The Academic Job Search (and subsequent “life as…”)

Brought to you by:

Sara A. Hart– Assistant Professor, Florida

State University (Psychology & Florida Center for Reading Research) (2012-present)

– Postdoc, FCRR, FSU (2010-2012)

– Ph.D. Ohio State University, Human Development and Family Science

Shayne B. Piasta– Assistant Professor The

Ohio State University (2012- present)

– Visiting Assistant Professor The Ohio State University (2009-2012)

– Postdoctoral Researcher The Ohio State University (2008-2009)

– Ph.D. Florida State University (2004-2008)

Timelines

• Applications start in September, pick up through Jan.– Never too early to start working on materials – Second cycle in March/April/May

• Search process can be crazy variable (depends on search committee and department)

• R1s don’t typically do phone/skype interviews, all others do with long short list

• Invite to in person interview (3 people usually), typically only weeks later

• 2 nights (2 dinners, 1.5 days interviews)• Can take no time or forever to get notice. 2nd (and 4th)

choices do get jobs.

Tricks I picked up

• http://psychjobsearch.wikidot.com/– http://academicjobs.wikia.com/wiki/Education_2

012-2013• http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/board

,26.0.html• http://theprofessorisin.com/• Web presence– Obviously, lock down Facebook and others– http://fsu.academia.edu/SaraHart– http://Saraahart.weebly.com

Other Job Posting Resources• The Chronicle of Higher Ed

https://chronicle.com/section/jobs/61

• AERA Job Boardhttp://careers.aera.net/home/index.cfm?site_id=557

• IRA Career Resourceshttp://www.reading.org/Resources/CareerCenter.aspx

• Higher Ed Jobshttp://www.higheredjobs.com/

• Academic 360http://www.academic360.com/default.cfm

• The Versatile PhDhttp://www.gradsch.osu.edu/the-versatile-ph.d1.html(see also http://careerconnection.osu.edu/graduate-professional-students/job-internship-search-strategies/jobs-outside-of-academia/)

• Listservs, discussion boards, postings by other professional organizations

Sample Job AdLanguage and Literacy Positions at Georgia State UniversityGeorgia State University (www.gsu.edu) invites applications for up to two anticipated tenure-track Open Rank (Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor) faculty positions to contribute to its funded initiative: Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy. These anticipated positions are part of a major initiative to enhance existing strengths in language and literacy at Georgia State. The focus of this initiative is research with children and adults, with or without disabilities, who face challenges in acquiring language and literacy. In this university-funded initiative, more than 40 faculty members from 10 departments in the Colleges of Arts & Sciences and Education come together to engage in interdisciplinary research. The initiative’s faculty has a broad range of external support including two national research and development centers from the Institute of Education Sciences in the areas of deafness and adult literacy and grants from the National Institutes of Health including a learning disabilities research innovation hub on reading and reading disabilities of African American children and a program project on neurocognitive factors for children with developmental dyslexia. We encourage applicants whose program of research addresses basic or applied, conceptual or methodological issues concerning challenges in the acquisition of language and literacy with a particular interest in intervention research. Applicants must have a Ph.D. degree in one of the disciplines, including, but not limited to, special education, psychology, educational psychology, or communication sciences and disorders. We anticipate one position will be filled within the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education in the College of Education. Another appointment is open to all programs within the initiative. Successful applicants will be individuals who are prepared to take advantage of the interdisciplinary collaborative research opportunities available within the Language & Literacy Program, have a strong record of programmatic research, obtain external grant support, and have a commitment to and experience in the instruction of undergraduate and graduate students. We are particularly interested in applicants whose research programs complement other faculty within this initiative (www.researchlanglit.gsu.edu). Inquiries may be made to Dr. Rose Sevcik (rsevcik@gsu.edu) or Dr. Paul Alberto (palberto@gsu.edu). Submit curriculum vitae, a brief statement of professional goals and research interests, evidence related to teaching interests and effectiveness, and the names and three letters of reference either electronically to Keneé Stephens at kstephens@gsu.edu, with the subject line “Language & Literacy Faculty Search”, or by mail to Attn. Ms. Keneé Stephens, Georgia State University, Language & Literacy Initiative, P.O. Box 5010, Atlanta, GA 30302-5010, USA. The review of applications will begin October 15, 2013 and will continue until positions are filled contingent on available funding. An offer of employment will be conditional on background verification. Georgia State University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution. Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply.

Sample Job AdWestern Kentucky University School of Teacher Education Tenure-Track Faculty Position: Assistant Professor Literacy Faculty •The School of Teacher Education at Western Kentucky University invites applications for the following tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Literacy Education. The position will begin in August 2014. •Responsibilities: The successful candidate will be expected to teach undergraduate and graduate students. Courses taught could include literacy research methods, content area literacy, foundations of literacy instruction, technology and literacy, literacy assessment, and literacy methods. There will also be some responsibility for field supervision of pre-service candidates and/or in-service supervision in a clinical setting. Faculty participation at department, college, and institutional governance is expected. •Qualifications: PhD or EdD in Reading/Literacy Education; at least 3 years of teaching experience in elementary and/or middle schools; experience with U.S. schools and literacy assessment; experience working within diverse schools and knowledge of best practice within diverse classrooms; evidence of exemplary practice in K-12 settings, knowledge of national standards and trends in literacy education, and strong potential for continued professional service and scholarship. Candidates should be able to demonstrate evidence of successful teaching at the undergraduate or graduate level; and/or experience in working collaboratively with schools, state agencies, or in service to the profession; and experience teaching online. •Interested candidates should submit a cover letter outlining research interests, current curriculum vitae, official transcripts, three letters of professional reference, and a philosophy of education to: Dr. Nancy Hulan, Chair Western Kentucky University School of Teacher Education 1906 College Heights Blvd., #61030 Bowling Green, KY 42101-1030 Fax (270)745-6322 Review of applications will begin May 1, 2014 and will continue until the position is filled.

