Since I began writing for The Chronicle in 2002, my emphasis has been on helping academic job seekers find teaching positions at community colleges. Even though I've branched out occasionally to write about other topics, those "how to get a job" columns have remained my bread and butter, and have usually been well received—at least until recently.
Lately, the response to those columns has become tinged with cynicism, resentment, and even anger. Once, readers wrote to thank me for my advice, or to let me know how they had followed it and gotten a job. Now I hear more and more from people who say things like: "What's the point? I'm not going to get a job, anyway. There aren't even any jobs out there. Why should I bother?"
I still get kind e-mails from job seekers expressing thanks, and I appreciate that—not so much the ego massage as the thought that I might actually be doing some good. Yet I sometimes wonder if that's true anymore.
Perhaps a few of the comments posted in response to my October column, on writing effective cover letters will illustrate my point:
- "Although Professor Jenkins' pieces of advice are very useful, they don't console the standard job seeker out there who is usually desperate, discouraged by rejections or by potential employers who have simply not bothered to let them know the status of their application."
- "I think it's a total crapshoot these days."
- "Do the things you mention actually matter at all?"
I can't say I'm really surprised by those comments. No one is, probably, who has been following the chain of essays—and the response to those essays—that began with Thomas Benton's "Graduate School in the Humanities: Just Don't Go" in January of 2009. The gist of his columns is that our graduate schools are cranking out more and more Ph.D.'s at a time when the number (or at least the proportion) of faculty positions that are on the tenure track seems to be dwindling.
Would-be academics appear to have gotten the memo—or part of it, at least. They seem to understand that there aren't enough tenure-track jobs to go around, but the thought that they might want to consider another career path hasn't hit home yet. The result is that they stay in graduate school, earn their Ph.D.'s, go on the academic market, and then discover that many of them really can't get a teaching job. And that leaves them, as noted, bitter and angry. So they take out their frustrations on the next unsuspecting advice columnist who happens to wander along.
Part of my message has always been, "I know it's tough to find an academic job these days, but don't forget about community colleges. They make up about 45 percent of the total faculty market. And who knows, you might even enjoy working there."
Nowadays, though, it's just about as difficult to find a job at a community college as it is any other type of institution.
Statistically, our enrollment numbers are still growing, but perhaps not as much as they were a year or two ago. Community-college enrollments usually surge during a recession, as displaced workers head back to school to be "retrained" (how's that for an Orwellian term?). That certainly appears to have been the case earlier in this economic downturn, according to Kent Phillippe, associate vice president for research and student success at the American Association of Community Colleges. He notes that enrollments at two-year colleges grew nearly 18 percent nationwide between 2007 and 2009.
Although the data isn't in yet for fall of 2010, Phillippe suspects that the growth may have leveled off somewhat, for a variety of reasons. One is that high-school graduating classes, after getting larger for years, are actually shrinking now. Another is that, in response to draconian budget cuts, some two-year colleges are limiting the number of new students they accept.
Privately, I also wonder if a sort of general malaise hasn't set in as unemployment remains stubbornly high. Even with retraining, it seems, an awful lot of people still can't get jobs. So why try? Why go to the trouble and expense of going back to school if it's not going to help you get a job, anyway? Clearly, in this economy, academics aren't the only ones battling hopelessness and frustration.
In any case, as enrollment growth has leveled off, so, it appears, has tenure-track hiring at many two-year institutions. One way that community-college administrators typically deal with volatile enrollment is by hiring more adjuncts. That gives administrators—to their way of thinking—some flexibility should enrollment actually drop off once the economy bounces back, or should the recession hang on and people stop looking at going back to school as a panacea.
To some extent, then, the commenters I mentioned and thousands like them are justified in feeling a sense of futility. The job market truly is bad, all around, at community colleges just like everywhere else. In the face of that bad news, what's an advice columnist to do? I can't speak for anyone else, but my response over the coming months will be threefold:
First, I'm going to continue offering advice on how to find a full-time teaching position at a two-year college. There are still jobs out there, and each one will be filled by someone. That someone might as well be one of my readers. Moreover, given the heightened competition for every position, knowing how to present yourself in the best possible light will be more important than ever. Even the "little" things, like what to include in a cover letter, become increasingly significant as the differences among candidates grow ever more minute. My objective is to give readers the edge they need to land a coveted interview—and then to shine once they walk into the interview room.
