27: Postdocs and Job Hunting during a Pandemic

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hi everyone. Today I am actually going to be recording an episode that was in a request from someone on Instagram. Last week, I think I put out a quick question asking folks, if you have any questions, reach out to me. If you have any episode suggestions, please also reach out. And someone mentioned that they weren't interested in hearing more about postdocs and job opportunities during the pandemic. I figured I'd go ahead and try to address the topic to the best of my ability. But again, just wanted to put it out there, I am not an expert on securing jobs in the academy. But I'm happy to share what I know with you. This episode is really for undergraduates who are thinking of going to graduate school and will eventually have to face the job market after they graduate. It's for grad students who are thinking about the job market, and it's for postdocs who are also especially thinking about the job market and what they're gonna do when they're postdoc ends.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So what are my thoughts about securing a job during the pandemic? Well, first of all, I want to say that the academic job market has been a slim pickings for a while. I have seen a lot of comments, and I've read some articles on the Chronicle, on Inside Higher Ed, by folks who are giving advice to others on how to secure a job during during this time, and a lot of folks are comparing it to the recession in 2008. As much as they want to compare it to the recession, because yes, there were issues with securing jobs, we never fully recovered from that time. And things are substantially worse now. I hate to admit it, because this is not the most positive topic to bring up, but I also want to be very realistic about what is to come for you once you're you've completed graduate school, or completed a postdoc.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So what's going on? What are the issues to consider? First of all, it's going to be especially hard to secure a tenure track job. Harder than usual- it's already been extremely hard, because of the adjunct-ification of academia. So many tenure track jobs have been lost over time and have been replaced by contingent labor, by part time adjunct professors who are getting paid very little, below the poverty line to teach these college courses. So there's that, it's going to be even harder than usual. Why is it harder than usual? Because there are a good number of universities who are facing substantial losses, millions and billions of dollars in losses from the pandemic. So there are layoffs. Some universities are laying off tenure track professors. They're not just laying off staff members. They're laying off professors who supposedly, in some cases, are supposed to have job security, are supposed to be tenured. So there's that. There's also the issue of current employees who maybe they're not worried about losing their job, but they're going through furloughs, which means they're not making the same amount as they made before, but they still have to work just as much. And they're having to make ends meet with less.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Then there's also the issue of hiring freezes. That means- well hiring and salary freezes. Hiring freezes means that departments that maybe we're hoping to expand and hire more professors, because of the cuts, because of the loss of revenue, they are having to put a freeze on their hiring. They cannot hire any other professors. I've heard of some folks who were interviewed, and were selected for a tenure track job. Then the pandemic hit, and that job was rescinded. All of a sudden, they say, nevermind. We're taking this offer back. Which is a terrible thing to do. I don't know how departments can get away with that. But yes, I have heard of that happening. With this in mind, what are you supposed to do? I mean, you dedicated so much of your time and energy, and you've been committed to a very particular type of career. So what's next?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I would say, if I were in your situation, I would focus on trying to be as flexible as possible with regard to your career options. I would also try to focus on expanding your networking opportunities. Right now, a lot of academic conferences are canceled. A lot of events and anything that was happening in person are canceled. That means that we have to go out of our way to network. We can't just show up at an event and just start chatting with someone like we would have before. Now we have to actually go out and pinpoint certain individuals who we think might be good to talk to. So now is the time to ask for informational interviews, to look at the folks that you that you look up to who are in careers that seeme like really good choices for you, good options for you. Reach out to them and ask them, how did they get involved in in that industry? Or in that job? Or what was there in, what did they do to prepare? Then let them know that you are on the job market, so that they will keep you in mind whenever there's an opening wherever they work. Networking is going to be more important than ever, because as much as we want to rely on looking up job sites, and applying for what's available. What's available online is only a fraction of the jobs that are actually available out there. That unfortunately, now because of the cuts, they're going to be even fewer universities paying to get their job ads placed in these larger databases. It's gonna be even harder to find the job ads anyway. So the more you can have an in, the more people you know, the more they'll let you know about what opportunities are available.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Aside from networking, I want to go back to thinking about being flexible about your career options. That's something that I think I have been advocating for a while, because that's something I had to do for myself anyway. When I was on the tenure track job market, it was a struggle to even get to the point of getting an interview for a tenure track job. It was a struggle to even become a finalist for a postdoc. And so I had to really think twice about, what else can I do with my theater PhD? Aside from what most other people were thinking they could do, which is continue doing practical theater work, working for a theater company, becoming a director of a theater center, or becoming a theater professor. I kept thinking, what else can I do? Thankfully, I was able to get some experience working in an office setting, some experience, mentoring and femtoring and advising students. All of that experience helped me secure the job that I have now, as the assistant director of a McNair program.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

