Good luck!!! You can do it!!!! ^^

After being away from academia for a year teaching children in Korea, last week I was offered a job as a lecturer in English at a university here in Korea. I will be happy to be back in a university environment again..and even though my PhD was in history I think it will be a great challenge to teach and learn to teach English as a Foreign Language at a university ^^ yay!!

just a quick update as I used to be quite active back in the days of my PHD. I really took a beating trying to find an academic job and even though this job is just an annual contract in a totally different field, I am happy. It was a real chancer coming all the way here to Korea a year ago...and now I have a job at a university and a life here with friends and a boyfriend...and slowly learning Korean ^^ stick in there guys as there is life after the PhD...even if it is one you never expected!!!(up)

Wow!! Good luck! I am sure you will enjoy it! I just logged on today to have a peek at what people are doing...congratulatioms!!! ^^

Good luck Sneaks. :)

A mixed bag. The new country is great and I love being there but the job is a bit of a challenge teaching children as opposed to adults. But enjoyable and stressful. I am working on a book proposal om a topic related to my thesis and hope it is accepted so that I can work on that too! :)

Congratulations! I do not read the forum much aymore but on this visit I recognise your username from the old days and wanted to say congratulations! :)

Good luck delta.

Congratulations!!! Best wishes for the future :)

Congratulation! The forum oldies are passing through now! :) good luck! :)

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I think the skill is to know when to stop "plugging away". I personally have no desire to be plugging away in 3 years time. I have already been applying for academic posts since Sept 2009. I have publication and a temporary lectureship on my cv. Even then it is still hard. Fortunately I have another paper in the pipeline bringing the total to 6 which is fairly hefty in the humanities, one year after completion. This aside, I know that postdocs are scarce and whilst I am very happy for my fellow friends who get humanities postdocs - I know (as do they) that in many ways this is deferring the inevitable "what to do?" since lectureships are so scarce. In many ways postdocs count as plugging away but might very well just be deferral of choice-making.

I have no idea long term - i suspect that academia will not work out. But there will be other things. Happily I have recently found employment for a year as a English teacher overseas. With hope I will have time to think about the next move...

I am a fan of Korean pop and sometimes there are some AMAZING videos:

A very, urm, colourful, video called "Lollipop"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIRW_elc-rY

Love the dance co-ordination of a boyband with (far too?) many members:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RePjMjmKtqI

And finally, an insane k-pop Alice in Wonderland theme :)

Love this one so much. The eagle-eyed of you will recognise the lead singer from the first video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygkhxUItiUM

I started the PhD imagining I woud get an academic job. I was warned it was competitive and that it was a slim chance. Obviously like many, I thought I would be different. 2 scholarships, one PhD, and five papers later...I'm no different...no job...at least not right now.

I got a temporary lectureship for a year and enjoyed it yet also realised that academia is not neccesarily always super-duper. I can't find a postdoc yet alone another lectureship so the career plan is not excactly on course now. Approaching 30 and have to say, I thought things would be different.

Do it again? Probably not. If done again I would have done a languages degree and perhaps an MA - and then moved abroad. Would have probably focussed on something like translation of a particular sort of text for publishers or NGOs, governance etc.

After finishing a piece of writing, normally in the small hours of the morning, I listen to a particular song before going to bed. This has been the way since undergraduate years. Even though musical taste has changes somewhat!!