Thursday, March 5, 2009

A new doctorate in leisure!

I know, I know. Few people know you can get a doctorate in playing around. I didn't know until late in my college career. This required changing majors yet again years ago, and means I have been in school a lot. My kids tell me it is grade 29, but I finally did graduate after many years. Only if you are interested in the why it took so long will I even approach it.

There were many obstacles, and it seems the latest is the economic turndown worldwide. Wouldn't you know that right when I become "qualified" to teach in higher education and apply with full credentials to the 17 or 18 jobs posted that there is a hiring freeze affecting almost all the institutions? This means all of the desperate candidates concentrate on those few who did not freeze, and the few are inundated with applicants. Having been on hiring committees, I know the process is not so much selecting the right person as eliminating the ones who do not fit, at least in the first stages. Only then do you really start reading those resume's.

So, what to do??? There are other jobs available, but they would interfere with playing this summer. The academic job market advertizes a year in advance, so unless there is a change in heart among the frozen institutions, my next application season starts in August 2009. Nothing for it but to start my own business of playing! I have some ideas, perhaps too many, so I will try to narrow them down in the next few months and see which are feasible. Stay tuned if you are interested!

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