department where teaching occurs mainly in seminars or one where classes are primarily large lectures?
• A department that emphasizes research or one that emphasizes teaching? Think about what kind of facilities you need to carry out your own research plans.
• A department with a hierarchical structure or one that emphasizes participatory decision making?
Geographic Considerations
Can you work and live comfortably in any region of the country? Is it important to you to be in a rural, small city, suburban, or urban environment? There are advantages to each area. Consider if you need to limit the geographic range of your search, or find an institution near an airport, because of personal considerations, such as the career plans of a partner, a child’s education, or the need to be near a relative who is ill. If you are planning to look both in the United States and in other countries, are you able to teach in a language other than English? Compare the cost of living in the various locations where there are jobs in your field. The cost of living in the United States varies widely.
How Competitive Are You?
Be thoughtful in evaluating the type of institution where you will be able and willing to do what is necessary to attain tenure. Be sure there is no discrepancy between your ability and willingness to perform in your first job and your ability to obtain it. For example, in some fields, it is very important to be able to obtain funding for your own research. Be honest with yourself as to whether you will want to compete for these funds in a long-term way. Perhaps you are highly productive in research and publication and very awkward in oral presentations and conversations. In that case, you can work to improve your job hunting skills instead of letting them limit your job search, because your job hunting ability can always improve if you are willing to give it practice and attention. On the other hand, if you interview extremely well but seriously doubt your ability or willingness to perform the level of research required to get tenure, do not talk yourself into a job whose demands you may not want or be able to meet. The tenure clock usually starts the minute you accept a tenure-track position. If you feel you will be unable to do what will be required to achieve tenure, you will surely face another, possibly more difficult job search down the road.
Work/Life Balance Considerations
The academic job search necessitates a balance between restricting yourself and having an open mind. You also want to think about the balance you want to strike between career-related features and nonprofessional aspects of a job. For example, would you take a position at a highly prestigious institution at which you would need to work nearly all your waking hours in order to have a reasonable chance of obtaining tenure? Do you need to consider the career goals of a partner? (For additional discussion, see Chapter 20, “Dual-Career Couples and Pregnant on the Job Market.”)
When to Look
Because most jobs are advertised about a year before they are to begin, you will probably start your job search while you are still finishing your dissertation or postdoctoral research. Be realistic about when you will finish. For Ph.D. students it is crucial that you discuss with your advisor when to begin the search, because he or she will be knowledgeable about the advisability of being a candidate with an unfinished dissertation as opposed to one with the degree in hand. That is the most important factor in determining when to start looking.
On the other hand, if you are in a field with very few annual openings, and a good job is announced before you are entirely ready to apply, you and your advisor may decide that it is a good idea for you to accelerate your search. If you are in the first year of a postdoc with a two-year commitment and the perfect job opportunity comes along, you are in a difficult situation. You probably must discuss it with your supervisor, who will almost certainly find out about your application at least by the time you are invited for an interview.
If it looks as if you will finish in a year in which very few openings are available, plan to search for good interim opportunities while you conduct the academic job search. Some postdoctoral and other fellowship opportunities have very early deadlines for application, like faculty positions. Do not wait until you find you have no job offers before you apply. Some faculty positions will continue to be listed throughout the academic year, so, while you must begin your search early, it may continue over several months.
If you are an international student or postdoc, you should find out if there are visa considerations that might affect the timing of your search and the date you might prefer to have your degree awarded. Start working on this task early to avoid problems or delays that might prevent an institution from offering you a job later on, or that might compromise your ability to remain long-term in the United States if that is your preference. If you are on a campus that has an office that offers good visa and immigration advising, use it. If not, consult a reputable immigration attorney.
Interdisciplinary Areas
If you have an interdisciplinary degree, you have the advantage of being able to apply for jobs in more than one kind of department. On the other hand, when you read job announcements, you may notice with dismay that they frequently occur within the confines of departments defined by traditional disciplinary distinctions. At times you may face the problem of seeming “neither fish nor fowl” to a search committee.
If you are looking outside your field, learn the language of that field and use that language in your CV, cover letter, and interview. Disciplines have their own strong identities, and search committees in a related discipline will not consider you if they think you cannot talk to them in their language. It is imperative to have a letter of recommendation from someone for each discipline in which you are applying.
From time to time positions will be posted as joint appointments. Applying for such a position will affect how you frame your written materials, as the search committee will be made up of people from different departments with different priorities. If you accept a joint position, be sure you clarify responsibilities and expectations before you begin your new position.
In addition to those in your own discipline, join other scholarly associations so that you are current academically, as well as aware of job openings. Attend their conferences. To make sure you are aware of all possible openings, ask faculty and recent graduates in the disciplines that interest you for suggestions of places to look for job notices. For example, those whose work is best defined as gender studies may see appropriate jobs listed under History, English, Sociology, or Anthropology in The Chronicle of Higher Education, and in the job listings of those respective professional associations.
Discussing Your Plans with Others
In talking to others, whether faculty members or peers, keep your own priorities clearly in mind, and use your own judgment. For example, perhaps your research has only recently begun to take off because you were meeting personal obligations that you are convinced will now be lighter. In that case you may want to try for jobs that your advisor feels are beyond your reach, even if you need to take a postdoctoral position in the interim to strengthen your credentials. If you are a natural risk-taker convinced that a department at a new overseas campus of an American institution may give you the opportunity to innovate in teaching and research, you may choose to apply to the position even if the department’s reputation is not yet established.
Following your own instincts as to what you will find satisfying is easy if your goals are similar to those of the people around you. While obtaining any tenure-track position is an achievement, you may encounter some resistance from advisors who feel that only positions at certain types of institutions are worthy goals. It is often more difficult if you want to follow a path that seems foreign to your advisor and most of the students in your department. In that case, use their skepticism as a prod to make sure that you get as much information as possible to make informed decisions. If you want to do something nontraditional, be able to explain your decision to others so they can support your search. Balance this skepticism, however, with the enthusiasm of people who are doing what you would like to do, even if they are at other institutions and you have to seek them out. In the end, it is your career and your life, and you are most likely to be