Job market retrospective, part I:

Well there's nothing like reading through your job market materials and realizing that really, they sucked. it's ok, this is familiar, it's the same thing that I went through with my grant materials. I suck at writing cover letters, proposals, etc. I know this, I recognize this, I try to seek multiple editors to help, but everyone's being too nice. For my dissertation comments - I want some nice to soften the blows. Tell me what's awful, but help me out by telling me what works and what I need to do to change. For job market stuff: tell me when it blows. Honestly. I already know it sucks, what I need is not a fluffer for my impotent letters (not even Cialis would help some of the crap I've written), but some honest discussion/help on how to re-do and improve. And then throw me a freakin' bone to help me make it blow less.

Things I already identified that blew about my job market cover letter(s):

-Research - too much description, too much detail. Too vague. Not clear enough in terms of importance and impact of project. My work just sounded boring - a specialist crying for attention. I really need to figure out what the fuck my work is all about and why it matters - b/c if I'm not sure, there's no way I can convince others.

Plus: I'm presenting too much like a grad student desperate for approval. This should read like an abstract, not an application.

-Research II: no publications, not enough presentations based on my own research. Working on that for next year.

-Research III: I have no "next project". No idea what it's going to be. I have articles to spin off from the diss, but not sure what I'm doing next. I need to fix that.

Teaching:
-too much telling, not enough showing

-need more concrete examples; need to think about why students think I'm a good teacher.

-need to talk about teaching in less syrupy ways.

-need to explain how I teach and show how I know it's effective. e.g. I worked with many students multiple times over their careers. every single one told me that my work with them on their writing improved their writing skills more than anyone else they had worked with, and they had the improved writing and grades in my subsequent sections to prove it. I need to find a way to put that in an sentence that doesn't sound totally lame.

-need to show how my in-class work with primary sources, and mini-research projects, leads to better research papers by demystifying the research and primary source analytical processes.

-Consistently students say the get a lot out of my discussions b/c I am really good at both challenging and encouraging them. Students say they like that I treat them like peers-in-training and find ways to guide and correct their work, while encouraging that 1) they can make improvements even if they seem daunting today, and 2) helping students realize that history is more than names, dates, and people. My enthusiasm and belief that "they can do it if they work harder/smarter", really inspires students. Opening up students' perceptions of "what is history" leads them to develop their own, better, research projects. Also useful in working with scientists/non-hum people.

-Although I laid out clearly the diversity of classes I've taught, I made no mention of classes I would teach at X institution. This means I presented myself as a student seeking approval for what I've done rather than presenting myself as a colleague with a plan for what I will do.

All in all, I need more focus, concrete statements, impact statement, evidence statements. I need to think about not just where I am (the inner pits of dissertation hell, exhausted, confused and lost), but where I'm going. I need not to be a grad student desperate for approval (even though I am), but present myself as a colleague who can step into the job on day 1 (which is how I feel, but not how I present myself).

I'm also thinking of asking Dr. Karen over at The Professor is In for help: http://theprofessorisin.com/

Again, for the millionth time, I'm astonished at how woefully unprofessionalized I feel in the ways that matter/can be demonstrated in a cover letter and CV. I've faced major hurdles (changing fields, changing advisors, being in a small program at an underfunded state U working with well-meaning senior faculty), and I'm realizing now how far behind I am from my colleagues at better funded programs who work with Big Names and are at Ivy Leagues. Some of this is because of the sheer amount of time I've spent chasing money, TAing, chasing students, when I should have been saying "fuck all" and worked mainly on research (although then I wouldn't have had the money to do the research...).

So I have a list of things to change for next year. I know fully well why I've been passed on for 2 interviews and will likely be passed on for the other 3 I applied for. It's a lot like looking back over my grant applications for the last 4 years. It's not because I suck. Personally I'm a great person, smart, cook well, knit well, run well, and people seem to like me. My cat loves me, but I suspect it's because I feed her... I've never interviewed for a job and not gotten it. I also suspect this is why I tend to get funding from smaller organizations that know me and know my work "in person", rather than just "on paper" - funding that has amounted to a substantial amount over my 7 years. The problem, as always, is what I look like "on paper". I'm still not sure how to fix that, but at least I've got some things to start with.