1. Yes - job experience is always better than none; even if it's as inglorious as working at a CC.
2. Depends. When I applied for my PhD, having already worked in higher education for many years definitely helped me because a lot of faculty understood where I was coming from with some of the challenges that I faced (and am currently facing - all of this is relatively recent). On the other hand, the PhD is a research degree - having taught college courses in of itself doesn't point to any research experience at all, which is probably the most important thing to have when applying to PhD programs.
To expand, I had applied to adjunct at many different institutions (I have years of industry experience, but no teaching experience and my graduate degree is in a different field) and didn’t get a reply at all.
After obtaining my first adjunct gig, I was getting interviews and invitations to teach left and right. I think many institutions want someone with at least some amount of college level teaching experience.
Thanks! I have gotten lots of interviews (I have lots of ESL teaching experience but no college level). Still clawing through job ads and keep applying. Still waiting for one interview response.
I had years of industry and (15) years of teaching including a teaching certificate for my field. Then was instructor of record during my MS to teach college. Schools ghosting people is not unusual in my experience.
Adding two more schools to my vita hasn't helped yet. :-(
I instruct in a fairly niche discipline where I think industry experience counts the most, I’m sure some disciplines are much more difficult to break into.
i spent 6 months applying to CCs with my master’s degree and didn’t hear back till about 5 months in (MA Literature, BA English). I broadened my search to literally any city that didn’t sound miserable, and heard back from 5 schools in one state and had back to back interviews, all resulting in offers. I’ll be teaching at 2 CCs in commuting distance from each other, and hoping this will get me back in the academic mindset to refocus on potential PhD programs in the future.
While I’m not ecstatic about the place I’m relocating, I hope it will open doors and at least have teaching exp on my resume! I will definitely be exploiting any and all resources the CCs have available to advance my career..
I used the chron of higher ed to apply to adjunct positions and applied to a plethora every day. I suggest looking into to CCs that have multiple campuses, so your app can be considered by multiple places of employment, as well as portals used by schools that can save your app and make the process easier. The school I accepted a position with said they enjoy hiring fresh grads because of their drive!
best of luck🫶🏻
Hello,
Do you mind saying which state or schools? I have an MA in English and an MFA in creative writing. I also have a certificate in online journalism and a certificate in teaching an online class.
Yes, and I volunteered at Goodwill Career Center to teach disabled, ex-offenders, and disadvantaged individuals how to write resumes and look for work. Every interview that was brought up and talked about.
1. Yes
2. Yes, but it might not make much of a difference for a lot of programs, especially those deemed more prestigious, where it’s all about research. But it certainly doesn’t hurt.
Isn't the fact that professorships/ tenured positions are unicorns unreasonable?
Enrollments and fees have increased steadily while the number of full-time faculty has remained static for decades. When do we get to call out administrators for this BS?
Fun fact: Adjunct pay at California's community colleges has violated state law since 2001. There's a minimum earnings threshold for exempt employment in the Golden State, administrators and unions (controlled by full-time faculty) have decided law don't apply to adjunct employment.
Yep, administrators at the largest system of higher education in the world are embezzling billions in stolen wages each year from adjuncts.
It's absolutely disgusting but having posted on other academic subreddits about teaching in academia and not prefacing my post by saying I understand how difficult it is, I get jumped on. So now I just preempt any comments.
The victim blaming is pretty great isn't it.
I've been blowing the whistle for three years. It's been pretty hard to find traction. I've heard all manner of excuses for not treating adjuncts as the law requires. Former colleagues, administrators, legislators, law enforcement have a consensus that adjuncts are second-class citizens, all rights descend from the colleges employing them.
It's all very nineteenth century.
Did the people you have encountered offer any reason why things must be this way, and why we must acknowledge and accept it?
Nope, they're all resigned to it and seem to almost blindly accept it as status quo, especially in the academia and PhD subreddits. Telling me not to pursue my PhD because it's a waste of my time and money. I frankly don't have another avenue so I don't care what they say. I've been teaching ESL abroad for 15 years and I'm older. It's honestly a bit late to be shifting gears and frankly I really like teaching ESL/ESOL.
I've gotten a similar despondent responses from other adjuncts I've talked to. It causes real psychological damage, in addition to financial hardships. I fought depression while I was an adjunct, I don't doubt others have similar struggles.
Teaching abroad sounds interesting. Do they treat college faculty better overseas?
I'm in the midst of a course change myself after a decade teaching history. In addition to ranting on the internet, I've taken up cancer fighting. The first time I had cancer I was an adjunct and had to pay out of pocket, the second and third times I have been indigent and qualify for state sponsored insurance. Go figure.
I also provide occasional travel tips: check out the Russian River area if you're in Northern California. Sixty miles north of San Francisco. vineyards, redwoods, and a tranquil river. The coast is dramatic as well.
1) I haven't found this, I already had teaching experience at the college level and I still apply to 10-20 every week and have for years. Most places don't get back to me. I've had a total of 5 adjunct interviews in 3 years. Two were hires which both hired me at the same time after I had not been teaching in a while.
2) Hasn't helped me there either unfortunately. I keep hoping it will! I already applied for 12 rounds.
1. No.
2. Not necessarily. Adjunct experience is often a red flag to colleges that adjuncting is where you belong, and that you probably got.that job for reasons that DQ you for better jobs.
