Friends in the job market now: lots, too many to mention!
Friends considering working overseas: almost all of them.
I was having a chat with one of my pals who currently works for a Russell Group university and he was telling me he’d just applied for a permanent job in Western Australia. How exciting, I thought, although this may curtail our habit of getting together every few months for a pint and to put the historical world to rights! It did get me thinking though, when it became clear that not only had he never been to Australia, had never really had the urge to go and wasn’t 100% sure that he wanted to go now. This got me thinking about the sorts of life-changing decisions that can be made in an almost blasé manner when applying for jobs.
Perhaps it is just an extreme example of the tendency to put an application in for a post and see what happens. We’ve all done it I am sure, applied for a job without really being certain whether we would take it if offered. And this is a healthy way of doing things, allowing the candidate to judge the institution for suitability for his or her needs just as much as the candidates is being judged.
But I can’t help thinking that with academic jobs being so difficult to get at the moment and some scholars having to spend years waiting for that first permanent position, that some speculative job applications are a reflection of desperation and not confidence in one’s job seeking abilities. That’s not the case with my friend of course, and please don’t think I am trying to say that anyone would have to be desperate to work in Australia: far from it! Simply that it’s such a big step to move 10,000 miles just because the job happened to come up. I think it’s important for scholars of all levels to think about why they want to work overseas and what that would mean to the lives of their friends and family. And then they’ll be ready to seize the opportunities offered by this truly global job market.
Hi Catherine,
I have just discovered your very interesting blog. I guess I am in the situation you describe above – I have moved from Australia to another country (one that I had never even visited before) for a post-doc and while I would love to move back to Australia or NZ, I am also looking out for jobs in the UK. In Australia and NZ there are just so few job openings in my field (European/Medical history) that unless I want to do sessional work I have to look further afield. That said, the price is high e.g. partner still back in Aus. For me then my international job search seems to be a combination of confidence in my skills and desperation at the lack of available work. Anyway, keep up the interesting blog – I look forward to your next entry.
Hi Heather, (sorry for the delay in replying…a busy time of term as I am sure you know!)
Thanks very much for your comments. As I am sure you know, the history of medicine is thriving as a discipline in the UK partly because of Wellcome funding so keep an eye on the job situation here for sure. Best of luck in your job search wherever it may take you!
Catherine