Academic Careers: What the Media Don’t Tell You In The Amy Bishop Case

One of the many observations we can make about the Amy Bishop case: It’s hard to understand the culture of a profession from the outside.

Tenure is critical to academics. Originally the idea was to protect free speech. Nowadays I think many professors acknowledge they would not undertake a long and arduous education just to get an ordinary job. Just as many mlitary members accept low pay in anticipation of retirement benefits and lifetime health care, professors tolerate low pay in return for lifetime eontracts. It should be noted that “low pay” no longer holds in some departments; business professors can start in $100-$150,000 salaries and I believe law professors do as well or better.

Tenure is also important because professors have trouble finding jobs. The system is structured so that you have your greatest opportunities at entry level. Some professors who are denied tenure at one university go on to stellar careers, often at universities equally distinguished. One professor who was denied tenure later become editor of a prestigious journal, where he had the honor of reviewing the work of his former colleagues who denied him tenure.

Tenure can be two-edged sword. I’ve met several people who left academia after holding tenured positions (and I’ve done the same) because they really didn’t want to remain at the institutions where they received tenure. Changes in administration or their own desire for new careers led them to move on. It is very difficult to change jobs after a professor earns tenure.

It is very, very difficult to move from academia to other fields. The author of Cliff Walk, Ron Snyder, wrote about his struggles after being denied tenure at a small but prestigious university. He was in a competitive field and he hadn’t produced research papers so his academic prospects were dim. Reviewers of his book frequently criticized him for not seeking a job in publishing or public relations.

In fact, academic backgrounds do not translate elsewhere. Even on the Internet, when I say I am a “former college professor,” readers’ eyes glaze over. They’d rather hear about someone who is a former actor, corporate executive, Wall Street trader, lawyer, truck driver…even kindergarten teacher.  Professors get a bad rap. At one Internet marketing conference, a speaker said unabashedly, “You remember how much you hated college? All those boring professors?” I went up to him afterwards to say that I may have been many things, but boring wasn’t one of them.

Professors themselves often say that academic battles are bitter because the stakes are small. In my experience, they are not small. Having a windowless office that’s a converted broom closet versus a spacious office with windows will influence whether you come in every day or find  reasons to stay home and be less productive. Getting an office on the “wrong” floor means you are isolated and out of the loop (a ploy often used to marginalize minorities and mavericks). Having a bad class schedule means your research time evaporates and you get lower course evaluations because you’re getting students at their grumpiest.

For an ecourse about career strategy, visit http://www.MidlifeCareerChoice.com

Whether the kids contributed or not isn’t the point. In academic papers, it’s not uncommon to add additional names to the author list as a courtesy. Thesis directors often are added to articles published by their students, even though the articles were substantially changed since the dissertation. It’s not uncommon for grad students to ghost articles for professors. Junior profs often are pressured to add names or senior profs in their department. And senior profs and thesis directors sometimes add names of junior colleagues or research assistants just to help tthem out. It’s a *very* common practice. So I could see where a professor might add kids’ names without thinking it was a big deal.

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Back to School as a Professor (Adjunct Style)

If you are involved in a mid-life career change or a long job search, you may be getting advice to expand your horizons and try new fields. Recently the New York Times suggested that career changers explore the possibility of adjunct teaching. Read the full article here.

The article makes some good points.

First, teaching won’t pay a lot but it can broaden your resume. You’ll have some answers to a prospective employer’s question, “And what are you doing now?” Almost any paid employment will be better than staying home.

Second, you don’t always need an advanced degree or teaching experience. Some departments will welcome you when you just bring successful experience and at least a BA degree. You get support in putting your course together. Some schools even assign you a mentor to help out when you are new.

Third, you may be able to find new contacts and even clients.

However, I would add a few points.

First, never assume anything. Go ahead and apply. Well-meaning friends will say, “They won’t hire you” or worse. Find out for yourself. Informal networking is less effective in academia than any place I know (except maybe government jobs).

Second, tailor your resume to emphasize related experience in the field as well as any teaching, training or even speaking experience. If you’ve got somespare cash, you can hire a coach for an hour or two to help you revise your resume.

