“Fulltime faculty jobs have not been easy to come by in recent decades, but this year the new crop of Ph.D. candidates is finding the prospects worse than ever. Public universities are bracing for severe cuts as state legislatures grapple with yawning deficits. At the same time, even the wealthiest private colleges have seen their endowments sink and donations slacken since the financial crisis.” Following in the footsteps of the Chronicle of Higher Education and various academic blogs, the NYT delves into the horrible job prospects for newly-minted humanities PhDs these days. “‘This is a year of no jobs,’ said Catherine Stimpson, the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University. Ph.D.s are stacked up, she said, ‘like planes hovering over La Guardia.’“
Even before the downturn, it was clear to me and my cohort that, even coming out of a prestigious Ivy, our prospects for a remunerative and rewarding academic job in the Age of Adjuncts was rather slim. The historical analogy I liked to use then to describe our situation: It’s 1840 and, after years of apprenticeship, we can all make really nice, quality, hand-crafted shoes. But, you know what? They’ve got factories that make those now, for much, much cheaper.
And now, in this economy? Heh. The TLDR version for all of these links, courtesy of Marge Simpson: “Bart, don’t make fun of grad students. They just made a terrible life choice.“
My Ph.D. was awarded in 2002, from a top-10 department in my field, and I had already given up on the academic market in 2000. I was lucky to find a private-sector job that suits me well, but coming from an academically-oriented department, it can be hard to know where to look. It just sucks, and I sympathize.
Totally sucks. At least I’m in the basic sciences so we’re a little more employable outside of academia, but i agree with Marge.
hang in there- did you defend yet?
Kevin, I’m sure that many new Ph.D.’s will be unable to find employment commensurate with their qualifications. But some people will find such employment, and I will be very surprised if you aren’t one of them. Please remember that there are always some openings, an they will go to someone. There’s no reason why one of them shouldn’t go to you, and lots of reasons why it should. I’m a believer in you.
Thanks for the kind words, all. Still, everyone thinking they’ll be “one of the lucky ones,” when the numbers clearly indicate a vast majority of them are dead wrong, is what keeps Vegas…and other institutions…in business. And I wouldn’t bet on my luck these days.
Eileen: No, not yet. But relatively soon, I should think.
Kevin, we’ve communicated before. While I still struggle with the part-time nature of academia after eight years, I have stayed in the fight, with nine published articles in journals from PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY to the JOURNAL OF POLICY HISTORY. But I wonder how long I can stay….All I can say, defend and keep going!
Keep your spirits up. Having seen the hiring process from the inside, I can say with certainty that it is almost completely arbitrary. Have you thought about heading back to Washington? This country needs intelligent, progressive, and engaged voices.