• Job Ads expire. Keep a copy of each on you are interested in.

• Apply to any job you are even a remote fit for. So many things can happen in a faculty search that can’t be predicted (like cognitive neuroscience search this year)

• NIH K99/00 awards are funding around 25% right now. http://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/

Job Search Process• Seek references

• Prepare and submit materials• Cover letter• Research statement• Teaching statement• CV• Sample publications

More resources:

http://ucat.osu.edu/teaching-topics/academic-job-search

http://careerconnection.osu.edu/

Referees

• You will need at least 3 professors who know you well. Name recognition does not hurt, but if they are famous and write you a short non-descript reference, that doesn’t help

• Give them your CV and other important materials, and don’t feel weird giving guidance

• You will feel terrible asking your referees for many many letters, which will be necessarily time staggered. Mine (3 years for many!!) were nothing but supportive and understanding about it. It’s the system and they understand their role. Make it as easy as possible for them (I tried to set up a regular schedule of giving them updated spreadsheets, but even that is hard)

• Other materials– Cover letter

• I was mentored 1 page max, abstract of you

– Research Statement• At this stage of your career, you should be able to keep to 2

pages, with good chunk for future interests• Some tailoring

– Teaching Statement• This one will be hard if you haven’t taught• R1 schools: 1 page• Picked up some good buzz teaching stuff from center of

teaching excellence at OSU http://ucat.osu.edu/• Tailored course ideas to their course manual

• Thoughts from being on search committee– You can get caught up in details (staple or not?!

Letterhead or not?!). Doesn’t matter. You can’t hide less than stellar publication record and experience

– There’s almost no way to predict fit

• Other non-R1 options– R2 (mix of more teaching and research, may not have grad

students)– SLAC (good ones have pretty good teaching loads, show

research priority w undergrads)– Adjuncting – VAP– College teaching (get experience now)– Industry: testing companies; google (I looked here often in

low moments); etc.– Government administration: NIH PO, etc

• When you go on the job market, be prepared to get together a job talk quickly

• When you get invited to an interview, be prepared to be asked about startup needs

• When you come back from your interview, be prepared to negotiate salary and start up

The Visit/Interview

• Components– Job/research talk– Teaching session (?)– Meetings with faculty, students, administration

• *You are being interviewed the WHOLE time, from the moment that you arrive*

• You are also interviewing THEM – fit is bidirectional– Remember this and use to reduce anxiety– Bring list of questions to ask/have addressed

Sample Interview Schedule

Monday 2:00pm – arrive; met at airport by faculty

member 3:00pm – hotel check in 5:30pm – dinner with search committee chair

and other faculty

Tuesday 8:00am – breakfast with department chair 9:30am – meeting with search committee 10:30am – prep for research presentation 11:00am – research presentation 12:15pm – lunch with doctoral students 1:30pm – campus tour 2:30pm – individual 30-min meetings with

program faculty 4:30pm – tour of residential areas 6:00pm – dinner with faculty

Wednesday8:30am – breakfast with associate

dean of research9:30am – prep for guest lecture10:00am – guest lecture11:15am – meeting with dean12:15pm – lunch with

M.Ed./Licensure Coordinator1:30pm – individual 30-min

meetings with program faculty3:00pm – meeting with

department chair4:00pm – depart for airport

Post-Interview

• Thank yous for search committee chair and all people with whom you met 1:1

• Got an offer?– Negotiating salary and start up– Negotiations happen BEFORE you have an official

offer letter in hand

• Salary– http

://chronicle.com/article/faculty-salaries-data-2012/131431#id=134097

– Raises are not plentiful right now, and salary compression is a real thing in academia…GET AS MUCH AS YOU CAN NOW• Across a 30 year career, assuming just a standard cost of

living increase of 3% each year and not account for other general merit raises, the difference in starting salaries of $2,000 is approximately $100,000 lifetime

• http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Yes-Negotiating-Agreement-Without/dp/0143118757

– Summer salary?

• Startup: Get an idea of what is “normal” in your research and try to come around that– Obviously equipment, but many other possibilities– Lab manager/RA– Grad student lines (money AND tuition)– Travel– Association fees– Stats packages– Pilot data collection (participant payment, etc)– Summer salary – Standardized tests– Spousal issues– Lab space, and things for your lab space (filing cabinets are expensive)– Computers

Got a job?! Great!

Life as a Postdoc

• AKA The Good Life – With a good

mentor/PI– With negotiated

time to get articles out and improve your CV

Life as a Postdoc

Analyze, analyze, analyze ….write, write, write!

Advise on methodological/data matters Mentor doc students Coordinate weekly writing group Coordinate joint lab meetings Lots of meetings Teaching (b/c I needed more experience) Other professional responsibilities

Reviewing Oversee RAs Planning Grants Present at conferences

Life as a Junior Faculty Member• Research

– Lab and research project startup– Managing research team (RAs)– HR and other paperwork– IRB protocols– Grant writing– Write, write, write!

• Teaching – Initial course prep– Advising own graduate student(s)– Admissions decisions, curriculum meetings, etc.

• Service– Try to serve on ONE committee and do a good job– Journal reviews– Faculty meetings

www.PhDcomics.com

**Start retaining documentation of all of this now for tenure binder