![]() In reality, these people did not, of course, know me from Adam, probably weren’t sadists, and besides that they were doing me a favor, letting me know that I should stop waiting outside a door that was never going to let me in. What makes them unpleasant (albeit necessary) isn’t the service they provide, or even the occasional sniping-it’s the bizarre, imagined universe that academics like me, thanks to stress and desperation, fabricated around “MLA interview scheduled x15.” Suddenly, every one of those 15 lucky bastards was a smug sadist parading his or her (very moderate) success in my face, reveling in my failure, dancing on the grave of my DOA career. ![]() If you can squint past the “talk” pages full of gossip and, yes, sometimes spite, the wikis are actually performing a crucial and admirable public service, making uncertain rejection certain, refusing to allow deluded people to remain deluded. ![]() It’s also true that I needed to face that mediocrity, the sooner the better, so that I could move on with my life. It’s true that the German wiki, in that deep, frigid winter of 2009-the year I came face-to-face with my academic mediocrity-ripped me to pieces. The only confirmation the jobs existed in the first place was that a bunch of other people seemed to be getting them x20. Nobody called, nobody wrote, nobody so much as acknowledged an application. So if the coming end of this year’s job market is making you feel bored or lonely, check it out before it goes into hibernation for the spring and summer.Except you do. Perhaps it’s the anonymity or the strength in numbers that the wiki format offers, but there’s just some things–like gallows humor, the anticipation of bad news, virtual congrats–that are better shared among IP addresses and cryptic user IDs. With a few exceptions, applying for jobs has just led to a lot of weirdness between me and many of my closest friends and colleagues. Friends, don’t take this the wrong way, cause you’re great and all, but comparing notes about the job market–for all parties, including myself–is the most awkward, teeth-pulling thing there is among people who know each other well and fondly in every other way. ![]() So maybe there is some mischief making and some folks who get so many interviews/visits/offers that you can’t help but be enviously annoyed by them, but there’s a spirit of sharing on the wiki that actually goes beyond the camaraderie of real, live friends. Though I can really only vouch for the literature and postdoc offerings, the list seems pretty comprehensive, covering disciplines ranging from the sciences to the humanities, including archives going back a few years.Īside the raw data, what also makes people like me go back and back and back to the job wiki day after day after day is the virtual community it produces. If, somehow, you are not, commit what’s below to memory or bookmark:įrom September to the end of the annual job market around now (at least for literature types), the job wiki is pretty much indispensable, whether you’re looking for info on a job you just applied for, finding job postings you missed, getting ready to be bummed when someone else gets a convention interview/a campus visit/an offer, or if you’re just a voyeuristic lurker. Any (hypothetical) reader of this blog is likely familiar with the Wikia-hosted Academic Job Wiki site, but I might as well link it on Post Academic and give it a tout.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |