I think I’ve had my fun.

I was in a tenure track position but failed and moved largely into a teaching role. I spent most of my time studying nanomaterials and have a nice stack of publications that came from that work. I’m ready to leave though, I don’t see a future. My main hesitation in leaving is that this is secure*, I’m comfortable with it, and I have flexibility with respect to my family.

However, given the current funding climate I don’t see my position existing after the next fiscal year, and promotion is a nonstarter. I’ve had to do a lot of different things over the past 8 years but i have not been able to specialize on anything in particular. I want to start looking now but I just don’t know how to set up a plan for finding work, and I’m not sure if there’s a spook factor when hiring ex-faculty in the private sector.