Second, I plan to write more about the current state of the profession and about what people who already have tenure-track jobs can do to make their careers more meaningful. Along those same lines, I'm going to pay close attention to the issues affecting higher education as a whole and how they apply to community colleges. Of course, I've done that sort of thing in the past.
And finally, I want to write more about the adjunct track. As I was putting together the manuscript for a book based on my columns, I noticed that adjunct teaching is the one area I haven't really written much about. I know why that is: As someone who has been blessed to hold several tenure-track positions, I am beset by a kind of "survivor's guilt." I don't know what to say to those who haven't been as fortunate. Also, I've noticed that longtime adjuncts can be a bit touchy about the subject—understandably so—and therefore I've tried to be careful how I approach it.
But that's no excuse for hardly approaching it at all. These days, adjuncts are probably my largest potential audience—and, at community colleges, adjuncting itself may be the surest (if not the quickest) path to a full-time position. So I'm going to draw on my own experiences as an adjunct and my experiences hiring and supervising adjuncts. I'm also going to talk to friends and colleagues who are adjuncts to see what their concerns are, and then write about those things.
As always, I welcome your suggestions. Feel free to e-mail me personally (careers@chronicle.com), or else just post your comments below. After all, that's where I got the idea for this column.
Comments
1. drj50 - November 10, 2010 at 10:24 am
Your good advice matters now more than ever.
Job search professionals say that hiring managers spend no more than 60 seconds on the first review of a cover letter and resume and that, candidly, they are looking for reasons to put it in the "reject" pile so that they can focus on the handful that stand out. It is no different with deans and search committees faced with a stack of 50, 100, or more applications for a single position.
You only get one chance to make a positive first impression. Negatively, that means applicants have to avoid typos, formatting problems, etc. Positively, it means that the cover letter and first part of the resume/CV make very clear how good a fit the applicant is for this specific position. If you don't grab my attention, you have lost it.
It's a lot like student essays -- the thesis should grab me up front; I shouldn't have to look for it (and if I do, even if I find it, your A is already lost). But the difference is that I have to grade the whole student paper; but If I'm hiring, and I already have resumes from half a dozen good candidates on my desk, I don't have to read your whole application. Might I miss a good candidate this way? Sure. But I've got dozens of applications to go through along with my "real" job. Besides, it's your job to show me why you're a good candidate. If you don't target your application to help me see that, you've already shown that you're someone who is going to make me do part of your job as well as my own. I've already got enough to do already.
Listen to the man. Applicants need to hear what Mr. Jenkins is saying.
2. impossible_exchange - November 10, 2010 at 10:53 am
As someone outside the tenure buble with hopes of making it in, there is only one thing I'd like the tenured-elect to do. Make it easier for those without tenure to get tenure.
Stop assuming tenure was merit and start recognizing that at key moments something like luck was the deciding factor.
HELP THOSE TALENTED-MANY WHO SOMEHOW WEREN'T SO LUCKY.
Expand academia.
Make it a robust node of culture and knowledge production.
Resist the efforts to turn it into simply an extension of high-school, simply an institution in the instrumental service of future job seekers and their eventual employers.
3. wilkenslibrary - November 10, 2010 at 12:33 pm
this is a test
4. wilkenslibrary - November 10, 2010 at 12:48 pm
"First, I'm going to continue offering advice on how to find a full-time teaching position at a two-year college. There are still jobs out there, and each one will be filled by someone. That someone might as well be one of my readers."
"These days, adjuncts are probably my largest potential audience--and. at community colleges, adjuncting itself may be the surest (if not the quickest) path to a full-time position."
These two quotations from the column above highlight two aspects of a dilemma. My much youngr partner will soon finish a doctoral program, and I certaily hope that he finds a full-time job. At the same time, a sizable chunk of the 80% of the faculty in my department who are contingents would also like a full-time job, and I support their hopes and dreams although I know that history shows that most of them are doomed. Additionally, whether a new hire is from inside or outside the institution, those currently teaching part time are in danger. A new person takes ten courses from current ad/cons. While promotion of someone already teaching will remove fewer classes from the ad/con pool, some folks will inevitably lose sections.
