The situation for the recent history graduates : The job market, rethinking the idea of « Plan B», and some ideas for the future

Abstract

“I’m going to be a college professor,” declared the enthusiastic animatronic talking head in a viral video that swept the Internet throughout the summer of 2010 (now seen by over six hundred thousand visitors). Needless to say, the glib and dry responses from the professor, highlighting the low pay and benefits of adjuncts, poor permanent job prospects, and other post-PhD issues, form a sort of gallows humour for viewers.