Second time around

I keep getting asked what I'm going to do when I finish. I don't have a good answer. At all. I waver and hem and haw, because I really truly do not know. I know what I would like to do. Actually, there are many things I'd like to do, and they bounce around in my head sometimes. But the one thing I really want is probably not what people want to hear when we're talking about a soon-to-be doctor of philosophy.

In linguistics the go-to place to start your job search is the Linguist List. Pretty much all the jobs are posted there, and I get a daily email that tells me everything that's going on in the linguistics world: job openings, conference calls, journal table of contents, and so on.

Today was the second time I saw an announcement for a teaching position at Mizzou. I'm from Missouri and would love nothing more than to move back there and be as close to my family as possible! While the job isn't quite perfect for me (I'm not a phonologist, but might be able to fake it with my phonetics background), it is still an excellent opportunity. Plus my adviser knows one of the three linguistics professors there, and that could help, right? Although she said that I probably wouldn't get the job, because the market is so fierce right now that a true phonologist would be easy to find. Great.

My husband the scientist is not adverse to moving there. He's even looked into what jobs he could get there. But they aren't in Columbia. They're a couple hours away from that, and that kind of commute just won't cut it.

So the question is, do I even bother applying? Part of me thinks I should apply for any and all jobs because (a) the market really is tough right now and (b) it would be good experience. But I've also heard you shouldn't apply for a job if you wouldn't seriously take it, and I'm not sure if I would if I actually got it. So then is it worth the time and effort to put together all those application materials?

Well, this week it isn't. I've got too much other stuff to do. Applications aren't due until November 2. That's plenty of time to sit on this, right?