When I was much younger, I famously declared that I would not die in the United States!
I had grown up an expatriate & could not comprehend living in the USA for the remainder of my life.
Much later, when I finished my Ph.D., I looked at jobs in Canada, the UK, & Hong Kong.
I even applied. No one offered an interview.
I asked my advisor why was my application ignored?’l
They told me that no one believed an American would move abroad for less money.
They told me that was ok - I was unprepared for those places.
They went to advise me to take a job in the States.
My advisor's feelings were confirmed when at the next conference, an international scholar told me they loved my application, but no one believed I would come.
Given the evidence, I gave up my dream & spent the next 16 years of my life hanging out in the hills of South Carolina.
That time gave me a great kid - so no regrets!
Today, young academics live in a different world.
Early career PhDs can & do move with relative ease across countries - securing positions, publications, & prestige as expatriates.
Note: I’m only describing my field.
What changed?
First, the global North converged on a shared understanding of quality research.
The emergence of journal lists in Australia, China, Germany, the UK & North America confirmed that a small subset of journals was elite.
This meant schools now shared a rubric for evaluating publications.
Second, teaching methods & evaluations became more standardized.
While topics differ, & even rating systems, there is a global understanding of how to assess teaching potential.
This meant schools could make reasonable apples-to-oranges comparisons.
Third, technology made global collaboration easier.
Students could now talk to their advisors each week - even if separated by national borders.
This meant schools knew students with good advisors could still benefit from their mentoring.
Fourth, global mindsets were affirmed by ranking systems.
Uni & discipline ranking systems made it easier to assess candidates’ training.
This facilitated an international job market - esp. between the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Singapore & Hong Kong.
Fifth, English remained a global language of research and instruction in the discipline.
This meant people could exchange ideas/teach across borders, making hiring students from many origins possible.
What did these trends mean for job seekers?
They opened the door to employment across national boundaries.
We now see young faculty trained in one country take a first position in a different country and a second position in yet another.
Where country-based job markets could be volatile, the emerging intl market is more robust - with more stability and opportunities than local.
Today, I advise young faculty to broaden their horizons - if they have a good record - the possibilities are global!
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