Consequently, rather than focusing on tips for how one lucky candidate might snag that full-time tenure-track position, I think that we need to examine ways of restructuring how we hire and promote faculty. I propose the Vancouver Community College system as a model. Basically, as new courses open up, they are offered to current part-time faculty. Duties (e.g., office hours, advising, committee work) and benefits (retirement, leave, insurance) are pro-rated on a single salary scale. This kind of system may be somewhat more costly, but it treats all faculty fairly and it follows the advice of current research on student success and retention by providing a greater faculty presence on campus. It is time for us to begin thinking about systemic changes to improve the lives of everyone at our colleges.
5. pamelatodoroff - November 12, 2010 at 11:03 am
As a busy adjunct at a two year and a four year career college, I take umbrage at the "touchy" comment. Our entire workforce--whether working or waiting--is "touchy."
I believe your advice columns should assist adjuncts as we struggle to perservere and to keep up the quality teaching. Perhaps at some point unions, advocacy groups, and other educational associations will prevail on administrators to raise the pay and offer pro-rated benefits. I don't necessarily need tenure. I just need to be appropriately compensated for the quality I bring to my schools.
6. townsend_harris - November 13, 2010 at 09:14 am
My savviest undergraduates already know doctoral studies are a risky indulgence. I make damned sure they know "the job market" for full-time teaching has nothing to do with too many PhDs and everything to do with the steady disappearance of those jobs.
7. laupuslib - November 13, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Rob:
Keep up the great work on your columns. They are thoughtful, practical, and address real needs. Increasing attention to adjunct faculty would be great.
To everyone else who has been critical, Rob can't change the current situation single-handedly.
8. robjenkins - November 14, 2010 at 08:24 am
Thank you for your kind words, laupuslib. And thanks to all the other commenters, too. Whether or not your criticism is intended to be constructive, I cetainly find it to be instructive. I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts.
Rob
9. robjenkins - November 14, 2010 at 08:25 am
"certainly"
10. pterodactyl123 - November 14, 2010 at 09:45 am
Thanks Rob,
I would be interested in articles on the current state of the profession.
I'm currently thinking a lot about assessment, general education proficiencies, and teaching with technology. Some of these topics are dear to my heart; others are not so dear to me, but important to my college. If possible, I'd love to hear your thoughts in future posts.
Finally, I'm curious if you or your readers have any experience at the CC level with organizing and/or teaching freshman seminars?
11. profdave - November 14, 2010 at 11:04 am
The president of the community college where I have been an adjunct for several years has notified the college community that there will be few if any full-time hires any more. My state is offering early retirement buyouts, and full-time faculty in the community college system are eligible. Those who take early retirement will be replaced with adjuncts.
I'm not sure what reason any college would have for hiring full-timers any more. Even though we adjuncts outnumber them 2-to-1 at my college, the administration's calculations still show that the contact hour balance falls within state requirements. This ratio will only increase with the new policy. I expect a change to the requirements rather than any official pressure to hire more full-time faculty.
12. inarchetype - November 16, 2010 at 08:33 am
One thing I find quite odd is that Phd. graduates in the humanities who have a strong desire to teach and remain in the scholarly world overlook teaching in secondary schools.
I know in the American context this seems trite, or even insulting. But in other countries it isn't so uncommon. While secondary schools don't pay what tier 1 research universities pay their tenured faculty, teachers do often make quite a bit more money than one could pull in as an adjunct many places, or even earn on the tenure track at a smaller teaching college.
Secondly, the Phd's I know who have resorted (usually with resignation and a fair amount of resentment) to the secondary school market find themselves very happy there. They have found schools who prize their credentials and scholarship.
They teach mostly AP, IB, and advanced, specialized electives of their own design. They also teach (and have access to) the brightest students in the school, and send them on to universities at which they would never have been considered for a faculty job, which is infinitely more stimulating and satisfying than teaching the mookish dullards that inhabit the lower tier colleges at which they might have been hired.
