The Academic Job Search: An Overview

1
The Academic Job SearchAn Overview

• Helenrose Fives
• Texas Tech University

Michelle M. Buehl University of Memphis
Its not as easy as it looks.
2
Session Overview

• Finding a Job When to Start, Where to Look, and
  How to Be Prepared for the Process (Fives, 2004)
• How to prepare your academic vita so people hire
  you Or at least so they dont wince! (Schallert,
  2004)
• The Job Interview What to Expect and How to
  Prepare for the Job Talk and Interview (Sinatra,
  2004)
• Negotiating the Best Contract Hard and Soft
  Dollars (Reynolds, 2004)

3
Finding a Job When to Start, Where to Look,
and How to Be Prepared for the Process

• Helenrose Fives
• Texas Tech University

4
(No Transcript)
5
When to Start

• When you are ready.
• After your proposal defense.
• In the late fall through early spring.

6
When to Start
Can you answer the following?

• Who are you?
• Area of Specialization
• Strengths and Weaknesses
• What do you want?
• Type of position
• Type of institution
• Geographic location
• When will you graduate?

7
Type of InstitutionCarnegie Rankings

• Doctorate-granting Institutions
• Doctoral/Research UniversitiesExtensive
• Doctoral/Research UniversitiesIntensive
• Master's Colleges and Universities
• Master's Colleges and Universities I
• Master's Colleges and Universities II
• Baccalaureate Colleges
• Baccalaureate CollegesLiberal Arts
• Baccalaureate CollegesGeneral
• Baccalaureate/Associate's Colleges
• Associate's Colleges
• Specialized Institutions
• http//www.carnegiefoundation.org/Classification/i
  ndex.htm

8
Where to Look

• Generally
• Everywhere and Anywhere, OR
• Where you want to be
• Specifically
• Position Listings
• Networks
• University Web Sites

9
Where to Look

• Chronicle of Higher Education
• http//chronicle.com/
• Right Corner New Jobs
• Sort by State, Instituation, or Date
• Daily Review
• Teaching and Education Jobs
• http//www.csuchico.edu/plc/teachjobs.html
• Higher Education Jobs
• http//higheredjobs.com/
• Association of Jesuit College and Universities
  (AJCU)
• http//www.ajcunet.edu/jobbank/list2.asp?LimitFac
  ulty

10
How to be Prepared for the Process
What you need

• Filing System
• Spreadsheet
• Receipts

• Organization

11
How to be Prepared for the Process
What you need

• Organization
• Time

• Check Daily Listings 10 - 60 min
• Decisions 10 min to 1 2 hrs
• Cover Letter and Vita Prep
• Initial 1 2 days
• Modifications 15 20 min each
• Search Maintenance 15 60 min/day

12
(No Transcript)
13
How to be Prepared for the Process
What you need

• Organization
• Time
• Money

• Vita Paper (20)
• Mailing/Copies (3 - 5 each)
• Interview Wardrobe (?)
• Phone Calls
• Out of Pocket
• Incidentals (20)
• Room on Credit Card

14
How to be Prepared for the Process
What you need

• Organization
• Time
• Money
• Flexibility
• Support and Guidance

• Vita Paper (20)
• Mailing/Copies (3 - 5 each)
• Interview Wardrobe (?)
• Phone Calls
• Out of Pocket
• Incidentals (20)
• Room on Credit Card

15
How to be Prepared for the Process
What you send

• Cover Letter
• 2 3 Pages
• Explain why you are perfect for the position.
• They read it!
• Vita
• Reprints/Writing Samples
• 2 3 published works or conference papers.
• No Pubs? Use a recent submission, class paper,
  or work in progress.

16
How to be Prepared for the Process
What you send

• Educational Philosophy
• Teaching Evaluations
• Create a compilation of the evaluations and
  comments.
• Use a table or graph to demonstrate improvement.
• Sample Syllabi
• Demonstrates you teaching abilities and
  expectations
• Even if you havent taught you can still create a
  syllabi for a course you will likely teach.

17
How to be Prepared for the Process
What you do

• References
• Ask
• Inform
• Thank
• Know the Position
• Description
• Program
• Know the Institution
• Who are the faculty?
• What is the mission?

