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The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide To Turning Your Ph.D. Into a Job
The definitive career guide for grad students, adjuncts, post-docs and anyone else eager to get tenure or turn their Ph.D. into their ideal job
Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their Ph.D. And each year only a small percentage of them will land a job that justifies and rewards their investment. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts, and many more who simply give up in frustration.
Those who do make it share an important asset that separates them from the pack: they have a plan. They understand exactly what they need to do to set themselves up for success. They know what really moves the needle in academic job searches, how to avoid the all-too-common mistakes that sink so many of their peers, and how to decide when to point their Ph.D. toward other, non-academic options.
Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help readers join the select few who get the most out of their Ph.D. As a former tenured professor and department head who oversaw numerous academic job searches, she knows from experience exactly what gets an academic applicant a job. And as the creator of the popular and widely respected advice site The Professor is In, she has helped countless Ph.D.’s turn themselves into stronger applicants and land their dream careers.
Now, for the first time ever, Karen has poured all her best advice into a single handy guide that addresses the most important issues facing any Ph.D., including:
-When, where, and what to publish
-Writing a foolproof grant application
-Cultivating references and crafting the perfect CV
-Acing the job talk and campus interview
-Avoiding the adjunct trap
-Making the leap to nonacademic work, when the time is right
The Professor Is In addresses all of these issues, and many more.
Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their Ph.D. And each year only a small percentage of them will land a job that justifies and rewards their investment. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts, and many more who simply give up in frustration.
Those who do make it share an important asset that separates them from the pack: they have a plan. They understand exactly what they need to do to set themselves up for success. They know what really moves the needle in academic job searches, how to avoid the all-too-common mistakes that sink so many of their peers, and how to decide when to point their Ph.D. toward other, non-academic options.
Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help readers join the select few who get the most out of their Ph.D. As a former tenured professor and department head who oversaw numerous academic job searches, she knows from experience exactly what gets an academic applicant a job. And as the creator of the popular and widely respected advice site The Professor is In, she has helped countless Ph.D.’s turn themselves into stronger applicants and land their dream careers.
Now, for the first time ever, Karen has poured all her best advice into a single handy guide that addresses the most important issues facing any Ph.D., including:
-When, where, and what to publish
-Writing a foolproof grant application
-Cultivating references and crafting the perfect CV
-Acing the job talk and campus interview
-Avoiding the adjunct trap
-Making the leap to nonacademic work, when the time is right
The Professor Is In addresses all of these issues, and many more.
448 pages, Paperback
First published August 4, 2015
600 people are currently reading
2788 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 239 reviews
May 20, 2017
An empowering and disillusioning resource for those who want a tenure-track academic job after finishing their Ph.D. I would recommend it to those in the early stages of their graduate careers, as Karen Kelsky does a fantastic job offering insight on the steps to secure a job as a professor. Drawn from her own experience as a former tenured professor and department head as well as her thriving blog/business The Professor Is In, her advice spans: the importance of focusing on publishing and grants, how to present yourself at conferences and at job talks, and the most effective ways to write stellar job documents. This book's most consistent strength comes from how it reframes academia from a utopia of intellectual rigor and freedom to a money-making venture designed to push you to the limits of your productivity and mental health - a sobering but helpful reality to know about from the start.
My main critique stems from how Kelsky does not challenge these features of the academic system until the end of the book. She pummels into you the necessary mindset to get a tenure-track job: publish instead of teach, tenure-track professors are not meant to be nice, view your self-worth as based on the lines of your CV so you can get ahead. I understand that she intends to aid readers by letting them see the rules of the game. But I wish she had questioned these often dehumanizing components of academia and offered more nuanced solutions instead of either staying and conforming or leaving. How can you cultivate self-compassion and a work-life balance while racking up publications? How can we treat one another within this system to make it more caring and healthy, even if only in small ways? I loved and cheered out loud when Kelsky shared her motivation for writing this book (i.e., to fight the mistreatment of grad students, basically) and how she found meaning in her life after leaving academia. Here is a passage - in which she references Cheryl Strayed's amazing Tiny Beautiful Things that resonated with me, though I wish this idea had been sprinkled throughout the book:
"Write like a motherfucker. Or, in other words, declare independence from external validation. Don't wait for approval, whether it's for your writing, your teaching, your research, or even your identity as an academic or a post-academic who has moved on... for your life, in academia or out, remember that your self and your voice and your truth come not from the approval of others, but from within. Don't confuse external validation of your work with validation of your worth."
