what your strongest skills are, and to discuss other careers or work environments where you could do the things you like to do.
Julie: As you explore options, you're probably also going to need to do some serious financial planning, perhaps with whomever else may share your economic fortunes. Whether you can easily move to a nonacademic position that pays more than you currently earn, or whether you'll either need to take a salary cut or finance some additional education to make a move will depend tremendously upon your field, and perhaps even upon your current geographic location.
If a change will entail a serious financial sacrifice, you'll want to make a particular effort to determine how competitive you'll be in the market you hope to enter. The best way to do this is not to hope for the best, but to do many informational interviews with people in the field, sharing your résumé with them and asking for their frank feedback about slots you might hope to land.
Mary: Hearing this you may feel overwhelmed and decide to stay with your current job in spite of your unhappiness. Don't give in to that. Break this process into manageable steps (which is what a good career counselor can help you do), so that you will have a plan that works with your schedule and the demands on your time. You have a job, and that puts you in a position of strength.
The downside is that exploring career options and looking for a new position can become a full-time job. Set yourself a goal for one month, say, of having five informational interviews, attending one conference, familiarizing yourself with five job Web sites, and reading one book on a new field.
Julie: That might work over the summer. There may be times during the semesters when having two informational interviews a month, even by telephone, would be a major accomplishment. But I definitely agree that it's productive to set goals of discrete tasks that you know you can accomplish. "Find a new career" isn't easy to accomplish in the same sense that "arrange two face-to-face meetings" is, yet if you take plenty of the small steps, you will achieve the larger goal.
Mary: Rather than tinkering with your current job or changing fields, of course another possibility is to look for a similar job elsewhere. There's no question that less hiring occurs at the tenured level than at the assistant professor level, but it certainly does occur. Odds are particularly good if you're willing to move to a part of the country experiencing growth in enrollments.
Julie: It's possible that working at another kind of institution could be the change you need. Going on the academic job market after many years will be in some ways familiar and in other ways changed. Start reading position announcements in your field. Those listed as "assistant or associate professor" are the ones where you would most likely have the chance to be hired directly into a tenured position. You will need to be able to explain in your letter and certainly in any interviews why you are looking for a new faculty position.
Mary: Another path you could take that would keep you in your job but give you an increased sense of independence from it is consulting. Depending upon your field and your area of specialty you might be able to consult with businesses or nonprofit groups. WRK4US ("work for us"), an electronic discussion list of nonacademic career options for people in the humanities, recently held an online discussion that featured two consultants, one of whom held a university appointment. The discussion is archived.
To subscribe, send a message to listserver@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Leave the subject line blank, and have the text of the message be subscribe wrk4us [Firstname Lastname].
Any business library will have many resources on consulting and other entrepreneurial activities.
Julie: You've been trained to do research. Now's your chance to use those skills to improve your situation.
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