Third, you may decide you like teaching and want to pursue a full-time job. It’s very rare to move from adjunct to full-time in the same school. Ask around to see if others have made this move at a particular place where you are teaching. If few people have made this move, build up a portfolio of good course evaluations and apply elsewhere.

Fourth, if you are interested in higher ed teaching, you can’t afford to assume that all degrees are created equal. Academics are selective about degrees and credentials. Some non-traditional degree will be helpful when you stay within your company or even change jobs in your field but will not be recognized by academic institutions.

Finally, I often recommend adjunct teaching as a helpful activity during a job search or career change. If nothing else, doing something new will bring a new perspective to your life and career. Many professionals are energized by novelty.

However, teaching can be exhausting, especially at first. My first days teaching at a junior college left me wiped! After years of experience, teaching a night course left me both tired and too “up” to go to sleep right away.

And yes, you can make contacts but I wouldn’t count on them. Some adjuncts have had great luck: students hire them as consultants and colleagues expand their professional network. Others have zero success: their students are too junior to do much good and colleagues can be aloof and clique-y.

All in all, though, adjunct teaching is a useful addition to your between-jobs activity and I’d recommend checking it out. I made a major career change this way.

For information about returning to school as a student, go here.

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Mid-Life Career Change: Choosing an MBA or Doctoral Program Online

Choosing the wrong school can be hazardous to your bank account, your goals and even your current job.

On October 10, 2004, Sixty Minutes (a CBS-TV news program) featured a segment about a “university” that claimed to offer degrees through online courses. Many students believed they were signing up for a legitimate program. After all, the page looked fine and the school claimed to be accredited.

Accordingly, students forked over hundreds, even thousands of dollars, only to learn that these “degrees” would do them more harm than good. When prospective employers saw the university’s name on resumes, they were turned off. “We won’t hire someone who wants to go there,” they would say.  And one woman’s employer fired her on the spot after she began referring to herself as “Dr X,” honestly believing she had earned a Ph.D.

Students who signed up for these universities weren’t stupid. They had heard about programs that gave credit for life experience. They were told to write a paper that would serve as the basis for evaluating their experience. Sadly, many toiled over this paper, believing they would be evaluated before entering a degree program.  The school’s former employees reported that nobody actually read those papers. Only a few clerical employees served as the school’s “staff.” Their main job was to process checks.

The problem is: Prospective students usually realize they need to choose an accredited university. But what does “accredited” mean? Your university may have found a way to buy accreditation just as students find a way to buy degrees.

Anyway, accreditation is not enough. You need to learn how this university will be regarded among various audiences: other universities, employers, and the general public. You also need to assess whether this university really will offer the best path to reach your own goals.

Adults struggling to choose MBA (and other) programs wisely can download a guide: Back to School for Your New Career.

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Shopping for an Online MBA Degree Program

Career changers often ask me how to choose an online degree. I’ve never taken a degree online but have taught in several programs that are 100% online or that have an online component.

(1) Decide whether you really need another degree. I like to tell the story of a student who was taking courses when I taught in a live classroom many years ago. When she asked about career advancement, her boss kept telling her to take more courses. She sought my advice on what course to take next. I advised her to find a new job. Her boss seemed to be stalling.

(2) Find out whether you can achieve your goal with an online degree. If you aim for a job in a specific company or organization, make sure they’ll accept your degree. Many students are surprised to learn that some universities do not hire graduates of online programs for teaching positions. Even though your university is accredited, a specific career may not be open to you.

(3) Don’t shop based on price. Focus on the school’s track record. Where are their alumni now? What kind of faculty do they have?

For more info, visit my guide to Mid-Life Education .

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Temp jobs: Part-time academic or substitute teacher?

Ford Myers : Get The Job You Want Even  When No One’s Hiring

This book is sone of the better career change and job search books I’ve read in a while. But it’s got at least one flaw.

On page 27, the author suggests that substitute teaching can be a way to earn extra money. Maybe you can be a “sub” for elementary and high schools, but be aware that these jobs are exhausting and demanding. They don’t pay a whole lot: you might do better as a Starbucks barista.