I also wish she had included more resources for minority students. As a queer Asian American, I have already faced a few instances of discrimination in academia, even though other parts of it have helped me and have helped me to help others. Kelsky could have featured websites or forums for minority grad students, tips on finding woke and affirming communities for marginalized groups, and ways to stay true to your values instead of only ascribing to what white male grant reviewers and faculty will expect you to produce. I will show one quote in which she touches on this topic, though delving into it more would have been appreciated:
"Academia was a system created by elite white men and for elite white men, and elite white men continue to dominate its ranks, particularly at the level of full professor and administrator. While I know and have worked with white men who struggle mightily with feeling intellectually unworthy, these types of struggles are magnified when the scholar deviates from the norm. Women, students of color, first-generation students, queer and older students… all of those coming from marginalized positions fight a mighty battle to claim a space at the academic table, and to find a voice in academic debates. They also often find themselves cut out of the academic prestige circles or relationships through which cultural capital, untaught knowledge, and opportunities flow. The elite (and white) old boys’ network is a real thing."
Overall, a well-written and informative guide on how to secure a tenure-track position or a job outside of academia upon graduation. Kelsky has a crisp and pleasant writing style, even if the contents of said writing can be saddening or angering. I look forward to using this book's advice as I start my graduate school career - and I hope we can all work to create a more compassionate, social justice-oriented academic community.
My main critique stems from how Kelsky does not challenge these features of the academic system until the end of the book. She pummels into you the necessary mindset to get a tenure-track job: publish instead of teach, tenure-track professors are not meant to be nice, view your self-worth as based on the lines of your CV so you can get ahead. I understand that she intends to aid readers by letting them see the rules of the game. But I wish she had questioned these often dehumanizing components of academia and offered more nuanced solutions instead of either staying and conforming or leaving. How can you cultivate self-compassion and a work-life balance while racking up publications? How can we treat one another within this system to make it more caring and healthy, even if only in small ways? I loved and cheered out loud when Kelsky shared her motivation for writing this book (i.e., to fight the mistreatment of grad students, basically) and how she found meaning in her life after leaving academia. Here is a passage - in which she references Cheryl Strayed's amazing Tiny Beautiful Things that resonated with me, though I wish this idea had been sprinkled throughout the book:
"Write like a motherfucker. Or, in other words, declare independence from external validation. Don't wait for approval, whether it's for your writing, your teaching, your research, or even your identity as an academic or a post-academic who has moved on... for your life, in academia or out, remember that your self and your voice and your truth come not from the approval of others, but from within. Don't confuse external validation of your work with validation of your worth."
I also wish she had included more resources for minority students. As a queer Asian American, I have already faced a few instances of discrimination in academia, even though other parts of it have helped me and have helped me to help others. Kelsky could have featured websites or forums for minority grad students, tips on finding woke and affirming communities for marginalized groups, and ways to stay true to your values instead of only ascribing to what white male grant reviewers and faculty will expect you to produce. I will show one quote in which she touches on this topic, though delving into it more would have been appreciated:
"Academia was a system created by elite white men and for elite white men, and elite white men continue to dominate its ranks, particularly at the level of full professor and administrator. While I know and have worked with white men who struggle mightily with feeling intellectually unworthy, these types of struggles are magnified when the scholar deviates from the norm. Women, students of color, first-generation students, queer and older students… all of those coming from marginalized positions fight a mighty battle to claim a space at the academic table, and to find a voice in academic debates. They also often find themselves cut out of the academic prestige circles or relationships through which cultural capital, untaught knowledge, and opportunities flow. The elite (and white) old boys’ network is a real thing."
Overall, a well-written and informative guide on how to secure a tenure-track position or a job outside of academia upon graduation. Kelsky has a crisp and pleasant writing style, even if the contents of said writing can be saddening or angering. I look forward to using this book's advice as I start my graduate school career - and I hope we can all work to create a more compassionate, social justice-oriented academic community.
