So dudes: this year's JIL. What's going on in your fields?
I can tell you there are damn few Renaissance jobs, and though I don't have much personally at stake (I know almost no one who's going on the market, and none of them are first-timers), it's a field that hires pretty reliably at all levels.
On the other hand, CHECK OUT those eighteenth-century jobs! I thought there were a lot last year, at least relative to the total number, but this year is outta control. I wonder whether we're finally seeing a generational change, and how that might reshape the field.
But I'm curious how the view looks from where you sit.
11 comments:
20th century fields are hideous, as they always are. In my corner of the map, there are something like 11 jobs total, and of those 11 like half are probably not actually jobs where they want people who do what I do.
I have nothing at stake this year... other than that I feel vindicated in trying to steer students who are torn between my field and another with better prospects to go with the other.
There are really good medieval jobs this year and plenty of them (compared to previous years) - apply now, folks!
Am I allowed to express my inner-Liz-Lemon and just yell "NERDS!"? Because if not, I'll have to complain endlessly about the insufficient number of jobs available about blah blah blah ... which makes me think, Bob Loblaw Attorney at Law may have had the right idea about what to do with his English degree...
We've just posted a Renaissance job....
I haven't run the numbers, but it's my impression that this year is better, in terms of overall TT jobs, than last. Not that that's saying much.
It's also true that the list warps according to one's own interests. I have one friend, Crazy, who works in your field, who has a pretty good job, but who will need to relocate eventually for partner reasons--and with her in mind I thought, "hey! there are several good jobs in good [for her] locations!"
But when I look, in an idle way, as myself, I think, "damn! there are only one or two jobs that I'd want to apply for, if I were on the market."
But when you already have a job, and it's a good job, and you have various demands and expectations for a new one, you see things with different eyes. If I were looking at the list as someone seeking a first TT Renaissance job, I'd see a pretty decent range (though the overall number is still damn small).
And MW: heh. I saw one where a bright young lad or lass would have a few excellent pre-/early modern colleagues. . .
Ah, my cheating heart—it makes me weep. Pickings in my area are slim, and perhaps a little too top drawer for me. It seems that those sorts of jobs tend to go to rockstar ABDs, so that ship has flown. Heh.
As one of my VAP colleagues puts it, the season is early yet. I do not envy him.
Wow, nobody wants Victorianists this year. There are actually a couple of jobs I could apply for (as opposed to last year, when there were none), but I would be a good fit for only one of those, and even then...my books wouldn't fit into any dwelling that I could purchase on a CA salary.
Lotsa re-postings ... stuff that ran last year and I applied for or ran in that insanely-late lasting spring job market. Mostly generalist, comp-heavy ones, and a few that I think I've applied to every damn year I've been on the market.
Heh. I can't figure out whether applying to a reposting that paid no attention to me the first time is worth it. But, they want me to stop applying, they need to stop posting, since I'm sending out to anything that moved!
Jane: yeah, there are several top-drawer jobs in my area, too (Princeton, Harvard, Berkeley), and a number of good public R1s. There are also several plum senior hires being advertised (Brown, NYU).
But it's striking to me how few jobs there are at any other kind of school--the kinds of places that are realistic jobs for most new PhDs. Maybe the economic recovery has yet to trickle down.
Sis: they're idiots, that's for one. But you're also a totally different candidate this year. They don't know the new you!
As you say, Renaissance is good at the top end, but slightly lousy in the middle. I've also noticed that departments are less definite about the focus of your work than they have been. Whereas in my first year on the market, two years ago, I could count out half the jobs because I'm not a drama specialist, this year it's only a quarter or so. Really odd, given that this will only up the number of applications in a year that probably will have the most applicants for each job in a long time (two bad years + everyone desperate for any job = lots of applicants).
The Renaissance ads have definitely overtaken the 18th c. positions now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitching....I was able to send out about 29 applications to some very solid schools. Unfortunately, they are so solid, that they may stop reading at State A&M U. I'm hoping that's not the case, because I've got a publication accepted, all the right conferences, and an nationally-recognized advisor who has trained me well. Now I'll resort to crossing fingers, toes, chanting, and offering sacrifices to the academic Gods.
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