How to Keep a Job as a Professor

Last Updated on: 3rd June 2022, 04:32 am

If you do an online search for finding an academic job you will find many, many websites with advice on how to find a job. You will also see a great deal of information about how few jobs there are and the ever increasing number of PhDs looking for those scarce jobs.

What you won’t see much of is information about keeping an academic job. There is advice about the process of getting tenure, but I find little about the day-to-day activities that will help you keep your job. If there is a glut of PhDs out there, you need to make sure that once you get a job that you can keep it.

First Impressions

You obviously made a good impression in the interview process as you got the job. However, don’t relax. You will have a number of things to do before your job actually starts where you can make a favorable impression.

Paperwork

You will probably have to fill out all kinds of paperwork to start your new job. If they ask you for information, that means that they need it for their system. You can fight or grumble about it but in the end you will most likely have to provide it. So, why not just give it to the school quickly with a smile on your face?

Books

You may be asked what books you want to use in your classes. A fast response here will keep you in good standing with the administrative staff. A note of caution, some schools rent the text books to the students and will only switch books every three years or so.

If you end up at a school like this, do your best to use the existing book if it is not time to change. Otherwise, you will need an exception and will stand out as someone who is costing the school money.

People

This may be a surprise to you but there are academics who don’t have the greatest social skills in the world. And, there can be groups of academics who don’t like other groups of academics – kind of like ivy-covered Hatfields and Mccoys. You may find yourself in a department where there are warring factions or people who rule the roost.

You most likely won’t know any of this when you walk in the door. My advice is to be friendly with everyone but don’t form any strong friendships or alliances with anyone for at least the first year. This way you can get to see who likes whom, who is battling with whom, etc. Staying independent can be very important when retention and tenure/promotion decisions are made.

Service Work

Service is part of the job for any academic. That usually means things like serving on committees. As a new faculty member, there will be committees that you can’t serve on such as Promotion and Tenure. Take your committee assignments seriously, as you may be in the room with decision-makers.

Show up Early

First, always show up early for the first committee meeting. That way you can meet people and be present when the Chair of the committee is voted for. Many times the person who does not show up on time is voted in as Chair. And, as a new person, you do not want to be Chair–you need to learn the ropes first.

Wait Before Critiquing 

Second, swallow your brilliant ideas until you know what is going on. You may “know” the perfect solution to whatever your committee is handling but I advise you to wait before you tell everyone why they are wrong. 

Take some time to understand why your committee is addressing the current situation and learn what has been done in the past. Perhaps there are very good reasons why your brilliant idea has not been considered in the past or why current approaches have been used. Be a team player.

Vote by Ballot

Finally, it may be a good idea to ask that all votes be cast by ballot. If pressed as to why, you can say that someone in your department or your dissertation chair suggested it. That way, no one knows who voted for what. It can save pettiness later. 

Teaching

Even at research institutions you will have to teach. Please have pride in what you do and do the best job that you can. You don’t have to cater to students’ every whim but you should try to make your classes as interesting as possible. 

Remember, students get to evaluate their professors, and student evaluations are becoming more important. Just because you have earned a PhD does not mean that you can treat students like they are a nuisance.

Summary

Keeping an academic job can take just as much planning and work as getting the job. To get to then chance to go up for tenure you have to navigate a number of years of “living” with your colleagues. 

Try to keep a light footprint until you know all the players and their areas of interest. Over the years I have seen several people not be retained because they came in knowing all the answers or with too big of a personality. Be calm and move forward. Over time your ideas will be even more welcomed once you have convinced everyone that you are part of the organization.