This is the time to think about, what can you do outside of being a researcher outside of being a professor? Are you willing to even- not just think outside of that box, but still look for academic jobs. Are you willing to look for jobs outside of academia as a whole? There's a whole world out there of other opportunities that are available. A good number of academics who have left tenure track jobs have gone to pursue their own entrepreneurial ventures. They've become self employed business owners, where they use their skill set. Whether it's a skill set in teaching, in writing, in advising, in editing- you name it. Whatever their expertise is- web design- they've created that into a business where they sell courses. They sell workshops. I know folks who give workshops every other week, and the workshops are relatively affordable. They're only charging $20 per person, and they get at least 200 people each time they give a workshop. That means every workshop they're making $20 times- I didn't do the math- 200. What is that- $4,000? I don't know. I'm gonna go back and listen to the episode and say, wow, I can't believe I couldn't do that math in my head. But they're making thousands of dollars per workshop.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I'm not quite there yet. I don't yet -me, myself -feel comfortable with charging that much and I don't have that big of an audience. But who knows? Perhaps one day I will. Honestly $20 is not that much if you're providing good quality content to individuals who are going to use that content. So some folks go the entrepreneurial route route, the self employed route. Some folks go into different industries, some folks go into doing nonprofit work. Really, the best way to find out whether or not it's a good fit for you is to do these informational interviews, to connect with folks in careers that you desire, and to get some more training. Now is a good time- that is, if you have time, because a lot of us don't have time. A lot of us are have or having to be caregivers, or parenting or homeschooling, or juggling our jobs and schooling. So I understand if you don't have time to take on additional online trainings, that's okay, too. But if you do, if you can squeeze in some time, there are a lot of free online courses right now that are available so that you can gain another skill set. That's another thing that you're gonna add to your CV and your resume.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Then the other thing that I want you to consider is if you're on the job hunt, you may want to consider being flexible about not just the type of job that you get, but also how many hours you're willing to work, and maybe even what your pay is going to look like. I would recommend being open to remote work being open to part time work, and being open to temp work, being open to volunteer work. Again, it's up to you and your circumstances, if you can afford to volunteer versus affording to be working part time or doing temp work. But the reason why I say try to be as flexible as possible is because the hardest thing a lot of times when you're on the job hunt is getting that in. It took me so long to get that in with the McNair program. I have been trying to be a part of the McNair program since I was an undergrad and applied to be a McNair scholar and did not get it. It took me many years to get an in and to be part of the TRIO family. Once you're in you, you will have a number of other opportunities open up because your network is going to expand. And admittedly, the more experience you have, the wider your network is, the higher the chances are of you being able to move up within that field within that industry.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

The other thing- I know I mentioned postdocs as well. For those of you that are unfamiliar, postdocs are fellowships that you get after you complete a PhD to continue your professional training. Oftentimes, they provide you with funding so that you don't have to teach or minimally teach so that you can prioritize your time on your research and on publications, which will make you more competitive in the job market to ultimately secure that research or tenure track job. And so the other thing I wanted to mention is, if you're a postdoc now, or if you're a graduating student or a grad student on your way out, I would still consider applying to postdocs. I actually don't think that's a terrible thing to do. As much as I'm following the trends of what's going on in academia with regard to the job freezes, the furloughs, the layoffs, I haven't heard much about any cuts with regard to postdoc positions. I don't see that as something, at least not within what I've read, as something happening where they're going to completely cut postdocs.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

If there is a job, or some sort of ad for a postdoctoral fellowship, go ahead and apply. It will probably be just as competitive as it's ever been, if not more, but if you get it, hey, that's solid, relatively stable income for the term of your fellowship, whether that's one year or two years. And it's unclear whether or not the postdoc will be will be remote or online or if you will have to move. That's another thing for you to consider, whether or not you are in the position to have the circumstances where you would be able to move temporarily for a postdoc. But if you could move, or if the fellowship is somehow transitioned to an online postdoc, that would be a great time to focus on your research, to to continue applying to jobs, to maybe work on a side hustle, your entrepreneurial venture. And just to learn more, to get more training, and to give you a little bit more time to secure, hopefully, a full time, decent paying relatively stable job. I say relatively stable, because I don't think anything is stable right now, not even my job. I mean, I go up for renewal every two years. That means technically, I could give laid off after two years if there's no funding for my position. So there's not a lot of stability or certainty in most fields nowadays, in most jobs nowadays. We've just got to plan for the time being, and we've got a plan for the next year or two at a time, because we don't know how long this pandemic is going to last. I just want you to prioritize, how can I survive? How can I make ends meet? And even if possible, how can I thrive for the next year for the next two years, maybe even the next three years? But it's really hard to think long term right now.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I follow several podcasts on financial literacy, and just businesswoman who share their advice on what to do with regard to your finances at this time. A lot of the advice they're giving is advice they would never give before. They're prioritizing folks just surviving, saving as much as you can, bumping up your emergency savings, because everything is so unstable, uncertain, insecure, that we just got to find a way to survive for the time being. Now is not the time- unless you are okay financially- now is not the time to invest. Now is not the time to try to pay off all your debt. Now is the time to to stay afloat. Hopefully, if you figure something out in terms of a job for the next year or two, you can then set yourself up so that you can have even better opportunities once this pandemic passes. And you've gained a little more time for more skill set, for getting more training, for expanding your network.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I hope that you found some of this useful. I know a lot of it is very grim. Some of it you've probably already heard before. Also a lot of it probably hasn't changed either, because the job market, like I said, has been so terrible for so long that none of this should be huge news to you. But nonetheless, I do still think going to graduate school is not a bad idea if you're interested in getting advanced training, if you're interested in pursuing research. It's not an opportunity that's gonna pay you well, and in many cases, you're going to be overworked. But at the end of the day, you are going to come out of it with a skill set that would be hard to obtain otherwise, with a certain set of credentials that will open you up to more opportunities. And hopefully with a sense of consciousness, depending on your field of who you are, and who you are in the world and what you can do, a sense of your potential and your self worth. That will hopefully allow you to apply to much better jobs than you would have without that Masters or PhD. So if you're on the job market, I wish you the best of luck. I know a lot of us are going to be on the job market, whether we like it or not, just because of the changes in our circumstances. Good luck with everything. I really hope it works out. Don't give up. Just keep trying. K-eep opening yourself up to opportunities and networking. And eventually, I trust that something will work out. All right. I'll talk to you all next time.