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April 30, 2008, 11:33 AM ET
When to Question a Mentor's Advice
In a recent interview in my office, a candidate mentioned that her doctoral advisers had been very critical about her interest in locating a faculty position that emphasizes undergraduate research. As a scientist, she talked about the importance of cultivating strong research skills in preparation for both graduate and professional work. She believed that her role as a professor would be to foster excellence in a department that shared that kind of vision.
As she related this to me, I remembered one of my mentors wriggling his nose over a university where I had an interview. Never mind my out-and-out JOY over even having an interview, he was insistent that going to the interview was a waste of my time and that my talents would be wasted if I ended up taking the position. I landed the job and had a wonderful several years there before moving to my current institution.
I am mindful, though, of how many positions out there are, indeed, backbreaking career killers. These positions have unreasonable teaching loads and poor pay. They suffocate freshly minted Ph.D.‘s or, perhaps worse, short-circuit A.B.D.‘s into degrees that are never completed. Mentors are justified in cautioning advisees against these kinds of positions.
Have you had these kinds of conversations with your mentors?
For you folks who have landed jobs, were your mentors’ cautions valid or invalid?
Categories: Faculty-hiring
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