April 26, 2016
I have mixed feelings about this book. I'd like to give somewhere between 2 and 3 stars, but leaning a bit more towards 2 stars. I didn't appreciate the tone in the book, which I would describe as declaratory and commanding. You need to build a competitive record, you can't waste time on teaching, and you can't "act like yourself" because acting "like a grad student" will not get you an academic position. But perhaps a part of what made me uncomfortable is that the author was pretty much pinpointing exactly what I'm lacking or doing wrong in my PhD program. I know that there needs to be a plan towards publishing stuff, and to take time to present your stuff well. It's a serious job you're looking for in academia, and it's really not an easy route to get tenure. With all of the requirements that the author was (as it felt to me) trying to shove down our throats while exhibiting little sympathy for us grad students who are just trying to survive, I was pretty determined to give just 1 star to this book (I'll be honest; I'm often thinking about how many stars I'm going to give a book on Goodreads while reading the book). Again, I just hated the tone of the book. But it got better, thankfully. I decided to stick to the book because the content seemed reasonable, even though the way in which it was communicated bothered me to no end, and I kept reading a few pages each day, inching towards the end. The final chapter is on leaving academia, which was the one shining part of the book for me. Actually, I was looking forward to that chapter all along, and that's probably a big reason for why I didn't put the book down much earlier. A wise person once told me that including an autobiographical anecdote in an essay does wonders to the reader's perception of the essay. The author did exactly this in the final chapter, and I finally got to see a human side of the author, the struggles that she had been through and the understanding she shows for students dissatisfied with academia. It was really refreshing to learn about the level of anger she possessed for how academia is structured in general, with the professors and other people at the top raking in the money and power while everyone under them (including the scrawny grad students) are essentially fucked by the system. At the same time, I wondered why she couldn't write the book in a better tone in the earlier parts of the book. Maybe she had to adopt a certain tone to get through to us grad students who had no clue of the difficulties of getting a position in academia. Maybe I'm just sexist? (I often wonder if I'm applying some kind of a biased filter whenever I'm reading something written by a female writer. I hope I'm not doing it, but maybe I am. Ugh.) The final chapter alone would have merited maybe 4 stars, but the impression I got from the earlier parts was just so unpleasant for me. This is definitely a useful book, and I feel bad saying so many bad things about it, and I hope to refer to it when I'm further in my academic career, if I'm still in academia. One last thing that may be worthy of note: the book is written more for academics in the humanities and social sciences than it is for people in the natural sciences. The structural landscape might be pretty different depending on the field, and perhaps, prospects in the natural sciences may not be as bad as how this book treats academia. Nevertheless, there are things that apply in general, and it might not be too inappropriate to summarize by saying that the academic system ultimately boils down to the fact that, like other businesses, universities are in the moneymaking business.
June 15, 2016
There is one word to describe this book: ANGRY.
Thankfully, Kelsky does admit that towards the end of the book. "What am I ANGRY ABOUT? you KNOW what I'm angry about. I'm angry about all those f-ing professors sitting in their f-ing offices earning good f-ing salaries while the entire academy is going to shit, and their grad students are milling around like a bunch of lost sheep without and f-ing clue..." it goes on.
I get it. Kelsky did not have a good experience in her PhD program or as an academic working at 2 different institutions over 15 years. She did not enjoy academia, and that's fine. Additionally, she does address many concerns that I have had in academia- mainly student loan debt, poor advisors, bad advice, etc.
That being said, omg is this book angry. She will tell you (fairly) good advice for becoming a professional academic, but she'll do it grudgingly, kicking and screaming for you NOT to become an academic and instead do literally anything else. Why write a book about how to become an academic if it's so clear you hate it so much, and feel that there's no hope for tenure-track positions or an enjoyable life as an academic?
This book is better read like a manual. Pick and choose the chapters you feel you need. Particularly for me, the chapter on grant writing was helpful. The topics can be helpful and have useful advice if you can get past her rage at academia in general. The only thing that kept me reading was the advice that I hoped was coming. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't. More often than not I had to search for it under the grime of hate and rage.
Thankfully, Kelsky does admit that towards the end of the book. "What am I ANGRY ABOUT? you KNOW what I'm angry about. I'm angry about all those f-ing professors sitting in their f-ing offices earning good f-ing salaries while the entire academy is going to shit, and their grad students are milling around like a bunch of lost sheep without and f-ing clue..." it goes on.
I get it. Kelsky did not have a good experience in her PhD program or as an academic working at 2 different institutions over 15 years. She did not enjoy academia, and that's fine. Additionally, she does address many concerns that I have had in academia- mainly student loan debt, poor advisors, bad advice, etc.
That being said, omg is this book angry. She will tell you (fairly) good advice for becoming a professional academic, but she'll do it grudgingly, kicking and screaming for you NOT to become an academic and instead do literally anything else. Why write a book about how to become an academic if it's so clear you hate it so much, and feel that there's no hope for tenure-track positions or an enjoyable life as an academic?
This book is better read like a manual. Pick and choose the chapters you feel you need. Particularly for me, the chapter on grant writing was helpful. The topics can be helpful and have useful advice if you can get past her rage at academia in general. The only thing that kept me reading was the advice that I hoped was coming. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't. More often than not I had to search for it under the grime of hate and rage.
October 10, 2020
This book presents a cool and clear-headed statement about the contemporary university sector. It is honest. Brutally so. And it must be. The prefacing argument is that advisors/supervisors do not tell the truth to their students about how truly terrible and unreliable the higher education is as a workforce.
From this foundational truth, the book then shows how the PhD graduate can move through an array of industries, and how to create that mobility.
While it is US-biased, there are strong - robust - strategies put in place for a post-academia.
From this foundational truth, the book then shows how the PhD graduate can move through an array of industries, and how to create that mobility.
While it is US-biased, there are strong - robust - strategies put in place for a post-academia.
incomplete
February 23, 2017They should give you this book when you get into grad school.
