Gigantic Harley-Davidson just out of shot
After a few months of flailing and sadness, I found 2 non-academic jobs this week that I would like to do and that I think I’m qualified for. AMAZE. I’ve started filling in the application forms and have roped in a friend who’s a professional careers advisor to look over them. It’s only 2 jobs, I know, and I also know how horribly competitive they’ll be and that I have no idea if I’ll get either of them. My career advisor friend said similar things: don’t think about the application as achieving anything, just make it beautiful in itself and then get it sent off. This is very similar to the ‘always be shipping’ mantra that my friends in tech and design talk about – not that I want to be applying for everything ever and making sloppy mistakes in the application forms (after all, ‘always be shipping’ can lead to its own errors) but it’ll be good to get some momentum going on here.
And man, I allowed myself to think about what it would be like if I got one of the jobs and OMG you guys, it was amazing – like this little spark of neon hope that there a) was actually an Outside there and that b) it coud be pretty amazing. Even if I don’t get either of these two jobs, I’m planning to keep my job-hunting mojo going; even just seeing the job ads has been really useful in making me think about what type of work I’d like to do and that I’d be good at. ONWARDS.
doctorpiglet 
Excellent! I’m trying for similar momentum myself. I suspect the hardest part is getting started. And YES to the idea that a job in the “other” could be terrific!
Yep, I know I’ve been hiding away for too long and hoping that change will just happen to me magically – I’ve had a bit of a kick up the bum by seeing various friends of mine getting new jobs in the past few months, both academic and non, which has been good for getting me going.
Excellent news both for Dr Piglet and The2YearLife of the Mind. Yes, the idea that a job in the ‘other’ is terrific!!
Thanks! Let’s see how it goes…
I would like to mention one more thing: Dr. Piglet, I can predict your future! No really, I can. And you know why? Because I’ve noticed something among the leaving academia blogs that have deconstructed the system so skillfully and have given hope to far more people than any of them realize. Those who have moved into the money making world (JC, WorstProfEver, Currer, and others) have posted less and less. Of course, 2 of the 3 of those bloggers are hard at work at the “How to Leave Academia” website. But more importantly, it seems to me that now they have all moved away from this with sweet Time on their sides, the need to be upset about such a broken system has subsided. What this tells me is two things: 1) after academia, life indeed does go on and 2) Time really does heal all wounds. Here’s hoping for your (and my) new foray into the “profit” world leading to less and less blog posting!
I’ve noticed this trend too – it’s sad in a way because there don’t tend to be any really long-running ‘leaving academia’ blogs, we have to hunt down those brief firefly sparks ourselves; but on the other hand, if purpose of these blogs is to let us vent and work things out then so it goes.
Congratulations on your applications and hope. I went through some very, very dark times in my academic to post-ac journey and getting to the point of realizing that there are potentially rewarding jobs out there that you might actually want was a huge step forward for me. I had friends showing jobs to me and my mind immediately closed up and spewed forth why those jobs were not right. Now that I have mourned some more and have some closure, I am beginning to the see the light and am much more open to giving things a try. I am currently in the midst of my job search as I complete my last semester of contingent teaching. Embrace that hope and best wishes to you in your search.
Thanks for coming by! To be honest, I still have very dark days as Partner Piglet can attest to but I’m trying to blow off the misery cobwebs by getting the momentum going and finding jobs to go for (some horrible mixed metaphors there but hey, I’m in the social sciences, not the humanities).