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[abdbcb]

Got an amazing post-doc. Still in disbelief. And trying to figure out if I can swing the low pay and moving with family, associated high cost of living, etc. I really want to take it, but not sure that I can. First round interviews for jobs start next week, so I will know at least a little more about other option soon. Nice to have an option!

[bent_abd]

Congratulations abdbcb!  Good luck with the situation.  I'm sympathetic re: the family, but if I don't have any other options, I have to say I would have to take the low-paying postdoc.  Good luck on the job interviews, therefore - hopefully you will have some options at the end of the day.

(I don't even have a low-paying postdoc option yet....but I am - for some crazy reason - still optimistic.)

[berkeleygirl]

Congrats abdbcb!

[abdbcb]

Thanks guys. At this point I can't imagine anything being more appealing, as it is a 2yr non-teaching post-doc and I have spent most of my dissertation writing time teaching part- or full-time. The thought of just being able to research and write sounds like heaven - like I can make my diss what I wanted it to be (and of course start the project I proposed). I can't imagine not taking it, but will proceed with the interviews in case something seems appealing to try to get them to wait for me. Of course now I have to finish the diss by July without fail, while teaching 3 classes this semester. It's not gonna be pretty.

[watermarkup]

Congratulations, abdbcb. I took a 2-years postdoc humanities a couple years ago, and the experience was even better than I had hoped. Will it take you to an exotic location? I moved with family, too, and my kids had an incredible experience. (Not always easy, but amazing in a lot of ways.) If someone offered, we'd do it all again tomorrow. I hope it works out for you.

[kunsthistorikerin]

So now that the job talk is more or less under control, I've found something new to make me nervous about my upcoming campus visit to a fabulous R1...I'm getting nervous about the meeting with the graduate students.  Any thoughts about whether or not there is something awkward about the fact that I'm younger, and have spent fewer years in grad school, than some of the students who will interview me next week?

I realize I'm just getting nervous and fidgety, but since it's my latest thing to get anxious about, I thought I may as well share it here.

(2 interviews done, 2 more to go...still hopeful about postdocs, too.)

[shrubbery]

Be sure to read this thread: http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,66402.0.html

I always found myself more drawn to and sympathetic toward recent PhDs during these meetings.  Professors who got done faster and were young were simply impressive, not awkward.  Nothing puts me off more than "senior" candidates who are so focused on department politics and things with the Dean that the students are obviously just an insignificant annoyance.  You'll understand the life of graduate students quite well and that will be an advantage.  You don't want to come off as a grad student, but you can communicate to them that you understand their problems and needs and will be someone who will fight for their interests.

[firstgeneration]

Chime.  Rapport with the grad students was one of the factors that helped me at my first choice institution.  I was genuinely interested in their dissertation work, told them why it was important and good work, and where they ought to think about presenting and publishing it.  I brought resources with me to share with them if they were interested.  Finally, I asked them about their experiences as instructors, using the resources at the institution for their research, and during informal conversations, their experiences living in the area since I'm closest to their ages and life situations. 

It worked in my particular case, although I found that there's no good substitute for feeling your way through social interactions during a job visit.  Be confident, but not arrogant, and show genuine interest in the institution, the department, and the community.

[lonelylondoner]

So now that the job talk is more or less under control, I've found something new to make me nervous about my upcoming campus visit to a fabulous R1...I'm getting nervous about the meeting with the graduate students.  Any thoughts about whether or not there is something awkward about the fact that I'm younger, and have spent fewer years in grad school, than some of the students who will interview me next week?

During my first-ever campus interview when I was ABD, I was 25 years old. I was, by at least 3 or 4 years, the youngest person in every meeting I went to. I was younger than every grad student I met and even younger than the undergrad on the committee. No one cared even a tiny bit. I don't even think they noticed, or perhaps even knew.

[anisogamy]

I'm jumping into the party a little late.

TT apps submitted:  12
Postdoc apps submitted:  5
Conference interviews:  1
Request for materials:  1 (same as conference interview)
Rejections:  5
Wikijections:  8
Crickets:  4
Apps left to submit:  1 TT, 1 postdoc

I'm a close ABD--I should have defended last semester but let myself get thrown off course by the job search, my current employment demands, some short-term fieldwork, and first trimester nausea and malaise.  I can and will finish up this conclusion and edits in time to defend by May but not get the May degree date (for which the filing deadline is in March).  To be more precise, I'm getting this squared away before this baby gets here.  The thought of not doing so is terrifying.

There are two other members of my lab who are also on the market now (1 PhD, 1 ABD with an outstanding project).  We've been really good friends to each other:  sharing job postings that might be relevant, offering well-wishes and the like.  They're not getting hits yet either.

Part of me wants to make a collage out of all of the rejection letters, but that's just too depressing to face (plus I'd be better off using that time to finish my conclusion and submit anyway).

[bent_abd]

I used to keep all my rejection letters.  Bad idea.  Now I throw them away, incinerate them, feed them to my pet lion, as soon as I recognize them for what they are.

[anisogamy]

Because correlation is secretly causation, or something like that, tallying up my rejection count this morning resulted in yet another rejection arriving in my departmental mailbox.  This brings me down to 3 crickets.  They're awfully chirpy.  I should know about backup plan #1 in less than a month and I'm expecting that to come through, so maybe that'll make the process less depressing.  Possibly.

On the bright side, my advisor and I sorted through my timeline for finishing, defending, and filing over the next several months.  He agrees that it's appropriate and feasible.  Full steam ahead!

[all_my_frenemies]

Update!

Applications:  about 20
Failed:          about 10 and counting
Crickets:       the other 10

Long-short listed for an amazing job in an amazing city, but didn't make the short list. Just under 400 applicants.
Alternate status for a postdoc at very prestigious school. Hundreds of applicants, three selected. I hope one of the three have something better to do and I can move up a notch!
The far and away best thing I applied to is a multi-year postdoc with great pay and benefits and a one course per semester teaching load at a nearby Ivy. Grapevine is that they had 300 applicants. Still crossing my fingers.

The good news: I have lots of funding left next year, in the event I don't find anything.

I am still ABD, but could pull things together by summer if need be, or just as easily justify sticking around another year.

[johnsem]

* my virgin post - please be gentle *

TT apps submitted: 1
Postdoc apps submitted: 2
Apps left to submit: 1 postdoc (note to self: deadline 1 March!)

Not counting 4 TT apps effectively rejected in the last 3 months.

[kunsthistorikerin]

Dear all, just a quick note to thank everyone for helping soothe my nerves about meeting graduate students during a recent campus visit.  Turns out all the students who showed up for the coffee-with-candidate were still in coursework, so they were quite young and it wasn't awkward at all, and we had great fun dreaming up courses that I could teach that would entice them all to learn about my subfield in relation to their own.

The job talk went over fine, and I'm grateful to everyone who offered advice on that front, too.  Now it's just the waiting game...have had 4 lovely interviews in a bizarre three-week speed dating period, and am trying hard not to bite my nails as I wait and hope that someone will call me back.

Good luck to all, to the familiar names and to the new ones,
KH