I didn’t find a job right away. Like many recent PhD graduates, I was applying to universities and waiting for responses that never came. It’s all too familiar an experience, I’m afraid, and I still don’t think it’s right – that is, the failure to acknowledge candidates who’ve spent the time and effort in applying. Unfortunately, that’s how it works in many organizations. And in my experience, the higher-education sector has embraced this modus operandi.
As it turns out, my terminal degree didn’t exactly qualify me for the job market. Not right away anyhow. I was one of many recent graduates competing in an international field. I didn’t have the requisite experience (yet). I would even argue, given what I covered in my last blog post, that my PhD training didn’t offer the right sort of preparation. So I scrambled and moved cities again, awaiting some positive response from among the many applications I’d submitted.
I was extremely fortunate in this regard. Something came up to fill the gap, so to speak. I got the chance to pursue a postdoctoral degree for one year, buying me valuable time to establish my career and continue applying for academic positions around the world.
The opportunity wasn’t so obvious at first. I received an email offering me a place, with no details whatsoever about funding. It read like a half-message of sorts – a ‘congratulations’ quickly downgraded by the practicalities of how this might actually work. How could I afford to live? What about rent and food? Etc.
The details followed in the next few days. The money was below the living wage. I knew that others in the same program had been offered more, and I was given a modest reserve from another source. I wasn’t ungrateful or complaining. What choice did I really have?
Months later I was bound for an institution that proudly flew the Vatican flag above its doors. I’d never seen the image before, with its yellow and white colours, adorned with the papal tiara and two crossed keys of Saint Peter. It was an impressive site. I was excited for the chance to advance my education at this auspicious institution.
It turned out to be a great year. The general loneliness, misery, and malaise that characterized much of my PhD dissipated under the prospect of fresh opportunities. I was immediately part of an intense cohort of scholars, supervised by some invested personalities. I worked hard and produced good work. And for the duration of that year, I applied ad nauseum for every academic job under the sun. From full time, tenure-track jobs to one or two year contracts, I threw my hat into the ring. I beat a frequent path between my office at the closest post office, where I submitted many applications in thick, brown envelopes.
I only got one bite. All those applications and only one response. Fortunately, it was enough to set my career on its current path. (More on that later).
My postdoctoral year was truly was a defining experience. I was young and green enough to enjoy the ride, not to worry so much about the prospects of securing a job. I was working for the sake of research, inspired by and following my curiosity. I was surrounded by like-minded people, in an environment that encouraged this sort of behaviour. I spent hours every day enmeshed in my own work, in the library and archives, thinking, creating, and expressing. And often, I got the chance to share my half-cooked theories and arguments with scholars who shared similar interests.
It was as though time stood still. The year went by fast in my ways, but it felt slow and deliberate in others. I had no other obligations in my life but to focus on my work. To test and share my ideas. To think, and write, and eventually publish. I achieved a lot of firsts during that time, precisely because I had the freedom to ponder. I like to think that I’ve never taken that privilege for granted.
My post-doc experience opened up some doors. It was in a very practical sense the true beginning of my academic career. By the year’s end, I had more to my name than before, which helped me push my foot across the threshold and follow the opportunity that landed in my lap.