A measure of job security

Well I’m kind of miffed. The teaching postdoc I really wanted decided that I’m not in the first round of interviews, which makes me sad. They really have their shit together and do a thorough job of preparing profs. Oh well. Maybe they’ll need to dip into tier 2 of their applicant pool.
In other, better news, the local community college needs a Gen Bio prof for the summer, so I’ll at least get some good teaching experience doing that. They also have fall positions, which is good; it keeps me in academia at least part time. I’m hoping that will round out my CV enough to nab that primo SLAC spot when it opens up. If it opens up.
God I hate this.

Career black holes

Let’s not kid ourselves. Finding a job in science these days is rough. Finding the job you want, once you get past your postdoc years, is even rougher. And landing your ideal job? Unless that postdoc was picture-perfect, you’re screwed.
Case in point; me. I had a rough postdoc. For now I won’t get into the gritty details, outside of a number of family-related issues and illnesses, and an anxiety disorder-related meltdown on my end, balanced with a phenomenal clusterfuck of mismanagement and bad mentorship on the part of my governmental employer. Where does this leave me? Beyond the simple feelings of loss and failure for not attaining that Brass Ring of rings, the tenure track research position?