Because it is *that time* of year for many academics, I'm going to do a thread about my experiences applying for non-academic jobs and academic (but non-faculty) jobs. I hope that this will be useful, though let's be honest I was not doing this in a global pandemic so YMMV.

A bit about me: I completed my PhD in English at UCLA in 2015, lectured at UCLA for a year (part time, but got health insurance), and then got a VAP job at a fancy SLAC. I was on a series of 1 year contracts for 3 years, was well-paid for a VAP, but couldn't renew my contract.

This was my VAP experience. I have no one to blame but myself for my heterosexuality, but that is really not the important thing here, and after not getting a TT job that I was a finalist for, I decided to stop applying for faculty jobs. period. http://avidly.lareviewofbooks.org/2019/06/21/things-i-have-suffered-while-a-visiting-assistant-professor-in-central-maine/

I decided to move back to LA, and last June, started applying for jobs (from Maine). I applied to 30+ jobs: at museums, in entertainment (podcasts mostly), in publishing (staff writer). I also applied to tons of staff positions at universities in LA:

in student affairs, as coordinator of various university units, in university publications (there were a lot of these jobs open at the time) and in communications. I ended up with three interviews: for a museum job, a staff job, and my current position.

As I interviewed for all of these jobs, it became clear that no one, absolutely no one, cared about my research or how fancy my publications were. What we did discuss: my extracurricular freelance editing work, my experiences organizing panels and events, the fact that I respond

to emails promptly, my experiences managing employees, applying for grants, coordinating with other campus units, the various kinds of collaborative work I've done. What all of these positions valued was precisely the work that faculty jobs (that I'd interviewed for, anyway)

didn't value. So much of the "extra" work that I did as an academic that some saw as "distracting" from my research is what ultimately got me the job that I have now. (And in case you are wondering, I did plenty of research, lol!) I didn't get the museum or staff jobs,

but the interviews were really useful. I worked in publishing for a few years before I started grad school, so had non-academic work experience, but it had been a long time since I had interviewed for a non-academic job!

The job I ended up getting, as Assistant Director of the Undergraduate Research Center for the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, is an academic appointment. The application process was similar to applying for faculty jobs (had to provide lots of materials, 3 LORS, etc)

My job involves admin and teaching, no research, and I have 8-5ish hours, and work in a small office with a mix of folks who do and do not have PhDs. I am technically faculty, but I do not get evaluated or paid like TT/tenured faculty.

There are a lot of people with jobs like mine at UCLA, and they are mostly held by women (especially WOC), NB folks, and queer men. You may do what this information what you will!

If you want to know more about my experiences, my DMs are open! I am happy to share materials and details. And I will also say this: I feel extremely lucky to have found an admin position that involves teaching and mentoring. Not all of them do.

And to women, NB folks, and BIPOC: if you are thinking of reaching out but are feeling shy, please don't feel shy! Because I have tweeted a bunch about my job search experiences, cis white men hit me up for info/my resume/etc pretty regularly.

I hope that this thread has been helpful and not just an exercise in narcissism! I have learned so much in the past year and am always happy to share. the end!