Monday, August 27, 2007

Nuh-uh! Job Market Season Is So NOT Soon

This exercise in denial and self-deception brought to you by Dissertation Buddy, the letter X, and the number 3....

Dissertation Buddy: So my advisor was looking at a draft of my job letter and mentioned that the MLA JIL will be out very soon.

Me: Yes, but not for quite a while.

DB: Oh. The end of September?

Me: I think it goes live on the web site on Sept. 15.

DB: So it is very soon.

Me: What is?

DB: When the job list comes out.

Me: No, we've got quite a while yet.

DB: No, that's just a couple weeks.

Me: (sticking fingers in ears) La la la la la la la I can't hear you! Tra la la neener neener.

DB: Ah. Denial much?

Me: (taking fingers out of ears) It ain't just a river in Egypt baby!

. . . . .


So, I guess that soon I will have to deal with the impending job search as it is approaching Market Season. You can tell because the light is changing, the days are starting to get shorter and the Crazy Loons advanced graduate students are migrating back to their autumnal resting grounds to begin a most bizarre and stressful courtship process. Hybrid creatures all, the Advanced Graduate Student's courtship (which much be carried out successfully before molting and becoming an Assistant Professor) involves a gathering of materials similar to the squirrel's hoarding of nuts, an intricate dance of dizzying complexity, and a truly wasteful process of attrition, with only one survivor actually completing the entire process compared to the hundreds of unsuccessful candidates. Strap yourselves down, folks, 'cause this blog's about to go on one hell of a crazy ride!

(Um, ok, maybe in light of the last post I shouldn't be ordering people into restraints ... Oh, hell. Just give me a job already, ok?)

6 comments:

St. Eph said...

Oh, heck. I'm with you on the denial. I'm also refusing to process the information in your second sentence that there are people out there with "drafts" of this thing called a "job letter." What? Who? Where?

(P.S. Hi! I recently started reading your stuff through links hither and yon. Love your voice, and looking forward to your perspective on the market this fall. Which is a long, long way away, of course.)

gwoertendyke said...

ugh, you just gave me an ulcer. must finish project to turn in at the end of this week before i can turn to drafting job letter. dreams are crazy right now as a result!!!

Sisyphus said...

St. Eph --- Hi! Thanks!

You know, I have a "draft" of all the job materials already --- of course, that's cause I went on the market last year and got nothing, nada, bupkiss, not even interviews! GRAAAAAAGHHHHH!


Course, I'm not bitter or anything.

(everyone else, I'm officially Not Dealing With It until I finish my summer class. Everyone else is given permission to do the same. Sept. 17 you may begin.)

Fretful Porpentine said...

Everyone else is given permission to do the same.

Thanks for the permission! I'm still telling myself that I'm fine because I still have all my materials from last year. Which is silly, since last year I was a grad student and I really need to redraft everything this year to reflect what I'm doing now. Ah, denial.

Unknown said...

heee, heeee, heeeeeee....

Sisyphus said...

medieval woman, are you mocking us poor job hunters from the safety of your tenure track perch? (or are you on a VAP --- I forget.) Well, no tarty pictures for you!