We are in the last-minute search season, where all kinds of frantic interviews and offers are being made. That means there are plenty of raw emotions on the market, especially for folks who are desperately trying to land something to pay the bills. It’s hard to keep body and soul together, and the stakes are high indeed.
There’s a Garth Brooks song, “Thank God for Unanswered Prayers” about the “one that got away” — the relationship that produced tears for a moment but in hindsight was a huge bullet that was dodged. I thought about it recently when a former student had e-mailed me to lament over a job she didn’t get, only to end up with a much better offer just a couple of weeks later. When you’re on the job market, it’s so easy to get focused on getting one particular position, or any position, that we lose touch with the realities of the job itself. When I was a broke, starving ABD, I spent a month pouting over a job I didn’t get; I now wouldn’t apply at that institution in a million years. Hindsight is more than 20/20: it’s instructive.
Anyone have a “Whew! Thank goodness that didn’t work out!” story that might encourage those who are on pins and needles at this point?
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One Response to Thank God for Unanswered Prayers
happybirthdaydarwin - August 22, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Yes! I interviewed at a SLAC in the middle of nowhere with great students and a ton of research support. I found a few oddities that worried me somewhat (for example, I am female, and though it is illegal to ask, almost every non-senior-faculty i met asked if I was married, had children etc. it made me think it might’ve been some overall plan to have junior/research asst/admin asst. folks ask illegal questions). Still I thought it was a great place and the students were very convincing. I ended up not getting the job, and I was disappointed, but within 2 months I had a number of tenure-track offers, including one at my dream school (where no one even came close to asking about my marital + offspring status!). so yes, yes, yes, i thank god for unanswered prayers!