But one element of the author’s advicei is simply inaccurate. I have never, ever heard of substitute teaching in colleges, and I was a university professor for 20+ years. You don’t get a university job by applying to the human resource department. You write to the dean. Competition is keen for these jobs and I’m not aware that they’re looking for people with real world experience. You can get a part-time teaching job at a university; it’s called beng an “adjunct” and you’ll enjoy low pay and bottom-of-the-totem-pole status. These jobs aren’t especially good for networking either.

There’s a HUGE amount of mis-information out there about teaching jobs. That’s one reason I continue to offer consulting on academic careers: after 20+ years as a classroom and online professor, I can demystify academic careers.

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Mid-life Career Change to College Teaching

Q: I would like to get into college teaching, after several year in corporate life. I have no teaching experience but have made lots of presentation.

A. I’ve taught college level courses as full-time, tenured and adjunct faculty. I’ve taught online and offline, in classrooms and conference rooms. So I love this question.

(1) You absolutely need an advanced degree. To serve as an adjunct (a low-paid part-timer who teaches a course or two), you may get by with a masters degree. Junior colleges and community colleges typically hire teachers with just mastesr degrees, but they may also require credentials, certification and teaching experience. To make meaningful progress, you need a PhD.

(2) Make sure your degrees come from reputable, recognized schools. Don’t just go by accreditation. Call three or four colleges where you might like to teach. Ask if they consider faculty with degrees from BusyPeople University.

A quick degree from an online alternative university can seem like a great deal. For some students, it’s perfect. If you’re serious about college teaching, you need the strongest academic background you can get.

For tips on choosing a school, I’ve written Back to School for a Midlife Career.

(3) Choose your jobs wisely: you go down, not up.

In some fields, you start low and work up to the top. Broadcasters typically start in small towns and work up to major markets.

Universities work differently. It’s rare to move up — and almost impossible within the same school. If you accept a position as an adjunct professor, chances are you will be barred from consideration for a full-time position. The rules may be unwritten, but very powerful.

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First Impressions

Marci Alboher writes in her blog about the book Sway — why we respond to irrational impulses.

Interviewing the authors, she uncovered an important reality: first impressions count.

One described a lawyer who worked hard to impress everyone as a hard worker: first in, last out, few breaks, no personal calls. As time went on, he began taking more breaks and longer lunches . Nobody noticed. His reputation as a hard worker was safe.

That is so true! When I was an academic I was known as a researcher. So I was rarely asked to serve on time-consuming (and time-wasting committees and task forces. I was left alone to do research. I used to joke that I could sit in my office and do my nails and everyone would say, “Don’ t bother her. She’s doing research.”

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Defying stereotypes of academic careers and West Point cadets

Elizabeth Samet holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Yale, all in English literature. So she’s hardly the type you’d expect to find teaching cadets at West Point.

But Samet accepted a position there in 1996, to the surprise (and, I suspect, consternation) of her academic colleagues. She found surprising rewards and revelations, which she chronicles in her book, Soldier’s Heart.

I can’t help wishing Samet had written more about her everyday life as a West Point professor. She seems to have a large teaching load — 4 English comp classes her first semester — although classes are small. And anyone who’s taught in a business school (where students frequently disappear for interview trips and mental health days) might wish for a class “marcher” who takes attendance and makes sure absences are punished with “hours” of walking the Area.

As a career case study, Samet seems remarkably well-suited to this seemingly odd career choice. Her father’s Army service made his college education (and ultimately her comfortable childhood) possible. Samet herself is the product of an all-girls’ high school in Boston, where she gained confidence that served her well in male-dominated environments. She describes herself as athletic and physically active,

Like much of the literary fiction she teaches, Samet’s book combines rich writing with the absence of a linear plot line. She talks about her job interview, then veers off into detours that move us several years forward. The last two chapters get more philosophical than I would like: Samet is an expert on literature and teaching, not war.

I empathized with her efforts to talk to students who come to her with unanswerable questions. When I was a professor, I would feel inadequate and refer the students to what I considered more appropriate, helpful resources. In contrast, Samet struggles to help students work through questions like, “Should I stay in the Army?” and comes up with some pretty impressive insights.

