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[bold_oblique]

This leads to the occasional "Why are you people so unsupportive? Why can't you just give me helpful advice instead of being all doomsday-predicting-like about my plan for getting in a job at my Favorite University in my Favorite City where I already live with my non-portable spouse?"

Also, I just took the last job at Favorite University in Favorite City.

Well then that explains this:

http://jobs.phds.org/history-jobs/in-canada?country=39&location=Canada

When I stumbled upon that I burst out laughing. It's either that or feel nauseated.   ;)

[polly_mer]

This leads to the occasional "Why are you people so unsupportive? Why can't you just give me helpful advice instead of being all doomsday-predicting-like about my plan for getting in a job at my Favorite University in my Favorite City where I already live with my non-portable spouse?"

Also, I just took the last job at Favorite University in Favorite City.

Well then that explains this:

http://jobs.phds.org/history-jobs/in-canada?country=39&location=Canada

When I stumbled upon that I burst out laughing. It's either that or feel nauseated.   ;)

Try this:

http://chronicle.com/jobCategory/History/49/

or

http://www.higheredjobs.com/faculty/search.cfm?JobCat=139

I know both of those are mainly US job list, but Canadian ones should sometimes appear (extrapolating from my experience with STEM positions where Canadian universities do post openings on those sites).

However, yeah, the market is bleak, particularly considering that history will often hire by subspecialty, not a blanket "you're a humanities person, that's close enough" as many STEM positions will do.  Consequently, 100 jobs in the list may still only mean you are barely qualified for five of them.

[voxprincipalis]

However, yeah, the market is bleak, particularly considering that history will often hire by subspecialty, not a blanket "you're a humanities person, that's close enough" as many STEM positions will do.  Consequently, 100 jobs in the list may still only mean you are barely qualified for five of them.

Well, I would nudge the wording of that just a little (but keep in mind, I'm not in history, so someone else could come along and correct me). You might actually be "qualified" for the on-the-ground duties of all 100 of those positions, in terms of "could you teach these classes?", but in 95 of the cases, there will be someone *more* qualified than you -- someone who happens to specialize in that bizarre cross-section of Antarctic Basketweaving Techniques, Basketweaving In Zero Gravity, and Symbolism In Alternate-Universe Poems About Baskets that the department wants to hire, even if the only courses this person is going to teach for the first five years are Introduction to Basketweaving and Basketweaving for Non-Majors.

And, again with the market being what it is, something that is listed as merely a "desirable" or "preferred" concentration or subspecialty in the job ad will surely attract a goodly number of people who have that exact thing. That doesn't mean "don't apply," it means "apply and sell yourself like hell, but after the app is in the mail put it out of your mind and don't expect to see any chickens hatching from it."

VP

[bold_oblique]

However, yeah, the market is bleak, particularly considering that history will often hire by subspecialty, not a blanket "you're a humanities person, that's close enough" as many STEM positions will do.  Consequently, 100 jobs in the list may still only mean you are barely qualified for five of them.

Well, I would nudge the wording of that just a little (but keep in mind, I'm not in history, so someone else could come along and correct me). You might actually be "qualified" for the on-the-ground duties of all 100 of those positions, in terms of "could you teach these classes?", but in 95 of the cases, there will be someone *more* qualified than you -- someone who happens to specialize in that bizarre cross-section of Antarctic Basketweaving Techniques, Basketweaving In Zero Gravity, and Symbolism In Alternate-Universe Poems About Baskets that the department wants to hire, even if the only courses this person is going to teach for the first five years are Introduction to Basketweaving and Basketweaving for Non-Majors.

And, again with the market being what it is, something that is listed as merely a "desirable" or "preferred" concentration or subspecialty in the job ad will surely attract a goodly number of people who have that exact thing. That doesn't mean "don't apply," it means "apply and sell yourself like hell, but after the app is in the mail put it out of your mind and don't expect to see any chickens hatching from it."

VP

Well there do seem to be possibilities, at least. But even among those, opportunity for advancement (to an actual job!) may be limited.

I really do have to monitor my mood in this regard. It's very easy to fall into despair about career prospects. I can't afford to get too down, especially since I'm working on a paper that will count (I hope) toward getting into a creditable MA program. I'm looking at possibly doing a B.Ed before I move further, however, but that's $7,000 and would mean I'd be pushing entrance into an MA program back a year or even two (the B.Ed program here is a full year, full-time.)

So I spent most of today thinking and worrying (which I tend overdo sometimes.) But in a way I'm glad I did. It's a sign that I have more questions that need answering and that more advice is in order.

[polly_mer]

I really do have to monitor my mood in this regard. It's very easy to fall into despair about career prospects. I can't afford to get too down, especially since I'm working on a paper that will count (I hope) toward getting into a creditable MA program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Hello, Clark University.) I'm looking at possibly doing a B.Ed before I move further, however, but that's $7,000 and would mean I'd be pushing entrance into an MA program back a year or even two (the B.Ed program here is a full year, full-time.)

While I never encourage anyone to sit around depressed, one of my favorite quotations is:

If someone is going down the wrong road,he doesn't need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around --Jim Rohn

If you are having reasonable second thoughts like "Wow, that is a bleak job market, what's my back-up plan going to be?", listen to those thoughts.  However, I also don't encourage people to use secondary teaching in history as a back-up plan because that's everyone's back-up plan; consequently, the job market in secondary history teaching is also glutted with tons of wonderful, qualified, enthusiastic people competing for a handful of jobs. 

Sure, work on the paper, but what else would you like to do with an interest in Holocaust and Genocide Studies other than formal classroom teaching?  What can you do now to make yourself more competitive for those jobs, often to be found in non-profits, foundations, other NGO's, and governments?  Do that research and get excited about those jobs as a back-up plan.  In addition to helping you get on a new exciting path, you will then be better able to write a solid letter of interest to the good programs that specialize in your interests.

[oldfullprof]

I found the fora because I was an active (and I think funny) participant on the Rate My Professors forum.  About a third of the participants there were professors.  (I had found that one because a friend told me about it.)  Someone there mentioned this forum about 2004, I think.  I began comming here too.  In those days, this forum seemed considerably more humor impaired.  It's not now, of course, and RMP is a ghost-town now.

As adjunct, the key for me was always to have another, non-academic job.  (I guess that's plan B.)  I worked as an admissions director, marketing director, drug counselor, and licensed psychiatric technician.     

[oldfullprof]

Chastity girdle, no doubt.

[polly_mer]

Chastity girdle, no doubt.

Is this an entry for the dress-code thread?

[oldfullprof]

Chastity girdle, no doubt.

Hay-zeus.  I have no idea how I did that.  Back to bed.

[ardea]

I found the fora at a low point in my career. I was trying to figure out whether to fire a very unproductive and grumpy postdoc. A thread here was the first thing that came up when I was googling about how to handle people  management in labs.

And then I got hooked on the scarlet letter thread.