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A few people have reached out to me to offer words of support on the state of the academic job market - also to share some true horror stories faced by early career researchers! I’m two months away from the cliff edge of funding and housing running out.
It took a while to come to terms with the fact that I’ve failed to secure employment this year, but with over 30 rejections it’s hard to deny now. This is by no means a unique experience but I thought I’d share some thoughts, mostly as a way of venting.
Some background: I grew up in one of the poorest areas in Ireland. I’m the first member of my family to attend university and they have been incredibly supportive of my choices, even if they couldn’t comprehend why I would choose to pursue academia and not go into corporate law.
I knew that academia was a precarious job market, that securing a position after a PhD would be tough, and that it would probably be easier to just apply for a training contract in a solicitors firm.
And when I got to Cambridge, this place that I had never dreamed I would be, I really thought I had made it to a point where poverty wasn’t going to hold me back anymore. I was fully funded and so didn’t have to work part time during the degree anymore.
I thought that what mattered at this point was writing a good PhD, getting publications in good journals and getting some teaching experience on the side.
So in my second year I got a good bit of teaching experience and managed to publish papers in the OJLS, the CLJ and in Public Law, the leading specialist journal in my field. At this stage I had become sure that I was a viable candidate for employment.
This felt like an achievement for me, particular because I have quite sever dyslexia and doing a PhD at all was something I thought I wouldn’t be able to do. So I was very happy to have published papers and gotten teaching experience while also being on track to finish in 3 years
I’ve realised now that the stress and frustration that I’ve been feeling as I’ve gotten these rejections has been partially caused by my coming to terms with the fact that I’ve not actually escaped poverty
At first I believed and was told that I was a very good candidate that would get a postdoc or a lectureship somewhere, but as the rejections kept coming in, the advice I was getting changed to focus more on explaining why I wasn’t getting positions
And there are loads of reasons for that - public law is crowded, it’s a very difficult year (although most rejections came before covid), there isn’t a good fit teaching wise etc. All of these are valid reasons.
But one that has frustrated me is that I’m being rejected from entry level positions, both postdocs and lectureships, because I haven’t been awarded the PhD or because I don’t have enough lecturing experience.
I’ve contacted some postdoc administrators to clarify if I would be eligible and many of them told me that I would need the PhD to have been awarded and some even noted that it would need to be awarded a year or more prior to application
It was at that point that I really came to terms with the fact that this industry operates on the assumption that candidates will be able to fund themselves for 6 months+ after finishing their thesis while they apply for jobs, even entry level postdoc positions
This industry seems to be built around the presumption that people can be “funemployed” immediately post-PhD, a term I’ve only recently come across that apparently middle class people use??
I fear that this way of approaching entry level positions will create a field where people without independent financial means or a strong support network will be pushed out.
This thread could come across as my whining about not getting a job when many people are experiencing exactly this and worse right now. And to an extent it is me venting my frustrations - but it’s also hopefully a warning sign for people from my background thinking ...
.. of going into this industry. Do not make the mistake I made of thinking that all you need is to publish in good journals and get teaching experience (both v. Hard) Many well meaning academics have told me that I’m sure to get a job etc. They are coming from a very good place.
But I think it really needs to be hammered home that in many instances it’s going to be out of your control and you’re just not going to get shortlisted. Sometimes it’s better to be told a hard truth than a comforting lie. But hey, there’s always the next round of applications.
