The Adjunct Track

How to Be Cool With the Competition

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By Jill Carroll

About 10 years ago, when I first started teaching as an adjunct, a fellow part-timer in my division went through all the adjunct mailboxes one night and removed everyone's course-preference form for the next semester. His thinking was that if he was the only one who submitted his form, for several days, until people caught on that their forms were somehow missing, he might get a "leg up" on the assignments for the next term.

Several years later, I worked with an established adjunct whom administrators often relied on for names of additional people who could be potential adjuncts. Graduate students and others often looked to her to help them get their foot in the door as an adjunct. For many semesters, she told administrators she didn't know anyone available to teach (even though she knew dozens!), told prospective adjuncts that she'd mentioned them to administrators when she hadn't, and spread misinformation by saying that people were not available to teach when, in fact, they were. In her mind, the fewer adjuncts available, the more indispensable she became. Only when other adjuncts alerted the administration to her scheme was she busted.

Stories like these happen all over academe every semester. Of course the rivalries among full-time professors can be just as vicious, but some people argue that the adjunct work environment encourages malice. The adjunct game pits part-timers against one another in competition for classes, it is said, so that ruthlessness becomes the norm, political mobilization a dream, and collegiality nearly impossible.

Well, I'm not so sure about that. Competition is the name of the game in this country, yet, so far, it hasn't turned everyone into hostile, horrible people looking to undermine their competitors at every turn. Are there such horrible people? Of course, but they're not the norm. In academe, people compete with each other for all kinds of jobs all the time -- and the competition is very fierce lately -- yet, unless I've just been living under a rock somewhere, academe is not filled with brooding, conniving, hostile people waiting to stab their competitors in the back. Most of us take the competition in stride, and go on about our business, sometimes running into the people who got the jobs we didn't at conferences. Competition itself doesn't inevitably undermine collegiality.

To succeed as an adjunct, however, you must focus on, and exploit, any unfair advantage you may have. You must emphasize the thing that you do better than everyone else, or that which you do that no one else does. Given this reality, how can we adjuncts maintain collegiality with those we are competing against?

First, we must compete fairly. This is a no-brainer from a professional-ethics perspective, but it also makes good sense from a strategic or competitive standpoint. While backstabbing may seem to provide short-term advantages, usually it backfires in the long-term. Both of the adjuncts I mentioned earlier ended up suffering for their scheming. It worked for a little while, but in the end it caught up to them and they were finished. Since vice brings its own downfall sooner or later, it just makes good sense to avoid it altogether. Besides, no decent person wants to build a career -- or a life, for that matter -- on such practices. Common decency and fairness keep the competitive free market from being a pool of piranhas.

We also need to cultivate a sense of modesty amid the competition. Why? Because rubbing our success in the faces of other adjuncts won't get us anything but resentment and possible sabotage, both of which are anathema not only to collegiality but also to our own long-term success. You have to pay attention to how other people perceive you. If you succeed at the adjunct game, people may naturally be jealous of you. But they are less likely to try to sabotage you if you don't let that success go to your head. Even if you're not particularly humble about this, at least try to show humility around your adjunct colleagues. Say "well, I've been lucky" even if you know your superior skills, not luck, got you where you are. People who practice garden-variety modesty naturally draw others to them, and this builds collegiality.

Most importantly, share the wealth. Be generous with your contacts, your career tips, your syllabi, all of it. Don't hold back sharing these with other adjuncts simply because you think it might undermine your competitive position. I don't want to get too "New Agey" here, but when we desperately cling to things in life, we inject negative energy into all of our doings. That's a self-defeating way to live. And from a practical standpoint, there's no sense hoarding what you can't have. Say your hiring administrator calls and says she has two extra sections of a class, sections you cannot teach because you are maxed out at that institution. Do you hold back the names of other adjuncts who might be able to teach these courses simply because you don't want them to catch a break? No, no, no! Don't hoard what you cannot have in the first place.

I'm not saying give your own job away. You have to look out for yourself first. But once your own situation is taken care of, it's time to open up and share the wealth. This is common decency, it builds collegiality, and it makes a good strategy for your own adjunct success. People will scratch your back if you scratch theirs, most of the time at least. Your competition will be grateful to you for getting them that extra class, they will think warmly of you when they think of you at all, and they will be more likely to return the favor if the opportunity arises. This, in itself, can give you a competitive edge at the very same time that it's building collegial relations.

Of course, there's always the chance that someone you recommend will be a better "competitor" than you -- for example, getting better evaluations or being more well-liked by the administration. Instead of being bitter about this, though, view it strategically: Someone in the good graces of the administration now "owes" you, and they know it. When excess opportunities come to them, they are more likely to pass them on to you.

In the corporate world, businesses do this all the time. I managed a successful corporate catering company years ago and we frequently passed work to other caterers, if we couldn't do the job ourselves. Most of the time, our competitors would return the favor and send us clients that they couldn't handle for whatever reason. We helped each other out without losing our competitive edge, we nurtured a healthy collegiality, we all got business, and the customers thought all of us were wonderful because we didn't seem so rapacious and money-grubbing. It was a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Ultimately, being cool with the competition comes from a deep well of personal confidence. You must trust yourself and your ability to succeed in professional life. When you do, you know that you will be OK no matter what happens. Didn't get the job you wanted? Another job will come. Things look tough right now? They'll get better if you keep building your skills and looking for opportunities. This kind of confidence is vital if you want to thrive in the face of fierce competition. It keeps you going when times are tough, and it sets up an aura around you that invites relationships.

People are naturally attracted to confident, open, generous individuals. Practice this and you won't have a collegiality problem with your competitors.