Job Search In Academe

How to Get the Position You Deserve

Dawn M. Formo, Cheryl Reed

• Publisher: Stylus Publishing
• Year: 2012
• Edition: 2
• eBook ISBN:
  9781579225384
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Études supérieures

Building on the success of the first, this new edition has been updated to cover the latest hiring trends, changing economic circumstances, and feedback from readers. The authors have expanded the book to deal with issues faced by minority candidates, and have added contributions from scientists to cover such issues as negotiating faculty contracts to ensure adequate lab space and resources. They give more emphasis to applying for non-academic jobs and offer case study scenarios of candidates who have followed both academic and non academic paths. The authors urge readers to go develop a philosophy statement for research and service, as well as for teaching. They explain what's involved in applying for joint positions, offer advice on applying for administrative jobs outside the academy, and prepare the reader for first year academic and corporate performance reviews. They have updated the resources, references, examples and scenarios. This book covers the process for Master's- and Ph.D.-level job-seekers of all disciplines: from identifying sources of information about positions, to advising on the preparation of effective CVs and portfolios, through guidance on the process of interview to final negotiation of terms. Its invaluable advice is informed by the authors' experiences in both academic and corporate arenas, as well as by the narratives of current and recent job seekers.The authors cover the full spectrum of potential positions—adjunct, visiting, temporary and tenure-track faculty appointments—at-year and 2-year institutions. This book includes sample application letters and vitae, a model for job search workshop, and a rich list of resources both in print and on-line.An accompanying Web site offers a wealth of information on locating job postings, complete with hot links to major sites, both general and discipline-specific; presents eight sample application packets by successful humanities, social sciences, and sciences candidates, with accompanying comments on key features by the book's authors; and an extensive listing of useful books and online resources.While being realistic about the trends in higher education, the decline in tenure-track positions, and greater competition for available positions, the authors actively combat the gloom and doom approach of competing books by emphasizing that readers have it in their power to adopt strategies, and take actions and choices, that can greatly improve their chances of success. The authors aim to help candidates see what they already have and how to get that across as clearly as possible to potential hiring committees. Contact the Authors: Share your story! We hope to continue collecting timely narratives to keep Job Search useful, and we welcome your e-mails. Dawn can be reached at [email protected] and Cheryl at [email protected]. We also welcome the opportunity to offer job search workshops and individual coaching in person and online

1

WRITING THE SCRIPT

The Application Process

The Application Packet as a Rhetorical Scene

The first exchange of information between you and potential new colleagues will be on paper—and it will be an exchange mediated by bureaucratic “others.” In fact, since most applications are opened and sorted by a departmental staff person and/or funneled through the Human Resources office, the first person who touches your packet will most likely be someone with training in administrative support, rather than in your discipline.

The person who initially handles your application, then, may or may not have been trained in the areas in which you’ve immersed yourself the past few years of your life. In fact, he or she may only be armed with a list of categories under which to sort the deluge of applications for multiple advertised positions. The sorting rubric may be as simple as “arrived before deadline” or “meets minimum degree requirements,” but institutions that have multiple sites and multiple open positions may establish a particular search committee for each opening. In this case (as in one large West Coast school), an office staff person may have to decide to which committee(s) an application should be sent. Make this person’s job easier: format your materials so that your training, experience, and desired position are easy to find, and use headers and job titles that reflect the language of the position announcement (see appendix 3 for sample application materials). If you’re applying for nonacademic jobs, such as administrative or coordinator positions, this is even more important. Larger schools use computer software to scan applications for keywords that match the position announcement before hiring committees see them. One graduate student was sorted out of a list of eligible candidates for a research job she’d been doing for several months because the computer software didn’t recognize the descriptors she’d used in her application. Of course, you won’t parrot back the position announcement in your application, but it’s smart to use terms that an outsider (or even a software program!) will easily match with stated criteria. As mundane and pointless as it may seem to target a software program in your application, it never hurts to make your credentials as clear and easy to locate as you can.

How, then, do you select what to include in each packet? The application packet generally consists of an application letter, curriculum vitae, and several letters of recommendation, although schools may initially ask for only candidate-generated materials (the application letter and the curriculum vitae). Confidential recommendation letters describe your accomplishments from the perspectives of your mentors. The vita lists your accomplishments and training by category—education, publications, presentations, teaching experience and interests, grants and awards, and references. The application letter briefly contextualizes key items within the specific parameters of the job for which you’re applying. Each of these components not only helps you win an “audition” but also can help you prepare for consequent interviews. Although occasionally hiring committees will ask short-listed candidates for writing samples, lesson plans, student evaluations, or even teaching videos, don’t send these materials until they’re requested, unless your particular discipline has specific expectations. Search committees read up to hundreds of applications for each opening and generally don’t appreciate unsolicited additions to their reading load. In fact, many schools have mandates not to consider anything but requested materials and will throw away your specially crafted additions. Furthermore, the application process costs you money—anywhere from $5 to $10 per application once the cost of transcripts, postage, and paper is included. We don’t want you wasting your money sending materials that committees don’t request.

