how to fit inside a department? (the job hunt)

today, however, i nearly fell into self-defeat.

it began well. at the apartment this morning, i jotted down ideas which, when combined with good transitional flow, might make a tolerable teaching statement. i set it aside and thought to go to the office

      (where there is internet)

and start looking up information about various mathematics departments, in efforts to prepare for cover letters.

i never realised how specialised my work is, and how hard it can be to fit research interests into another department. i began my search by asking,

      "does anyone in this/that department study the analysis or geometry of metric spaces?"

and realising how few there were, i thought about what i could say i know:

      a little geometric measure theory
      a little PDE,
      a little sub-Riemannian geometry..

and that was it. there weren't so many departments for those, either. so i began to ask myself,

      "what could i realistically LEARN during a postdoc, in order to do research with people in this/that department ..?"

note the emphasis on the word 'realistically,' so now you see: self-defeat.

---

it took a lot of self-convincing that an application consists of research (and teaching) statements, vitae, publication lists, recommendation letters, and cover letters -- that's it.

i can try and make the best packets i can possibly make, and maybe (just maybe) i might look good on paper, and good enough that someone will hire me.

then again, maybe everyone else is feeling equally inferior.