June 12, 2021
A very practical, detailed, and realistic book about how the academic job market works. As a computer scientist, not everything applies to my field (she writes from a social science/humanities perspective), but the high level concepts are still valid. Many things seem obvious when you read them, but they are easy to get wrong if you don't reflect on them first. It is a good summary of what (not) to do and will definitely come in handy for me in the years to come.
The style was a bit too anecdotal for me at times, but I made a pointwise summary to remember the important parts.
The style was a bit too anecdotal for me at times, but I made a pointwise summary to remember the important parts.
Read
March 24, 2021This book is amazing, but it does itself no favors (and thus does PhD students no favors) by appearing as if it's only necessary your last year or so of doc school. I think I would be in a very different place right now if I had read this earlier. It's absolutely incredible. I will recommend or gift it to everyone.
December 30, 2015
Brutally honest, insightful, and essential.
Most of the other reviews have already touched on the relevant issues. Here's what's not talked about: this book is not nuanced in terms of race, gender, class. The shifting of personal pronouns can be problematic: whenever it's hypothetical, the successful candidate tends to be male, while the sad, rejected candidate tends to be female. Advice for women is specifically doled out unevenly: "Women, speak in a lower register if you can" (p. 45) ; Dr. Kelsky encourages graduate students to "butch it up" (ibid). Also, "Lines... may seem friendly and engaged, but are actually overly emotional and highly feminized..." (p. 167-8) and subtitles like "Especially if you are female" (p. 167).
In short, this book is not the place for nuance. It does not consider first generation doctoral students, people of color, females, etc. For example, Kelsky advises: "Some graduate students will rush to follow these rules, some will panic... the choice is entirely yours." (p. 60) I disagree about "choice" in that I see outside forces as exceedingly influential as to how students behave and are able to function. And I (perhaps naïvely) hold on to a vision which a student can be committed to their identities while going against the grind.
However, the point of this book is not to take down the system. It is to play the system so as to make room for a paradigm shift.
Nuance does not confront the reality that the cards are stacked against doctoral students vying for 1 position to which 1,000 may apply. Nuance does not directly address the decomposing job market and the public's disregard for (and/or ignorance of) higher education and its value. Nuance is going to be a future book which refers to this one--a book I perhaps will write one day. Perhaps it may be better approached in The Black Academic's Guide to Winning Tenure--Without Losing Your Soul, but it is overwhelmingly ignored in this work, which does advance a perhaps totalizing vision of 'the graduate student'/'job market candidate'.
In the end, however, Dr. Kelsky's advice, though ill phrased and rhetorically awkward, isn't wrong. After all, if you are a female Ph.D. candidate of color looking for a job, you can easily fall into the very stereotypical trappings against which she warns. And no job search committee is going to have the time, patience, or desire to stop and think about the implications of their own bias.
So that's why I'm giving this 5 stars, and not grudgingly. It gives sage and necessarily advice, even if it in many ways supports the very structures it rails against.
Most of the other reviews have already touched on the relevant issues. Here's what's not talked about: this book is not nuanced in terms of race, gender, class. The shifting of personal pronouns can be problematic: whenever it's hypothetical, the successful candidate tends to be male, while the sad, rejected candidate tends to be female. Advice for women is specifically doled out unevenly: "Women, speak in a lower register if you can" (p. 45) ; Dr. Kelsky encourages graduate students to "butch it up" (ibid). Also, "Lines... may seem friendly and engaged, but are actually overly emotional and highly feminized..." (p. 167-8) and subtitles like "Especially if you are female" (p. 167).
In short, this book is not the place for nuance. It does not consider first generation doctoral students, people of color, females, etc. For example, Kelsky advises: "Some graduate students will rush to follow these rules, some will panic... the choice is entirely yours." (p. 60) I disagree about "choice" in that I see outside forces as exceedingly influential as to how students behave and are able to function. And I (perhaps naïvely) hold on to a vision which a student can be committed to their identities while going against the grind.
However, the point of this book is not to take down the system. It is to play the system so as to make room for a paradigm shift.
Nuance does not confront the reality that the cards are stacked against doctoral students vying for 1 position to which 1,000 may apply. Nuance does not directly address the decomposing job market and the public's disregard for (and/or ignorance of) higher education and its value. Nuance is going to be a future book which refers to this one--a book I perhaps will write one day. Perhaps it may be better approached in The Black Academic's Guide to Winning Tenure--Without Losing Your Soul, but it is overwhelmingly ignored in this work, which does advance a perhaps totalizing vision of 'the graduate student'/'job market candidate'.
In the end, however, Dr. Kelsky's advice, though ill phrased and rhetorically awkward, isn't wrong. After all, if you are a female Ph.D. candidate of color looking for a job, you can easily fall into the very stereotypical trappings against which she warns. And no job search committee is going to have the time, patience, or desire to stop and think about the implications of their own bias.