Because she hasn’t taught anywhere else, she may not realize that students typically expect more nurturing from female professors than from their male counterparts. I was pleased to say that she openy acknowledges she’s pretty hard-nosed and businesslike in class. On September 11, it was business as usual, because, she said, she doesn’t know how to help in other ways. She’s not a psychologist. She doesn’t pray.

With 10 years of teaching at West Point, and now a full professor (I googled her on the Internet), Samet has become thoroughly indoctrinated — or, as she might prefer to say, a fully accepted member of the military tribe. She identifies with military values and feels uncomfortable with many civilian environments.

Yet in the end, she’s still a civilian. And I wonder if she ever feels as though she’s got a foot in both worlds, like a New Yorker who’s been transplanted to a small midwestern or southern town.

For some thought-provoking ideas about career choice, Soldiers Heart is recommended. If you’ve read the book, and/or if you have first-hand experience with military service, academic careers and/or military academies, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Just click on the “Comments” link below — no need to register.

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“Just one more thing…”

I once got a call from a life coach looking for a new career. I agreed to talk for 15 minutes at no charge. As we got into the conversation, she mentioned that she was talking to 21 coaches before making up her mind. She followed up our call with a dozen more questions

I could use the business but I said, “If you’re still not sure I suggest you find someone else.”

This strategy of “just one more thing” happens all the time. When you’re on the receiving end, you might consider plotting your own exit strategy.

Insurance companies use “just one more” as a delaying tactic. Before they pay a claim, they want to see just one more piece of paper…one more question to be answered.

When you’re a job candidate, though, it’s hard to interpret what’s going on. Sometimes you need to realize you’re dealing with a company (or a boss) who’s going to be a high-maintenance hassle as long as you’re there. Or you may be walking into a situation that’s not right for you.

In her book, Carly Fiorina writes about her interviews with Hewlett-Packard. To avoid rumors she had to meet recruiters and H-P managers in out of the way places. She agreed to everything, including a psychological evaluation. She may have done a good job for H-P (she points out that her successor just continued her program), but she never fit in and, as just about everyone knows, as ignominiously fired. (No sympathy needed: her severance ran into the millions.)

Another view: One of my acquaintances “Pauline” applied for a humble assistant professor job at a medium size, middle tier university. She kept getting called back for more interviews. The committee peppered her with questions. They even demanded to see her PhD diploma — a very rare move.

Later Pauline learned the committee had been divided right down the middle. Half wanted “Len” and half wanted “Laura.” So they compromised on Pauline. Pauline wasn’t as strong a candidate as either Len or Laura.

But she was happy to take the job. She was limited to a particular location and she had few other options. So she took a chance. And contrary to what you might expect, she went on to a long and satisfying career with her new university. They treated her like royalty. They gave her all sorts of special consideration.

I’d like to find a lesson to learn here, but all I can say is, “Sometimes you get lucky. Or you go with your intuition, disregard the facts, and expect a great outcome.

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When the best career strategy is letting go

It’s always hard to give up a steady source of income. Experienced career counselors will caution, “Hang on to your job until you’ve got another opportunity lined up.” And you’ve heard the advice, “Don’t quit your job till you’ve got another one.”

Mostly that’s good advice. I say the same thingi when clients ask.

But sometimes you just don’t have a choice. Sometimes your job makes you sick. Or you find yourself doing things to sabotage yourself so you’ll get fired.

I caught myself doing that a few months ago. Back when I left academia, I began working with a university’s distance education programs. The work was pretty easy and fun.

But one day the university — literally thousands of miles from where I lived — decided to make some changes. First they were bought by a bigger, more bureaucratic corporation. Then they started adding time-consuming procedures and layers of administration. It wasn’t fun anymore.

One day I realized I was not following the advice I gave my own clients. I dreaded signing on to the system. I kept forgetting things. And to be honest, I didn’t need them: I’d stuck around from habit. I didn’t really need the money and I could use the time to build my business instead of treading water.

Walking away was tough and I knew I would miss some of the fun parts of the job. I have always liked. But it was time.

I would not advise someone, “This is the time.” But I can say, “Here are some signs that it’s time to let go of a job, client or city.” Family? I don’t go there.

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