Experiencing failure and setbacks in academic careers is almost inevitable. Early career professionals who do not yet have permanent positions may be particularly impacted by these challenges because of the relatively greater job insecurity and lack of resources afforded by such positions. Dealing with setbacks and critical events is especially important because of the events' frequency and the potentially disproportional influence they can have on academics' career trajectories. The four papers within this symposium focus on early career academics and analyze the effects of setbacks and shocks—negative, positive, and neutral in the work and non-work realms—and their influence on performance, resilience, and identity salience. By combining a conceptual paper with several quantitative studies that use key moderators (e.g., gender, resilience, and meaning) and analyze these phenomena and their effects over time, this symposium aims to provide complementary evidence of setbacks, shocks, and their effects on early career academics.