On not putting your life on hold on the job market

Suppose you are--perhaps you are--someone in your thirties or beyond, and on a temporary contract. Examples include a postdoc, a Visiting Assistant Professor position, a fixed-term lectureship, an adjunct position. 

In my experience, and in the experience of many people I know, it becomes progressively more psychologically difficult to be on temporary contracts as one gets older, especially if one hits thirty, or thirty-five. Inevitably, you start comparing yourself to your peers, or people younger than you, who get hired while still finishing up the dissertation. In Europe it's relatively standard to have multiple postdoc positions. In the US it seems to becoming more common too. 

This uncertainty is exacerbated by our tendency to put our lives on hold, promising ourselves we will do all the things once we get that elusive tenure track or permanent job. Putting one's life on hold means big plans like buying a house, marriage, having children. But it can also mean things like making more time for one's hobbies, or finally learning to play the piano or study Chinese.

I got my first permanent contract (at the VU Amsterdam) when I was 35. In my early thirties I was the main source of income for our family, and I had one temporary contract after another. I worked very hard at various projects, and academically things were starting to happen. In spite of being a humble postdoc at the time, I got some name recognition and received more and more invites to be a plenary speaker.

But at the same time, I went through an existential crisis. I started to dislike the person I was becoming, and worried that there would be a day I'd be 40 years old, not in academia in spite of my best efforts, and having neglected everything I cared about except philosophy (I'm not 40 yet, but don't worry about that particular birthday anymore). So I tried to make some changes: try to make more time for hobbies and family. Once I did that, the prospect of not being able to obtain a permanent job in academia looked less scary. 

While you wait for that academic job to materialize, life just goes on, so don't treat it like a waiting room. I took up drawing and playing my lute again, and dialled down my working week from 60+ hours to about 40 hours (which I still do now, except when it's grading time or a deadline is coming up). 

It isn't always possible to do the things you want to do while being on temporary contracts. For instance, buying a house is certainly risky (although I knew postdocs who did it and did not regret it).

For those situations where a permanent or tenure track contract is really a sine qua non, I've recommended people I've mentored before as follows. Try to work on a plan B (non-academic career) and meanwhile consider

• Are you getting any interviews? If you did land several first-round interviews last job season it may just be a question of being lucky and finding that elusive fit. 
• What is your quality of life off the tenure track? How acceptable, or dreadful is it? For example, do you like where you live, are working conditions OK, is the pay fair? 
• Are you being taken advantage of? This is not always easy to gauge, but for instance, a recurrent VAP position that just doesn't turn into a tenure track job in spite of promises to the contrary may raise red flags. It may be the department is in good faith, but somewhere down the line, someone is taking advantage of your willingness to turn up to work on a poorly-paid and uncertain contract. 
• Is there any upcoming material change in your CV that will make a genuine difference, such as a monograph under contract with a major publisher. Note, this is not a guarantee, few things are in this job market. But it can definitely help (see this testimony by Tom Cochrane) 

In my experience with mentees, these questions are much better indicators than the "staleness" question - the worry that a certain number of years post-PhD, you become unhireable. While you are on a temporary contract, it might also be useful to look at what you genuinely need to put off or perhaps can already do now. 

Comments

[Marcus Arvan]

Hi Helen: really great post - one that resonates with me personally.

I very much put my life on hold for the job market. While it worked out for me in the end (at least in terms of getting a job), my quality of life was terrible and I had something like the existential crisis you mention. I lost a lot of what I liked about myself: friendships, interest in playing music, etc. I have been able to resurrect these parts of my life now that I have tenure, but sometimes it feels like 'too little, too late' - that I basically sacrificed my happiness during my entire 30's for the sake of a job. I'm of course very happy I have one, but it still saddens me I will never get those days back.

Anyway, I very much agree with what you say. The job-market can feel all-consuming - but, if you're on the market, try--if you can--to live a real life and not sacrifice everything you love about life for the dream of being a professor. I wasn't capable of it, but I wish I had been.

[Pendaran]

I too put my life on hold for the job market. I got increasingly depressed and unhappy and lost interest in everything. This is why I decided to dump philosophy for 2018 except for the few papers I have under review (just had another paper accepted last week). I stuck with the job market for three years, because based on all my publications people kept reassuring me that I’d certainly get a job. I think this would have been true a decade ago but not today. So, I am now trying to move on from philosophy. It’s not easy to do. Philosophy has occupied my life for a decade. It’s kind of like being abducted and locked up in a basement for 10 years or being in prison. Okay, that’s an exaggeration of course. But what I’m getting at is that when you do try to leave, you realize you don’t know how to function outside academia, and you don’t really know anything that the majority of employers care about. I spent a decade learning how to write and publish philosophy. I don’t really know anything else. I made a mistake not having a backup or developing other skills, but honestly philosophy kind of took everything I had. I’m not sure I would have had the mental energy left to really learn something useful in addition. What I wish is that people had been more honest or direct with me about the mess I was getting into. Anyway, complaining aside, I agree definitely have a plan B well developed and don’t put your life on hold for too long. Dont wrap up your personal identity in philosophy too much. You need to be able to leave it without too much anger and bitterness. Whether anyone can realistically be expected to succeed if not giving everything they have to philosophy, I don’t know. If not, I’m not sure anyone should be trying to do philosophy as a career path. It might ruin a decade of your life.

[Amanda]

One of the things that is hard about not putting your life on hold, is you will probably have people encouraging you to do just that. I gave up a lot for philosophy, and in a sense it worked out. So I don't regret it...but I also am not sure I have enough information to know that I made the right choice. I don't know the alternative, i.e., how things would have turned out if I had done something differently. I do know there was a cost to choosing philosophy. There is still a lot I miss everyday, that I might not get back.

To whatever extent possible, I encourage people to try and balance philosophy with family, friends, relationships, and your other passions. A back up plan is important too, for peace of mind.