At the “paper” stage of the search process, your main task is to begin constructing your professional presence or, as Jungians might say, your “persona.” There is nothing counterfeit about the personas you construct for your applications, although laying down something as complex as lived experience in a few short pages can feel that way. Think of your application packet as a preliminary script, one that sketches out the role you’re capable of playing in their particular “drama” once you get a chance “on stage” at your hiring university. Project those items that flesh out your “character” so that you’re a recognizable “type” that can fill the role they envision. Your interpretation and development of this role will be slightly (or even significantly) different from other candidates, and the way a particular university stages its “productions” will also affect the kind of performance you can offer. Remember: the written packet gets you in the door; you can always elaborate later if the committee shows interest in a particular project.

Finding and Interpreting the Job Announcement

Faculty positions are routinely announced in disciplinary journals, academic newsletters, websites, and job lists published annually by organizations in various fields. See appendix 2, “Finding a Job Announcement in Your Field,” if you’re not already aware of lists in your discipline. Consider what you would be agreeing to do by reviewing the job announcement closely. The language in position announcements generally adheres scrupulously to that mandated in federally monitored hiring guidelines. Most announcements are terse, giving the bare bones of information about the position and (most importantly) what materials the applicant should send, and where to send them. Abbreviations such as “ABD” (all but dissertation) and “3-2-2 teaching load” (teaching three courses in the first quarter and two courses in each remaining quarter) are common. Many simply ask for a “dossier” or “application materials,” leaving you to decide which items to send, how much is too much, and whether a writing sample or letters of recommendation should be included.

Casie Hermansson, now an associate professor of English at Pittsburgh State University, recalls her first look at these advertisements (ads):

When I looked at the job announcements, the abbreviations seemed cabalistic at best, and I had little hope of interpreting between their lines. I concluded that in order to make best use of time and money when I had the “earned” doctorate “in hand” I needed to approach the process as I would a course. It was going to need regular time, research, savings, and practice.

The job announcement is the initial overture in a very long conversation. Here are some things you need to know about interpreting job announcements:

• The position announced may not yet have received budget approval, one assistant professor points out. This is not a cruel trick; it’s a scheduling snafu. Because of publication deadlines for the job lists and the schedule of annual disciplinary conferences where many initial interviews take place, many institutions have to submit ads for positions that may not ultimately materialize. Many schools—especially community colleges—have started including pending funding in their announcements to indicate whether money has already been approved, but in this economic climate all funding is pending. Don’t be put off by disclaimers in the ad—apply. You can always ask about funding issues when you’re one of the top three candidates they’re considering for hire.

• Openings at large, interconnected state schools are the tip of the iceberg. Late-breaking openings may cause applications for a position at one campus to be recycled to other interested campuses. So, even if you hear that 750 people applied for “your” job, don’t despair. Your name is out there, and you may get an unexpected call.

• Different schools use different terms to describe degree status. One applicant was asked whether she’d finished her coursework when she listed herself as a “Candidate in Philosophy”—her institution’s term for ABD. Another received a rather nasty response when she stated that she had “defended the Ph.D. last month” (the equivalent of “Ph.D. in hand”). A suspicious interviewer asked sharply, “Yes, but when will you complete your Ph.D.?” Make sure you understand what they want, and that you communicate your status in ways that make sense to them, no matter what terms you’re used to using.

• Terms used in the position announcements may not be as clear as they seem. What, for instance, is “a fixed-term position?” How is this different from an “adjunct” or a “lecturer?” What is “indefinite tenure?” How does it compare to “tenure-track?” These terms are meaningful to the people who wrote the ads, but you should clarify these terms with the institution before you invest time and emotional energy in submitting your application to a job that’s not as permanent as you think.

Your first step, then, is to be sure you know what you’re applying for. Alan Kalish, director of the Office of Faculty and Teaching Associate Development at Ohio State University, concludes from his research into successful hires that “realistic expectations for both how the job search process works and what [a new hire] would face” in an entry-level position make the transition from graduate student to faculty member much less trying for all concerned. The market itself may greatly influence the kind of position you pursue. In any given year, there may or may not be research I, teaching-oriented, or community college positions in your particular area of expertise or in the regional areas you are considering. As you review job ads, note, the kinds of positions that are available in your area. Do you see a trend? Are most of the positions in your area at research I campuses? at state universities? at private universities? at community colleges? Are these mostly lecturer positions? How many tenure-track positions are listed?

Once you make these macrolevel observations about the job market in your area of specialization, you’ll be more prepared to contextualize the positions that are attractive to you. Have you zeroed in on the one tenure-track position opening in the Midwest? With these macrolevel observations noted, consider carefully, then, what the job ad does tell you. How does the institution describe itself?—the opening? your specialization? Is there play in the areas of specialization that qualify for the opening? Is teaching—teaching with technology, serving underrepresented students, or community service learning—stressed? Are words such as “proactive,” “innovative,” or “motivated” used to describe the ideal candidate? Are qualifiers or disclaimers such as “expecting to receive approval” or “potential for extended funding” sprinkled throughout a relatively short ad? Does the ad suggest why an opening has occurred—a sabbatical replacement, a new program, the result of increases in a particular student population? And, as Associate Professor of English at Northern Illinois University Michael Day points out, “Would you really want to live in the geographic area designated in the announcement?”

