The real world doesn't work on an academic calendar, so how does this get done? I have some interviews, but the semester is underway and if I have to quit midsemester to start a new job, and the new job doesn't work out, I'm fucked forever. I can never go back to teaching if I abandon ship DURING a semester. How do people swing the change?
Jobs come around once in a blue moon here. This is a job I applied for in June of 2010. They sent me a first interview letter in December of 2010. They looked at my research area and said there was a different position coming up around March 2011 or maybe a little later that they would really like me for. They said they were going to pass on me for the opening in Dec '10 because it would be a waste not to use me for the other opening.
I never heard from them so I figured either something changed (not impossible in this economy) or that the whole "better use of your skills" story was their attempt at a kind way to say "don't call us, we'll call you".
Out of the blue I get a call in beginning of summer session that they want to schedule interviews and am I interested. I said yes, thinking the timing was great because I could finish out summer session and move on. But then they didn't get back to me again until last week. I took the interview and they want a 2nd interview next week. They don't have a start date yet but they think next month.
WTF?
I want this job so bad. So so so so bad. But I feel like I can't just quit in fucking October. And if I pass it up, I'll be 50 years old before I get a job offer that coincides with a semester break, so I certainly don't want that. Is there a worse month to quit a university position than October? I don't think there is. I can't be the first person in this position. So...
Q: What do people do when they want out of academics and a position comes along in god damned October?
PS - I've had my ups and downs, like most of us. But when I read this blog, I realize I've had it better than most. I've been treated very well at this job. I work with great people. But I'm in my late 30's and not on the tenure track. I don't feel right screwing them over because of how they've treated me, but do I really owe them the rest of my life? I am really at a cross-road and feel like I'm being eaten alive.
ReplyDeleteI'm worried about a job offer I don't even have yet - so I'll be all embarrassed next week when I didn't get it anyway. But just in case... what do I do?
Goddamn, I'm drunk and I know the answer to this one: Talk to the employer. Communicate. Tell them where you are. They will appreciate that, both now and years from now. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI can't claim any experience in this area, so I'm hesitant to chime in, but I was thinking along the same lines as Bubba: if/when you get an offer, do your best to negotiate an end-of-the-semester (or at least end of classes) start date. If they've waited this long to hire, they may well be able to wait a few more months. Failing that, see if you can negotiate some kind of two-month flexible arrangement (part-time, telework, whatever) that would allow you to finish out your classes (probably with the absolute minimum of attention you can decently give them, but finish them) while beginning the new job. If they're absolutely inflexible about all of the above, despite their own timing issues, I think I'd begin to wonder whether it's really such a good place to work after all, but if you're convinced it is, then you are, indeed, at the point where you're thinking about burning some bridges to take advantage of the opportunity. If you decide that's worth it (and it might be), then I'd negotiate as late a start date as possible, and, once you have a contract in hand, talk to your chair. Yes, (s)he's likely to be angry. On the other hand, if you were hit by a bus tomorrow, they'd cope, so presumably they can do the same if you quit with two weeks' notice. But I certainly wouldn't expect to use any of them as references in the future.
ReplyDeleteAnd while you're waiting, you might also think about whether you know anyone -- adjunct, retiree, etc. -- who could do your job. Offering up a solution along with the bad news might lessen the blow just a bit. If the money in the new job is much better and you can negotiate any sort of flexibility, you might also think about paying someone to do some or all of the behind-the-scenes work (grading, photocopying, lab set-up, whatever) while you do the face-to-face part of the teaching. Your chair may not particularly like that, but it's not unknown for "star professors" to quietly pay others to do their grading. At least you'd be doing it on the up-and-up.
Wombat, don't feed the trolls. We all know Honest Prof is a troll!
ReplyDeleteAs for your question, dear, I do think that you should keep going to interviews until a job offer is made and a start day is suggested.
I know plenty of people who have to go through 5 interview cycles before signing the contract. For now, juggle both. If an offer is extended, explain that you are committed until December and ask if there is a way for you to start with limited hours (or something) of if you really do need to throw in the towel at the university.
I'm pleased you've been contacted! Best of luck, Wombat. Promise you'll stick around if all goes well and you escape academe.
@WotC - I think that Southern Bubba and Contingent Cassandra pretty much have it right. I hope you get the offer, and can make the move smoothly.
ReplyDelete@Pete the Dishwasher / honest_prof / Tim(notJim) et al... I forget who said it, but the complaint about a perceived lack of acceptance of new voices still makes me chuckle.
Today's attempts were positively Grunfeldian.
