Advanced Assistants

[advancedassistant]

I figured I should probably start a new thread so that those of us who are going back on the market can discuss some of the issues that we face.

Introductions:
I graduated from a top-ten soc department, have held a tt soc job at a teaching institution for the past few years, and am back on the market this year in search of a tt job at an R1.

Going on the market this time feels perhaps even more challenging than last since I'm juggling four courses (and trying to build leeway into the syllabi to work around potential interviews), have articles to revise and a book manuscript to write, trying to have a baby, trying to keep my job search relatively private, and depending on letter writers from an institution I left a couple years ago.

So.... advanced assistants roundup! What's your situation, what are your challenges, and please feel free to pass along any words of wisdom or insights to make this process a bit easier for us all.

[metoo]

I, too, have been at a teaching focused institution for a couple years and am looking around this year.

The main issue I wonder about is how best to present myself. I have gotten parts of my dissertation out and have moved on mostly to other projects. But I wonder if search committees would rather see my prior production (articles out or forthcoming) or my current working papers. The former are better pieces, but the latter say more about the direction I'm headed.

I think all assistants should always be open to going on the market. It's the easiest time to move (up) and the best way to improve your position at your current institution if you choose to stay.

[hmph]

My only advice is to keep your job and don't look around. You're killing us new PhDs.

[advancedassistant]

hmph: I know that it sucks... trust me, most of us have paid our dues. My first time out, I was trumped in a final round of interviews by an advanced assistant. In many ways, taking a not-so-great tt job is a lot like a postdoc--a stepping stone in the new academic economy :/

metoo: Presenting *all* of it (the *published stuff*) is your best bet! I think it will be important to find the links between your two lines of research. I'm having to do a bit of intellectual acrobatics to make that happen myself. Ultimately, it will be about showing your growth and potential for growth while still appearing somewhat coherent.

[deluxapartmentinthesky]

What matters most (for moving up the food chain to an R1) is evidence of continued high quality productivity.

Having a good dissertation is key to getting a decent R1 job. Publishing stuff from your dissertation in visible places (you should target your diss papers to top-tier speciality journals or higher).

However, to get hired at the advanced assistant level you also need to demonstrate that you are tenurable in the near future and thus have good ideas beyond the dissertation. The clearest evidence of this are publications and or grants (at least submitted) beyond the diss. In the absence of these you should be able to describe clearly your plans for future project(s).

It's just an unfortunate fact that the under supply of TT jobs relative to demand has led to a lot of under-placement of good people the past 4-5 years. As the market improves there has been and will continue to be a lot of reshuffling.