So that's why I'm giving this 5 stars, and not grudgingly. It gives sage and necessarily advice, even if it in many ways supports the very structures it rails against.
May 12, 2018
This book is a nightmare, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. As a PhD candidate working on my dissertation, I'm extremely not married to the idea of an academic career, but through a combination of apathy (no clear direction for what else to do), shame (leaving academia? HOW COULD YOU), worry about my skills (but I've only been trained for teaching and research!), and terror (no explanation needed), feel compelled to at least try the academic job market this coming fall. This book is harshly realistic about the low expectations you need to have going in (as well as the ways student and adjunct labor is exploited, THANK YOU), but is also practically helpful in terms of steps and logistics of how to organize job documents, what campus visits and interviews are like, how to negotiate the rare offer, etc. There's a short section at the end on leaving academia which I wish was longer, but overall I think this book is definitely valuable. It made my anxiety spike drastically but literally anything involving my program does these days, including the conference paper I should be writing instead of reading this lol.
June 11, 2019
This would have been much more helpful at the earlier stages of my PhD, but it was useful anyway.
February 20, 2017
This was my second "book of advice" on academic jobs, and I think I've had enough of these. Essentially, I feel that I've a basic grip on how the academic hiring happens and most importantly, what's the perspective of a department when they're conducting a search. This being said, if I don't end up getting a job in the near future I now have the privilege to say, "Hey, I did my research. I read up all that jazz on academic jobs. If I'm not getting hired, I must have bad luck!"
So, in a nutshell, all I need now is an actual job offer - the prospects of which are pretty bleak at the moment. Anyway.
I like Kelsky's brutal tone throughout the book. Her attitude towards academia is well supported by her own career-trajectory (a former tenured prof, who quit to start a blog helping struggling academic-wannabes). So I liked hearing from somebody who had not only seen it all first-hand but is also a professional coach for fresh PhDs. This is why this book is a ton better than the methodical, fat "The Academic Job Search Handbook" I reviewed earlier.
It was quite surprising to hear that many PhDs, especially in humanities, obtain a loan to finish their "studies" and so they have this huge financial pressure to get into an academic job to start paying back that loan. As a PhD in engineering - I'm sorry to say this - I did feel a little better about my situation where, as of today, I don't owe any kind of money to anybody. All my education and living was paid for and taken care of through government grants. Now what's the real worth of my education and my research skills, that's something I'll figure out when/if I get a job.
I particularly liked Kelsky's idea of "having your own back" throughout your PhD and post-doc. That is, you can't depend upon your dear-boss to help you get a job. Your adviser will certainly play a role - but at the end of the day, its YOUR responsibility. You gather all the support you can from your adviser, and then start investing spare time (weekends!) to secure a secure job. Whether its attending conferences, applying for fellowships or grants, getting teaching experience on that CV, or attending professional development workshops, its YOUR responsibility. Get to it.
Final Verdict : If you're in the academic job market, suffer from an inferiority-complex, and generally anxious, this is a must-read. However, if you're one of those rare-breeds who have a genius-level CV, you probably don't need all this jazz. You'll do just fine.
So, in a nutshell, all I need now is an actual job offer - the prospects of which are pretty bleak at the moment. Anyway.
I like Kelsky's brutal tone throughout the book. Her attitude towards academia is well supported by her own career-trajectory (a former tenured prof, who quit to start a blog helping struggling academic-wannabes). So I liked hearing from somebody who had not only seen it all first-hand but is also a professional coach for fresh PhDs. This is why this book is a ton better than the methodical, fat "The Academic Job Search Handbook" I reviewed earlier.
It was quite surprising to hear that many PhDs, especially in humanities, obtain a loan to finish their "studies" and so they have this huge financial pressure to get into an academic job to start paying back that loan. As a PhD in engineering - I'm sorry to say this - I did feel a little better about my situation where, as of today, I don't owe any kind of money to anybody. All my education and living was paid for and taken care of through government grants. Now what's the real worth of my education and my research skills, that's something I'll figure out when/if I get a job.
I particularly liked Kelsky's idea of "having your own back" throughout your PhD and post-doc. That is, you can't depend upon your dear-boss to help you get a job. Your adviser will certainly play a role - but at the end of the day, its YOUR responsibility. You gather all the support you can from your adviser, and then start investing spare time (weekends!) to secure a secure job. Whether its attending conferences, applying for fellowships or grants, getting teaching experience on that CV, or attending professional development workshops, its YOUR responsibility. Get to it.
Final Verdict : If you're in the academic job market, suffer from an inferiority-complex, and generally anxious, this is a must-read. However, if you're one of those rare-breeds who have a genius-level CV, you probably don't need all this jazz. You'll do just fine.
