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[secretweapon]

Consider this: maybe the TAs are gossiping about hiring with you because they do not realize that you are on the market and will be applying for those jobs. You might want to consider whether you are presenting yourself as a confident jobseeker who is really going places. 

I've seen the competition and I know what it's going to take for my grad. students to get tt jobs.  They not only have to publish, they also have to prove they can teach.  So if I aspire to professionalize my students, this is why.

See, you feel their comments about the job market are insensitive, but how should they know that you find it upsetting?  You think of yourself as their mentor.  In fact, you are not their mentor and they are not your grad students: they are your competition for TT jobs!  (I'm not suggesting that you view them as the enemy, but I agree with others that extra time spent helping your TAs is taking away from your own professionalization). 

[lisa4]

At the risk of revealing too much, the professor who died was my own dissertation adviser . . .

At the Ivy, I was specifically asked to train my two graduate students in a particular field.  I was also asked by senior faculty to comment on their progress . . .

Without seeing me at work on a day-to-day basis, you can't comprehend how hard I work to treat everyone with respect and kindness, even when I don't get it back.  And if I refer to a t.a. as an "employee," I think it's a way of drawing boundaries (something I need to learn as the other posters have noted) -- defining the relationship in professional and contractual terms.  And insofar as I see employees and employers bearing a set of rights and obligations with respect to their jobs and their relationships with others, I also use the term to suggest the real, material contractual nature of my relationship to my t.a.'s.  And, as I've indicated in previous posts, even when the laws may not equalize the relationship between employers and employees, between professors and t.a.'s, I do everything possible -- in practice -- to invest my employees with a sense of their rights (as well as obligations).  In short, my relationships with my t.a.'s are very professional, but not hierarchical.  You may see this as being too uptight, but again, I've seen the competition and I want to prepare my grad. students . . .

Finally, for me, there's a disconnect between the way my t.a.'s treat my and my colleagues.  I think one of the things that's gotten me through these past few years is the enormous support and respect I've received from faculty across the country.  They certainly do not perceive me the way my t.a.'s do.  I know it's because the faculty have experienced the vagaries of the academic job market and because they have read my work.  So, it's a great, but sad, irony . . . But so long as I remember the collegiality I've experienced with tenure track faculty, it helps me ignore the few difficult t.a.'s.

[kedves]

It's your time and energy to use how you choose.  But I think you are wasting these if you continue to focus on professionalizing these TAs and making them respect you. 

If you don't hire and fire them, you are their supervisor, not their employer.  If you are not a TT or tenured professor, they don't see you as going places and don't aspire to the sort of career you have.  They probably think it will be easier for them when their turn comes.   They don't want your mentoring and that is not part of your job.  So why do it?  Of course you are invisible to them, but who cares?  There are good things about that sort of invisibility when your goal is to keep your focus on your own work.  They should be irrelevant to your sense of worth.  Naturally, you want to maintain civil and productive working relationships with them.  But anything beyond that costs you without giving you anything.

[secretweapon]

Without seeing me at work on a day-to-day basis, you can't comprehend how hard I work to treat everyone with respect and kindness, even when I don't get it back.

I just wanted to clarify that I have no doubt at all that you do this.  What a number of posters are trying to suggest is that, without compromising on these values, you become a bit more selfish.  It sounds like you are really moving in a great direction career-wise and it would be such a shame to let this issue annoy you and occupy your mind too much.  Stand your ground with the TAs, cut them off and redirect the conversation as necessary, and move on.

Basically, what Kedves just said.

[msparticularity]

It's your time and energy to use how you choose.  But I think you are wasting these if you continue to focus on professionalizing these TAs and making them respect you. 

If you don't hire and fire them, you are their supervisor, not their employer.  If you are not a TT or tenured professor, they don't see you as going places and don't aspire to the sort of career you have.  They probably think it will be easier for them when their turn comes.   They don't want your mentoring and that is not part of your job.  So why do it?  Of course you are invisible to them, but who cares?  There are good things about that sort of invisibility when your goal is to keep your focus on your own work.  They should be irrelevant to your sense of worth.  Naturally, you want to maintain civil and productive working relationships with them.  But anything beyond that costs you without giving you anything.

Chime! I agree that you are investing a tremendous amount of energy in being annoyed with these TAs over the status you believe they should accord to you. And certainly, you have had many experiences that have helped you develop as a professional. However, there is nothing in your actual role at the moment that would make this manifest to them, or require them to learn from you. I think, therefore, that the best you can achieve is to model the kind of professionalism you believe they will need and should be learning.

[fiona]

OP, it seems to me that you're spending a lot of time and energy and words fussing (yes, fussing) over something that won't benefit you. As others have said, mentoring isn't even your responsibility.

I think you need to be more selfish. Carve out time for your own writing first (that'll get you a "real" job), then teaching, and squeeze in the supervising when you need to. Give your mental energy to your own work, and not to what other people (seem to) think about you.

As I look at your posts, they seem overly detailed and kind of obsessive, with a lot of info or hints of info that aren't necessary to describe your story.  If that's how you approach your job, I think you're getting lost in the trees and not seeing the forest clearly.

Your own professional record is very good. Don't let small things derail you.

The Fiona

[mmm1919]

Could it be that the TA assumes that the only people on the job market are recent grads? He/she could be oblivious to the fact that job seekers come from a variety of stages in their career and obviously experienced people are taking jobs they are overqualified for because of the economy and job market. If so, he/she isn't really in tune to the competition out there.

[kron3007]

I'm currently a grad student.  I'm lurking this page while I procrastinate writing, but I will share my perspective.  I know you were all grad students as well, but it is amazing how quickly we forget.

I have been a TA for about 7 courses in several departments in a couple universities.  One of the main things you need to keep in mind is that their TA position is a short term contract and dosnt directly impact their thesis work.  It is of secondary importance to them, and is often just one of the tedious things you have to do as a student.  As such, you are one of their "bosses", but not one that really matters to them.  The reality is that they dont need a reference from you and I've never seen a TA get fired so that is an unlikely consequence.    

Personally, I have never treated my lab coordinators differently depending on if they have TT posts or not, it dosnt really cross my mind.  My opinion of them is based on their personal characteristics and performance.  For example, my current instructor has tenure but he is not a good lab co-ordinator at all and none of the students really respect him (not that anyone is openly critical, but you can smell it). Last year it was run by a non TT employee who was really good and gained our respect.  How do you know they are treating you differently because of your tenure status?  

As for the discussioon about jobs, it dosnt sound like they were intentionally trying to insult you.  They live in the grad student bubble, they may not even know you are looking for another job unless you explicitly told them so.  
    
 

[normative_]

Erzuliefreda is exactly right:

This.

But this department is not your home.  Keep your eyes on the ball.

They are your TAs, but not your grad students, and ultimately not your responsibility, for what that's worth. As non-TT with hopes to become TT, keeping your focus clearly on your goals will help you. Your job here, as I see it, is to deliver the grades to the registrar at the end of the term, to garner high teaching evaluations, and, at most, to provide the TAs with a chance to learn some of what the job entails. If you manage that, and the market, and staying on top of your publishing, you will be doing remarkably well. Best of luck.

Finish your book. Regain control of your life through that and the better job prospects you get from it. Don't worry about the TAs except when they aren't doing their jobs. Go after them for not showing up or grading as you directed, but only for real performance-related issues.

And never get annoyed by gossip about hiring decisions. That's the mark of an academic. It never ends. In most places they start gossiping about your post long before you die or retire, so don't take it so seriously. You sound far too sensitive about this because you haven't had success yet in the shark tank.