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What Kind of Job do I REALLY Want?

By jobhunter08
Posted Sat Nov 08, 2008 at 07:06:04 AM PDT

As I mentioned earlier, this is my second time applying for jobs. When I applied for jobs last time, I had a tough time deciding on what kind of job I really wanted. Did I want a tenure-track job or a postdoc? Would I take a research job or a teaching job? Or would I get out of academia completely and go work in industry? My thesis advisor was pushing me to go the postdoc route, but I wasn't sure that's what I wanted. To be honest, each of these seemed to me to be equally valid options at the time, and I started the job process without having any idea where I would end up.

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So I ended up taking a postdoc position with a heavy emphasis on teaching. I wasn't ready for a permanent job yet... it's kind of scary thinking that you could end up being in one place for thirty years! I also wanted to spend some more time thinking about teaching and deciding how much teaching I wanted to do in my career. My current job seemed to be a perfect match (although initially I hadn't even considered applying here). If there's interest, I might write more about how I got this job later.

So what about now? I have a really good idea of the kind of position I want. I'm looking for good liberal arts colleges, somewhere that undergraduate research can be a part of my job. I want to have time for research, but I have really grown to love teaching and want that to be a priority. So that limits things considerably. But I also have a two-body problem, which I know many of us deal with. And my wife is in a more-specialized field than math. That puts severe geographic restrictions on where I can look. So I'm down to only a handful of places that really meet my criteria. So right now I'm mostly just hoping that things work out just right.

The silver lining? I have the option to extend my postdoc another year. I hear stories about people who send out a hundred or more job applications. I can't even imagine how much work that would be, even with www.mathjobs.org automating the process. I applied to roughly 25 or so last time around, and I'll probably cross my fingers and hope for the best with just a few this year.

< Four revealing questions young faculty should ask about tenure | Typical Grad School Concerns >

What Kind of Job do I REALLY Want? | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)

[new] Good luck! (none / 0) (#1)
by JHamblin on Sat Nov 08, 2008 at 08:13:15 AM PDT

When you put a lot of restrictions on the kind of job you can apply for, you definitely run the risk of not getting a position anywhere. You may have to adjunct for a year or more until you find the perfect match.

[new] Economy Concerns (none / 0) (#2)
by Vanes63 on Wed Dec 10, 2008 at 08:57:32 AM PDT

With everything that is "going on with the economy" (I put this in quotation marks because this has really been going on a lot longer but has recently gotten a lot of media attention so NOW it is on people's minds) really I'd just apply for all the openings I think are a good fit for you.

Remember you want a successful job fit as much as the people hiring do. So I've become accustomed to the idea that we all should be kinda picky about the place we are going to work at.

This is not to say that you should only apply to your dream job, but you should think about all the factors that your quality of life depends on and either broaden or narrow your search based on that. If you don't think you are applying to many jobs, either work harder on the applications you do send out to make sure the company/university/agency/whatever knows you want to be there and give it a real shot.

I believe in my heart of hearts that the perfect job is out there for each of us - teaching or research or whatever. We just might have to settle for an ok job temporarily until that great one opens up.

You mentioned your two-body problem, is there a chance that your wife could get in to a department and you could be a lecturer for a few departments for a while? I mean even Psychology Departments need Mathematicians to teach Statistics courses. Or what about teaching online?

Two-Body Problem by jobhunter08, 12/14/2008 12:13:18 PDT (none / 0)

What Kind of Job do I REALLY Want? | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)

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