Professionally
18
How to be Prepared for the Process
What you do

• Share
• Peers
• Recent Graduates
• New Faculty
• Explore
• Possibilities
• Locations
• Roles

Psychologically
19
How to be Prepared for the Process
What you do

• Nourishment
• Snack bars
• Water
• Advil?
• Sleep
• Get some

Physically
20
Oh, and Finish your Dissertation
21
How to prepare your academic vita so people hire
you Or at least so they dont wince!

• Diane Schallert
• University of Texas

22
What is a Vita?

• A record of your ACADEMIC history and
  accomplishments
• Not a resumé
• Not a Cumulative Record!
• Is it Vita or Vitae?

23
What does it look like?

• Page 1 The First Impression

24
What does it look like?

• Page 1 The First Impression
• Your name, phone numbers, and regular and
  electronic addresses.

25
What does it look like?

• Page 1 The First Impression
• Your name, phone numbers, and regular and
  electronic addresses.
• Your educational history (does NOT include high
  school)
• Your employment history (USUALLY does not include
  high school)

26
What does it look like?

• Page 2 STNTBTBINSI
• Awards youve received (probably should not
  include MVP, or ERA!)
• Associations you belong to (write them all out --
  no alphabet soup!)
• Grants or funding youve received
• OPTION research teaching interests

Thats Stuff That Needs To Be There But Is Not
So Important
27
What does it look like?

• Page 3 Scholarly Contributions
• List in reverse time order all your writings
• Articles
• Chapters, books, instructional materials
• Local, regional, national presentations
• Should you separate them by category?
• Only if you have gt 1 in gt 2 categories

28
What does it look like?

• Lets deal just with the articles
• Order
• In press or published in journals
• Manuscripts currently under review (do name the
  journal)
• Manuscripts in preparation (be careful!)
• Authors list all authors in proper APA style

29
What does it look like?

• Page 4 (or 5 or 6)
• On the last page, after the scholarly
  contributions, you should list your letter
  writers
• Give their full academic address
• Make sure youve asked their permission before
  listing them

30
Which page is most important?

• Is it Page 2?
• Is it Page 3?
• Is it the last page (the list of letter writers?)
• Is it Page 1?

31
What is the role of the vita in landing an
academic job?

• Is it essential?
• Which matters most
• content or format?

32
What are the steps in writing your Vita?

• Start with Page 3
• Assemble all the information you have on all your
  publications
• Start typing, using APA format (mostly)
• Go to Page 1
• Be clear, accurate, neat use white space well
• Fill out the rest

33
What else?

• Absolutely critical to be scrupulously honest

Careful the one thing you exaggerate will be
what they ask you about in detail!
34
What else?

• Absolutely critical to be scrupulously honest
• Do not be overly modest
• Think of your vita as a living document You
  should periodically edit it, clean it up, update
  it

35
The Job Interview What to Expect and How
toPrepare for the Job Talk and Interview

• Gale M. Sinatra
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas

36
Congratulations! You made the short list! Now
what?

• Expect a telephone interview
• Dont take these casually
• May determine who gets on-site interview
• Dont take these spur of moment
• Set up a quiet time
• Be prepared
• Expect questions about your fit to the position
• Be positive, but honest
• Ask questions, but do not express doubts

37
Congratulations! You have an on-site interview.
Now what?

• Typical Itinerary Arrival and Day 1

Review the interview itinerary and bring a copy
with you! (Sometimes your hosts have no idea what
to do with you when theyre done)
38
Congratulations! You have an on-site interview.
Now what?

• Typical Itinerary Arrival and Day 1
• Fly in Sunday night, reception at 700PM
• 800AM Monday breakfast meeting
• 900-1000 Meet with search committee
• 1000-1130 Your presentation
• 1130-100 Lunch with graduate students
• 100-200 Open meeting with faculty
• 200-300 Meet with dean
• 300-400 Meet with chair
• 600 Dinner

39
Congratulations! You have an on-site interview.
Now what?

• Typical Itinerary Day 2
• 800AM Breakfast meeting
• 900-1000 Tour of campus
• 1000-1130 Visit local school, center etc.
• 1130-100 Lunch with faculty
• 100-200 Teach class or give a lecture
• 200-300 Meet with search committee
• 300-600 Tour community
• 600 Taken to airport

40
The Job Talk

• Find out expectations from search chair
• One talk or two?
• Research or teaching?
• Time breakdown?
• Find out and stick to it!
• Technology availability?
• Plan on backup overheads
• Audience?
• Assume all questions have an agenda!

