I periodically publish a Careers Digest on Facebook, and here is the one for August 2022. We’ll start a whole new one for the ’22-23 academic year from this point on.
Our individual goal is to help you advance in your career; our overarching goal is to LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD OF ACADEMIA, by demystifying the unspoken rules so everyone has a chance, and the heritage academics don’t consume all the available openings. The fact is, the most important aspects of the job search and career are never explicitly taught. So academics from marginalized communities are systematically disadvantaged. There are patterns to the errors that job-seekers make–i’ve written a whole book about them! They include hyper-diffidence, over-emotionalism, grandiosity, vagueness, and lack of tailoring. The less background you have in academia, the more likely you are to make these errors.
Will fixing your letter guarantee a job offer? OF COURSE NOT.
But to say the effectiveness of your materials is irrelevant is patently absurd. I understand the impulse to claim the job market is all a “crap shoot” and entirely luck (or nepotism) – as is de rigeur on Twitter – but it isn’t. 12 years of working with academic job applicants (and my long academic career prior to that) proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that an applicant’s effectiveness in both showcasing what they do, and connecting that to the department’s needs, improve your odds.
Again, no guarantee. Academia is not a meritocracy.
But there are better and worse applications and interviews and to claim otherwise is more of the academic exceptionalism and histrionics that in the end serve nobody but the most privileged, by concealing the techniques you CAN actually learn to make a stronger case for yourself.
It’s a classic case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The pain, fear, anxiety, grief, and disappointment of the academic job search are real. It’s natural to say: we are helpless in the face of it. Those who DO get jobs are riven with guilt and rush to claim it was “just luck.” But would you claim it was “just luck” when a player gets chosen for the draft? “Just luck” when a violinist scores First Chair? “Just luck” when an actor gets an Academy Award? No. These things are recognition of skill, skill which is DEMONSTRATED through specific achievements and techniques. You too have those skills, and can learn the techniques of showing them, and the achievements that “count” to a search committee. (And make no mistake–achievements do not count equally. Your organizing work on your advisor’s symposium does not a job offer yield).
So, for 12 years we have worked with folks on their academic job applications at any level (ABD to Dean) and all fields, Art to Zoology. And of course also interviews, negotiations, grant proposals, and tenure and promotion docs. To identify where the language is obscuring or hiding achievements, boring the reader, causing (inadvertent) offense, damning the applicant with faint praise, or making obvious organizational or typographical errors. We see them. We fix them. At the end, your documents shine.
Will it be enough? Nobody knows. There are no guarantees. But you’ll KNOW it when you’re done. You’ll feel how much better your applications are, and how much clearer and stronger is the case you’re making for yourself. Don’t believe me–believe the people writing below.
Want to know more? Get on our schedule? Just email at gettenure@gmail.com, or comment on this post.
And don’t forget: if you’ve wondered about #LeavingAcademia, we have a whole team of coaches that help with that too. Check out the testimonial for that below as well!
(Early numbers seem to tentatively indicate that hiring MIGHT be seeing a slight rebound this year. Please know I never ever sell a delusional optimism. Time will tell. But Sociology has the earliest market, and they have posted that they are seeing a considerable uptick in job openings.)
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TT job offer, community college. “A big thank you for all you do. I got the job! Below are the interview questions. I must say, I could not have succeeded in the interview without all of the prep you offer. I am so grateful for your expertise. That said, please consider marketing to or including more CC folks; there is still a need, especially with many states now offering free CC to HS students and older non-degreed adults that need new skills. I’d be happy to help! Thank you again for the opportunity to work through some of my anxieties and overcome my baggage as an adjunct and career switcher. Every penny was worth it! If you have any webinars or similar things to empower success for first-year faculty, please pass them on.”
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Negotiating client: “Dr. Kelsky, Thanks so much for all your help with navigating my two job offers! Although I was disappointed that UXX ended up giving me a little bit less than the “about $xx000” that they initially said, I was very glad to have you to guide me through the process. I felt sure that I wasn’t asking for too much and that the contract seemed reasonable. I appreciated the guidance you provided in your book during my job interview and I know I avoided several faux pas. Thanks again for all your help!
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Book proposal client: “Dear Karen, I just wanted to let you know that, upon submitting my Book Proposal package on Monday morning to XXX, I heard back from the editor on the same day, expressing her strong enthusiasm for the project! We met via zoom yesterday, and I’m submitting my whole manuscript there. WOW! THANK YOU!!! I just wanted to let you know. Looking forward to meeting for the career consult next week.
Thank you for all your help with its impressive results!
best wishes,”
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Negotiating Client: “I got Karen’s help to extend decision time for an offer from one school (tenure track assistant professor position at an R2 university, computer science). It was great to get professional help to write emails. Unfortunately, they didn’t extend the deadline, so I ended up taking a risk of not accepting this offer and waiting for another.”
