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Post by blessed? on Apr 4, 2014 12:31:06 GMT -5
submitted: 14 tt jobs area: all open searches at r1 phone/skype: n/a campus invites: 8 (two declined) offers: 4 Only 14 apps all for open positions at R1s and over 50% wanted to interview you? Wow, Praise be to God! But this brings up something that I feel would really help in this discussion of # of apps. It would probably help readers to know where people are coming from in terms of "arbitrary but still important in market decisions" rankings. We post what type of university we are going to but not where we are going from. My assumption that 'blessed' was also 'blessed' to go to a top 10 R1 school. I feel blessed to have received 2 offers as well, no shade here, but I am coming from a mid tier R1 (ranked in the 30s) and none of our students have this type of success. I am curious in general if those at highly ranked schools apply to fewer places?
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Post by ap->ap on Apr 4, 2014 20:25:30 GMT -5
Status: Asst Prof Submitted: 48 tt Phone Interviews: 1 Campus Interview: 2 Offers: 2
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Post by Way too many on Apr 6, 2014 10:07:30 GMT -5
Applied to 95 including TT, VAP, PostDocs and Instructor. I come from a very low ranked R1 where the Soc dept has little to no prestige. Postdoc- no interviews Phone/skype int- 5 On-campus interviews- 4 Offers- 4 Accepted a TT w/ a 4-4 teachn load
Just fyi: the number of schools I applied to is not abnormal for my program. I was lucky to get a TT first year on job market, that is also abnormal for my program...
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Post by paupers speak on Jun 6, 2014 9:26:03 GMT -5
1st time on job market STATUS: ABD Applied to 6 jobs Phone/Skype int - 1 TT SLAC, 1 VAP SLAC On-campus int - 1 VAP SLAC offers - 1 VAP @slac (accepted) 2nd time on market STATUS: *PhD in hand this time, BUT after teaching full time as a VAP and completing the dissertation at the same time (worst year of my life thus far, no f*** joke, don't recommend), it should go without saying that I did not have any new pubs. Record of teaching ability and professionalism probably improved. As did diversity of pool of letter writers, which I have been told sent fabulous letters. APPLIED: 5 TT, 3 postdoc/fellowship, 3 contract faculty positions (as part of my last-minute freakout) to date... Phone/Skype: 1 for R1 TT On-Campus: 1 for R1 TT Offers: none Still waiting to hear on 2 of the "contract faculty" positions, 2 postdocs (both excellent), and 1 fellowship Please keep your fingers crossed for me, friends. Those postdocs might save my life. Gearing up for round 3 now. 2015: bring it!
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Post by Good luck on Jun 6, 2014 10:40:09 GMT -5
Hope it comes together for you!
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Post by paupers speak on Jun 6, 2014 11:14:09 GMT -5
1st time on job market STATUS: ABD Applied to 6 jobs Phone/Skype int - 1 TT SLAC, 1 VAP SLAC On-campus int - 1 VAP SLAC offers - 1 VAP @slac (accepted) 2nd time on market STATUS: *PhD in hand this time, BUT after teaching full time as a VAP and completing the dissertation at the same time (worst year of my life thus far, no f*** joke, don't recommend), it should go without saying that I did not have any new pubs. Record of teaching ability and professionalism probably improved. As did diversity of pool of letter writers, which I have been told sent fabulous letters. APPLIED: 5 TT, 3 postdoc/fellowship, 3 contract faculty positions (as part of my last-minute freakout) to date... Phone/Skype: 1 for R1 TT On-Campus: 1 for R1 TT Offers: none Still waiting to hear on 2 of the "contract faculty" positions, 2 postdocs (both excellent), and 1 fellowship Please keep your fingers crossed for me, friends. Those postdocs might save my life. Gearing up for round 3 now. 2015: bring it! I should clarify that the PhD was in progress until mid-spring SO I was not applying to many jobs in the fall (due to sheer workload) and I was not applying with PhD in hand until the 3rd month of 2014. Next year should be better if I can stay employed *somehow* in the interim. Thanks for the wishes.
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Post by Whysofew on Jun 7, 2014 0:45:57 GMT -5
Why so few apps? Are you geographically limited?
When I was on the market (very successfully) I applied to 90. Anything that looked like an inequality, methods, or open job....I was all over it. R1's, SLAC, post-docs, everything.
Pauper? How can you be a pauper when you haven't really tried?
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Post by paupers speak on Jun 7, 2014 9:43:42 GMT -5
Whysofew - It amazes me that someone with a PhD in sociology asks such questions. But I will answer you on the grounds that it might shed light on the process for someone else. Not because I need to defend myself by answering your fairly disrespectful question.