October 23, 2015
Karen Kelsky is a former tenured faculty member who decided to leave academia and switch to a career where she helps others find academic positions. This started as a blog and became this book and a career consulting service. To me this book would be most useful to a student just starting a pHD program in the humanities. As someone in the 5th year of a postdoc in the sciences I didn't find it quite as helpful. The author acknowledges that she is a humanities pHD and not everything she has to say is applicable. A lot of it does seem universally applicable, but some is obviously not (for example I have a feeling giving a job talk in the sciences reading from a paper would be the end of my chances of getting that job). There is also a lot of information that won't really help you once your at the point of actively looking for a job. For example there are chapters on what to do while completing your pHD to prepare you in the future and a chapter on the state of academia (warning its a depressing chapter). She also uses the book a little to promote her business. That being said I certainly did get some useful tips on preparing job materials, interviewing and negotiating. So while I wouldn't say the book is "essential" or complete (for examples samples of good vs bad materials are limited to a paragraph here and there) it certainly will provide some useful information in combination with other sources.
March 27, 2024
Honestly, I’ve felt conflicted about this book since the first chapter. While a lot of the suggestions were helpful, the way it was presented was often sensationalized (see chapter entitled “Why ‘Yourself’ Is the Last Person You Should Be”). I recognize some of my negative feelings about this book stemmed from wanting to think academia was better than Kelskey was presenting it (“surely things are different now!”) but truth be told, I know it’s not. In the end, the book did for me what I wanted it to: it gave me solid advice on how to write job docs and prepare for academic interviews, advice I couldn’t find elsewhere. And for that it gets 4 stars.
December 31, 2019
Catalina gifted this to me, and I never put it on my "Currently Reading" shelf because I picked through it rather than reading it cover to cover.
The book is a frank, clear, and concise set of advice for navigating PhD programs and beyond into academia. It is especially relevant to women in academia, who have a far steeper uphill climb. Its written in a style that is professional yet academic, personal yet objective, and I've already put a lot of its advice and tips into effect to enhance my CV.
The book is a frank, clear, and concise set of advice for navigating PhD programs and beyond into academia. It is especially relevant to women in academia, who have a far steeper uphill climb. Its written in a style that is professional yet academic, personal yet objective, and I've already put a lot of its advice and tips into effect to enhance my CV.
June 11, 2018
Kelsky’s take on academia is bleak to say the least. Her tone throughout this book conveys a gloomy depiction of academia. Certainly, there are loads of issues that need to be considered when going to graduate school such as the student debt crisis and the poor job market. However, I believe the excessively dark way academia is portrayed here is a magnification due to Kelsky’s own biases and the needs of her consulting services. Early on, she states that those who say they’d be happy teaching at a smaller college are frequently just setting a low bar to try and avoid the more competitive jobs. Though she adopts a more moderate stance later in the book, she clearly has trouble seeing why someone would choose to prioritize teaching over research. Believe it or not, there are actually people who legitimately enjoy teaching at smaller universities to students from poorer and less well-educated backgrounds. Her distain for teaching is evident throughout the book. Elsewhere, she shows a pretentious and pedantic nature for many things, such as the silly suggestion that interviewees buy expensive leather briefcases to look fancy for a job interview. The tone is so striking that I have to wonder if Kelsky was purposefully trying to portray herself speaking as the stereotypically aloof and overly research-oriented tenured professor who resents having to teach at all.
When reading this, one must also remember that she has a vested interest creating an extremely gloomy outlook to academia. Her blog sells several proofreading and consulting services for ridiculously expensive prices, despite acknowledging the financial troubles that plague graduate students and early career academics. It is in her interest to weave a narrative that overemphasizes the problems and portrays her methods as being the key to success. For instance, the main portions of this book set up tenure-track job as a sort of salvation from the financial problems and overbearing workloads for the rest of academia. However, by her own admission, she was still immensely dissatisfied with academia even after getting a tenure-track job. Why, then, perpetuate the myth that tenure-track jobs at major research universities are the golden ticket of academia that everyone in their right mind should strive for? Perhaps, this focus on tenure is, at least partially, a business strategy. Readers of her book and her online clients need a singular goal that they feel they must achieve.
