Seeking Advice for the Academic Job Market

[digithead]

I'm slowly making progress on my dissertation so now I'm heading out on the academic job market. Positions are starting to be posted at the Chronicle of Higher Ed and there looks to be a bumper crop in my field (criminology) this year...

While this is exciting, trying to get my application portfolio together while in the midst of extending the academy through my research is somewhat burdensome. Plus I'm teaching a course I've never taught before and really don't care about...

Any of our resident academics out there have any advice? Pitfalls to avoid? Good questions to ask the search committees, administrators, and other faculty?

Thanks in advance...

[drkitten]

Originally Posted by digithead

I'm slowly making progress on my dissertation so now I'm heading out on the academic job market. Positions are starting to be posted at the Chronicle of Higher Ed and there looks to be a bumper crop in my field (criminology) this year...

While this is exciting, trying to get my application portfolio together while in the midst of extending the academy through my research is somewhat burdensome. Plus I'm teaching a course I've never taught before and really don't care about...

Any of our resident academics out there have any advice? Pitfalls to avoid? Good questions to ask the search committees, administrators, and other faculty?

Lots.... unfortunately, little of it will be pleasant or comforting. The odds are strongly stacked against you from the beginning (there are simply too many squirrels chasing too few nuts)

FIrst of all, a simple law of nature. You will never again be at a school as good as the one from which you got your degree. GIven that, your teaching performance is probably more important than you may want to credit, simply because at the mid- and lower-tier schools, teaching is much more important than research productivity. Make sure that you have a clear and articulate description of what you do in the classroom and make not only part of your portfolio, but part of your application cover letter, CV, et cetera. You can't be too good or too interested a teacher at this stage.

Second, make sure you finish your dissertation, ideally before you go on interviews. ABD's don't get jobs in this market.

Third, put as much stuff "under review" or "submitted to" as you can; you will not necessarily be expected to have publications (because those take a lot of time), but you
should have an active research portfolio under active review when you go to interviews.

Fourth, do your homework. Make sure you know something about all of the schools to which you apply --- and make doubly sure you know something about the schools at which you interview. Look for active opportunities to contribute to the department. What courses can you teach (especially at the lower division), what courses can you create, what new skills can you bring to the advisement table? Your advisor should be able to advise you on this point as well....

Fifth, accept that the odds are stacked against you. The most recent numbers that I saw suggest that about 10% of new Ph.D.'s get tenure-stream positions eventually; in the funded sciences, this is often only after a protracted period as a postdoc.

Your advisor is your single best resource -- use him. He knows everyone, he knows where everyone's bodies are buried, and he can best play matchmaker. Conference
travel is good, even at your own expense, because it lets you meet and greet (and also
raise awareness of your own research and your own personality)

[Spindrift]

Pardon my ignorance, what is ABD?

[TruthSeeker]

Is it customary in criminology to look for a faculty position prior to completing a postdoc?

I did 2 years of postdoc and when I've served on search committees we rarely consider anyone without a postdoc.

As a search committee member, I can offer the following:
Remember that for each position, the university may receive many, many applications. I've never heard of fewer than 50. But, the Dean will likely only cover interview expenses for the top 2 or 3 (maybe). Therefore, your cover letter has got to shine. Show what you have to contribute, how you fit the position, how you will develop an independent research program which will attract excellent funding while being collaborative and offering yourself as a mentor for young people. Make sure you don't spell anyone's name wrong. Make sure your letters are strong and arrive on time.

If you get an interview, I can offer more.

In the meantime, consider postdocs and apply for grants/fellowships and PUBLISH, PUBLISH, PUBLISH!

Good luck!

[Complexity]

All But Dissertation

[drkitten]

Originally Posted by Spindrift

Pardon my ignorance, what is ABD?

"All But Dissertation."

To get a Ph.D. (in a typical university, based on the Anglo-German model), you need to complete a set of courses, pass a set of examinations, and then finally complete a substantial piece of original research and then write a "dissertation" -- a book -- about it.

For many students, the actual dissertation writing is the hardest part. It's much easier to do the research and to crank out a couple of journal articles than it is to write a 200+ page book. Back in the "good old days," it was possible -- in fact, common -- for students who had nearly completed their dissertations to be offered teaching positions on the strengths of their research portfolios (they'd done everything except formally writing the dissertation, hence ABD) with the understanding that they would write up during their first year on the job.

That doesn't happen any more. If you don't have the Ph.D. "in hand," you are extremely unlikely even to get an interview, let alone a position. As TS pointed out, in many disciplines even having a Ph.D. "in hand" won't buy you much.

