The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide To Turning Your Ph.D. Into a Job

I got this book on the advice of a friend who is also nearing the end of her PhD program and navigating the job market. She says this book is her "bible," and I can see where it would be useful to some. If you're looking for clear advice on discreet topics such as writing a diversity statement or negotiating an offer, you'll certainly find that here. But like any guidebook, the question is whether the author's advice is actually worthwhile or useful to the reader. That's where my opinion diverges from my friend's.As background, Dr. Karen Kelsky worked for fifteen years as a tenured professor (including five years as chair) and now runs a consulting firm helping grad students find jobs. I'll start by saying that while fifteen years certainly isn't shabby, it's not enough to convince me that she knows every aspect of the academic job marked as solidly (and narrowly) as she claims to, especially since academia changes fairly quickly. This is compounded by the fact that Kelsky tends to back up her advice with single anecdotes that do little to convince me that the issue she identifies is actually representative.But my bigger issue with this book is its generally judgmental tone and the author's encouragement of aggressiveness not just in the job search, but in one's academic career. She explicitly says that "being nice" is harmful when it comes to advising students, deciding instead that "the truth is empowering." Sure, I'm all for truth, but does that mean I want to be part of a profession where advisors make their mentees cry on a regular basis? This appears to be the world Kelsky is advocating (from outside the profession, I might add): "If you've never cried before, during, or after a meeting with your advisor, something is amiss" (pp. 365 - 366). Kelsky is not being tongue-in-cheek here, she actually believes that this is how things should be and in fact repeats this sentiment elsewhere in the book. She justifies this by asking, "Do athletes make the Olympics by working with nice trainers who tell them everything they do is great?" It's a patently ridiculous comparison, and I'm thankful that this attitude hasn't taken hold on a large scale.Oddly, much of Kelsky's opinion on academia stems from her conclusion that the very existence of her consultancy customers proves that both professors and graduate students are failures. She quotes an article she wrote for the Chronicle of Higher Education: "I sell Ph.D advising services on the open market. And your students are buying. Why? Because you're not doing your job." She is thus relying on selection bias (of course the students who seek her out are going to be those who are unhappy with their advisors) while compounding the problem of privilege in academia by giving a leg up to those who can afford to pay more. What's even worse is that Kelsky is selective in who she deems deserving of both her advice and these highly coveted jobs: on her website, her response to the Black Lives Matter movement is to note that she gives discounts to Black and Indigenous women.This highlights another, more pernicious trait of the book: it is implicitly written for women but fails to advertise that fact. This is clear when she lists examples of "outrageous questions" interviewees might be asked by committees, most of which have to do with being pregnant or lesbian. In one of her more egregious uses of anecdote, a section titled "don't be arrogant" is based entirely on one instance (which Kelsky didn't even witness but heard about from a colleague) in which a male presenter went over his allotted time and then failed to ask questions of female faculty. Do I agree that this hypothetical candidate acted inappropriately? Of course. Does that mean that arrogance is a shortcoming of the male gender? No. To be fair, Kelsky is pretty equitable in making negative generalizations about both men and women: she's keen to point out that women tend to be "overtly emotional" in their writing, which for Kelsky means writing a sentence like "I love teaching." To me that seems a bit extreme. I agree with her that search committees want something substantive, but I don't see the problem with injecting a little passion into that.There's some sound advice to be found here, but that's all information I've heard from other sources. For now I think I'll just stick with the network I've built during my time in grad school. And I'm thankful that it's made up of nice people who have never made me cry.

I got multiple job offers following the recommendations made in this book. It takes the mystery out of going on the academic market and determining what schools want. Covers what academics searching for research intensive AND teaching schools need to know.

I am working on getting together my application for faculty positions and this book has been invaluable so far. There is a lot of great advice in this book, and the author's voice is blunt, easy to read, and to the point. While I probably won't choose to follow all of the advice given (as there are so many discipline specific nuances that my mentors have warned me about), just reading her chapter titled "Just Say No to the Weeping Teaching Statement" (Chapter 25), and her other chapters in the section titled "Job Documents that Work" have cleaned my teaching and research statements up immeasureably. Apart from useful advice on the more well known aspects of the job application process, the real value from this book reminds me of the value I got from being able to reference a book my mom got me while going through puberty to avoid awkward conversations. While I have a fantastic mentor, there are just some things I wouldn't dream of wasting her time with -- like what not to wear to a campus visit. However, this book has answered that question and more! I actually found this book while searching online some questions that I was too embarrassed to ask anyone in person (ex. If making a personal website, what are the implications of ".com" versus ".net" versus ".org"?). I found the author's website [...] and based on her useful advice, decided to buy the book. I'm happily suprised and I know it will be my go-to guide in this next year of intimidating faculty job searching.

