Im going to start physical mailings and cold emails. I’m over this job market, its AI/ATS nonsense, and the people who think its OK.

JFC…I had to take a second to blink and realize you were being facetious. I totally expected him to rename the medal.

Not great. My job is ending in ~10 weeks. Academic. My market is saturated and some. The amount of rejection letters for applications rivals the post 2008 world. Tried everything. Trying to continue my work, seek funding, but I don’t do grants and schmoozing for money well. I’m starting to wonder if I’m aging out or just so far down the pecking order that the surge of new and fleeing academics is making it impossible to continue. Lots of doubt. I get so much joy from my classroom, my students. And I may not get to do that again. Its terrifying and is shaping my day, overwhelming the good that is there.

So I’m scared, doubtful, and its compounding.

I find some of the subreddits that aren’t attractive for selling/marketing are ok. Otherwise…it’s been falling faster than my self-confidence. Which is pretty damn fast.

I made some stupid anxiety driven mistakes and luckily did not get hurt too much for it. A grant I was working on, rather rushed new organization, was shit and I was politely told just to stop as it wasn’t going to work. 3 months of work, but learned my lesson to slow down and not rush forward. Now if I can only maintain that lesson for the rest of my days.

Tree fiddy is the only price I’m willing to pay.

I’m not quite sure how to jump into this, so here we go.

I’ve found myself unable to get new work but am in a position that I know my job is gone in 3 months. Academic, no funding.

I’ve been using Claude to parse through job postings and help me tailor a CV or resume. I never, if at all, even get a rejection email. I’m sad to say but leaving academia is going to likely be a survival issue. The prospect of having to get passed AI screeners is insane to me. AI is ruining so much in ordinary everyday life so rapidly that I’m frankly shocked…and I did climate disaster research so I’m hard to shock.

Thank you. I just needed to read that.

I’m ok. Made a big change with my family and moved after a residence permit was approved to another country (2+ year process). Starting over isn’t the right term, maybe learning to adult? Everything is just a little different, so I find myself lost or confused on everything from the grocery store, to the market, to norms on crossing the street. It’s overwhelming.

Applying for jobs has been, well, bad like everywhere else. So much ghosting or emails that start with “Thank you for applying…” or “With over 100 candidates…” and you can take it from there.

I tried it in BG3 and just nopped out. I just can’t do it. Neutral at worst for me.

Ok? I’ve been applying for every grant that I remotely qualify for (academic stuff). I moved across the world with my family. Trying to get myself started again and not feel worthless has been a challenge.

I hear feel this. I’ve applied to jobs, consulting roles, grants (I’m an academic). I empathize and you’re not alone in this.

Good week so far. Applying for grants and jobs, ditching Windows entirely and going with Pop_Os, reading a ton of history books just for fun.

I had a visa application in for another country. Was a long term long time plan to relocate back to the old country. My timing could not be worse, as the mood at the consulate has…shifted?

Public Administration and Policy.

Meh? I’m a uni professor and I gave a subpar lecture. I really care so when I feel things don’t go well, it hits me hard. I’m very tired and stressed and can see the same in my students.

I also want to fight back against the nonsense in my country; not sign holding, not performative nonsense, but can’t find an outlet or ally. Its frustrating feeling powerless, seeing my students scared and suffering, and feeling useless.

Reminder: Do a little something for yourself. I shut my email down, took a minute off from advocating, job hunting paused, and I played no mans sky for 4 hours. I then made some bread and took a walk.

I was recharged and ready to continue. I forget to do this for myself sometimes and it really does help. So I’m alright this week.

I went to a day long Zazen retreat and it was lovely. Little victories. Needed the reset.

If you want a bit of a variety in book recommendations, bridging the US to Optimism gap would be Rising Out of Hatred. Then for the earliest national forest and wildfire relief, The Big Burn. People coming together to rebuild A Paradise Built from Hell.

For fiction/sci fi the new James S. Corey series starts with Mercy of the Gods. Its good. For RhE rebellious sci fi side, Red Rising and its series is quite good. Takes off, in my opinion, around the end if book 2 and into 3.

Can you give me a breakdown or a guide you’d recommend for doing this? I used to be an RSS junky years ago, but my skills atrophied. It sounds lovely and a fun distraction project for me.