[TruthSeeker]

I remembered something else I did when preparing my applications:

I obtained a copy of the university's and department's strategic plan and in my cover letter related my research program to one of their priorities.

For instance "ABC University has identified DEF research as a priority. I have been involved in this type of research for G years with funding from HIJ and publications in the leading journals in the field, including KLM, NOP and QRS. In the advertised position, I would be able to further develop blah blah blah..."

Convince them they will get lots of added value to their reputation by hiring you.

[bpesta22]

It amazes me how the laws of supply and demand play out in academics. We're searching for an accounting professor. Just graduating from a good school and you can likely name your price (I've heard the demand for accounting profs in california alone is greater than the number of phd grads in accounting).

A decent school, starting salary: 175,000! We'll probably offer about 100k and get some bottom feeder (who will fit in nicely!).

Worse, the person we hire will likely start out making more than most of the tenured professors in the department.

A few years ago when we were searching for a management prof, a 20 year full professor wanted to resign and then apply for the junior position (effectively giving up tenure to get the nice pay raise). The university wouldn't let him. He filed a grievance and lost.

Conversely, you need a postdoc to even be considered as a junior psych faculty. Starting salary: 55,000, and that gets someone overqualified...

[Complexity]

What you really need to do is show them how you're going to rake in the money for them so they can skim the cream (and a lot of the milk) off of the top.

Yes, I walked away from academia. No regrets.

I knew I wanted out when I went to an awards banquet (I was being given one) and, when they announced the research awards, the first thing they mentioned for each group was the amount of money they'd brought into the university. Needless to say, the awards were announced in descending-amount order.

[TruthSeeker]

I agree with Complexity that the academic's worth is measured in grant dollars (and possibly also by highly cited publications in high impact journals). I have appointments at two universities and a research hospital, so I spend a lot of time proving my "impact"

And I also agree with Pesta that there is huge discrepancy across disciplines. Psychology is poor - grants are small and journals don't have high impact factors usually. Business is always more prosperous. Sciences and medicine/health (to which I'm appointed) are somewhere in between.

Academia is difficult and there are so many politics and other BS. I have dealt with a personality disordered postdoc advisor who spent years trying to destroy my career. I've been sedated and almost comatose in countless meetings about nothing. I've brushed up against the egos of small men who never became the stars they know they were meant to be. Right now, I'm involved in dealing with a case of plagiarism.

Despite this, I love academia. I have a job where I get paid to think about things I'd be thinking about anyway! I can sit at home in my pjs and write all day long (which I am doing today). I get to meet the brightest minds regularly. I have freedom to set my own hours (I could never hold a job with required hours) and work at my own pace. I travel the world for conferences on my grants' tab. And every 6 years, I get a sabbatical. Because I have tenure, I have job security and decent benefits and retirement packages. Because of the field I'm in, I believe my work helps people.

Complexity, I get it that you walked away without regrets. I have friends/colleagues who have done the same. I think of it occasionally but honestly cannot imagine what else I could do with similar benefits. But if I win a lottery....

[Complexity]

I went from teaching to developing software. I have yet to find a position that is a good match. I do all of my research on my own time.

Due, in part, to a shock in my life, I haven't been working for several months, since a short-term contract ended. I'm in a long-term financial crunch that will end with a great opportunity that I'm waiting on, more software development, or something else (better left undefined).

Although doing research when I'm stressed is difficult (sometimes, impossible), I continue to think, write, and program. I love this stuff.

It wasn't until I left academia twelve years ago that my research and creative life really blossomed.

[digithead]

Originally Posted by TruthSeeker

Is it customary in criminology to look for a faculty position prior to completing a postdoc?

I did 2 years of postdoc and when I've served on search committees we rarely consider anyone without a postdoc.

Yes, most new PhDs in crim go right into faculty positions...

Originally Posted by TruthSeeker

As a search committee member, I can offer the following: Remember that for each position, the university may receive many, many applications. I've never heard of fewer than 50. But, the Dean will likely only cover interview expenses for the top 2 or 3 (maybe). Therefore, your cover letter has got to shine. Show what you have to contribute, how you fit the position, how you will develop an independent research program which will attract excellent funding while being collaborative and offering yourself as a mentor for young people. Make sure you don't spell anyone's name wrong. Make sure your letters are strong and arrive on time.

Already working on it. My chair is one of the rock stars in our field and my background is in stats (I have a B.S. and an M.S.) before I switched to crim so I should stand apart from other applicants, at least in research and quantitative methods...

