Blogging Away Debt Blogging Away Debt follows real people on their journey to debt freedom — with tips on the debt snowball, budgeting, cutting expenses, and staying motivated.

by Ashley

Hi all! I hope your week is off to a good start!

It’s that time of year…..hiring season is here! Really, I should say application season is here (hiring tends to take place later in the year).

For those in academia, you may be familiar with the process. When universities are hiring a new professor, they often tend to have application deadlines between October-January. Hiring can occur at any time of year, but this tends to be the most concentrated time. The typical process goes as such….

Applications due October 15^th (or November 1^st, or December 15^th, etc.). During the first round, applications get sorted through and some are “rejected” while others are held. The held copies get sorted through and organized by preference. Generally the top 2-3 people are contacted for interviews (often over the phone first, then in person), and the best man or woman wins! ; )

I’ve seen offers made as early as mid-October (for positions starting the following August), and as late as late-May (for a position starting that August).

What this means for me is that I’ll be busy-busy-busy with applications up to my eyeballs soon.

I’m taking a little different approach this year than I did last year. Last year my #1 goal, above all else, was to get back to Austin (where both my husband and I are from and most of our immediate family reside). I was applying for all kinds of jobs that weren’t even close to my area of expertise out of desperation. I thought, “it doesn’t hurt to try!”

Well we all know what good that did for me….a lotta nothin’.

This year I’m taking a different approach.

I remain firm in my decision to be selective about where I apply (instead of applying all over the country). I am open to only 3 areas: my current area (Tucson/Phoenix), the greater Austin area (from Waco down through San Marcos…maybe San Antonio), and the central Utah area. That’s it. (For new readers, I also have family in Utah).

However, instead of just applying indiscriminately for anything and everything, I’m going to be more selective. I spend a lot of time on each application. I research the faculty, their interests, their publications, the department, the culture (as much as is possible from a website), etc. etc. etc. I’m going to reserve my precious time to only apply for those jobs that are actually a good “fit” for me. Of course, it sounds so obvious, but I have applied for so many willy-nilly jobs just out of desperation to get back to Austin that I wasted a lot of time on things that – even if they had been offered to me – I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed and may not have even accepted. Why do this to myself?

So instead of applying to 15-20 places (like I did last hiring season), maybe I’ll apply to 4 or 5. Who knows? It depends what jobs come up. One was just posted with an October 15^th deadline that sounds perfect for me, so we’ll see what happens.

I just wanted to give you all a heads up about my job searching situation and also to let you know what was going on in case I’m a bit scarce from time-to-time. These applications take a lot of time and attention (on top of my other work responsibilities and general life stuff). Of course, I love blogging here and checking in with you guys so I’m sure content will remain pretty regular. Just wanted to give you guys a little update.

Have a great work-week!