That said, although she has many of the usual trappings of one, Kelsky is not actually a snake-oil salesman because much of her advice is worthwhile. She gives excellent accounts of situations where graduate students often fail, both at conferences and with job applications. The layout for how to write grant applications is particularly useful as well. Her general advice is worth listening to in many cases. Though this book should have been much more condensed, (It’s over 400 pages and has 63 chapters, many of which could be reduced to half a paragraph!), it’s worth having a look at for graduate students or anyone considering graduate school. Just be sure to read it with a critical eye. Kelsky has many good suggestions, but they cannot always be effective in every discipline or scenario. Again, be weary of the gloom and doom approach that she adopts. Buy this book, read through it, and keep it for reference, but don’t take the tone too seriously
When reading this, one must also remember that she has a vested interest creating an extremely gloomy outlook to academia. Her blog sells several proofreading and consulting services for ridiculously expensive prices, despite acknowledging the financial troubles that plague graduate students and early career academics. It is in her interest to weave a narrative that overemphasizes the problems and portrays her methods as being the key to success. For instance, the main portions of this book set up tenure-track job as a sort of salvation from the financial problems and overbearing workloads for the rest of academia. However, by her own admission, she was still immensely dissatisfied with academia even after getting a tenure-track job. Why, then, perpetuate the myth that tenure-track jobs at major research universities are the golden ticket of academia that everyone in their right mind should strive for? Perhaps, this focus on tenure is, at least partially, a business strategy. Readers of her book and her online clients need a singular goal that they feel they must achieve.
That said, although she has many of the usual trappings of one, Kelsky is not actually a snake-oil salesman because much of her advice is worthwhile. She gives excellent accounts of situations where graduate students often fail, both at conferences and with job applications. The layout for how to write grant applications is particularly useful as well. Her general advice is worth listening to in many cases. Though this book should have been much more condensed, (It’s over 400 pages and has 63 chapters, many of which could be reduced to half a paragraph!), it’s worth having a look at for graduate students or anyone considering graduate school. Just be sure to read it with a critical eye. Kelsky has many good suggestions, but they cannot always be effective in every discipline or scenario. Again, be weary of the gloom and doom approach that she adopts. Buy this book, read through it, and keep it for reference, but don’t take the tone too seriously
October 8, 2015
Reading college advice guides is a lot like looking at those pictures where they overlap the faces of the 25 hottest stars to show you what beauty is. You can pick out an ear here, an eyelash there, but you realize they're almost all exactly the same. The Professor Is in: The Essential Guide to Turning Your PH.D. Into a Job is the Quasimodo of this allegory. Karen Kelsky's guide to transitioning from grad student to tenure-track faculty doesn't overlap with books of its ilk, and it looks pretty damn ugly to anyone considering grad school.
If it sounds as though I'm downing Kelsky, rest assured: I'm not. I can't fault The Professor Is In for any of the ugliness it brings, because it's a necessity. The outlook for grad students isn't Hollywood overlap-pretty, and Kelsky isn't airbrushing its rough edges. Instead, she eviscerates the flaws in the academic system that allow PhDs to languish in adjunct hell for years, and maps out the most hopeful course for those with their eyes on the tenure prize.
Not only has Kelsky identified and appealed to a gap in advice materials available to grad students, but she's also closed it. Barring great changes for terminal degree holders in the jobs market, The Professor Is In has monopolized and exhausted the conversation. Kelsky leaves few, if any, stones unturned, and she spreads out her information in such a way as to leave no need for other voices. It's a shrewd and compassionate decision on her part, to offer graduates a single book to answer all their questions. For Kelsky's readers, there'll be no combing nearly-identical texts for minor differences in chapters and footnotes, and no competition for the foreseeable future.
It's worth noting that I almost never purchase copies of books I've read digitally, but I ordered a copy of The Professor Is In before I'd even finished it. Kelsky's words didn't dissuade me from pursuing a graduate degree, but they have proven vital to that journey. The Professor Is In is the item you grab when it gets dangerous to go alone, and I wasted no time recommending it to friends in the process of applying to graduate programs. If you're considering a second degree, or know someone who is, put this book in their hands. They'll thank you later.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for this review.
November 25, 2016
This book came into my life at the best time. Part of me wishes I had read it before graduate school but I think I got the most out of it right now. I would definitely recommend it to people who are thinking about graduate school and going into academia as it lays out a very competitive career track and exact steps to take to get there. Steps for which I realized, as I read through, I had certainly missed the boat. Dr. Kelsky delivers some harsh realities about graduate school and the job market in the way I wish every advisor/major professor would. I very much recommend this book to undergrads thinking about graduate school, grad students thinking about anything, and advisors who want to know what to tell their students and how to do it. Be warned, however, it is very much written by someone who got a degree in either humanities or social science and therefore mainly has insight from these backgrounds. The author runs a business in which she interacts with and trains people from across disciplines to get jobs so she still has a lot to say about academia as a whole.
December 19, 2015
Karen Kelsky has no illusions about academia. And neither should you. I found this book profoundly helpful for its frank discussion of the hiring process and concrete advice in improving my job application materials. I'll be entering my second year of the academic job search, and already, I feel more professional and confident. If you are an aspiring, discouraged, or even former academic, READ THIS BOOK.
July 28, 2016
This is a must read for anyone wanting to pursue an academic career in the US. The information is also applicable to universities worldwide.
January 9, 2019
Should be required reading for graduate students and our mentors. It paints a bleak picture of the academic industry, but this sort of demystification could and I'm sure has been saving careers.
