History PhDs are employed but...

[RedPill]

New job market survey featured in InsideHigherEd. May be of interest to some of you. There's good news and bad news!

 

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/12/02/study-explores-career-paths-history-phds

[czesc]

This article put a much more negative spin on this news than the Chronicle version. Quite a few people are rejoicing over this study; it dispels a lot of fears (based mostly on worst case scenario anecdotes) that most history PhDs are predestined to wind up working four adjunct jobs at a time and still making poverty wages that won't cover routine healthcare costs even though they qualify for food stamps.

 

The key is really rooting people away from the pure academic track if they don't wind up with an academic lifestyle that's tolerable - and toward something that the study shows a history PhD has proven valuable for. The fact that the AHA is encouraging Plan Bs more explicitly now and not being complicit in shaming people into submission to the idea that tenure track is a be all and end all of existence is only going to help matters, as will the network effect of more history PhDs employed outside academe. 

[hdunlop]

Yeah, I had been beaten down enough that I actually took this as good news. The numbers for 06-09 PHDs, which seem best to use since theyre the folks who are looking most recently, seem not much worse than a coinflip. This is much more promising than the mantra of most professors I spoke with, that a tenure-track gig is like winning the lottery. Probably what they mean is getting a good tenure-track gig in a place you want to live is like winning the lottery. But still.

[kdavid]

Good news for Asianists.

[levoyous]

Yeah, I had been beaten down enough that I actually took this as good news. The numbers for 06-09 PHDs, which seem best to use since theyre the folks who are looking most recently, seem not much worse than a coinflip. This is much more promising than the mantra of most professors I spoke with, that a tenure-track gig is like winning the lottery. Probably what they mean is getting a good tenure-track gig in a place you want to live is like winning the lottery. But still.

 

There was a similar story about philosophy jobs recently that reported something like 40 percent of the PhDs from a certain recent period now had tenure-track positions. When I saw some philosophers sharing it gloomily on Twitter, I was like, people have complained so bitterly about it for so long now that I took 40 percent as an encouraging number.

[BerenErchamion]

Speaking of, what is everyone's Plan B?

 

I always wanted to be a pilot growing up.  Out of high school, I enrolled in Purdue's aviation program, but had some medical issues and couldn't do that.  Ten years later, I'm in my first year of a Ph.D. program in Russian History.

 

But if that doesn't work out, or doesn't end up being what I hoped it would?  The FAA certifies a number of six-week programs to earn an FAA Airline Dispatcher's certificate.  Most programs run between four and six thousand dollars, and after six weeks you take a test and you start interviewing for jobs.  Most programs have a pretty good placement rate, and there's decent pay once you get on with a major airline (which often is a real possibility within five years); even without it's not absolutely miserable.

 

And if that doesn't work out?  I'll join Twin Oaks.

[hdunlop]

Professor of law.

[Mandarin]

Right... because there were 70-90 tenure track law school jobs this year in the entire country for, what, 800-900 applicants--and therefore, this is easier than getting a history TT offer?

Edited December 30, 2013 by Mandarin

[hdunlop]

Depends on where you get in, I suppose.

[hdunlop]

I also don't think backup plans necessarily need to be easier.

[Mandarin]

While I would usually agree that backup plans don't necessarily have to be easier, if your "backup" plan in life is something as excruciatingly difficult as becoming a law professor--indeed far more difficult than becoming a history professor (and because legal scholarship utilizes a very similar intellectual toolset, the respective difficulty of the two tracks can actually be logically compared to each other)--well, I was just a bit struck.  You do realize that the 800-900 people who apply each year for law teaching positions were generally top of their class or close at top schools?  Yale and Harvard alone account for some 120 candidates a year, and most were on law review. 

 

This is not like history or social science PhD programs: generally speaking, only the top students at top law schools even bother to apply, and their success rate, even in good years, is no higher than 20 percent across the board.  And after following the law school job market for years (I'm a legal historian who doesn't have a JD, but considered making the leap for a while), I can tell you that legal academic hiring for the past 5 years has been going down, down, down, with no end in sight.  This year, as I said, the success rate will be closer to 10 percent, again for a group of candidates that is already highly self-selective credential-wise.

 

Of course, if you're actually a former Yale Law Journal or Harvard Law Review editor with a SCOTUS clerkship, then forget I said any of this (although, in this case, I would wonder why you're even considering going after a History TT job, considering that law faculty positions pay double or triple the salary, have lower teaching loads, and have vastly higher tenure rates).  But if you're someone who hasn't even applied to law school yet but is considering the law professor track (which is what it sounds like), I should warn you that the odds of succeeding in that are literally 1 in 100 at a school like UVA, Michigan, or Duke, 1 in 20 at Harvard, and 1 in 7-8 even at Yale.  It's just not the kind of thing that is a viable backup option.

[hdunlop]

I was being somewhat facetious but did get into HLS, which makes one more law program than PhD program so far. We'll see what comes. My backup backup plan is practicing law.

[nescafe]

This topic is highly relevant for me right now... year two on the job market with no offers. I figure I'll give the TT market one more year after this but I'm not planning on spending longer than that seeking professorial work.

 

I'm looking at work in NGOs, international philanthropy, etc. My humanities field is language-intensive so I'm going to rely on that and publications to get my foot in the door somewhere. We'll see. 

[A Finicky Bean]

This topic is highly relevant for me right now... year two on the job market with no offers. I figure I'll give the TT market one more year after this but I'm not planning on spending longer than that seeking professorial work.

 

I'm looking at work in NGOs, international philanthropy, etc. My humanities field is language-intensive so I'm going to rely on that and publications to get my foot in the door somewhere. We'll see. 

 

Have you considered a stint in Peace Corps to get connected with NGOs, etc.? While the time doesn't pay (except for stipend and a bit of money at the end of the two-year term) there is ample opportunity to network in-country and possibly find a job for after service. 

[hdunlop]

My fiance actually works at an NGO for a PhD (English) who either didn't make tenure track or hated the school where she did so, I can't remember which. She did not do Peace Corps I don't believe, but tons of management there did. It's definitely a strong idea.

[A Finicky Bean]

My fiance actually works at an NGO for a PhD (English) who either didn't make tenure track or hated the school where she did so, I can't remember which. She did not do Peace Corps I don't believe, but tons of management there did. It's definitely a strong idea.

 

If you want any more thoughts on it, feel free to PM me as I was in PC and know many other RPCVs in NGOs and international affairs.

[czesc]

As someone who graduated from a law school that regularly produces quite a few legal academics I feel compelled to share what I know about teaching law as a plan B. Factors like law review membership and SCOTUS clerkships still hold some weight, but are barely relevant anymore compared to the quality and quantity of a candidate's scholarship. Publishing a lot, in good journals, is the most consistent factor in obtaining a position. Outside of that, it's a lot of luck. There are very few positions available in legal teaching right now. Believe it or not, people who are well placed to know think that history positions might be easier to obtain at the moment - for those who have the luxury or pursuing both markets. 

Edited January 4, 2014 by czesc