On writing job applications

I am currently in the throes of writing statements for job applications and that is one of the most infuriating things you can do. There is no disguising the fact that job applications are hard to write. It doesn't matter what kind of job you're applying for, for there will always be that hesitation about what is best to write. It's the same quandary that I would imagine pursues people in writing personal ads or online dating profiles. What on Earth should go in and what should be left out?

The other danger of doing job applications is the danger of success. You would think that failure would be the danger but failure imposes no immediate change in your circumstances while success usually makes every difference in the world! Failure by unconscious attempt is clearly just a version of stalling so as not to take the risk in changing things. It's very easy to be afraid of change, as millions of people around the world will tell you. As someone applying for academic jobs in Mathematics the pressure on a supporting statement can be quite overwhelming. For all but the most entry-level jobs you end up writing something closer in length to a short story than a letter and it becomes ever more important to justify and back up everything you try to communicate.

So, as this statement continues to dribble out and become ever more restructured and out of shape, this blog is gushing in a far more consistent manner. Practically everything is easier than writing a statement/letter for a job application. Sometimes I wonder if it's worthwhile! This coming week will see harder things though as I have to move out of my place in Aberystwyth and churn the wheel on the latest draft of my paper, which has again been delayed due to circumstance and family holidays which simply had to happen. Writing the paper has proven to be far harder than I ever supposed it could be, as the economy of language demanded by custom and tradition requires discipline of the first order. That discipline, combined with my current extreme fatigue, is making it hard.

I will miss Aberystwyth. There's a chance I could return at some point but that beautiful town is the nicest place to live I've ever experienced. It's a perfect compromise between town and country, and one that a rural bumpkin would think very unlikely to ever beat. Being by the sea is one of the nicest things in the world. Failure always imposes change, but slowly and painfully, unlike success. If then there's no difference between success and failure, why not go for success?

O.