A reader writes in:
I am a doctoral candidate on the job market. I am holding out hope for a TT job, but I am realistic. I know I will probably need to take something other than a TT job first and work my way toward a TT job. My question is, does anyone have a sense of how "valuable" postdocs are compared to a VAP? I know that there are many factors that go into how valuable they are for individuals, but I am wondering if there is any sense in which hiring committees might find one more valuable than the other? In a similar vein, how do hiring committees view potential candidates who took "non-academic" jobs for several years? For instance, as a librarian, consultant, hospital administrator, etc. Would taking such a job hurt a candidate's chances at later getting a TT job? Does working in a non-academic area closely connected to one's research interests affect any of this? All of this assumes that the candidate is still conducting and publishing good research (and maybe teaching).
I tried doing a search within the blog and did not see these questions in a recent thread, but if they were and I missed them
These are all good questions. When it comes to postdocs vs. VAPs, I guess my sense is that all things being equal, postdocs may make one more competitive for R1 jobs, whereas VAPs probably tend to make one more competitive for jobs at teaching institutions. Basically, this is because postdocs are often prestigious and research focused, whereas VAPs tend to be more teaching heavy. Of course, there are probably exceptions--such as VAPs in R1 departments, etc. But, at least as a rule of thumb, insofar as VAPs give teaching experience, they're probably more likely to help one establish a good teaching record as an independent instructor--the kind of thing that, in my experience, people at teaching-focused universities tend to care about.
As for non-academic jobs, I'm not sure--but I suspect that in some areas (such as jobs in bioethics, environmental ethics, technology, etc.), jobs outside of the academy might make a candidate look interesting. On the other hand, time outside of the academy might negatively impact one's publishing record and amount of experience teaching, and I wonder whether some committees might be biased toward those who don't have a "gap" in their academic employment record.
But really, I'm just speculating a bit here. So it would be great to hear from others--both from hiring committees and from recent job applicants. How in your experience do postdocs, VAPs, and non-academic jobs compare in terms of their value on the academic job market? In the case of non-academic jobs, does it matter if the job is in an 'academic-adjacent' area?
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