Selective Information: Who Knows. Who Doesn't.

Uh, so I should have mentioned this in my very first post. And probably in my profile. And as a disclaimer to every entry. My advisor does not know about this little blog or my big plans to break out.

I mean, like he probably knows, since academia is so gossip-y and my college town so small. Also there was that little incident with my department head (and Advisor's bff) when I tried to convince DeptHead to give me an RAship. [I told him that I wasn't interested in teaching and so he should give my TAship to someone and give me practice at writing grants with the RAship. This was true. Also setting my own schedule and working from anywhere but campus were some corollary benefits I did happen to notice...] Oh, and that weekend when I came to the decision to find an alt-academic job and told several faculty friends. Oh yeah, and that lunchdate with one of my committee members when I told her that I was heavily considering the alt-acad world.

Okay, so clearly I can't keep my mouth shut. Still. Officially, I'm going on the "job market" next year. See in the bubble academic world I live in now, academic is the assumed adjective to "job market". Sneaky, right?

I haven't told Advisor for lots of reasons. Primarily, I just don't want to deal with the guilt trip every time I see him. I know he will continue supporting me to the end of the degree and beyond. He's super cool like that. But I also know that this decision will be disappointing and I just don't want to make him disappointed. Also, I can see having a few, "are you sure about this" convos. I doubt they'll happen often, cuz like I said. He's cool. But still, I think it will make our relationship all weird. Not interested.

The Career Services (CS) folks also recommend not telling Advisor and other important school people. Cuz like, until I get my awesome dream job, I'm still dependent on my University for funding, bureaucratic support, intellectual support, etc. Yeah, grad school is rough enough. I learned long ago to make friends with the secretaries and building service workers. They make things run smoothly. Same concept for finishing my degree smoothly.

Who I have told: many of my grad school friends (leadfoot waves since gradschoolfriends=entire on the hunt readership), my bff (leadfoot send e-hug since bff is suffering thru grad school many states away), my parents (leadfoot waves again), and my honey (leadfoot show honey blog since honey is an infrequent internet-er).

The important people to talk about here for this post (not that my bff and honey and folks aren't important but they love me unconditionally) is grad school friends. I've been telling them because I've been super excited by this decision to go the alt-acad route. It falls under big life changes. Anthropologists are all about life transitions. Also I've been talking up this game because I've been excited about the job postings that abound out there. Lastly I've been talking about this decision because I'm hoping to normalize and destigmatize the idea that alt-academic jobs are for those who can't make it. Also I think in talking about it, it makes this move to outside the classroom much less scary and unknown.

Folks, 500+ people graduated with PhDs in sociocultural anthropology last year. That's an ton of people. How many college/university jobs are there currently available in anthropology, much less within your specialization? Even if teaching is your dream job forever and ever, having a plan B might be a good idea, no?

And for those of us who don't like teaching (blasphemy I know!) it's good to know who else is out there. That's why I talk about doing the alt-academic route. I'm still planning on using my research skills. I'm still planning on using my critical thinking skills. I still want to make a difference in the world. I just don't want to do it from a classroom in an underfunded university or in a over funded private college located in bfe.

So I'm happy and excited to talk about my alt-academic plans. Just don't tell my advisor. Yeah?