The Professor Is In

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

2020 Updates

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Academic Hiring Has Imploded Due to COVID-19

We are offering help with your job search and post-ac transition, and reducing rates across the board to be accessible to as many as possible.

#BlackLivesMatter

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

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 almost 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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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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Recent Posts

Self-Care: Paint By Numbers Edition

Karen Kelsky November 27, 2020

`It’s a hard time in the US right now (and in many other regions that have not dealt well with COVID). Add to that the

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Karen Kelsky November 24, 2020

A follower on Twitter DM-ed me this question today. “As we know the academic job market is a shit show. I would love to see

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#Dispatches From the Frontlines series crowdsources questions to get a broad indication of how our readers are coping with various challenges. The question this week: 

Our New Platforms

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Some of you may have followed our Facebook hacking incident last week. It was quite traumatizing for us–the Professor Is In FB page (which has

#Dispatches: Your Teaching Hacks

Karen Kelsky November 17, 2020

#Dispatches From the Frontlines series crowdsources questions to get a broad indication of how our readers are coping with various challenges. The question this week: 

New Book on Leaving the Academy

Karen Kelsky October 29, 2020

This is short and sweet because the election has destroyed my focus. Here is a new book about leaving the academy. It’s by Christopher Caterine

#Makeup Monday: Fires Edition

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I finally washed all my makeup brushes this weekend, to get out the ash. The ash from the catastrophic fires in Oregon. Fires that rained

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