Although job announcements follow rather formulaic language structures, they are your best indication of how an institution imagines an open position. Virginia Carroll, associate professor of English at Kent State University, recommends that candidates “read the job description carefully and make an argument that your qualifications fit: if a job emphasizes teaching, for example, the standard letter with two paragraphs of details about the dissertation topic and a sentence about teaching doesn’t make sense.”

What if you are debating about whether you might be a match for the position described in the ad? Is a phone call to the search committee or Human Resources ever warranted? Kara Witzke, associate professor of Kinesiology, encourages candidates to make the call. She recently secured a position as an associate professor and chair at a West Coast state university, and she believes that phone call was “the most important contributing factor in landing interviews for my last job.” She explains:

I spoke personally with the search committee chair and members of the search committee prior to applying for the position. I was amazed at how much really important information was not listed in the job/position descriptions. In fact, I was convinced that I was neither qualified nor desirable for the chair position for which I ended up being unanimously selected, prior to having a conversation with the search committee chair. I was surprised how willing he was to speak with me (I was under the impression that he must have received at least 100 phone calls just like mine), and even more surprised to learn what the committee was REALLY looking for. For instance, only through talking with the search committee members did I learn that they had had a failed search the prior year (READ: we REALLY want to hire someone this time who REALLY wants to be here), and only through conversation did I also learn that the real vision of the interim dean of the emerging College of Health and Human Services, to whom the chair they were hiring would report, was to build a community-based center that would provide education, health services, and training to members of the community. This was something that I believed in wholeheartedly and had skills and ideas for that would mesh very well with such a program. This made MY cover letter stand out! I specifically addressed this program by name, shared my vision for the program, and how my skills would make it come to life. The bottom line…don’t NOT apply for a position just because you may not be able to check off ALL of the qualifications they are looking for, and don’t write your letter without first learning some insider information about the position firsthand. Landing your dream job is less about WHO you know, and more about WHAT you know that the others might not.

To see the cover letter and the curriculum vitae that Kara submitted in response to the ad and the phone conversation, see appendix 3.

That said, please note that, in these cases, Human Resources or departmental administrative personnel are your best first contacts. They can give you a feel for whether such a call is appropriate or, as in the case of most community colleges, a signal that you are trying to get “additional consideration” by going around standard procedures. Most Human Resources personnel are happy to steer you to the right person—or away from making awkward mistakes in their college culture.

One last thing about reading an ad for a position: Once you’ve decided you’d actually like the job it announces, and fit the criteria it lists, ask yourself, “What kinds of applicants is this ad geared to catch?” A good sense of the kind of person an institution is looking for (not just skills, publications, or specialization) will help you create your paper persona in a way that shows hiring committees where your qualities match their needs. For example, an ad in a smaller publication implicitly targets a specialized group or region. Their smaller market reach means people responding to the ad will most likely be within easy, inexpensive traveling distance for interviews and are probably in tune with the concerns of the region. How does this affect your application? After all, aren’t you the same teacher and researcher no matter how many disparate positions you apply for? You may be the same, but your paper persona shouldn’t be. To use our example, when the net is cast over a small geographic area, your understanding of, and ability to adapt good practice to, the realities of a particular group may be more important than the name you’ve made for yourself via publishing and conference going. (This is particularly true of positions at two-year colleges: they don’t call them community colleges for nothing!) As you select materials to include in your application packet—working syllabi, writing samples, cover letter, even...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• CONTENTS
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• A (FORE) WORD FROM THE EMPLOYMENT LINE
• INTRODUCTION: BECOMING LITERATE IN THE EMPLOYMENT LINE
• 1 WRITING THE SCRIPT
• 2 THE CALLBACK
• 3 THE SCREEN TEST
• 4 REHEARSING FOR AD-LIBBING
• 5 THE AWARDS CEREMONY
• 6 BEST PERFORMANCE IN AN UNDERFUNDED PUBLIC DRAMA
• EPILOGUE: IN THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR
• WORKS CITED
• INDEX
• JOB SEARCH WORKSHOPS AND INDIVIDUAL COACHING HELP YOURSELF!
• JOB SEARCH IN ACADEME
• Copyright Page
• CONTENTS
• APPENDIX 1: FINDING NEWS ABOUT THE ACADEMY AND THE ACADEMIC JOB MARKET AND LOCATING JOBS ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES
• APPENDIX 2: FINDING A JOB ANNOUNCEMENT IN YOUR FIELD
• APPENDIX 3: SAMPLE APPLICATION PACKETS
• APPENDIX 4: SUGGESTED READING AND RESOURCE LIST