How do you jibe being a professor and a captain?

Previously, we have written about the environment surrounding higher education and faculty career health. In the current section of Work Strong, the four principles of measuring career fitness are introduced and we need to transition to understanding the measurement of the career itself. The principles are excellent guideposts for guiding your faculty career. In academia, it is important to think of them in both how they apply to working in a role at a college or university and how they apply to being a scholar in the discipline you choose.

Your ability to understand and apply to your advantage the practical realities of working at a college or university is key to the success of your career. The type of institution and the practical realities of the practice of your discipline are going to affect your needs in the jobs you choose in your career. Does your life's work to fight a disease require that you have physical space to run a lab like Dr. Franzblau? Or does your practice of history require that your institution value the liberal arts like Dr. Thelin? Tenure issues aside, how secure is the job that you are in? Is it funded by an endowment, a grant, institutional operating funds, or the state of California? As Peter Weddle writes, you are the captain and the choice is yours. Find the opportunity (job) that most meets the needs of your career.

Many professors started their careers feeling that their discipline was the thing they were born to do. Faculty have a lot invested in their careers by the time they get hired in their first position, and therefore it is imperative the analysis of career fitness begin as early as possible and be measured regularly during your graduate school years. Unfortunately, most people who make the choice will have a difficult time changing course if being a faculty member is not the right one. Therefore, it makes sense to take advantage of the opportunities along the way (teaching assistantships, post-doctorate assignments, etc.) that help you confirm your choice is the right one. Our profession helps in this process as a good adviser/mentor can help, but don't forget the responsibility is ultimately your own. You don't want to land your first job and realize that you spent two terms of a president (or several phases of Madonna's career) in graduate school just because you liked going to class.

The notion of job security versus career security is interesting. Right now, people seem most worried about keeping their jobs. While their concerns are real, the academic community, while changing, does not appear headed towards extinction and your career should still be intact when the economy improves. Where will your career be once you don't have to worry about your job? What do you do at your school to make sure your career security is best suited to your needs?