Getting an instructional design position: Lessons from a personal history

(a) choose to apply the lessons described herein, and (b) obtain a desirable instructional design position. Before I begin to describe the lessons I learned, I would like to describe briefly some of the conditions under which I learned them. First, I learned the lessons back in 1975. As many people are fond of saying, "times were different then" (but not all that different). Second, I learned the lessons when I was a doctoral student about to graduate from the instructional design program at Arizona State University. Third, at the time I learned these lessons, I was looking for a job in higher education in the United States. The conditions I just described are likely to be different from the conditions you face during your search for a job. However, I believe that most of the lessons I learned will be applicable to your search for an instructional design position, regardless of the circumstances facing you. Now that I have masterfully handled any concerns you may have had about the external validity of my findings, let me take you back to those thrilling days of yesteryear (1975, to be exact) . . . the lowly graduate student (me) plods along againI In the 1970s many people were talking about "the light at the end of the tunnel," and in January, 1975, I finally began to see it; I realized that within a few months I would most likely graduate from Arizona State University's doctoral program in instructional design. At that point, I decided I should start looking for a position I could move into upon my graduation. Thus began my job search. The first source I turned to during my search was the job book that was kept by the faculty members in my doctoral program. As I looked through that job book, I was reminded of a song that was popular back then . . . "Is That All There Is?" Needless to say, the number of academic positions listed in the job book was considerably less than I had expected. Thus, I decided to turn to other sources in order to find out about