<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:bookman old style, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt">I agree with Dan. Additionally, a graduate with a technical hand generally gets a job at the age of 22-23 but a Ph D candidate makes his/her mark around 30 in the rat-race of getting a job. There is a chasm between someone 'gets' a job and on the other hand someone 'enters' into the job market. But at the same time I think this thing may remain in the mind of a person who is entering into a research programme. And to my best knowledge any such programme only offers a good research, and it doesn't offer a job security.<br><div><span><br></span></div><div> </div><div><font face="tahoma, new york, times, serif" size="1"><font face="times new roman, new york, times, serif" size="3">Yours,</font></font></div><div> </div><div style="color:rgb(17, 17, 17);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><font face="tahoma, new
york, times, serif" size="1"><font color="#000000" face="times new roman, new york, times, serif" size="3"><b><var id="yui-ie-cursor"></var><font style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" size="2"><font size="3"><span style="color:rgb(17, 17, 17);">Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi, Dr</span></font></font></b></font></font><span style="font-weight:bold;"><font size="2"><span style="color:rgb(139, 139, 139);">.</span><br><span style="color:rgb(91, 91, 91);">Assistant Professor<br>Department of Languages & Literature</span></font></span></div><div style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color:rgb(91, 91, 91);"><span style="font-weight:bold;"><font size="2">Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra<br>Jammu & Kashmir 182 320<br></font></span></span></div><div style="font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;"><font size="1"><font size="3"></font></font>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><div style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;background-color:transparent;"><font face="tahoma, new york, times, serif" size="1"><font face="times new roman, new york, times, serif" size="3">Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi</font></font></div><div style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;background-color:transparent;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:amitabhvikram@yahoo.co.in">amitabhvikram@yahoo.co.in</a> <br><span style="color:rgb(0, 0, 255);text-decoration:underline;">amitabh.vikram@smvdu.ac.in</span> amitabh[dot]vikram[@]smvdu[dot]ac[dot]in<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank"
href="http://www.smvdu.net.in/">http://www.smvdu.net.in/</a></div><div style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;font-style:normal;background-color:transparent;"> </div><div><br></div> <div style="font-family: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <hr size="1"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Sebastian Nordhoff <sebastian_nordhoff@EVA.MPG.DE><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tuesday, 17 September 2013 4:23 PM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: Caveat emptor<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container"><br>On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:35:42 +0200, Everett, Daniel <<a
ymailto="mailto:DEVERETT@bentley.edu" href="mailto:DEVERETT@bentley.edu">DEVERETT@bentley.edu</a>> wrote:<br><br>> Absolutely correct, Sebastian. But we all know that most people do not do PhDs in typology in order to do accounting, etc.<br><br>in my (Dutch) PhD program, we were told from the beginning that only about 1/3 of us would find a job in research, and that we should get used to the idea of working elsewhere.<br><br>> A PhD is normally seen as the way into an academic career.<br><br>This is the basic misconception I think. It is true that this belief exists, but it does actually not correspond to what people with a PhD do do in the end. I therefore very much appreciated the University of Amsterdam's approach of dispelling this myth from the outset.<br><br>> And I see far too many unemployed and underemployed PhDs in the humanities.<br><br>Do you have some numbers for your PhD students? There might be a bias in that you are
unlikely to meet PhDs who have left academia. The people who remain are the few lucky ones with a good position, and the unlucky ones still trying.<br><br>> To give an example, adjunct faculty in the business disciplines usually have full careers, well-compensated, and do teaching as a satisfying way to interact with future professionals. Adjuncts in the humanities are either retired or, most commonly, underemployed folks trying to piece together a career from the leavings of full-time faculty. They wanted the tenure-track/permanent position. And they still do. And it is wrong to overproduce in this way.<br><br>I agree that the ratio of applicants per tenure position is too high. One should try to either get more tenure positions (unlikely) or discourage people from pursuing this career option. But this is logically independent from people getting a PhD in linguistics.<br><br><br>> Saying that there are other things they can do would be fine for
BAs or MAs in linguistics. But a PhD is overkill for positions not in or even only tangentially related to the field of study.<br><br>I know a couple of PhDs who now work outside of the research circus. Maybe they have acquired too much specific domain knowledge and scientific skills for their new job, but it certainly does not hurt. And, after all, it is a great pleasure and privilege to investigate uncharted scientific terrain during your PhD.<br><br><br>tl;dr<br>No need to cut PhD positions, but curtail expectations to follow a research career afterwards<br><br>Best<br>Sebastian<br><br><br>> <br>> Dan<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> On Sep 17, 2013, at 5:59 AM, Sebastian Nordhoff wrote:<br>> <br>>> On Mon, 16 Sep 2013 18:59:24 +0200, Everett, Daniel <<a ymailto="mailto:DEVERETT@bentley.edu" href="mailto:DEVERETT@bentley.edu">DEVERETT@bentley.edu</a>> wrote:<br>>> <br>>>> I am posting this because
linguistics is one of the disciplines I think needs to consider this seriously. There are too many academics in the liberal arts with no chance of full-time, secure employment in the area in which they have done their PhD.<br>>> <br>>> I might note that there are job possibilities outside of "the area where they have done their PhD". Getting a PhD in Typology does not necessarily mean that the only career opportunities are within the, indeed restricted, field of academic linguistics.<br>>> Best wishes<br>>> Sebastian<br>> <br>> <br><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></body></html>