This article, published by The THE last week, talks of the same job-seeking woes that sometimes I let seep in here. The interesting thing is that Nicholas Tesla isn’t fresh out of the uni or fresh out of his PhD; no sir, he is applying for high-end management roles within the academia (and must therefore have... twenty-five years worth of relevant experience perhaps?) and is being treated with the same contempt usually reserved for us, scum at the lower end of the research spectrum. Naturally, his piece isn't just about his own interviews, for it raises questions about the role of leaders and the one of managers, but even if you have no interest in higher education, I urge you to have a read, if only to rejoice in knowing that no, it is not just you at the mercy of HR androids everywhere.
I particularly love his reference to those institutions that do not even have the decency to acknowledge one’s application (cue, ‘superlicious silence’). I am telling you, when I read that, I felt like laughing and crying at the same time, if at all possible. Was I crying with laughter? Was I laughing while crying? I’ll never know and, let me tell you, it’s better that way.