life, apparently

The thing about academic life is that it is full of rejection. F.U.L.L. of it. And for the most part, that is ok with me. I don't mind when my papers get rejected. I don't like it, that is for sure. But usually some of the comments are valid and I hit myself on the forehead for not thinking of it myself. And some of the negative comments are things that can be fixed, others are just reviewers being biased or maybe even just plain stupid. I usually get angry for a day or so and then read the reviews again and realize that the vast majority are valid comments devise a plan to deal with them. This may sound crazy but I like the challenge of it (kinda, sorta, sometimes). If I can convince OldFamousDude to accept it, then it must be a really good paper.

Jobs are a whole different ballgame. I hate these rejections. They are so personal. (I know I know, you shouldn't take it personally. But seriously how can I not?) I have friends on search committees, I know that the chosen one was chosen sometimes based on completely random and/or ridiculous reasoning.* The best woman does not necessarily win.

Maybe (ok, definitely) I've been in a state of denial about the probability of me getting a job but then again I don't know anyone without a job (maybe that is because they don't attend academic conferences). Reality bites.

*For example, we don't want to hire a person who studies X (wtf did you interview me then you bastards?), your research area is too similar to a person in the dept (repeat question above), we think we have a better chance of getting person Y (is that a good way to make a business decision - let's go for the person who will say "yes" not the best candidate?), you weren't nice enough to me (2 days of 12 hour niceness is impossible, but I bet that I was honest), you didn't think enough about my area of research (that is why I study in MY area of research - I like it better than yours and I'm sure you feel the same).