Much possible employment activity happening at the moment.
I've just come out of an interview for a permanent post in one of the main Faculty offices here at the university. *mops sweaty brow* I think it went very well, but of course you never know. Still, it was good to get to interview stage after so much time applying and getting nowhere. But jeez, if they are thinking of offering me the post...I'd have to tell the bosses about it as Personnel would want to call them for a reference. And given that the bosses don't know I'm applying for other work, this would make for an extremely awkward situation. Gaah.
In related news, one of the other universities here in the city has been jockeying for my teaching services (which is really rather nice, when you think about it). They've asked me to teach a survey course in my field, which is absolutely fine, but they've also asked me to take on another course in early modern British history (1485-1715!). Given that the last time I studied early modern history was when I was an undergraduate, this prospect fills me with terror. I think I'm going to have to turn it down - the amount of work involved in teaching myself the material and writing lectures would be overwhelming. And given that teaching is something I'm supposed to be exploring for 'fun' and mental stimulation, I don't want to get pressured into doing stuff I'm not comfortable with. Even teaching a class in my field of speciality will take a ridiculous amount of my (already limited) free time - the preparation will be staggering.
I must say, it feels very odd to be in a situation where one might turn down work.
2 comments:
I agree. You're not in a position where you have to expand your list of teachables for career reasons.
On the other hand, the preparation for such a course would be amortized over the subsequent times you teach it; the lectures, etc., would be "in the can," so to speak: to be updated as needed, but not recreated from scratch. So you'd only go nuts once; after that, it'd be a cinch -- assuming you survived the initial ordeal, that is.
Of course, considering what they pay sessionals, it's probably not worth it.
Quite right. I agree that if I had time, it would be great to get some early modern stuff under my belt. But at this point, I'm very cautious about biting off more than I can chew. I do have a full-time job, after all.
Besides, from the sounds of it, qualified third-level teachers of British history are few and far between here. Just because I turn down an offer now doesn't mean I couldn't potentially do it later. Given that universities now survive on the sweated labour of sessional instructors, I think I'm in a good bargaining position.
Still makes me happy I'm not searching for academic work full-time, though. All that work for $3,700 per half-credit? I often think I must be mental to consider it at all.
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