Nice new corner! Come and chat!

[NeverEverAnythingEver]

We have our new board! Calling all cademics/aspiring academics/fed-up academics - come and chat!

I now have exam-setting stress.

Cheers!

Job situation still beyond depressing. I have applied for everything I can sensibly apply for, which amounts to 3. I'm told that, at least in my area, departments will know their budgets by about February, and more jobs are likely to open up them.

Rejected for one job outright: it went to a friend who has 8 papers and a postdoc under his belt. It's just not realistic to go for a permanent lectureship (I know of no-one in my area who has done this direct from PhD).

Have applied for the Oxford JRF postdocs, along with about 600 other people. How depressing.

Sending a Leverhulme ECF off this week.

And ... that's it. Nothing else within the U.K at the moment. I did see a teaching fellowship advertised, but it was only up for a week, which makes me suspect that they have an internal and are just going through the legal motions.

I know I need to start on papers (from PhD), and I have two mapped out with conceivable submission in January. It's hard to be motivated though: and, how do people who have to work full-time do it whilst looking for an academic job? My guess is that they cannot compete fairly.

Talked with partner, and we have agreed to see how this academic year goes (more postdocs announced over spring/summer): if it doesn't work out, then I will look for a job of some sort whilst keeping my foot in the door and applying.

I know it sounds bitter to say, but there is a sense of having been sold a lie. Do your PhD they said. It is competitive, but you are doing all the right things they said. And ... nothing. There is just barely anything out there at the moment.

Have also agreed that will apply for things on mainland Europe (again, nothing at moment) and America (if short term, but again, nothing).

I also know I'm very lucky to have this time to get papers together. But my god, look out the window - it is grey and depressing. Life doesn't seem to be happening. Thought of being in same situation next year is unbearable.

Rant over.

Godstopper

/ / / all three for you.

Can you apply for the BA postdoctoral fellowships? (Application in the spring, I think, for September 2016 start)? My DH had a hideous 2-year period after his PhD where he pulled blanks at every turn - then got the BA. It's one of the more competitive competitions but our impression was that the way it's done (competing against people in your field, with subject-specific panels looking at applications all together) means that it ended up being less arbitrary than, say, the JRF process in which a historian might be competing against a lawyer, etc! Of course it's still an utter crapshoot and, brilliant as I think my DH is, he was also very, very lucky.

I came into the PhD with my eyes wide open having supported my DH through his lack of employment but I was a little shocked by how (understandably) naive some of my cohort seemed to be - and how little supervisors etc seemed inclined to disillusion them. I do various things that involve being in a mentor role to first-year PhDs and always try to share an alternative viewpoint (whilst also trying not to be totally doom and gloom).

Buffy, that's great! Laughing in an office full of unmarked essays

"In terms of the specific factors influencing our decision the failure by Assessor 1 to realise the brilliance of the study was certainly one of them."

Hello!

I can indeed apply for the BA postdoc, and it is on my list (I will be astounded to even get an interview for the JRF - it's just a crazy state of affairs). My sense about that is that the weighting is mostly on the proposal.

What did your DH do for 2 years?

I am obv. not opposed to doing something else; but after nearing a decade within this field, I'm hardly about to leave right now. I do love the subject (most days), but it's a very bad time job wise.

You are right about the role of the supervisor. Mine didn't really discuss jobs in depth: when I passed my Viva, he said "Here is a permanent lectureship you should try for", which I suppose is nice - but the reality is that these things are going to postdocs with published papers. So unless the job description states they are considering new PhD's (some do), I'm leaving it alone. You can read between the lines.

I applied for a job on the 2nd. Not heard back, so concluding that is highly unlikely.

With the Leverhulme, you have to make the cut at the departmental level who then work with you to do an application - 90% of which then get rejected.

Anyway, plan for coming year:

1. 2 Papers min. (I have more but these are what I can start working on right now).

1. Postdocs - Leverhulme, BA, Institute of X (funds some in my area).

1. Teaching fellowships/Temporary lecturing jobs.

1. Lectureship (only if job description is explicit about considering those in my position, as otherwise assumption is they are looking for someone well-established with REF-able pubs).

Don't think can do much else.

DH did part-time teaching, and freelance research assistance. Nothing remotely stable or secure but it did keep us afloat. I hate to say that most of the things that brought in money he ended up with via personal networks rather than applications. (Casual teaching is rarely advertised, etc).

Are there likely to be / would you consider any project-specific postdocs in your field? My department employs quite a lot of postdocs in this way, usually via big research grants brought in by permanent staff.

I have sketched out my exam.

Oh certainly, if a project appears that's vaguely within my area of specialization, then certainly.

Teaching. Someone that had their Viva about 2 months before me walked into a part-time fellowship in our dept. It was not advertised, so I assume her supervisor, who was also HOD, pulled strings (she's good, but did seem annoying that about 5-6 of us were kept in dark). The remainder of the teaching is taken up by the existing PhD's (there are about a dozen). However, certainly keeping eye out, but not to be relied upon.

Looked at OU - Nothing. In fact, it is downsizing.

I'd be happy to do a part-time job in, say, admin/something else in higher-ed. The ones I've seen though pay less than my present income.

I know this all sounds very much like complaining, and I suppose it is! However, December is a weird time of year I suppose, and expecting things to pick up considerably in the New Year.

What is your area, Gobstopper?

I went to a USS talk today.... I actually understand my pension now and near future (mostly). hoorah! Well recommended if you get the chance.

Has everyone seen this FB page?

Reluctant to say (academic community being small!). Let's just say a humanities subject that prizes rigorous, logical thinking above all else: except it requires something akin to blind, irrational faith to think that one will secure a job within a sensible amount of time.

Got my first interview for a lecturing job tomorrow.

I've been thinking about possible questions, and I've got some ideas what to expect (why this department, strengths and weaknesses as a teacher, specific questions about aspects of teaching or particular situations), but as it's maternity cover I'm not sure how much focus there will be on research compared to teaching. Does anyone have any experience of this?

Well, have something ready to say about your research trajectory. Have a coherent narrative about how you got from there to here, and where you're going next.

Also be ready to answer qq on how your research informs your teaching. Again, be prepared with concrete examples.

Thanks Multi, that's really helpful

Good luck pretty girl. I agree re the research/teaching mix. I was asked about how research informs my teaching. I was also asked about funding etc. Good to know about the TEF and REF obviously and make it explicit that you do know. Teaching methods (e.g. flipped learning).

Thanks. Don't think it went too badly, but I have now thought of various things I meant to say and forgot in the interview. It'll be useful to get the feedback either way.

No joy with the job interview alas. The head of the panel told me that 'if it was any consolation' I was one of three appoitable candidates. I was irrationality annoyed by this and had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying 'no it isn't any fucking consolation,nor will it pay the fucking gas bill.'

That's really annoying Compos, did they tell you why they went for the other candidate?

Bad luck compos.

I've set my auto-reply. No more work for a week or two. And it even feels almost like summer ...

Yeah, that was pretty much it, they'll send out more detailed feedback after Christmas. I didn't do particularly well in the interview and there was a presentation which I knew I'd mucked up.

I can't imagine what the other candidates who weren't seriously considered did. Spend the interview crying uncontrollably? Tell a succesion of racist jokes?