Yesterday the distinguished professor Joe Moxley informed me that I ought to be gearing up to go on the job market by as early as October. This came as some surprise to me; I guess I'm not quite up to par on what I need to know to successfully land a job. I won't be finished with my dissertation until the end of next Spring. Anyway, I was hoping that some of you had some good advice for me; maybe know of somebody I should talk to or a position that might be interested in my skills. It's all about the networking! I've heard all the platitudes about the job hunt; "Start early," "Proofread your CV" and all that; I'm really more interested in specifics at this point.
Please help!
Next Spring?
By "next spring," do you mean spring 05 or spring 06? I'm writing my prospectus now and aiming for January or February 06 to defend, and my advisor also suggested I apply for jobs this fall.
Hmmm, let's take a look at your CV. Interesting! I assumed you were doing your dissertation on wikis. Your publication record seems strong for where you are in your program. I do have a suggestion for readability: I think it would be less confusing if you valign the headings in the left-hand column at the top, instead of in the center.
Now do mine! Or maybe you'd rather see the printer-friendly version. I know I need a blurb about my dissertation, a title at least.
CultureCat
LORE article
There's an invaluable article posted on LORE that you'll want to take a look at -- a detailed description of the job market timeline & costs. It's in the Spring 04 issue.
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/lore-sp04/
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/lore-sp04/strategies/content.htm?js01
The Economics of Completing the Dissertation and Getting a Job: Actual Expenses and Economic Considerations Relating to a National Academic Job Search and the Final Year of Dissertation Writing
Beth Burmester, Assistant Professor, Georgia State University
Good luck!!!
valign
Thanks for the help, Clancy and klunsford! I knew it would be a good idea to post about this here.
I'm working on my diss now, but won't officially start logging hours until next sem (spring 05). My plan is to graduate in Spring 05, dissertation completed. I'm pretty good about writing and researching quickly, and the committee I'm putting together (just lack one signature) doesn't strike me as the type that would delay an author unnecessarily.
I do need to work on that CV. The problem is, I've got lots of publications that haven't been published yet. The turnaround time for those journals is so long that it takes years to publish even after they've accepted the article. Technically speaking, I've got an article in C&C that has been accepted and all, but won't be published for awhile (I think the issue after next.) The same is true for that review of Barber and Grigar's book; they accepted it, reviewed it, etc., but that's the last I ever heard about it. I also have a book chapter that is in that strange limbo. I'm not even sure that Don Bluth thing was ever published.
vita magic
This may not help for articles in some mysterious limbo, but for most of your soon-to-be-appearing work, use that magic word, "forthcoming." Your C&C article, for example, can be "Forthcoming Spring 2005." I learned this right off with an MFA; those lit journal credits can take time to turn into print, and the publications=jobs connection is even more direct there than in R&C.
Even better...
Say "In press." :)
CultureCat
I'd say most people who know
I'd say most people who know their stuff are more impressed by "in press" than pubbed articles -- because they know the stuff that's actually pubbed would have to have been written at least two years ago.
--Dave