September 26, 2021
Extremely useful material for anyone in academia.
July 5, 2018
Thanks to my friend Rachel G., I learned of this book and quickly purchased it on Amazon. I found Karen Kelsky's work an exceptionally thorough overview at the aggravating state of the academic job market and the best strategies by which job applicants can overcome the odds and find success in their search. I would like nothing more than to apply these strategies to my own search, from the elements of a competitive record (peer-reviewed publications, grants, conferences, networking, etc.), to the proper content and tone of job documents. As someone who has much experience on academic search committees, Kelsky knows what the committees are looking for and her advice thus carries considerable weight. I especially enjoyed the way she ended the book, as she encouraged readers not to feel dependent on the approval of other people to find contentment in their careers: "Only you can say what counts as your success."
September 28, 2023
This book gives extremely useful advice in most areas (for example, how to write a cover letter and teaching statement, plus other ins and outs of the process of pursuing an academic career) - however, given the impossible nature of the current job market (especially in the humanities), some advice was just downright unnecessary (for example, she suggests to alter one’s cadence in an interview so as not to sound young like a postgraduate, how to dress, etc.). I also appreciate the section on transferable skills when seeking employment outside of higher education.
April 9, 2017
Had this on my desk forever, because I borrowed a copy from the department in which I am currently completing my PhD. So I felt guilty after a few months of procrastinating, both because I was hogging the book from other grad students, and also because I am such a terrible procrastinator.
So I read it. It is very good, and, I think, very helpful. It is also scary, but what can you do? Trying to get a job is scary anyway. It helped me think about and list concrete things to prepare (teaching statements, various cover letters, syllabi for proposed classes) rather than just stewing in vague anxiety.
Also I like Kelsky's tone. She's funny. It helps ease the anxiety a bit.
So I read it. It is very good, and, I think, very helpful. It is also scary, but what can you do? Trying to get a job is scary anyway. It helped me think about and list concrete things to prepare (teaching statements, various cover letters, syllabi for proposed classes) rather than just stewing in vague anxiety.
Also I like Kelsky's tone. She's funny. It helps ease the anxiety a bit.
June 28, 2020
This is a refreshingly no-nonsense book that I would recommend to any of my fellow graduate students in Ph.D. programs. It contains a good mix of big-picture ways to reframe your thinking and specific micro-level examples of verbiage that is and is not effective on the job market. Dr. Kelsky also strikes a great balance of acknowledging that the system is flawed while not letting that stop her from giving practical advice on ways to increase your chances of success within that system.
December 16, 2020
Considering the sheer lack of frank feedback mechanism and guidance when it comes to transitioning to academia, this book is a must read for all graduate students who are considering academic careers.
The tone is a bit acrimonious at time as other reviews point out. However, sometimes we do need a straight to the point and & harsh assessment of facts to have a clear eyed perspective. Despite its bias towards humanities (unavoidable considering author's background), the book manages to give a broad enough perspective to be instructive for graduate students of all the disciplines.
The tone is a bit acrimonious at time as other reviews point out. However, sometimes we do need a straight to the point and & harsh assessment of facts to have a clear eyed perspective. Despite its bias towards humanities (unavoidable considering author's background), the book manages to give a broad enough perspective to be instructive for graduate students of all the disciplines.
August 26, 2021
It took me a while to confront this bleak-toned book, but I'm grateful now that I have. The state of the academic job market has long been on my conscious and this awareness has shaped my scholarly trajectory into an applied field with more (albeit still very limited) opportunity. As such, I was already anchored to a place of considerable anxiety and trepidation going into this book, but I was also in a place of committed acceptance to the challenge I'm now confronting and open-mindedness to where this voyage may take me despite all efforts to land in a particular destination. As for key takeaways, I found the author's urgent plea to stop thinking of yourself as a student to be very helpful, as well as the advice around avoiding and replacing emotional language with evidence of your skills and abilities. I definitely recommend this book to anyone considering pursuing an academic career, with most advice tailored for individuals on the job market.
March 11, 2023
It has practical advise, buy the book is more about how to assimilate rather than address bias and prejudgment in academia. As a BIPOC I believe some of its teaching tried to force a one way of being in academia. I understand that it supposed to help you get into a job. But I dont want any job that's doesn't let me be who I am.
January 4, 2018
How to navigate the shoals of the academy
Good handbook on how to navigate the professionalism of academic careers as well as how to weigh the costs and benefits of discovering a different career with a PhD.
Good handbook on how to navigate the professionalism of academic careers as well as how to weigh the costs and benefits of discovering a different career with a PhD.
January 13, 2019
Sure, it's more than a little geeky, but I finally read the most helpful guide out there about how to get an academic job... on my way to my first interview for an academic job.
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