Employee mobility and job insecurity are opposite sides of the same coin. And, let’s be honest, it’s a coin that has no value at the grocery store. Attacks on tenure and academic freedom have cost us all. Couple that with the aftermath of a global pandemic and realize that if there was ever an ivory tower for academia and all its institutions, it has certainly been disrupted at best and stormed by metaphorical evil knights at worst.
A Tool Kit for Faculty on the Move
1. Acknowledge that searching for a job is a full-time job
“According to our clients and community members, it can take an average of 100 applications before a fully-qualified candidate will receive an invitation to interview. We’ve been hearing about instructor search postings for just one online course attracting as many as 300 applicants. Just because competition is fierce does not mean you cannot win.”
Send a request to join our Facebook community, How to Make a Living Teaching Online. There, you’ll see advice from job seekers who have been successful in finding positions that suit their needs and wants. What type of lessons are they teaching? Pay attention to details on postings. Look for start dates and use the language in your C/V and cover letter that reflects the language used in the posting.
This attention to detail and language-specific customizations to your application documents takes time, lots of it.
2. Take control of what you can control
“Human resources veterans like to tell stories about pre-internet job searches. Job seekers “pounded the pavement.” There really was a time when people could walk into a business, talk to the receptionist and ask to see the hiring manager. Sometimes, the receptionist would take your resume and ask you to return the next day. It really did happen and, when grandparents are handing out job search advice, with words like gumption, nerve and chutzpah, they are generally remembering those old days.”
Now, online job searches are dominated by search phrases, machine reading and algorithm trained applications that use artificial intelligence to ensure precision in desired qualifications and experience are met before any human even scans your documents.
What you can control is the quality of your job search documents and submission packages. You can control the quality and relevance of the documents in your submission package. If your letters of reference are dated, don’t discuss recent research or teaching, or are written by colleagues or mentors who are no longer working in the field, solicit some new ones. Use Google scholar or another tool to manage your publications and citations list to ensure it is current. If you are applying to faith-based institutions, update your values statement or personal testimony. Pastoral references must also reflect your current faith community membership.
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3. Watch the self-talk and keep it positive
“The longer you have been working in your field, the more discouraging a job search can be. No one likes to hear the word no, but silence can be even more disappointing. It’s easy to fall into the trap of blaming yourself and the state of your skills, your competencies and your past choices. The mindset itself is a self-talk trap and you need to break out with positive words for yourself, your achievements and all the learning your past experiences have brought you.”
Learning positive self-talk does not diminish the difficulty of an intense job search. It does, though, acknowledge your achievements in overcoming those difficulties. Meeting goals of applying for 15 jobs a week is cause for celebration. Doing a mock interview to prepare for the real thing is an opportunity to develop new strengths. Using LinkedIn to reach out to a recruiter, or individual human resources staff member at an institution you’ve applied to is an expert-level show of gumption, nerve and chutzpah that would make your grandparents proud.
Regardless of how long the job search takes, these are all moves that show you are your own best teacher. If you need inspiration to stay motivated, take a look at the Success Stories on The Babb Group blog. In those posts, our clients share their own tips and advice for finding jobs that are just right for them.
Dorothy A. Miraglia
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