While a lot of school districts do have a blind spot about the value of scholarship and teaching quality, their are bright spots. With the increasing inclusiont of "early college" work (AP, and more importantly, the growth of "concurrent enrollment" programs based on "college level" courses actually delivered within the high schools by "specially trained" high school teachers), the demand for and value of specially qualified instructors at that level will only grow.
So I have trouble mustering too much sympathy with who express a strong desire to teach, but are too proud to go where their teaching is needed.
13. fidomere - November 16, 2010 at 08:52 am
The public school system, at least in our state, won't hire a PhD because we're too "expensive." Private high schools are an option for a tiny minority (after all, the number of openings aren't very high there, either), if you can stomach teaching snotty, privileged children (and yes, that's what many of my colleagues are doing, and yes, this is what they tell me teaching there is like). There's a lot of judgment in a statement like "So I have trouble mustering too much sympathy with [those] who express a strong desire to teach, but are too proud to go where their teaching is needed." We're not too "proud"; we're just not wanted.
14. emack - November 16, 2010 at 08:52 am
I have been adjunct teaching for a few years now at a Community College, as well as 4-year universities, and one thing I see are the same adjuncts, year in and year out, apply for openings and are never hired. When they ask department chairs what they can do to improve their materials or themselves, they get the standard, "keep trying!" They keep applying - and getting rejected, all the while continuing to adjunct. I have encouraged a few to move on from academia and stop the torture.
At what point do you cut and run? At what point are you a "tainted" adjunct - one that's applied so much you go in the hiring committee's toss pile as soon as they see your name?
15. hjordannh - November 16, 2010 at 12:36 pm
I have a full-time day job and teach one night a week as an adjunct at a 4-year SLAC. Teaching is the high point of my week. Spending my Sundays at coffeeshops preparing lectures and grading papers makes me deliriously happy. I bring tons of real-world experience to the classroom, and my students seem to respect that. Yet, when they ask if I'm coming back to teach in the spring, I say no. Next fall? No. I just can't keep up the pace of a full-time job plus teaching.
I would love to quit my day job and teach full-time, but I could never afford it. My job provides all the benefits for my family. Even if benefits were not an issue, and if I taught, as an adjunct, four classes a semester for four semesters a year, I could not come near my current salary.
I hope that I can teach again after retirement from my full-time work, because that is the only way I can see myself getting back into the classroom. But that seems like such a long way away.
If anyone has a solution or suggestion, I'd love to hear it, but in the meantime I'll just feel sorry for myself that I can't do what I have figured out I love to do.
16. chicoleo - November 16, 2010 at 02:22 pm
As someone who started out as an adjunct who moved into year-long temporary appointments then to full-time tenure track faculty position and is now the department chair at a community college dealing with both full time and adjunct hiring I'd like to offer a few thoughts. I think asking for "helping those talent many" as someone above wrote misses the boat. Maybe it's a generational thing, but I never felt that my talents or abilities were ever going to be apparant - I had to prove that I had skills and abilities that the institution needed.
Conversely I never assume that a degree of any sort proves anything. We have full-time positions available and anticipate more in future years and we are getting a record number of applicants. It's extremely easy to reduce the pool though - most applicants do not indicate any understanding of our institution or community colleges in general. Most Phds continue to expound on their research and plans for future research in their cover letters. A community college position means teaching and we want colleagues who are focused and excited about teaching. (We have hired many an MA over a PhD because the Master's degree canddiate clearly wanted to teach while the PhD hadn't thought deeply about educating our students.) Research plans need to show how those plans will either incldue or benefit our students. I'm not saying it's easy to get a job but, from this view, it's still the case that few applicants are thinking about the institution's needs. Doing so will set you apart.
17. laoshi - November 16, 2010 at 10:21 pm
I do enjoy your columns but take umbrage at helping scab adjuncts simultaneously with helping the rest of us take union teaching jobs.
18. spodumene - November 17, 2010 at 07:28 pm
Community colleges do not generally need or want your expertise. They want someone who will eagerly teach what they want taught, as many courses as possible.
They probably will not promote from within unless you have schmoozed and are very well liked by deans and fit into their clique (if they have one) Your hard work on your dissertation or thesis does not pay off because they don't care.
Also, you need to really cater to students, totally. They are your supposed "customers". The smartest candidate will not get the job, probably.
