Greetings beautiful humans!
How’s everybody? It’s the beginning of the fifth week of the quarter, which means that out of the 32 or so academic weeks of the MAPH year, you have completed 6 of them! That’s right, you’re racing toward the 20%-done-with-MAPH-mark!
If that doesn’t motivate you to look at your job prospects I don’t know what will.
Well good news! We have a bevy of employment-related events coming!
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At this time last year, it seemed like I had two options for my future:
(1) Pursue a PhD. Seems concrete, safe, doable. I’ve done school a bunch so I know what that’s like. I know where it would be (a university campus) and I know what kinda stuff I would do (read books, write stuff, cry, sound smart), so it seems super desirable. Oh, but there’s no money to be made, and people keep telling me about a crisis in the humanities and that it’s impossible to get a job. BUT I DO KNOW WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE
(2) Get a “job” in the “humanities”. Seems nebulous, risky, and difficult. I’ve never done that before so I have no idea what that’s like. I don’t know where it would be (a humanities factory?) or what kinda stuff I would do (humanize? memos? sound smart while having no idea what I’m doing?), so it seems mildly undesirable. I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE
Then I went to GRADFair and Alumni Night. And I realized that actually, there are a ton of people who want to pay me actual money to do things that don’t destroy my soul. Cool things, like writing for the Art Institute, consulting for non-profits, and helping different groups of corporate nerds who are working on interesting things communicate with each other.
Basically, I will implore you to resist gravitating towards a PhD program for the purpose of supposed simplicity, supposed knowledge of what a PhD program is like, and a supposed lack of jobs out there doing what you want to do. (If you want to do a PhD because you love research and nerding out on your little niche of a niche of academia, then Go, human! Go!)
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So there’s 3 awesome job things coming up soon:
GRADFair
Several MAPH alums will also be there, including Mary Carello Senic ‘08, a recruiter from Google and Jeremy Lowenthal ‘15, a legal writer at Hudson Legal Group (here in Chicago!). This is a great opportunity to get a sense of career options after MAPH.
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This is from last year’s GRADFair. Note the suits around me…”You’d be a great fit at our company! We’re always looking for more lumberjacks”
Note from Brent: I went last year and it was very good for my soul. You can upload your resumé and talk to potential employers. It made me feel like I could actually get a sweet job doing good work. I talked to cool people who gave me business cards, and I basically felt like an adult.
A word of advice….dress somewhat nicely
Brown Bag Lunch
Friday, November 4th, 11:30am in Classics 110
Also in November, MAPH is hosting a Brown Bag lunch with a MAPH Alum, Catherine Goldstead. It will be in the lounge, and there will be coffee/pastries. Bring your lunch and get ready to chat with Catherine about her work and life post-MAPH. Hilary will be introducing her!
Catherine Goldstead works as an Assistant Acquisitions Editor for Literary Studies at Johns Hopkins University Press, and is an all-around badass humanist. Anyone interested in working in the world of University Presses should certainly be there, but she will certainly have enlightening things to say about how to make a life out of a Master’s Degree in the humanities.
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Note from Annie: Meeting in a small discussion group like this is a great opportunity to learn not only about Catherine’s specific job, but also how she got there; MAPH alums are great at talking about their transition from graduate school to professional life. Whether or not you’re specifically interested in university publishing, this lunch will give you a better sense of how to translate humanities research into a career.
Alumni Career Night
On Tuesday, November 15th MAPH will be sponsoring Alumni Career Night!!! Almuni Career Night is a really cool opportunity to see actual people who graduated from this program in past years and hear them talk about whatever cool humanities-related thing they’re doing now. It’s going to be held in in the Classics Building, as all of our events are, and will be spread out over several rooms in the building which house different panels. Last year we had a PhD Panel, featuring 3 people who did MAPH and who are now in PhD programs at Northwestern and UChicago, talking about how MAPH helped prepare them for doing a PhD. We also had a Teaching Panel, a Writing Panel, and a Non-Profit Panel, as well as a panel of other alumnis doing other really cool stuff in the city. All of these people are currently working in fields that utilize the skills they learned at MAPH. The coolest part is, they have jobs and are supporting themselves.
This is a great opportunity to see that there are possibilities for jobs after MAPH. These people were in your same shoes as soon as last year, and as far as 10 years ago. They’re here to reassure you, to show you that PhD’s aren’t your only option, and that there is a chance for you to take the skills you learn here and apply them in a job that hopefully won’t crush your soul, and that will also pay you money. It’s also super cool because it’ll help expand your networking possibilities. You know that weird, mythical concept of networking? This is how it’s done.
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Note from T: Last year, I was really gung-ho about going on to PhD programs. I still am, but now I know that if I don’t get into one, my world won’t come crashing down around me in a fiery rage of failure. I have options! Going to Alumni Career Night, I was exposed to some really good free thai food, and an opportunity to see the Humanities job field, and that there are jobs that you and me are good fits for because you (will) have a Masters Degree in the Humanities.
Go to GRADFair.
Go to the Brown Bag Lunch.
Go to Alumni Career Night.
Be Empowered.
Be Awesome.
Get monies.
Love,
Your mentors three.