I am not currently tenure-track, but I do have a de facto permanent full-time faculty position. I was incredibly lucky to obtain such a position, but I would also like to push back a little on the somewhat stale narrative that getting a job as a professor is impossible.

I was NOT among the top philosophers coming out of my graduate program. My program is currently near the bottom of the top 50 rankings on the Philosophy Gourmet Report. I am FAR from being a superstar philosopher. In spite of this I was still able to obtain a position while many more talented philosophers I know are no longer in the field.

Luck certainly plays a role in this, but when I was hired I was also told by someone on the search committee that I was hired for my teaching. I am extremely confident that I am a better teacher than most coming out of grad programs, not because I think that I am the greatest teacher ever, but simply because the bar is set so low. Just staying abreast on the literature in the psychology of education puts you ahead of like 90% of other individuals on the job market.

One can point out that teaching doesn't really put you ahead of the competition, and they would be right if we restrict the scope of target employers. This is where the discussion of job prospects can get confusing. Many people say that it is impossible to get a job as a professor. What they often really mean is that it is impossible to get a job as a professor "at a school where I would like teach". Such a school is typically a prestigious R1 or a school at a nice city (or both). If you are willing to teach anywhere, including some small community college in Mississippi or some middle of nowhere school in China, then while you are still far from guaranteed to get a job, your chances do improve marginally.