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[eddyman]

I thought she was being deliberately hyperbolic in a massively tone-deaf attempt to be funny.

I do think that recognising "I'm not cut out to live the rest of my working career in an area that lacks certain things I value (or is too hot or too cold)" is valid. On some level it's not that different than recognising one would be a better fit at an SLAC than an R2.

But there is never a reason to be an arrogant condescending prat -- especially when looking for a job in a bad economy.

I mean, I don't want to live in (my own definition of) the middle of nowhere either, but I'd have the grace (I hope) not to write a such public rubbish about it.
 

 Exactly.  This is the kind of stuff you might say to friends after you get back where the hyperbole is delivered with a knowing wink and a giggle.  But in an academic forum?  Yes that is her real name: just imagine SC members reading this!

Edit to add: I have to say I'm not sure if this was meant to be hyberbolic.  I certainly didn't read it that way.

[eddyman]

The larger issue raised by her piece--the elephant in the room--is that the academic job market is limited. If you insist on putting yourself only on the academic job market, you're going to find your pickings are slim to non-existent. If you want to have some choice in where you live, what size of organization you work for, and even the kinds of people you call your co-workers, put yourself on the non-academic job market as well. I don't think anyone should be going through a PhD programme any more without being prepared to conduct a dual job search when they exit.

  Hardly much of an elephant.  She alluded to this in her article and frankly people have to be pretty out of it not to realize this about the academic job market or any job market for that matter.

[punchnpie]

Whoa. I'm glad I made it past "Can a Ph.D. who wears perfume made by an obscure order of French monks find happiness working in a town where everyone buys their clothes at the Farm King?" to get to the comments.

I'll be the first to say that it is absolutely fine to decide you have to live in the city or the east coast or some town with a Starbucks and sushi restaurant on each corner. This is still America, there are still choices. I know there were places I didn't want to live and didn't apply to schools in  in those areas.

However, if you did something witless like get a PhD in the humanities, where the job pickin's are slim, maybe you need to be a bit more open about where you can and can't live. Maybe you need to be a bit more considerate about the people you meet, what's happening in their lives, and whether you can find it in your small little liberal Grinch heart to try and find some common ground with people who shop at Farm King (I don't know what that is, but it sounds like fun for at least one visit). I am really restraining myself here. I haven't wanted to call a woman the names I'm thinking for a looong time.

[southerntransplant]

This sort of reminded me of a vent on the Academic Jobs Wiki where one interviewee complimented the search committee on how the urinal cakes at the Chili's were nearly new, and that not all the students seemed to be feral.

[marigolds]

Sounds like somebody should have gone to finishing school in Switzerland rather than graduate school.

What a total prat.

[eddyman]

This sort of reminded me of a vent on the Academic Jobs Wiki where one interviewee complimented the search committee on how the urinal cakes at the Chili's were nearly new, and that not all the students seemed to be feral.

  Now that's quite funny and I assume it is knowingly so.  This on the other hand is problematic on so many levels.

[jonesey]

Evidently, the college was WIU.

[aandsdean]

Evidently, the college was WIU.

Western Illinois is only like an hour from the Quad Cities airport.  That train must have taken the loop through St. Louis.

[eddyman]

I thought this recent comment on the article summed up things well:

"Snotty tripe. And, really, anyone who needs self-congratulating verbal flatulence like this to tell them that they should think about whether or not they want to live someplace before applying for a job or accepting an interview has a screw loose."

I'm almost starting to feel bad about all the people piling on in the comments.

[punchnpie]

I'm almost starting to feel bad about all the people piling on in the comments.

"Almost" being the operative word here.

[eddyman]

I'm almost starting to feel bad about all the people piling on in the comments.

"Almost" being the operative word here.

  Correct!

[madhatter]

Oh, crud. She's only two degrees from me on Linkedin.

[jonesey]

Oh, crud. She's only two degrees from me on Linkedin.

“He’s on LinkedIn, Lemon, he might as well be dead!” -Jack Donaghy

[cc_alan]

WTF? Not you, Jonesey, but the author of the piece.

I think the key point of her article is this:

I went to graduate school to enhance my life, develop my intellect, and share a larger part of the world. I did not go to graduate school to end up teaching the same four courses for 30 years, trapped in a dead-end job in a town I did not like.

I think most grad students feel this way, and why there's such culture shock when they go on the job market. 

That and-

"In my desperation to secure employment, to position myself and my work in such a way that the hiring committee would see me as a 'good fit' for the department, I had failed to take into consideration the one factor that should have been the most important: Was the university a good fit for me?"

Both of those ideas are extremely important ones that anyone who wants a job in academia needs to consider.

I really don't know what possessed her to write the article with the tone she chose. Epic fail.

Alan

[educator1]

Good Grief! The stereotype exists!