intransigent transience
Part of my ongoing annoyance with academia at the moment stems from a minute, yet hugely significant, aspect of the search for employment: the ever-present awareness of transience, that this too, shall pass. I moved from The City (UK) to The City (US) (one of only three places in the world I know of with the sheer hubris to use the definite article and nothing more to denote itself) intending to spend 8 or 9 months here before, in an ideal world, taking up a position somewhere in the world. So far so good. And, as an aspiring academic, I'm well aware of the lack of geographical choice involved: with only certain limitations, you take the best of what you're offered. Thus, through the September-February hiring process for tenure-track positions, I was living life on the balls of my feet, ready to move on to wherever the ivory tower beckoned.
But. No love on tenure-track positions, I then latched on to the jobs being posted in England in drips and drabs. One in particular had my name written all over it; my failure last week to obtain said position has, I suspect, more to do with the hassle of hiring foreigners than anything else, but what's a girl to do? So after the minor crisis of faith last week (immediately preceding the weekend spent at a conference filled with the mediocre and the employed - trust me, it wasn't a pretty sight), I decided I simply had to throw down some roots in The City, to plan on being here for another 16-18 months. What I forgot, of courese, were the late-stage tenure track positions, and the sudden rush of adjunct positions only now being advertised. I clock it at 6 months of sending off applications, trying to stay mobile for the one that will (must. might. shall. if i'm lucky) come through. So my resolution to entrench myself a little more firmly, to step away from la vida peripatetic, has crumbled like a dead leaf. I figure between the UK and the US, the process should finally come to a screeching halt sometime around June or July, just in time to take a deep breath before plunging into next year's applications. I cannot communicate how little enthusiasm, how little energy, I have for this ongoing process.
But. No love on tenure-track positions, I then latched on to the jobs being posted in England in drips and drabs. One in particular had my name written all over it; my failure last week to obtain said position has, I suspect, more to do with the hassle of hiring foreigners than anything else, but what's a girl to do? So after the minor crisis of faith last week (immediately preceding the weekend spent at a conference filled with the mediocre and the employed - trust me, it wasn't a pretty sight), I decided I simply had to throw down some roots in The City, to plan on being here for another 16-18 months. What I forgot, of courese, were the late-stage tenure track positions, and the sudden rush of adjunct positions only now being advertised. I clock it at 6 months of sending off applications, trying to stay mobile for the one that will (must. might. shall. if i'm lucky) come through. So my resolution to entrench myself a little more firmly, to step away from la vida peripatetic, has crumbled like a dead leaf. I figure between the UK and the US, the process should finally come to a screeching halt sometime around June or July, just in time to take a deep breath before plunging into next year's applications. I cannot communicate how little enthusiasm, how little energy, I have for this ongoing process.
posted by itinerarium at 2:29 PM
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