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Feb. 22nd, 2006 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taratemimaQuestions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.
Academia
Pros
I have work study experience working in university departments
Mom thinks that it’s a more congenial environment for me
I can get free or reduced tuition to help me afford graduate school
Being around intelligent people would be good
I can find a job, since I live near a college town
They need technical people, too
I will feel part of something bigger and meaningful
I won’t be ashamed to tell people what I do for a living
Working at a department I didn’t study in school will teach me at least new terms and skills. For instance, working at a physics department, I will learn about basic ideas and new research in physics.
I could get to learn new concepts and relate them to what I already know.
Possible free access to journal articles.
I like overhearing people’s conversations about their studies.
Eagerness to learn and willingness to do tasks needed must be a good trait for an academic job, right?
Cons
When I interview an alumna employed at MIT, she told me they were having a hiring freeze. How many of them still have them, considering the iffy state of federal academic funding?
From what I gather, if you’re not a professor, you’re nothing.
Why does it seem like the positions that are advertise require more years of experience, more software experience, and more administrative experience than I have?
I have little experience or desire for receptionist work, which is mostly they seem to be looking for
Colleges don’t keep you up to date on the status of your resume, schedule for interviews, or have follow-up information. It seems all discouraging—just drop your resume and hope for the best
I was this close to getting a recruiter position at Quincy College. Then they said that they decided not to hire anyone. I’m still angry about it. How will I know the job opening will still be around after I apply or if they end up hiring people? It’s like they leap before they look at the budget, the expected attendance, whatever.
Funding for positions is even spottier than in the private sector
How can I compete with free or cheap labor from graduate students and work study students, anyway?
I’m not even certain if I’m good at technical matters—or anything
September will be hell
Nobody talks to each other. Departments don’t share what they know, administration doesn’t explain decisions, and no learning gets advanced
I have no interest in becoming a professor, believe it or not. I know of the hard time new PhDs have getting a job in academia, never mind tenure. Succeeding requires diplomacy skills I do not have and will take far too long to learn.
Academia
Pros
I have work study experience working in university departments
Mom thinks that it’s a more congenial environment for me
I can get free or reduced tuition to help me afford graduate school
Being around intelligent people would be good
I can find a job, since I live near a college town
They need technical people, too
I will feel part of something bigger and meaningful
I won’t be ashamed to tell people what I do for a living
Working at a department I didn’t study in school will teach me at least new terms and skills. For instance, working at a physics department, I will learn about basic ideas and new research in physics.
I could get to learn new concepts and relate them to what I already know.
Possible free access to journal articles.
I like overhearing people’s conversations about their studies.
Eagerness to learn and willingness to do tasks needed must be a good trait for an academic job, right?
Cons
When I interview an alumna employed at MIT, she told me they were having a hiring freeze. How many of them still have them, considering the iffy state of federal academic funding?
From what I gather, if you’re not a professor, you’re nothing.
Why does it seem like the positions that are advertise require more years of experience, more software experience, and more administrative experience than I have?
I have little experience or desire for receptionist work, which is mostly they seem to be looking for
Colleges don’t keep you up to date on the status of your resume, schedule for interviews, or have follow-up information. It seems all discouraging—just drop your resume and hope for the best
I was this close to getting a recruiter position at Quincy College. Then they said that they decided not to hire anyone. I’m still angry about it. How will I know the job opening will still be around after I apply or if they end up hiring people? It’s like they leap before they look at the budget, the expected attendance, whatever.
Funding for positions is even spottier than in the private sector
How can I compete with free or cheap labor from graduate students and work study students, anyway?
I’m not even certain if I’m good at technical matters—or anything
September will be hell
Nobody talks to each other. Departments don’t share what they know, administration doesn’t explain decisions, and no learning gets advanced
I have no interest in becoming a professor, believe it or not. I know of the hard time new PhDs have getting a job in academia, never mind tenure. Succeeding requires diplomacy skills I do not have and will take far too long to learn.
