What's the most difficult fields in which to get a professor position?

Question

I know higher education tends to be a crowded field, but I am hearing rumblings that some fields are far more difficult to get positions in rather than others. For instance, I'm in the behavioral sciences (Sociology), and I've been told it will be easier to get a position than someone in humanities but not as easy as someone in, say, business. Is this true? Most of my research seems to show English, History, Humanities, and fields like Linguistics to be really crowded. Thanks.

Answer 1

It is hard to get a job in any of these fields. I've found that people with PhDs in Mathematics and Physics have been having a hard time getting jobs. This is partly because scientists from Eastern Europe have been taking a lot of the jobs.

The answer to your question is more complicated depending on if you are asking about people applying to PhD programs or those who alreasy have a PhD.

For example, it is harder for someone with a PhD in Sociology to get an academic job than someone with a PhD in Business. However, it is MUCH harder to get a PhD in Business than it is to get one in sociology. This is because the top B-Schools get lots of applications for very few slots.

Answer 2

It really depends on the type of college in which you're looking to teach. Podunkville Community College professors might not have too much trouble transitioning from a Ph.D. or Master's program to a teaching position, but you need to just about be world famous to teach at the Ivy Leagues.

By field, the general pattern is that the field with less real-world applicability will be crowded for professor positions. What else will a History, English or Humanities Ph.D. do in the real world, other than teach? Well, there is plenty they could do, but a professor would be the most rewarding position. There are very few other jobs out there that make use of their extensive education.

Then, there is difficulty in other more applicable fields (i.e. Business) because one typically has to prove his or her efficacy IN the real world before having much credibility. Pure academics are all theory and no action when it comes to things like Business, Psychology, Engineering, Accounting, etc., and this is seen as a definite disadvantage.

There is a gap between academia and the real world. Academics are elbow deep in research and statistics all the time, while the people in the real world are responding to the actual environment. This is being acknowledged more and more all the time, and so competition increases for the academic-only types.

Answer 3

Everyone wants to be a liberal arts professor because there isn't a lot else to do with a PhD in Latin American Literature. I would love to teach that class!