Reflections on the Academic Job Search
During my time on the academic job market in the final year of my Ph.D., I was given the advice [1] that I only need one job that I like, and that helped keep me from becoming overwhelmed as I encountered and considered job ads, applications, interviews, and offers.
I was very fortunate to have received several Tenure-Track and Postdoc offers, and several friends who are going on the academic market this year have reached out to me for advice. In this post, I outline some reflections and thoughts hoping it will help a bit or provide comfort. Colleagues such as Lana Yarosh, Phillip Guo, and Robin Brewer have also shared their thoughts in blog posts before, which I found helpful as I embarked on my job search last year. Of course, I have not been on a faculty search committee at this stage of my career, and have gone through the academic job search only once. So this post is based on personal experience or what has become my knowledge second-hand regarding research-heavy positions.
Job materials that tell your story. Start on your job material early, have your peers and/or mentors read drafts, and revise and revise and revise. Like all writing, it’s always harder to write the first draft, so stay at it and you will improve it later. Seeing examples from prior candidates who have landed the kinds of positions you are interested in can help you think about yours. “The Professor Is In” book also has some advice and is a quick read. I read it on the beach and it has sand all over it. While the book is more geared towards Humanities, I think the gist of it still applies to Information Science/Computing fields. Think of all your material as pieces of a puzzle that will together create as complete as a picture of your scholarship as possible, and maintain a coherent story in each and among them.
Finding your best fit with interdisciplinary work and choosing wisely what jobs in what fields to apply to. Your job search will take a significant amount of time and energy: finding jobs, deciding if you want to apply, researching each institution and preparing individual application packages, keeping track of applications, preparing for phone interviews, preparing for on-campus interviews, traveling, recovering from traveling, sending follow-up emails, negotiating offers, and making decisions. Importantly, your letter writers commit a significant amount of time to write and send letters, may sometimes customize them, and often have to deal with extremely confusing website interfaces. If you need support and advice throughout this process — which I did — then that is more time and energy from your support network and mentors. If you are an interdisciplinary scholar like I am, you may think you want to apply to different kinds of departments (e.g., Information Science, Computer Science/Computing, Communication). I applied to some jobs that seemed to be interesting in all these fields, and did in-person interviews for some in each. While interviewing (even via phone) with different kinds of departments may give you a much clearer idea of what kind of a culture/field you most want to be at or identify with, I highly suggest spending your resources carefully to prevent unwanted outcomes like unnecessary burnout.
You can learn a lot during interviews and it can be fun too. For interviews, aside from obvious research and preparation, be sure to remember that you cover what matters to you in these conversations and take notes because if you are like me, you will forget. Notes will especially come handy if you end up needing to make comparisons and decisions. Visits are typically exhausting especially if you are not an early morning person, but also very rewarding and unique. Enjoy your visits and conversations, and take note of thoughtful questions some may ask (that was one of my favorite parts) that give you new perspectives about your work. Try to really get a sense of what your professional and personal life will be like in each place.
Be open. Don’t think you need to know everything at the beginning of this process. You will (and should, if you ask me) learn more about yourself, your preferences, and your values as time passes, as you do more interviews, and as you consider your options and talk to people (e.g., mentors, folks at various institutions). Be open to and appreciate this learning, and allow your perspectives to change if they do.
You and your mental health matter. There is not one single person I have talked to who hasn’t experienced emotional difficulty during this process, regardless of their perceived success. It’s a hard process and everyone knows it. Plan ahead to take care of your mental health. Have a therapist in place if you don’t already, have friends/mentors you can talk to, and acknowledge your vulnerability. Therapy can be expensive especially with student salary, but I would recommend seriously considering it. One day you will earn more money than you do as a doctoral student. If anything inappropriate (e.g., harassment) happens, acknowledge that it should not have and let yourself feel the feelings, talk to your mentors, and make a decision that feels right to you as to how to proceed.
Don’t worry too much. This is a special time in your life when you may lose the ability to write simple emails and become paranoid about every word you say. Remind yourself that you are still the same person and you can click send without driving yourself crazy. Whoever is receiving your email is also a human, and has been where you are now at some point of time.
After all, you only need one job that you like. Good luck!
P.S. I would like to thank Oliver Haimson for his feedback on this blog post.
[1] By the always wise Andrea Forte, my Ph.D. advisor.
