Kim Fernandes - 6S 2022 Completed Sketch for Querying Job Markets Transnationally

Job posting: https://www.indeed.com/q-PhD-Qualitative-jobs.html?vjk=a80aef29480126d0 (UX Researcher, AR/VR applications, Apple)

Answers to questions about this posting:

1. What aspects of the posting most attracted you?

Having been trained as a statistician before I made my way to anthropology, I am always interested in roles (like this one) that allow me to think with both quantitative and qualitative tools in the work that is proposed. Additionally, although the salary is not listed on here, I have seen estimates elsewhere, and am looking forward to the stability that a non-graduate-student salary provides.

2. How do you relate with the geographic location of the posting on the level of familiarity? Talk about its political, social, institutional, and material contexts that you are and are not familiar with.

I have not visited this location and am honestly a little worried about how aspirational it seems to look at a position like this in California when I can’t drive. There are several other socio-political factors around working in a location like this that I have also been thinking through.

3. How does the location of the posting enable your research contexts or career trajectories?

I have been hesitant to hold on to a specific career trajectory because I am an international student in the US and am not fully certain that I will be able to find a job in academia that will enable me to remain in the US. I think there is a lot of uncertainty (at least in my head) about what is possible, should I want to find an academic job, and I have been thinking of possible backups such as the listing above.

Questions as it relates to the posting above:

1. In what ways might I need to shape and market my existing skills and training to be able to apply for research-based jobs like this one that are outside the academy?

2. Will I still be able to teach classes, even part-time, outside of this job?