I commented in the other discussion - but that seemed wussy, so... They went with another candidate :(
I'm devastated. I'm trying to get past it by burying myself in some projects I'd tossed around in my head before. It did at least inspire me to talk to the dean about an idea I had for our department. It won't pay the rent, but it'll take the edge off my painful level of boredom with my current position. You know - there are no boring jobs, just boring people and all that. I guess it's time to up my participation and accept the fact that I'm never getting out.
I want to thank you all again - and at least now I won't have to give up my seat at the CM round table.
I'm sorry. :(
ReplyDeleteThose guys suck, period.
ReplyDeleteO Wombat. The suckage.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that, Wombat.
ReplyDeleteNo moping Wombat! You were a solid candidate, now get out there and keep applying elsewhere. You've shown again and again the dedication you have to the job you hate...imagine what you can do in a job you love. :-) I'm sorry you didn't get this one. Their loss. Bitches.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry, Wombat. I say you should mope for a while. Moping is great. Eat a pile of ice cream and drink too much. Feel ridiculously sorry for yourself. Then you can progress to anger toward the douchebags who didn't hire you after. These are the stages of academic grief.
ReplyDeleteAnd BTW, I'm totally serious. We're told that we should be thankful to have a job in academia, but that fact is that most of us are trapped in jobs we, at best, have mixed feelings about. The chance to escape, once lost, is REALLY FUCKING DEPRESSING.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry that you got this close and then didn't get it. That is always hard. It sounds like you're coping in a healthy manner. I'd be medicating with a drink in one hand and chocolate in the other.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was rooting for you, Wombat. This definitely sucks. What does it suck? Why, large, hairy moose parts. And thanks for asking.*
ReplyDeleteI agree with Harpy (short term) and Cranky (long term).
But, speaking from experience, try not to get bitter about that college. In fact, network there. You never know when someone on that committee might know of an opening (perhaps even there), and they now know you as a solid candidate.
Case in point: I was up against 3 (count 'em!) fellow alums of the same graduate program. Only two made the final cut (not me), and one was hired. Trapped in my personal Job from Hell, I gnashed my teeth for many a night. And ate way too much chocolate. But stayed friends with all my rivals because we'd been, well, friends.
Friend #1, who had been a student there under some of the committee members and had taught there as an adjunct, got the position. Friend #2 had an adjunct position there and kept it. Friend #3, the one sent to the second interview but passed over, was very, very bitter and has not spoken to Friend #1 in the 14 years since.
Friend #1 consulted me about starting in a TT position and designing a classroom. I sent advice and ideas. Then there was a sudden retirement. The committee (it turns out) had thought very highly of me; Friend #1 had appreciated my help (and perhaps the joint family outing to a Weird Al concert); and the dean called me up to offer me a position alongside Friend #1, which was okay with HR since I'd been through the whole vetting process the year before. I had a year of probationary TT teaching and then won the position when it was opened up as the law requires. It's my dream job. Love it there!
This could be you. Gnash away privately, and indulge in your legal drug of choice, but in private machinations, your star may be rising.
*I've never understood why "sucking" is considered an undesirable quality; one would think that a person willing to do so would be highly valued.
Wombat, the chance of escape has not been lost. Just THIS chance. You are a good candidate - you were very close after all - and you will get out. Hang in there, and keep applying to any job that interests you. Something will come up and it will all be okay.
ReplyDeleteAw, Wombat, I'm sorry.
ReplyDelete[[[[[[[[[Wombat]]]]]]]]]]]
ReplyDeleteDon't give up on getting out. As others have already said, you got so far on this one because you are a good candidate. If they liked you that much, they will remember you, so all hope is not lost even at this place. And there will be others. Keep looking and applying, and your opportunity WILL come.
Oh, dear. I'm sorry. My thought process was somewhat along the lines of Eskarina's (but this is an outside-the-academy job, right?): that, once you're feeling up to it, a bit of networking might be in order, maybe in the form of a "thank-you" note for considering you, and an expression of continued interest in working with the people who interviewed you. I know you said that such jobs are extremely scarce where you are, but it never hurts to try to keep the connections to people who did, after all, think highly enough of you to make you a finalist. If another job doesn't open up in that department/agency, you never know when they might be talking to someone else in another department/agency, or in one of the consulting firms that seem to do much of what used to be government work these days, who could offer you similar work.
ReplyDeleteAs far as trying to make your present job better, I think that's a good idea, too. I've tried to do it myself, and will continue to try. But at least in my case, I find that there's a limit to how far that approach can go if you don't have much of a voice: don't serve on committees, etc. It's always someone else who's going to be implementing your ideas, assuming they listen to them in the first place, and that can get frustrating (because they don't implement them the way you would, or because they just don't have the time, energy, or enthusiasm for the project that you do). The other alternative, of course, is that you're "allowed" to put lots of time, energy, and creativity into something for which you get no credit, monetary or otherwise. That's probably a bit better psychologically, but also tough, and I'm a bit skeptical of the notion that it's a good thing for professionals to also essentially be volunteers at their own institutions. I'm not sure how to avoid the particular Scylla and Charybdis (plus a few other underwater rocks) mentioned above, but asking "what's in this for me?" or "what exactly am I getting out of this?" on a regular basis probably doesn't hurt, nor does asking yourself whether time spent on this making-the-current-job-better could be better spent on an activity that might actually lead to a better job (the tricky part of that sentence, of course, is the "might"; in the current job market, academic and otherwise, and perhaps for the foreseeable future, it's very had to predict what activities are worthwhile investments of time that might actually lead to job prospects).
But for the weekend? Definitely chocolate, alcohol, ice cream, escapist movies -- whatever works, in whatever combination. And if that means getting some graded work back a bit late (as long as doing so doesn't make the rest of your semester more miserable), don't worry about it.
P.S. It also strikes me that any CM correspondent who manages to escape academia for the "real world" should be encouraged to report back, at least now and then, to let the rest of us know if it's really better somewhere else. Escapes from one institution to another seem to be working out reasonably well for several members (give or take some survivor's guilt and overly-indulgent plagiarism policies), but we need data about the run-away-from-the-academy option, too.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that, Wombat. The suckiest thing about the setup of academia is that you have to keep putting yourself out there no matter how many times you've been kicked in the teeth.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear that. It's always tough to lose a job prospect you wanted so much. I am not yet in the world of academia, and your CM colleagues understand your situation more precisely than I can. However, I have lived long enough to know what it is like to want a job very much and not get it. I have also found that there are times when the most unexpectedly wonderful opportunities arise and that which I wanted in a time gone by is overshadowed by the surprise of getting something I never thought was possible. Hang in there...you never know what is around the corner.
ReplyDelete@Wombat: Endure. I hope that somethin' better comes along.
ReplyDeleteI'll just come along [late] and second Eskarina, CC, and Bubba. Something better will come along--just keep looking. Eskarina's advice is particularly good, I think. CC has it right too--often it's not what you know, it's who you know (cliche, but true). And I agree with Bubba because Kermit is awesome.
ReplyDelete