A rejection from a top-tier venue stings, especially when the work is methodologically strong and the decision feels misaligned with the venue's stated scope. But the question you are asking yourself is not really about the quality of your paper. It is about what kind of signal you need to send to the industry recruiters you are targeting. You want A* publications on your profile, and you are weighing the risk of a workshop against the risk of a lower-tier imaging venue. Here is the honest, practical take: a well-matched workshop at a top conference like EMNLP will serve you better than a forced submission to a lower-tier imaging venue, and here is why.
Workshops at major conferences are not the consolation prize they are often made out to be. They are where focused, emerging communities gather to discuss specific problems with high intensity. If an EMNLP workshop aligns with your paper's core contributions, that is not a compromise; that is a targeted placement. The audience will be the right people for your work, and the feedback will be sharper because the room is smaller and more engaged. For a PhD student heading into industry, this is not just about the paper being accepted. It is about the conversation it starts. A workshop paper that sparks three good discussions with practitioners is worth more on your CV than a conference paper that sits in a lower-tier proceedings index and is read by six people.
Now, about the A* obsession. You are being honest about it, and that is good. But let us be clear: industry recruiters in AI and data roles do not count A* papers like poker chips. They look for evidence that you can formulate a problem, execute a method, and communicate results. A workshop paper at EMNLP, especially one that fits the call for papers like a glove, demonstrates that you understand where the field is heading. It shows you are not just chasing impact factors; you are engaging with the community that is shaping the next wave of tools. That is a compelling narrative for an interview. A lower-tier imaging venue might give you a publication, but it will not give you that same story, and it will delay you by months.
So do not wait. Submit to the EMNLP workshop. Treat it as a strategic move, not a fallback. Use the feedback to strengthen the paper, and if the work is as strong as you believe, the core ideas can still be extended and submitted to a stronger venue later. The publication you want is not the only path to the job you want. The work you can talk about, the problems you can solve, and the clarity you bring to the conversation are what will open the right doors. A workshop is not a dead end; it is a launchpad with better sightlines. Take it.