Originally Posted by TruthSeeker

If you get an interview, I can offer more.

Thanks, luckily there is a bumper crop of positions available. Last year there were 130 tenure track positions advertised at our national meeting and 29 candidates so I should be able to secure a decent position. I'm more worried about location, quality of life, academic and professional support, etc. Starting salaries are low in the social sciences ($50 to 60k) compared to the hard sciences and business but one can make a substantial amount consulting with CJ agencies...

Additionally, crim is one of the few egalitarian fields left in academia in which you can move laterally from your doctorate into institutions of the same reputation and caliber. Hopefully, positions will open up in the locations I desire...

Originally Posted by TruthSeeker

In the meantime, consider postdocs and apply for grants/fellowships and PUBLISH, PUBLISH, PUBLISH!

Although I would consider a post doc, there are few of them in my field...

And the rest of it is the life of an academic. I'm 1 for 3 with grants and have 2 pubs already with 4 more under review and 2 in the pipeline almost ready to go out...

Now if I can only get my third chapter of my dissertation finished, damn internet is always interupting me...

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by bpesta22

It amazes me how the laws of supply and demand play out in academics. We're searching for an accounting professor. Just graduating from a good school and you can likely name your price (I've heard the demand for accounting profs in california alone is greater than the number of phd grads in accounting).

A decent school, starting salary: 175,000! We'll probably offer about 100k and get some bottom feeder (who will fit in nicely!).

Worse, the person we hire will likely start out making more than most of the tenured professors in the department.

A few years ago when we were searching for a management prof, a 20 year full professor wanted to resign and then apply for the junior position (effectively giving up tenure to get the nice pay raise). The university wouldn't let him. He filed a grievance and lost.

Conversely, you need a postdoc to even be considered as a junior psych faculty. Starting salary: 55,000, and that gets someone overqualified...

I also suspect that in the case of Accounting,a PHD in Accounting could make a lot more in the Business world then in 90% of the Academic positions.
THus the shortage.

[calebprime]

Originally Posted by bpesta22

It amazes me how the laws of supply and demand play out in academics.

I know the name of that tune, as Baretta would say. My advice to young composers: Don't do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQeVIJ8e_z8

Supply of composers: big
Demand for composers: very small

I taught at New England Conservatory for 5 years up to 2003.

I was nominally Director of the Electronic Music lab and a member of the composition faculty.

In reality, I was disposable adjunct faculty.

My contract negotiation was incomprehensible, and so was my contract, which specified a rate of x dollars per teaching unit. It translated to just under 10 grand a year--but I didn't know that 'til I started.

(This was with 10 years professional experience doing film-scoring after a Masters Degree. I was apparently qualified to teach at NEC, but not qualified to earn a living wage. Doing film-scoring, I had earned 30 to 65 grand a year.)

After 3 years of teaching, I began to complain about my salary. It's said--rightly--that you need 40 grand a year to live in Boston.

For four years, the students gave me good reviews. My fifth year, I was too discouraged not to show it.

I made no friends with anyone in power, and the school was going through some problems with leadership. They ended up appointing an attorney to be president--a far cry from the glory days of Gunther Schuller at the helm.

My department chair--who spoke to me once or twice a year for around 5 to ten minutes, said: stop complaining. His wife made six grand a course and taught at three different schools--"and, she's really good." He himself had won a Rome prize. He said, "unless you win a Rome prize, they're not going to give you a raise."

My attitude was very Boy Scout and gung-ho for the first 3 or 4 years. Then I began to get really discouraged. One thing that bothered me: NEC, in an effort to be "the other Juilliard", was hiring expensive piano and violin faculty. Some of them were making over 100 grand. One of these had six private students and no other duties that I know of. (Perhaps there were some.) He was said to not even be that intelligent. (I had never heard of him and I don't know for sure.)

One senior composition faculty member was said to work for no salary. (He was wealthy.)

Another composition/theory faculty member had published and established a name for herself for over twenty years, and made around 21 grand a year.

Talk about shabby gentility!

While contact with other faculty was minimal, the former teacher of electronic music did come up to me at a concert. He looked at me kindly, and said, "Composers are supposed to be [rule 10's], but you're a [rule 10] [rule 10] with no talent." Then he got up and left. I never did find out what he meant, if anything.

It's only years after resigning that I've fully recovered my love for composing and some of my self-respect. But, I am fairly useless, because I'm too old for the marathon hours involved in film-scoring: I need my eight hours of sleep.

I was no Mozart, but it bothered me that the janitors at the school were making more money than me--a lot more.

[Complexity]

Wow.