@WotC: I don't know, every time this happened to me, the prospective employer said, "We'd love to have you, but we can't wait until December," or May, when it happened during spring semester. On the other hand, if a prospective employer plays this rough, they may turn out to be a woeful place to work. Some of the best advice I ever listened to when I was a teenager was that if you take a girl out on a date and she's mean to the waiter for no reason, she's mean, and that sooner or later, that meanness will be turned on you. (Don't worry, I got plenty of other advice I didn't listen to, and for some of it, it was good that I didn't listen to it.) But then again, unless you're on the tenure track, your university certainly doesn't command much loyalty. (Remember that?) They're due the two weeks' notice they're due, as specified in your contract (Have you checked that?) and not much else. If you have any good students, you might feel sorry for the effect on their education that your leaving them in the lurch will have, but if your students are like mine, those will be quite rare. They're primarily your department's obligation, anyway: and if your department doesn't have the common decency to treat you like a human being, they can't ask you for much.
ReplyDelete@Pete the Dishwasher: Where do you work, in a chemistry lab?
@honest_prof: Why don't you go find something else to do on a Friday night better than harassing a bunch of academics? Honestly, it's such a low form of humor, like teasing the dog: "Hey, I got food for you, no I don't!" Can anyone possibly be more pathetic?
Wombat---you should wait until the offer is made, then explain in a heartfelt way that you want the job but must wait until December. Listen to what they say. They will probably allow you to wait to start. Also, probably, they will pussyfoot with the offer till later. If they don't, and they say they can't wait, listen to their reason why. If it seems like a good reason (like if they have funding now but might not later if a contract is not signed pronto---I've seen that happen at my place) and if it seems like a good place to work, then take the damn job. Jobs don't grow on trees. I like CC's suggestions on how to try to skid through the semester. It'd be worth it to pay someone to take over for you, even partially, if that were at all possible, to save the good will. But the good will is NOT worth your whole life. If you need to get out, and you have a good opportunity to do so, one that you can live with and that will allow you to support yourself as you make your escape, get out. I completely sympathize. You might not get a chance to get out again for years. If this is damaging your well being, imagine how much worse it will be by then.
ReplyDeleteThe uni you're at might be a decent place to be, and they may treat their non-TT people like human beings, which is refreshing, but no, you don't owe them anything. They pay you to do a job, and if your posts here are any indication, you do it well and they are more than getting their money's worth out of you. They will never even realize how much of a not-asshole you are by agonizing over leaving.
ReplyDeleteBut Wombat, if it's a dead end, and you have other more interesting and probably more fruitful opportunities, for the love of all that is holy, don't let it pass you by!! You deserve it!
Others have made good suggestions for how to ride out the duration of your contract without stiffing anyone. It'll be tough, but it would only be for max two months. You can do it. Good luck!!
I just want to second, third, and twelfth all the votes of confidence here. Wait till the job offer comes; then take all the above advice on seeing if the start date can be pushed back/ can you somehow juggle both jobs part-time/ pay someone to do your marking etc while you just do the facetime/ teach the remaining classes by video from your new digs/ whatever it takes.
ReplyDeleteBut if there is NO WAY to reconcile the new job start time with your current gig, then cross your fingers and take the plunge. If the new job gives you a good feeling, that is. And trust your gut on that.
Oh, and bear in mind that the new job ought to be impressed that you are concerned to fulfill your responsibilities with your old employer. It speaks well of you. It's how they'd want you to treat them, too.
ReplyDeleteYou signed a contract to teach for a year so it's more than just a simple transaction of your time for their money. Having said that, go after the job and figure out what to do about leaving in mid-semester when that time comes. It sounds like their time tables keep shifting so you may get hired in mid-December instead.
ReplyDeleteI don't see any "comment deleted" entries here. Who are you people talking to?
As an admin I saw a few folks leave in the middle of the term (and as an adjunct I took classes on when somebody else did AND THE OVERTIME PAY WAS EFFING AWESOME!), and I was never truly upset at them for leaving for greener pastures. It happens.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you can never go back to that institution, but that's not saying you can never go back. There's no doubt somebody in the wings that can't wait to take your classes and/or pay. Try and find that person. Get them to co-teach a section or two with you in order to make the transition if you get the offer. Don't sweat it.
Burn it all down on your way out, and plant a flag reading "College Misery" on the rubble. Kidding...
ReplyDeleteGo for your dream job!!! How often do we get to move up and out?
Wombat: I'm with Bubba and Cassandra. Talk to them--if they really want you, they can wait two months for you to start.
ReplyDeleteCase in point: We are losing a wonderful colleague to a uni whose name rhymes with "Pandabuilt". She applied for the job in May, on a whim (and also out of disgust for our fucktarded state legislature), and found out a week before classes started that she got the job. Because she is awesome, and because they want her so badly, she negotiated a January start so that her campus would have enough time to hire an adjunct to teach the classes that were hers.
If they offer you the job, make a mid-year start a condition. Or you will probably hate yourself. I say this because it's indicative of the kind of person you are that you're EVEN ASKING yourself what to do, let alone asking us.
Good luck.
And I disagree with Beaker Ben. Contracts can be broken. What are they going to do, fire you?
ReplyDeleteI also say this as a proffie currently working without a contract. Cf "fucktard state legislature" above.
[I'm thinking about leaving too.]