41
The Job Talk

1. Just because youre comfortable using technology
   doesnt mean the search chair is (or even knows
   how to make sure that its set up for you).
2. Ask questions if the search chair doesnt offer
   needed information, ASK!
3. Every question has an Agenda know the research
   and background of the people youre speaking to.

• Find out expectations from search chair
• One talk or two?
• Research or teaching?
• Time breakdown?
• Find out and stick to it!
• Technology availability?
• Plan on backup overheads
• Audience?
• Assume all questions have an agenda!

42
Tips for Surviving the Interview

• Prepare!
• Get on-line and find out something about campus,
  college, department and faculty

Figure out why you want THIS job if you dont
want it before you go think hard about going on
the interview and wasting a lot of time.
43
Tips for Surviving the Interview

• Prepare!
• Get on-line and find out something about campus,
  college, department and faculty
• Every event is part of the interview, especially
  dinners, lunches, receptions
• Every person you meet is interviewing you
• Dress appropriately and act professionally
• Dont act like a graduate student
• Especially around other graduate students!
• Ask same questions to different people

44
Questions to Ask

• Dean
• Vision for College?
• Expectations for Tenure?
• Financial Health of University/College?
• Department Chair
• Vision for the Department?
• Teaching Load?
• Research Expectations for Merit and Tenure?
• Start Up Funds?
• Research Space?
• Internal Grant Programs?
• Travel Funds?
• Grant Support?

45
Questions to Ask

• Search Committee
• Expectations for Position?
• Climate in Department?
• Search Process and Timeline?
• Faculty
• View of the Chair, Dean, College, Colleagues?
• Satisfaction with Climate? Social Interaction?
• Areas of Research?
• Amount and Type of Research Common?
• Tenure Process?
• Teaching Load?
• View of Graduate Students?
• Collaboration Common?

46
Questions to Ask

• Graduate Students
• Satisfaction with Program?
• Courses They Would Like Offered?
• Areas of Research Interest?
• Graduate Assistantships/Grants/Scholarships?
• Research Collaborations?
• Their Job Prospects?
• Staff
• Satisfaction with Department?
• Climate in Department?
• Ratio of Staff to Faculty?
• Does Staff Provide Support for Faculty?
• Technical Support?

47
Follow Up

• Send Thank You E-mails
• Communicate with Search Chair about Process and
  Timeline
• Follow up on Requests for Information
• If you get a Competing Offer, Call Chair

48
Negotiating the Best ContractHard and Soft
Dollars

• Ralph Reynolds
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas

49
Hard Dollars

• The differences between hard money and soft money
  negotiations.
• You can negotiate more on soft money items than
  hard money items.
• Salary is a hard money item. Negotiation is
  minimal and depends on
• Quality of your record
• Whether or not you have any counter-offers
• Size and orientation of institution
• Feel of the table
  

50
Soft Dollars

• Moving Expenses
• Computer, Printer, and Software
• Teaching Assignments and Course Reduction
• Research Needs
• Graduate Assistant
• Start-up Funds
• Travel Money
• Tenure Clock
• Partner Relocation Job Search
• Start date

51
Moving Expenses

• Many institutions say they have a set amount but
  most of the time you can still negotiate.
• You could be offered anywhere from 00 to full
  moving costs.
• Most institutions offer 2,000 to 3,000
  refundable with a receipt.
• Be sure to get the top amount.

52
Moving Expenses

• Get an estimate (or two) for your move as soon as
  you start negotiations (sooner if possible).
• Make your needs known (i.e., Moving a house vs.
  typical grad apt.)
• Watch conversations with colleagues once you
  arrive at your new position.

• Many institutions say they have a set amount but
  most of the time you can still negotiate.
• You could be offered anywhere from 00 to full
  moving costs.
• Most institutions offer 2,000 to 3,000
  refundable with a receipt.
• Be sure to get the top amount.

