|
dundee
|
 |
« on: February 14, 2007, 07:04:40 AM » |
|
I don't wish to denigrate the author of today's column (07/14/07); however, it reveals a great deal of ignorance about the job market. The fact that the author is surprised that she did not receive any interviews when she only applied for twenty jobs and has zero publications reveals a basic lack of understanding regarding the academic job market. While the author should take some of the blame for not possessing the necessary information, surely her advisors and dissertation commitee were remiss in not encouraging her to publish earlier and failing to inform her that she needed to conduct a wider search. I guess it is possible that the social science job market is very different from the rest of the academic job market, but in several years of reading The Chronicle I've never heard mention of a field in which candidates can be competitive without publications and without casting a wide net.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"Dublin, Dundee, Humberside ..."
|
|
|
|
dogvomit
|
|
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2007, 09:03:54 PM » |
|
applicants with zero pubs get zero points when I rate them. I don't care when they graduated. If they don't have pubs they need to get into a postdoc and learn why they are important.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
larryc
Hu hatin'
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 17,564
Eschew the hu.
|
|
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2007, 09:09:16 PM » |
|
Link?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
dundee
|
|
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2007, 10:18:00 AM » |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"Dublin, Dundee, Humberside ..."
|
|
|
|
merce
|
|
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2007, 10:43:25 AM » |
|
Wow! She does seem to have missed the general info on the job market.
I don't mean to be snarky, but I don't think not getting a single interview (not even a conference one) would be a B. I'd say getting requests for more materials pushes you out of the F into a D. A request for an interview at the big conference in your field pushes you into a C or C+. Getting on on campus gives you a B and getting the job an A.
Sounds like the candidate does research. She would do well to do research on the jobmarket in academia.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Who looks for God in the Bible? That's pretty dumb.
|
|
|
|
not_a_gradstudent1
|
|
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2007, 03:30:54 PM » |
|
I guess it is possible that the social science job market is very different Could be that's why the "ignorance of the job market" didn't hit me so strongly in this piece. In certain subfields of my (social science) discipline, 20 applications would be about right - that is, that's about how many with September-to-December deadlines the average candidate would be a reasonable "fit" for - and zero publications would set a candidate back but not completely kill her chances. To me it seems more like a case of either unluckiness or doing something wrong in the application itself - perhaps something off-putting in the cover letter or a badly organized CV? |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
loren_wingblade
New member
Posts: 3
|
|
« Reply #6 on: February 20, 2007, 05:33:39 PM » |
|
Jacqueline:
First of all you have to decide on which track in academics you want to go into: research or teaching. I chose teaching. I discovered that in the social sciences I am a pretty good researcher but a better teacher. Many small colleges are great to work for, but some aren't. You need to research the colleges (even two year colleges) to see what they want. Many small colleges don't care for research, they just want someone who can teach and vice versa.
I sent out 30 applications per year for three years to get each of the two jobs I have held in academics. Twenty applications per year just doesn't do it. Do your postdoctoral and publish, but do you really want to go the research route? I am a very good instructor (and I mean really good) and I have enjoyed teaching in college for 35 years. I have touched many student lives to the positive. I, personally, don't think the reseach route is all it is cracked up to be.
I never would have considered or believed that I would wind up teaching in a two year college, but I love it. It allows me to be a generalist instead of a specialist. I didn't plan it that way but it turned out great.
I do some minimal research on the side to keep my hand in. I personally believe that if you check out the colleges first, you don't need publications to get a good academic job. Now I know that statement will get me howls of condemnation, but it has worked for me.
Remember at the beginning I said there are two tracks: teaching and research. Decide which one you want and go for it. I am going to sign my name to this posting and if you want to further correspond look me up. I am willing to go into this with you in great detail if you wish. Loren Wingblade
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
bio_prof_
|
|
« Reply #7 on: February 20, 2007, 05:35:14 PM » |
|
My advisor and I did not agree on much, but we did agree that graduation without any publications was unacceptable.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
That's all for now.
|
|
|
|
dismal_sci
|
|
« Reply #8 on: February 21, 2007, 06:11:19 PM » |
|
My advisor and I did not agree on much, but we did agree that graduation without any publications was unacceptable.
This is totally field specific. In some fields, even the most helpful graduate research assistants get thanked in the acknowledgements rather than listed as co-authors, and the dissertation is the first real research project that the student is involved in. We frequently see ABDs on the market with no publications (or at best some part of their dissertation already sent out to a journal), but their letters of recommendation speak to how publishable their work will be. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
bio_prof_
|
|
« Reply #9 on: February 21, 2007, 07:56:09 PM » |
|
True; in biology, no pubs is a really bad thing.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
That's all for now.
|
|
|
|
