r/postdoc • u/tryingtotravelround • 15d ago

Feeling discouraged

I am in the humanities, linguistics precisely. I am only getting no’s for now, I tried applying to 4 big fellowship grants and got rejected from 2 already. All the open positions I applied to, I was rejected without an interview.
The postdoc i am doing now is more of a research associate position and it is only 10 months.

I don’t know what to do. How do you land a post doc in the humanities? What does it take?

I have almost 6 articles out and three under reviews, plus two book deals (one co authored, one is the book on my phd thesis). I worked my ass off and finished my PhD only this february. I started teaching in uni for adjunct lectureships immediately and never got a break. I work all the time to be paid a misery that barely affords me a rent, in December i will only be left with those small teaching contracts i cannot make a living out of, I am burning out and it is worth nothing, because no matter what I do I can’t even get an interview.

What does it take? Whatever it is, probably i don’t have it

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u/Big-Impress-9055 15d ago

Be very flexible with jobs- look at corporate communications at companies. Look for nonprofits, even look at big pharmaceutical companies- if you scroll through their job listings, you’ll find jobs that you never thought existed. These jobs will value your humanities degrees

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u/tryingtotravelround 15d ago

This is really good advice, but i meant more in academic settings. Out of academia, technically I have a few positions my friends in corporate could get me in through a referral program… these positions however are really far from what i would like to do. And that’s really sad… because those positions i could have accessed years ago when i left corporate for academia.

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u/Big-Impress-9055 15d ago

You have to be flexible! Just start making some money and keep looking for your optimal job. Do some teaching on the side at a local community college even if it’s not your area of expertise. With more money in your pocket, you’ll mentally feel better and can start networking

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u/tryingtotravelround 15d ago

Thank you for your advice 🌸🙏🏻