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TT job offer, reader: “With this email I just wanted to let you know how much your book helped me in the past months in preparing for my application for a tenure job. Although I am based in Europe (in xxx), and the academic climate is slightly different then in the US, your principles worked here too and I have just been offered (my dream) assistant professor job in xxx and xxx Studies.
Thank you!”
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TT job offer, reader: “Dear Dr. Kelsky, This email is to thank you for the straight forward advice you provided in “The Professor Is In.” Thanks to your book, and endless amounts of self-reflection, I landed my dream job as a tenure track Assistant Professor of xxx at California State University, xxx.
I would be remiss if I did not say that your book helped me land 15 interviews across the U.S. while being on the job market for a year. Thanks again, your book changed my life.”
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TT job offer, client: “It seems I was hasty in expressing my despair about the three openings to which I submitted applications. In late April I interviewed for the [Romance languages] instructor position and a week later I received an offer! I finally got the contract last week and accepted the offer.
Thank you again for providing consultation services to struggling academics. Your assistance not only helped me land a full-time teaching position, but it also allowed me to clarify my ideas about good teaching. “
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2-year postdoc plus TT offer, client, Ph.D., elite public R1, musicology, private R2. “Working with Professor Is In is very effective in getting rid of the imposter syndrome as well as numerous mistakes that hinder early career scholars’ potential success in today’s academic job market.”
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TT job offer, reader: “Hi Karen, just wanted to give you a shout-out and thank you for all that you do. I bought your book and read a lot of your blog, and they were very helpful in what turned out to be a successful job search in the final year of my PhD, as I’m now a tenure track assistant professor. Thank you!”
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Negotiating client: “Thank you so much for responding yesterday. It was a sincere relief to have your endorsement and agreement that this was in fact a good package offer. I’m happy to say that I’ve signed the offer. Despite the somewhat high stakes of this process, I really could not have asked for a better negotiation experience. This was in part because of the considerate and advocating chair and search chair, but also, in no small measure, knowing that you were there to provide a second set of eyes, and words of wisdom.”
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TT job offer, client: “I just wanted to thank you for your help with my documents early on. I obviously read your book, follow your blog and FB page. After six years on the market, I finally got a tenure track job in a public regional university at the department of History.”
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Leaving academia: “I just wanted to write mostly to say thanks for all you do. The sexual harassment survey was an eye-opening moment for me…And now, again, you are helping so many with the various supports you provide for academic and alternative career paths. I never thought I would leave my tenured role. And, to be transparent, I’m still not sure – I’m starting with a one year leave of absence. But, in this process, I’ve already found tremendous support from the others on the Facebook group who are expressing the same questions and fears that I have. “
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Coping, TED talk viewer: “I had been truly struggling…. And appeared your Ted talk on Facebook….It truly healed me Karen… it really did….. Your words validated my experience and led me to discover your groups online. One never knows the impact we can have on other people’s life… but that’s what we do as teachers coaches and counselors, isn’t it ? So, again, thank you so very much.”
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TT Assistant Professor, Humanities, R1: “I was very overwhelmed with the negotiation process after receiving an offer and am so grateful for Karen’s expert advice. She helped me craft my emails with the proper tone and determine what was appropriate to ask for from the university. I was able to get a significant salary increase and substantially improve my start-up package. After years of moving from one temporary position to the next, and juggling multiple jobs at once, I’m very excited to settle down and focus on my academic career without a looming expiration date!”
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TT offer, reader, Ph.D. at Elite 1R in Humanities, R2, reader:
My copy of The Professor Is In is well-worn, well-loved, and dog-eared from frequent use. I’ve nearly memorized the chapters in Part IV “Job Documents that Work,” as well as the blog entries on research statements. Whenever I had a question about the academic hiring process, I knew Karen Kelsky’s pages had an answer. This book was my guide as I navigated my Ph.D., and its timely and accurate advice helped me land a tenure-track job at my top institution during my first year on the job market. Thanks, Karen!”
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Negotiating client, 2-year postdoc plus TT offer, Ph.D., elite R1, humanities, R2. “I have been reading The Professor Is In many times while applying for academic jobs in the last several years. I am glad that I sought Karen’s further help while involving in contract negotiation this time. I didn’t recognize that I could ask for equipment until she told me so. She also gave me confidence in showing myself as a competent scholar to my employer during the negotiation process.”
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TT job offer, client: “I first approached Karen several years ago looking to transition to full-time working at a community college. Although I didn’t get hired the first time, I continued to work on my application, with her help, and reapplied again several years later. I was hired first for a one-year term, and the following year as ongoing faculty. Karen’s candor and acumen was much appreciated as I navigated this difficult transition.
Also, to celebrate the occasion, I just donated $100 to the job seeker support fund.”
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Reader: “How I wish I had seen and read your book when I began my Ph.D.”
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