Is it too soon to leave my non-TT job?

[foralurker]

I can't decide if I'm shooting myself in the foot or if I need to stay put. Here's a brief run down of my situation:

• New PhD, early 40's, late bloomer, was working as staff in H.E.
• Moved from red, rural Michigan to Texas. Wasn't expecting the culture shock.
• Other than adjunct, this is my first faculty job (Instructional Assistant Prof.)
• I'm in my second school year here.
• I need to stay one more year to finish data gathering, site agreements are in place, and things are humming along nicely.

I just don't like it here. I lost power for days during the February Texas snow storm. The abortion laws and book bans and anti-vaccine crowd (I know, they're everywhere) has me worn down.

Would 3 years be too soon to quit my first teaching job? I'm not tenure track. I might apply for some TT jobs, but it's not a deal breaker to find another instructional faculty position.

My other concern is how do I present myself so I don't come off as someone who quit their first job almost immediately.

I have no one to turn to for advice and I'm a first generation college graduate. Am I setting myself up for long term failure? I applied for jobs all over the country when I graduated, but this time I plan to be far more selective. The rush to find employment—anywhere—is what landed me in Texas to begin with. I'm divorced, no kids, and the relocation part would be easy.

[Ruralguy]

I don't see how three years or even two is immediate. It doesn't matter much anyway . I've seen people quit after 6 months and after 12 years (not counting retirees).

That is, I don't think there is much to explain and I doubt anyone will ask. Just say that you are looking for other opportunities that might fit you better or whatever.

Note well: you can lose power for 4 days almost anywhere now and many reasonable places are titling conservative (though some just oscillate ).

[RatGuy]

Many of our NTT instructors are quitting. A lot of these have only had PhD in hand for a year or two, and about half are from Rat U. They have lots of reasons why they're quitting mid-semester, but a lot stem from dissatisfaction in the culture of the area. If Rat U is any indication, humanities faculty (especially under-40, especially NTT) are fleeing the university life. Three years isn't a short time, I'd say.

[mamselle]

When you say, "site agreements are in place," and that you're data-gathering, does that mean you have a grant (and it's in a STEM field)?

Have you checked to be sure it will travel, if so--both from the perspective of the grantor, and (nosing around carefully) your current home institution?

M.

[Mobius]

If you're not TT, I doubt anyone will bat an eye on you looking elsewhere. The danger is quitting a FT job, adjuncting or not teaching for a while, and trying to get another FT position.

[Parasaurolophus]

Yeah, since it's nt TT, the default assumption will just be that either your contract ended or you got a better deal wherever you work next.

[foralurker]

does that mean you have a grant (and it's in a STEM field)? 

No grant. Just feel like I should finish the project so I have what I need for a manuscript and (hopefully) get a pub out of it.

[Hegemony]

Just don't quit until you have another job firmly in hand.

[ciao_yall]

Can you find a community of like-minded folks where you are? There is a lot of advice on these threads about "blooming where you are planted."

[foralurker]

Can you find a community of like-minded folks where you are? There is a lot of advice on these threads about "blooming where you are planted."

My department is great and I really like my coworkers. But I never see any of them, haven't shared a meal since my campus visit (pre-covid), and don't hear from anyone outside of our monthly department meeting.

There are no community-oriented things here (gardening, painting, ceramics) or commercial for that matter (wine and paint?). Outdoors is kind of out of the question for me personally (heat and humidity) and I'm still uneasy about going to the gym due to vaccine resistance.

I will be the first to admit this has added to my dissatisfaction with where I am. I do take frequent day trips, see new towns, try new foods, shop local. I have yet to find another town during my Texas travels that I might consider a better match.

[jerseyjay]

Is it too soon to leave your job?

In general I would say that so long as you don't leave in the middle of a semester, it is not "too soon" to leave your job, if you want to leave your job. My advice is never leave a job until you have another lined up (or have enough money saved to survive without one). (This advice is true for anybody, in any type of job, although people in fields with a shortage of jobs especially.)

Since a non-tenure-track job is not supposed to be permanent, leaving one (especially if you have another job lined up) is not going to look strange. Three years is, in the scheme of things, not that short. I have seen many administrators with CVs full of jobs that last this long.

