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The Professor Is In

Guidance for all things PhD: Graduate School, Job Market and Careers

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2022 Updates

Academic Hiring Is Experiencing Systemic Contraction

We support your academic job search and post-ac transition. We reduce rates to be accessible to as many as possible.  Don’t let finances stop you from reaching out. For help on the academic job market, email us at gettenure@gmail.com

Anyone considering departing academia, Dr. Karen and members of our post-ac coaching team are available to help.  Find information here, and email postaccareers@gmail.com.  And, please visit The Professor Is /Out/ private Facebook group for support in your journey.

#BlackLivesMatter

Since 2017, our publicly posted company policy has been to support Black and Indigenous women in the academy. Contact us for reduced rates.

We Support the Trans Community Unconditionally

If you need help moving away from a job/location that is dangerous to you, contact us for reduced rates.

We can be reached any time 7 days a week at gettenure@gmail.com and postaccareers@gmail.com


Are You Tired of the Academic Run-Around?

…an Advisor Who’s Never In, a Grad Program That Doesn’t Care, Funding That’s Never Enough, a Job Market That’s in The Tank, and a Tenure System That’s a Total Mystery—And No One to Give You an Honest Answer

I am here to help.  I am Karen L. Kelsky, Ph.D.. I spent 15 years as an R1 tenured professor, department head, and university advisor, and now over ten years as an academic career coach. I tell you the truth: the truth about grad school, the job market, and tenure.  To the best of my ability.

On the ‘Pearls of Wisdom’ Blog (see the categories to the right), I offer the  hands-on information you need now to get through the hoops of academia.

I also work with you, one-on-one, with complete confidentiality, on the writing, speaking, and interview skills you need to move closer to your professional goals. I focus on your particular strengths and challenges, and outline the steps you need to take to be successful in each of your specific applications and projects.  Together we chart a path to make you competitive.  I can’t guarantee a particular outcome, but I can guarantee that I will deliver to you, to the best of my ability, bullshit-free advising on your grants, writing, the job market, and tenure, as well as coaching on professional and career dilemmas.

I am the available and career-savvy adviser you need, that you should already have, but probably don’t.

Interested?  Learn more about why to trust me and get in touch.

Testimonials

The result has been eventual success in a place beyond what I’d dared to hope. After five years on the market (four after attaining the PhD) and about 325 applications in total (including temporary positions and postdocs) in four countries, I landed a tenure-track job in a major metropolitan area two hours from my home city.
Former Clientnow a Tenure-Track Professor
I went from a ball of stress, having trouble eating and sleeping, to a confident candidate as I learned how to take the reigns and drive the offer negotiation process.
Former ClientNow working outside the academy
Karen is honest in a way that is refreshing in an environment in which advisors too often offer platitudes about how great and wonderful their students are.... my conversations with Karen were empowering, rather than condescending. They inspired me to respect myself enough on the market to get what I want, to judge healthy and unhealthy situations, and above all to be more confident in my own intellectual identity.
Former ClientGraduate Student
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Recent Posts

Trash, Treasures, and Growth: How I Attained My Great Renewal – #TPIO Guest Post

Karen Kelsky January 18, 2023

By Dr. Steve Page Transitioning into the academic job market was sobering. My tenures as an undergraduate and graduate student were much shorter than those

“So You Want to Get a Ph.D. in the Humanities” (Take II)

Karen Kelsky November 14, 2022

Early on in the blog, wayyyyyyyyy back almost ten years ago, I posted this awesome youtube video from Leslie Allison: Here is the original post.

Academic Job Search Live Webinars Start Friday!

Karen Kelsky October 25, 2022

Our Academic Job Market Webinar Series Starts this week! While the data is mixed, some fields are seeing a rebound in academic hiring to pre-pandemic

Our Podcast

The Professor Is In
3.29: How to Keep Going When You Don't Feel Like It
byThe Professor Is In

We continue with vintage – yet evergreen – recordings. It seems like everyone struggles with the desire to quit at times. It’s a natural response to external forces, but you can summon internal forces to manage that impulse. We’re not saying don’t quit! We’re just saying, act deliberately. In this episode, Karen and Kel talk […]

3.29: How to Keep Going When You Don't Feel Like It
3.29: How to Keep Going When You Don't Feel Like It
August 9, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:27 #LeavingAcademia: The Great Quitting
June 20, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:26 Overcoming Perfectionism
June 13, 2022
The Professor Is In
Episode 3:25 Burnout Part II – Academia Has It Bad
June 8, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:24 Academic Burnout: What It Is, Where It Comes From
May 12, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:23 Prepping for Next Year's Job Market
May 6, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 2:22 The Violence of Professionalism
April 27, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:21 Surviving Your New Academic Thing
April 22, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:20 What Even Is Sick Leave For an Academic?
April 10, 2022
The Professor Is In
Ep 3:19 Academic Labor Is Labor
March 29, 2022
The Professor Is In
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In addition to our blog and book, we have upcoming live webinars, pre-recorded webinars and other programs that you can get started on right away:

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