19. elliedakota - November 17, 2010 at 08:53 pm
I have worked as an adjunct for 19 years. Seven years ago I completed my secondary teaching certificate and was immediately hired at a 1000 student public high school. I am very "expensive" - having two Masters degrees put me at the top of the pay scale right out of the gate. Still, our high school also has 2 PhD's on staff as regular classroom teachers. You CAN get a public secondary school job with multiple advanced degrees - if you're willing to go back to get the state training. While I still do accept adjunct teaching jobs, my secondary school job pays almost twice as much per contact hour.
Also, I agree with what was said above - students have left my high school classroom and gone on to some of the top universities in the nation. It's wonderfully rewarding to have had a hand in preparing them for that challenge.
20. actlibrary - November 29, 2010 at 04:22 pm
Would you be so kind as to include advice for job-seekers who hold a lowly MA in a humanities discipline (this commentor holds one in English)? Many of us are dedicated and accomplished teachers, but we're starting to see our prospects (further)dim as PhD-holders flood the CC market.
21. robjenkins - November 30, 2010 at 06:57 am
actlibrary:
My impression--and I may be wrong about this--is that many community colleges, perhaps most, remain very open to the idea of hiring M.A.'s, despite what you accurately describe as a glut of Ph.D.'s on the market. I'd like to believe that most CC's are looking for the best teachers they can find, and in many cases (it's tempting again to say most) that means M.A.'s.
Clearly, there are some two-year colleges that are chasing the elusive notion of prestige by trying to hire more Ph.D.'s, just so they can say they have such-and-such a percentage of faculty members with doctorates. I think that's misguided, because it often means that they don't hire the best teachers, plus they're never going to achieve the prestige they seek, anyway.
Yet the overwhelming majority of the CC job postings I see still list a master's as the minimum educational requirement. As long as that's the case, I remain optimistic about the job market for M.A.'s--which is to say, it's no worse than the market for anyone else. So keep looking, and keep applying. Best of luck in your search.
Rob
22. deliajones - December 01, 2010 at 04:46 pm
I've been at a cc for twenty-five years, as an adjunct, an associate professor, a department chair, and as a dean. About 30% of our full-time hirings have been from our own adjunct ranks, and some of these adjuncts have applied multiple times. Some have sought feedback as to why they didn't get hired, addressed some defiencies, and been hired for the next opening. We hire an equal number of M.A's and PhD's. At the CC we are looking for teachers who want to engage with their students. Sometimes PhD's don't present themselves as this type of person. The thing that defeats many long-time adjuncts is lack of currency in the field. This is not always related to taking university classes and attending conferences, although it can be. My school will pay tuition for adjuncts for courses in their field and pay a certain amount towards conference attendance. We also offer dozens of tecnology-related in-house sessions which prepare all faculty to use technology but especially prepare faculty to teach hybrid and online courses. I can't see us hiring anyone in the future who doesn't have training or experience in those fields. I know adjuncts are busy--remember, I was one-- but to have all these oppotuniies for professional growth and not to take advantage of them is the number one reason we don't hire someone in-house.
23. chicoleo - December 01, 2010 at 06:43 pm
I couldn't agree more with deliajones. We also hire from the adjunct rank and I can point to several who did not get hired the first time, came back having developed further as teachers and were hired. I can also point to adjuncts who weren't hired and who now believe to their cores that the reason for their failure to get hired was some conspiracy against them and have wallowed in bitterness ever since. Personally I like hiring from our adjunct ranks. Hiring is never a sure thing - I have been wrong about a number of great-interviews and when someone has a track record at the institution, it really helps. But that means finding out what the institution values and what's important to the department or discipline you want to work in. It does not mean trying to come in with your own contradictory vision of how everything should be.
24. ajburgess41 - December 07, 2010 at 06:19 pm
I'm wondering if you have any advice for those of us (Americans or otherwise) who have earned degrees abroad? I earned a first-class master's degree in history from a Scottish university (coursework plus a dissertation/thesis). As my concentration was the early modern British Isles, going to the UK to study seemed the logical thing to do. I certainly have no regrets about the experience, but I find myself wondering if the degree is of any practical value in the US market.