First, after sitting on a hiring committee twice I have come to see that people who apply for any position that might possibly fit are wasting everyone's time. I will continue to be selective about my applications. Second, as I mentioned above, I was insanely busy so I limited myself to positions that were a fit for me. My personal life threw out some real challenges on top of the dissertation writing/revising, teaching 3-3, committee work, mentoring students, conferencing, and commuting. Considering the realities of my life, applying for 90 jobs was simply not a possibility. And my advisor would have laughed in my face if I had asked for 90 letters. He believes 20-40 applications is more appropriate. Finally, in terms of finding the right TT, I want to stay firmly in my area of expertise and have plenty of resources for my research, which is international in scope. It's a delicate dance.
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Post by wow... on Jun 7, 2014 11:26:31 GMT -5
Why so few apps? Are you geographically limited? When I was on the market (very successfully) I applied to 90. Anything that looked like an inequality, methods, or open job....I was all over it. R1's, SLAC, post-docs, everything. Pauper? How can you be a pauper when you haven't really tried? As people who have (likely) invested over 10 years of our lives in higher ed, I think we've earned the right to be selective in our job search (despite the market conditions). Why should we move to the middle of nowhere and/or teach 5 classes a semester? If academia isn't offering us the job conditions we deserve, then I'm a strong advocate of looking elsewhere!
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Post by I stopped reading on Jun 7, 2014 11:44:08 GMT -5
right here: "When I was on the market (very successfully) . . ." Wow, you're God's gift to the world, aren't you? If you're so successful, why are you not off being very successful somewhere instead of bragging on a jobs board? If this is what "success" looks like, I hope I never achieve it.
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Post by also on Jun 7, 2014 11:53:41 GMT -5
I applied widely (60+) my first time on the job market as an ABD, and then my second time around as a postdoc, I applied more selectively (~25) because I realized that I wasn't competitive enough for the open search market. I only applied to positions that were specifically looking for my area of specialization and had a research focus. After having a previous round of job market experience under my belt and two more years to develop my research agenda, I felt like I had a better idea about who I was as a scholar and how to assess fit when applying for a position. There was no way I was going to get a fly-out to Michigan or Wisconsin, so I didn't see the need to bother my letter writers for more letters and to spend the hour or so prepping my materials. I thought my time and emotional energy was better spent working on my research then prepping pointless applications.
We all have to make choices while on the job market based on many personal and professional factors. Pauper, good luck. I wish you the best.
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Post by Still Not Yet on Jun 11, 2014 22:35:52 GMT -5
Since the end of my first and only postdoc three years ago, I have applied for a combined total of some 60 post-docs, TTs, and LTAs and got exactly one video interview, no phone interviews, and no job offers, and have since survived on adjunct contract work. I'm not in the US, so this limits things somewhat but I have gone international in the scope of search. In the last four years, I have had six solo authored peer reviewed articles published and along with a 300 page book with a respected university press but there has been zero interest from appointments committees, so my publications are likely still not enough. Some of the lessons from my story seem to be, and all of this is purely my speculation based on rumination while washing dishes: 1. Committees still abide by the canon and will not process too much new information: Stay within disciplinary boundaries, and don’t take risks in your approaches and wait until you land a position before straying too far beyond sociology’s conventional topics and disciplinary boundaries. For all the talk of interdisciplinarity, stay focused on what is easily recognized as conventional sociology, or their eyes will quickly glaze over. 2. Geographically, if you deal with social justice issues like racism and marginalization against Indigenous peoples, stay within your home country or region. If these groups and conflicts are not in your country or immediate region, it seems to be considered anthropology or area studies, and so will be meaningless to committees.
3. The social justice impacts of your research overseas mean nothing, particularly if these occur in a developing country that is not in your immediate region. This is likely, even if cases you were involved in were major national controversies in that country and were subsequently cited in parliamentary debates over drafting new human rights legislation. No matter how it is pitched, it will be simply too much new information that means nothing to committees. This is perhaps analogous to foreign job experience or education credentials being devalued, unless of course they are from institutions popularly considered prestigious in your country, i.e. big-name readily recognized Western institutions.
But then again the above is probably all wrong anyways...
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springtime is the time for me
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Post by springtime is the time for me on Jan 6, 2015 18:47:54 GMT -5
For the sake of restarting this thread...
First time on the market
Status: ABD
Submitted (so far): 31 total (16 TT positions, 1 VAP, 3 Lecturer positions)
Phone/Skype interviews: 5 (3 MRM, 2 SLAC)
Campus invites: 4 (3 of which I had phone interviews, 1 invited me w/o phone interview)
Offers: 0 (so far... I'm optimistic)
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Post by ap on Jan 7, 2015 14:32:07 GMT -5
time on the market: lost count Status: assistant professor at a masters institution submitted this round: ~10 phone interviews: 2 campus invites: 2 (1 R1, 1 SLAC) offers: 0, but interviews haven't happened yet.
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just ready for it to be over
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Post by just ready for it to be over on Jan 8, 2015 9:31:51 GMT -5
First time on the market Status: ABD Submitted: 59 total (5 postdocs, the rest TT positions) Phone/ Skype Interviews: 4 Campus invites: 4 (2 R1, 1 Masters, 1 SLAC--only had phone interviews for 3) Offers: 1 (so far...two interviews haven't happened yet)
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