That said, I would also urge you to think about your situation before changing jobs. You started your job in the middle of a pandemic that coincided with natural disasters.

I think that academic life over the last two years has been very unfulfilling. I think much white collar work has been like this, except that academic jobs might require less regular teamwork and interaction than some other professional jobs.

I am not sure if any faculty jobs are actually much better than yours. I like my job, but in the best of times, faculty members keep different schedules and I might go days without seeing colleagues. The faculty dining room has been shut down since 2020, so the only two places to eat nearby my school are a donut shop and a diner, both of which tend to close early. Most of my colleagues commute from at least 30 minutes away. Several are still mainly working from home. You like your department and colleagues, so it might be that you can reach out to them for more interaction, and that when the pandemic finally ends, you are in a better situation.

If you do not like Texas, you don't like Texas. (Personally, I might prefer Texas--especially if it is South or West Texas--over rural Michigan, but that's just me.) But very few places right now are actually that great, between Covid and economic problems. 

So my personal advice, for what it is worth, is that you combine looking for other opportunities elsewhere (focusing on places you might like), trying to improve your current situation, and having some patience.

[Wahoo Redux]

Just don't quit until you have another job firmly in hand.

This.

Perhaps your discipline is more buyer-friendly than a lot of academic disciplines, and/or maybe you are a rising star, but realize that ditching a FT job might very well mean ditching academia as anything other than an adjunct.

My advice would be to grow a thicker skin, publish, write grants, whatever, and aim for greener pastures down the road.

And I was just posting about how my current uni is bringing me down.  So I understand.

Good luck.

[mahagonny]

Would you be happier in a place with no book bans, or just different bans? If the latter, some people like Portland, OR.

ETA: My advice is if you're living in a town that is still relatively safe from street crime, you're doing better than many.

[Ruralguy]

It really sort of depends. It's more difficult to accept local politics if the laws may directly affect you.even if they don't, it's ok to vote with your feet.

Yes, wait for job in hand, but it needn't  academic.

I don't really see greener pastures without major shifts in demographics.

By the way, desirable liberal cities are the least likely to come out of this first. Maybe an economist can comment, but I see too many hard to reverse trends.

[apl68]

That said, I would also urge you to think about your situation before changing jobs. You started your job in the middle of a pandemic that coincided with natural disasters.

I think that academic life over the last two years has been very unfulfilling. I think much white collar work has been like this, except that academic jobs might require less regular teamwork and interaction than some other professional jobs.

I am not sure if any faculty jobs are actually much better than yours. I like my job, but in the best of times, faculty members keep different schedules and I might go days without seeing colleagues. The faculty dining room has been shut down since 2020, so the only two places to eat nearby my school are a donut shop and a diner, both of which tend to close early. Most of my colleagues commute from at least 30 minutes away. Several are still mainly working from home. You like your department and colleagues, so it might be that you can reach out to them for more interaction, and that when the pandemic finally ends, you are in a better situation.

If you do not like Texas, you don't like Texas. (Personally, I might prefer Texas--especially if it is South or West Texas--over rural Michigan, but that's just me.) But very few places right now are actually that great, between Covid and economic problems. 

So my personal advice, for what it is worth, is that you combine looking for other opportunities elsewhere (focusing on places you might like), trying to improve your current situation, and having some patience.

Probably the best advice so far.  The perfect place does not exist.  Sorry.  There's something to be said for making an earnest effort to bloom where you are planted.  This especially makes sense in the academic world, where finding a way out is likely to take a year or three anyway.

I can't help wondering whether our society's tendency to chase after "the perfect place" isn't part of why we're in the shape we're in.  I've lived in both what is commonly called a "desirable" city and in "undesirable" rural areas.  The former had so many flocking to it that it was rapidly becoming massively overdeveloped, unaffordable, and less and less livable.  The latter are withering in part because people who might be able to help make them better aren't staying around to do so.  We're turning into a nation starkly divided between a relatively few massively overdeveloped former "perfect" places, and thousands of ghost towns.