outside perspective on sticking it out in academia

[doubtful]

Hello,
I need some outside perspective on an issue because I don't know if I am being rational.

I am an assistant professor at a 4-4 directional state institution. I like my day to day life, but hate the politics of my place (only assistant professor and senior colleagues love to force me to do grunt work with implicit threats regarding my tenure, despite the fact that I publish more and have better student reviews than every single one of them). As such, I have been trying to move, but given my results, I wonder how rational that decision is. That is, given my lack of offers so far, I am just stuck in a sunk cost fallacy?

Because here's my record so far:

- First year on the market, I was a postdoc, and while on the market I interviewed at an unranked R1 (which had a doctoral program in sociology) and my current 4-4. The R1 decided to go with someone else, but the SC liked me enough that they tried to get the dean to open an extra line (dean didn't go for it).

- First year in the tenure track, I got an email from R1 above asking me to apply to their new open search. I did, but wasn't even interviewed this time (and the SC members were all different from year 1). Only place I applied to because I didn't want to start out my tenure track position applying for jobs all the time.

- Second year on the tenure track, I applied to 20-25 positions. I interviewed at 2. One was a top regional LAC (think national rankings 50-100 on US News rankings), where the search committee recommended me for the position, but for whatever reason the administration decided to cancel the search. The other was at an R2 (which had a masters in sociology) where they brought up the issue of spousal accommodations during interviews, and I was honest and said that I'd likely need it (this was a very small town far from any major metro areas). I didn't get an offer.

- This is my third year on the tenure track. About 15 applications so far. 2 interviews at regional state schools, 1 interview at an R1 that does not have a doctoral program in sociology. Of these three, one I already know I didn't get. The other I haven't heard any definitive answer, though its likely they've moved on to someone else (3 weeks since the interview). The last one (the R1) is too soon to tell.

So the question is what to do if the R1 doesn't come through. On good days, I think that I have just been unlucky (e.g., admin cancelling search after SC telling me they recommended me), and that certainly one more try will yield something. On bad days, I think that it's been 4 years of bad luck and maybe I should just give up and take a position in industry while my connections there still remember me.


I've also considered that maybe I am a bad interviewer. but I've gotten 2, maybe 3 of the SCs I've talked to to like me enough to recommend me for the position (the one that I got, the LAC one, and the first R1, which I have no reason to doubt they really did try to get an extra line). So I thought I'd ask people who don't know me to be brutally honest and tell me if this is all just one big sunk cost fallacy, or if I should keep trying (and if you've identified me from my story, please talk to me in person and not here).

[aa]

It sounds like you have a job that's tolerable, perhaps more than that (since you like your "day to day life"), but you don't have a very supportive set of colleagues that you enjoy working with. Not the worst situation, but I understand your desire to move on to something better.

Tenure-track jobs are hard to come by. Getting into top pools is great, and it sounds like you're doing that, but there are so many factors beyond a candidate's control when it comes to getting the offer. Unfortunately, you are not a bright and shiny object anymore, and as a junior AP your file will be evaluated with a higher set of expectations. From what I've seen, it is much more difficult for somebody in your position to move out, much less up, unless you have really excelled since starting your TT position. Add in the fact that you (most likely) are not getting stellar letters of recommendation from your current colleagues, now you have a much higher hill to climb than you had when you were a postdoc.

Should you abandon ship and go private industry? If you're considering that, I'm guessing you're not very committed to teaching. That's not a snarky slam, just an assessment based on your inclination to say "R1 or bust." If that really is the case, then you should probably test those waters. If you really can't imagine staying in your current position for another five years, then you probably need to get out. My guess is that, if you stick with it, and if you demonstrate good progress on the publication front as you get closer to the tenure decision and really do have outstanding teaching credentials, you will become a more attractive candidate in the future.

Warning: it is difficult to mask any sense of bitterness or desparation you might be feeling, both to your current colleagues and future SCs. I suggest you really need to figure out some way to make peace with your situation, knowing that for at least the short term you have few options.

Best wishes.

[doubtful]

Thanks for the response. And for the record, my inclination is not R1 or bust. I'd be perfectly happy in my current job if I didn't feel like my senior colleagues were in any way ethical or cared about our department. They actually voted against tenure for some colleagues that already left (and who were in a similar situation in terms of being more productive and well liked than them), and those colleagues only succeeded on appeal because the former chair fought for them. This chair has been pushed out by said senior colleagues since then, so I don't know how it would play out.

And the gist of it is that these senior colleagues have essentially carved out the nice little bits of service for themselves ("faculty liaison to the athletic department" with the occasional free trips to tournaments, for example), and use the threat of tenure to get junior people to do the grunt work, except now I am the only junior person. They need someone to be at the sociology booth for open campus, guess who is going to do the whole day? Guess who is going to have to do EVERYTHING for accreditation (curriculum mapping, creation of common assignments, creation of common rubric, maintenance of documentation, attending department, college and institutional assessment committee meetings)? Guess who has had to serve in 4 search committees (none of them in sociology) in 3 years? Hell, I once had to get the dean involved because I was volunteered as the departmental representative for a new platform training that took place on the day I was supposed to be at the ASAs. I was expected to cancel my ASA participation after having paid for the tickets and all.

[horrible]

Sounds like an unnecessary and horrible amount of service and horrible colleagues.

[failure]

hey, I can't even get a single interview...the things Id do to have any life options whatsoever

[not failure]

If it makes you feel any better, being a runner up in a search gives you just as many life options as not getting an interview.