53
Computer/Printer/Software

• Many institutions have a set amount of dollars
  they will spend (2,500) but it doesnt hurt try.
• The Mac/PC Divide
• Be Specific!!!
• Make the case for any specialized software in
  terms of productivity or excellence.

54
Teaching Assignments and Course Reduction

• Most institutions will allow new faculty a course
  reduction if requested
• The normal reduction is one course in the fall
  semester
• However, one course each of the first two
  semesters is possible.
• Also, request to teach courses for which you are
  already prepared.
• New assistant professors need all of the time
  they can get to acclimate to their new
  environment.

55
Other Research Needs

• Institutions will buy specialized equipment for
  research if needed (video cameras, qualitative
  software, even eye movement machines (40,000).
• Request research space if you need it.
• Space is the most precious commodity in many
  institutions.
• If you need it and do not request it up front,
  you may never get it.
• Do not request items you do not need!!!

56
Graduate Student Assistance

• Always request a dedicated graduate student to
  work with you on your research, at least for the
  first year.
• Students can help you
• Collect research data.
• Figure out where things are (like the library).
• Introduce you to the student culture.
• Help you prepare for classes.

57
Start-Up Funds

• Many institutions will offer one or two-year
  start up funds to ease transition
• Funds can be used for purchasing anything that
  will aid you in getting up and running quickly.
• Items that might be included are
• Books, specialized professional development, lab
  equipment, a special data collection apparatus.

58
Travel Money

• Be sure to find out how many professional trips
  your department or college supports each year.
• Institutions fund at least one trip in most
  cases.
• A good package would include two.
• Be careful to understand what is funded
• Some institutions reimburse on the basis of
  receipts
• Others pay a set amount (400 per trip)
• Still others reimburse at predetermined rates,
  not actual rates
• Always ask for one additional trip your first
  year for professional development.

59
Tenure Clock (If not your first position)

• Most institutions will allow up to three years of
  past work to count on the tenure clock.
• Consider this choice carefully If the
  institution allows early tenure, there is NO
  reason to take this benefit.
• Be sure you understand tenure expectations at the
  new institution before making this type of
  decision.

60
Partners relocation and job search

• Many institutions offer spousal hiring programs
  if partner is an academic.
• Even institutions that have no such programs will
  help partner make contacts and uncover
  opportunities.
• Request funds for immigration if appropriate.

61
Position Start Date

• Most academic positions begin a the beginning of
  the school year, late in August.
• Always request an official start date of July 1st
  with a negotiated reporting date later.
• That way your salary and benefits begin as soon
  as possible.

62
Not Negotiable but Very Important

• Understand the institutions health plan. Health
  plans vary GREATLY from excellent to miserable.
  These are just as important as salary perhaps
  more so.
• Understand the institutions retirement plan.
  Again, these plans vary GREATLY from excellent to
  miserable.
• It is not an exaggeration to say that differences
  in retirement plans can determine whether or not
  you retire comfortably at age 60 or work to age
  66 because you cannot afford to retire.

63
What Makes the Ideal Academic Job?

• Results from a recently conducted survey
• Most important collegial colleagues, congenial
  working conditions, and working with significant
  national figures.
• Affordable housing, desirable location, and good
  public schools.
• Good salary, benefits, and the chance to move up
  (good pay increase program).
• Support structures that encourage research.

64
Recap

• What are the most important things for you to
  remember?

65
Key Points (in our opinion)

• Getting the Interview
• Cover Letter
• A pretty Vita is less important than a Strong one
  publish now.
• Surviving the Interview
• Every question has an agenda
• Carry your list of questions with you (refer to
  it when you get a chance)
• Know who you will be meeting with and what their
  expertise is.
• Pack a snack
• Wear comfortable shoes

66
Key Points (in our opinion)

• Negotiating the Contract
• Balance Greed with Need
• If you dont need the 40,000 machine, dont ask
  for it.
• Find out, what future opportunities you will have
  to get needed equipment or supplies.
• You wont get what you dont ask for
• Be prepared to explain your requests
• Be prepared not to get everything make sure you
  know what is most important to you.
• Overall
• Time consuming!
• Be honest but advocate for yourself
• Trite but true You are interviewing them is
  this where you want to live, work, and grow?

67
Good Luck!