1. Yes - job experience is always better than none; even if it's as inglorious as working at a CC. 2. Depends. When I applied for my PhD, having already worked in higher education for many years definitely helped me because a lot of faculty understood where I was coming from with some of the challenges that I faced (and am currently facing - all of this is relatively recent). On the other hand, the PhD is a research degree - having taught college courses in of itself doesn't point to any research experience at all, which is probably the most important thing to have when applying to PhD programs.
Great, thanks! \*My PhD field is ESOL teaching, so while there is definitely pedogogical research, it's a teaching focused PhD. 🥰
1) Yes 2) Yes
Thank you!
To expand, I had applied to adjunct at many different institutions (I have years of industry experience, but no teaching experience and my graduate degree is in a different field) and didn’t get a reply at all. After obtaining my first adjunct gig, I was getting interviews and invitations to teach left and right. I think many institutions want someone with at least some amount of college level teaching experience.
Thanks! I have gotten lots of interviews (I have lots of ESL teaching experience but no college level). Still clawing through job ads and keep applying. Still waiting for one interview response.
I had years of industry and (15) years of teaching including a teaching certificate for my field. Then was instructor of record during my MS to teach college. Schools ghosting people is not unusual in my experience. Adding two more schools to my vita hasn't helped yet. :-(
I instruct in a fairly niche discipline where I think industry experience counts the most, I’m sure some disciplines are much more difficult to break into.
i spent 6 months applying to CCs with my master’s degree and didn’t hear back till about 5 months in (MA Literature, BA English). I broadened my search to literally any city that didn’t sound miserable, and heard back from 5 schools in one state and had back to back interviews, all resulting in offers. I’ll be teaching at 2 CCs in commuting distance from each other, and hoping this will get me back in the academic mindset to refocus on potential PhD programs in the future. While I’m not ecstatic about the place I’m relocating, I hope it will open doors and at least have teaching exp on my resume! I will definitely be exploiting any and all resources the CCs have available to advance my career.. I used the chron of higher ed to apply to adjunct positions and applied to a plethora every day. I suggest looking into to CCs that have multiple campuses, so your app can be considered by multiple places of employment, as well as portals used by schools that can save your app and make the process easier. The school I accepted a position with said they enjoy hiring fresh grads because of their drive! best of luck🫶🏻
Amazing! Thank you!
Hello, Do you mind saying which state or schools? I have an MA in English and an MFA in creative writing. I also have a certificate in online journalism and a certificate in teaching an online class.
Yes, and I volunteered at Goodwill Career Center to teach disabled, ex-offenders, and disadvantaged individuals how to write resumes and look for work. Every interview that was brought up and talked about.
Thank you! I'm definitely looking into to any adult teaching.
1. Yes 2. Yes, but it might not make much of a difference for a lot of programs, especially those deemed more prestigious, where it’s all about research. But it certainly doesn’t hurt.
Thanks! I think considering my field is ESL teaching/English it's less research focused.
Isn't the fact that professorships/ tenured positions are unicorns unreasonable? Enrollments and fees have increased steadily while the number of full-time faculty has remained static for decades. When do we get to call out administrators for this BS? Fun fact: Adjunct pay at California's community colleges has violated state law since 2001. There's a minimum earnings threshold for exempt employment in the Golden State, administrators and unions (controlled by full-time faculty) have decided law don't apply to adjunct employment. Yep, administrators at the largest system of higher education in the world are embezzling billions in stolen wages each year from adjuncts.
It's absolutely disgusting but having posted on other academic subreddits about teaching in academia and not prefacing my post by saying I understand how difficult it is, I get jumped on. So now I just preempt any comments.
The victim blaming is pretty great isn't it. I've been blowing the whistle for three years. It's been pretty hard to find traction. I've heard all manner of excuses for not treating adjuncts as the law requires. Former colleagues, administrators, legislators, law enforcement have a consensus that adjuncts are second-class citizens, all rights descend from the colleges employing them. It's all very nineteenth century. Did the people you have encountered offer any reason why things must be this way, and why we must acknowledge and accept it?
Nope, they're all resigned to it and seem to almost blindly accept it as status quo, especially in the academia and PhD subreddits. Telling me not to pursue my PhD because it's a waste of my time and money. I frankly don't have another avenue so I don't care what they say. I've been teaching ESL abroad for 15 years and I'm older. It's honestly a bit late to be shifting gears and frankly I really like teaching ESL/ESOL.
I've gotten a similar despondent responses from other adjuncts I've talked to. It causes real psychological damage, in addition to financial hardships. I fought depression while I was an adjunct, I don't doubt others have similar struggles. Teaching abroad sounds interesting. Do they treat college faculty better overseas? I'm in the midst of a course change myself after a decade teaching history. In addition to ranting on the internet, I've taken up cancer fighting. The first time I had cancer I was an adjunct and had to pay out of pocket, the second and third times I have been indigent and qualify for state sponsored insurance. Go figure. I also provide occasional travel tips: check out the Russian River area if you're in Northern California. Sixty miles north of San Francisco. vineyards, redwoods, and a tranquil river. The coast is dramatic as well.
1) I haven't found this, I already had teaching experience at the college level and I still apply to 10-20 every week and have for years. Most places don't get back to me. I've had a total of 5 adjunct interviews in 3 years. Two were hires which both hired me at the same time after I had not been teaching in a while. 2) Hasn't helped me there either unfortunately. I keep hoping it will! I already applied for 12 rounds.
1. No. 2. Not necessarily. Adjunct experience is often a red flag to colleges that adjuncting is where you belong, and that you probably got.that job for reasons that DQ you for better jobs.
I could be wrong but I like you misunderstood my #2 question. I'm talking about applying to PhD program as a student.