I'm an avid reader of Kelsky's blog and purchased this book fairly certain of what it would contain, My high expectations were certainly met. While the book did not contain much information that was "startlingly new," its breadth and depth earn the book its place on my bookshelf. I'm certainly happy to have all of this information in one place so that I can share chapters with colleagues, friends, and students.Kelsky has written a book designed to empower PhD students who are facing a bleak academic job market. She doesn't guarantee that her readers will earn a "coveted" tenure-track position by reading the book - nor is that her goal. Her mission is to help PhDs get a job, be it academia, alt-ac, or non-ac; and she does this by detailing what job candidates need to know about academia. The readers of her blog or columns in The Chronicle will not be surprised by this goal, nor should they be. Kelsky is an avowed advocate for PhD students and recent graduates who are struggling on the market because they need more guidance.The book is written for all academic fields, but Kelsky also calls attention to some of the dire conditions in the humanities, and how that may affect PhD candidates and job seekers.The bulk of the book focuses on preparing for jobs in academia, but it also provides information on leaving academia and finding other ways to utilize the PhD. The book is broken down into ten parts covering everything those looking at the tenure-track need to know, including types of academic institutions (R1/SLACs/R2/etc.), job market documents, offer negotiations, grant writing, and how/when/why to leave academia altogether.For those who are familiar with her blog, here are the biggest bonuses of her book:* More real-life examples from emails, letters, and in person conversations Kelsky has had over the years.* Chapter 4 details how the academic search process works from the university/department side - a land few grads may know as intimately as Kelsky explains.* Figuring out a 5-year plan and determining what issues of the minutiae of graduate school life will distract you from the goal of making your CV the strongest it can be for the job market.* Creating your “campaign platform” for the job market* More specific information on crafting your elevator speech* Key questions to prepare for in an academic interview (and how to tackle Skype and on-campus interviews)* Answers the question of what to do when you don’t feel like you belong in academia, for myriad reasons including elitism, racism, gender, sexuality, imposter syndrome, and moreMost importantly for me, having all of this information in one compact book means I have a go-to present for my favorite students who giddily tell me that they want to become a professor. I don't want to discourage them like my undergraduate advisers tried to do to me, but I do want them to be well-informed about what the graduate-school-to-tenure-track life is like. I love having genuinely curious and bright students be interested in becoming a professional in my field (history), but I don't think it necessary that they see "professor" as the only meaningful way to study history or be a historian. I'm glad Kelsky has deepened my understanding of the nuances involved in mentoring students and being a student myself, as well as giving practical and thoughtful advice.On another note, the book also provides me with a good stocking-stuffer for my non-academic parents who still wonder why I’m “in school” after so many years, and why my work schedule doesn't follow the 9-5 they're used to. I may even send a copy to my adviser.

Don't get fooled, just because the title talks about what happens after your PhD, this book is best read during, or even better: before. It goes into just enough details to give an overview of academia that a prospective or beginning grad student desperately needs. Having read this book a few years earlier would have saved me a lot of embarrassment when preparing my CV, writing letters or trying to approach eminent professors.The only reason it got 4 starts instead of 5 is that the paperback is one of the most fragile paperbacks I have ever held. It's still largely worth the money and the read, but be careful.

This book means business, whether you are in the US or Europe, like me. It does exactly what it says. Dr Kelsky gives you a boot up the backside and you will be glad she did. I read the book in November, followed her advice to the LETTER and put my shoulder to the wheel. I certainly got results. I got a trade book contract and became employable. I only hope that one day I can meet the author in person, because I really cannot thank her enough. That said, her words aren't for the fainthearted but grit your teeth and listen hard.

This book happens to be US specific but it has been invaluable so far in securing international funding for conferences, writing conference papers/ abstracts and considering post doc applications in the future. Cannot recommend it highly enough. The author provides a no nonsense guide to achieving in academia.

The book feels good to hold and is easy reading so well presented and I think (& hope) the recipient of the book will be pleased too.

The explanations are very verbose and not to the point. It could have been much more succinct. I did not enjoy reading it.