tenure and other issues for country-hopping professionals

[biascut]

Hiya. I'm in my fourth year of my PhD at a UK university, which means I don't get any more funding and I have to hand in by September. (I could theoretically enter the job market now, but the advice I've been getting from my supervisor and my peers who are a few years ahead of me is to get the damn thing written and handed in, and then go on the

Comments

[elricmelnibone]

several dozen applications for one post

This has to be one of the funniest things I've read in a long time. Several dozen applicants for a position in English literature. Ha!

[biascut]

Eh, it's been a long time since I worked in HR, but whilst it would vary wildly depending on the institution and whether or not a particular period/specialism were sought, I don't think that's a bad estimate for an entry level position in the UK or Ireland.

[eye_of_a_cat]

Can't speak for Ireland, but the numbers I've heard run at around 80-100 applications for the average entry-level post in the UK. Lots of them will be from people who don't meet the requirements for one reason or another, though.

[biascut]

I'd count that as several dozen - perhaps we have different definitions of several! I was thinking of a friend who got her first job at Huddersfield (in Music, rather than English) from a pool of seventy applicants.

[eye_of_a_cat]

Ah, that would explain it! I was thinking of 'several dozen' as about 30-40.

Also, while this isn't much use for questions about tenure, it might be useful for stuff on US applications and hiring procedures; it's an American academic writing about how the British and American practices differ.

[biascut]

Thanks! I went to a training session on applying for jobs in the US run by a new American appointment in our department, but it didn't occur to me at the time to ask about how tenure would work in that situation. Having something to bookmark will be very useful, though.

(But Philip Zapp? Isn't he a David Lodge character?!)

[biascut]

Ahahaha, it says at the end that Philip Zapp is a pseudonym! In that case, it's obviously a deliberate play on Morris Zapp and Philip Swallow, the American and British academics in Changing Places and Small World. Well, that is mildly amusing.

[sshi]

They mention 'the MLA conference' as if it's practically the only time and place where people get interviewed by faculty members and I seem to remember people posting on here about dodgy hotel room interviews - would these be the one and the same? I'm used to just heading about the MLA as a referencing system, so the idea that they act as a clearinghouse for academic jobs is somewhat novel. Is there a similar system for non-language areas of academia or is it back to scanning the newspapers on Fridays?

[elricmelnibone]

Most of my MLA interviews were held in hotel rooms. It's pretty common. Hiring committees take out a room - though sometimes they splurge for a suite - and hold interviews there. Schools not wanting to spend the kind of money for that can have a table in the large, open interviewing area, sort of like a convention-center style deal.

In my field - literature - it's the biggest forum for academic jobs (tenure-track, non-tenure track, post-docs, editorships of journals, etc.). I did not see anything that suggested non-academic jobs.

[sshi]

Hmmn, strange. And all of the jobs for each year get advertised at the same time? Sounds like a cross between being terribly organised and having an absolute free-for-all! In fairness, here, the majority of the job ads do come out around the same time, which is spring, due to the fact that institutions are trying to line up interviews for September starts before the end of the school year. You tend to get a few October/November as well, because of people leaving at Christmas for whatever reason and the occasional September omg-someone-just-handed-in-their-notice-and-term-starts-in-two-weeks one, but now is mostly the time.

Would there be equivalent events in other areas or is that just literature? I'm interested in history-type things myself, even though I have zero expectation of ever moving to North America myself.

[elricmelnibone]

Not all jobs are advertised in time for the MLA, but the majority of them (again, this is just my field) are. There are always late postings - schools who have to wait for funding to open up, or a late need in a department based on retirement, death, or a faculty member leaving for another position - and some schools cannot afford (or are not interested) in the MLA. I interveiwed by phone with a couple of schools who do not attend the MLA. They start with a phone interview, then invite finalists for a campus interview. Often, because they know they are not attending the MLA, they wait until after the MLA to begin their search, and sometimes even to post their jobs. In theory, the ADE Job Information List (the online clearinghouse for academic jobs in my field) will post jobs all year, though the majority of them begin in October and run through December. (The MLA is always held just after Christmas.)

It is best described as a cross between being terribly organized and having an absolute free-for-all. It's a mess. It's big,

[sshi]

Wow, thanks for explaining. I'm completely used to all academic interviews taking place on campus that the idea of interviewing at conferences is quite strange. The only off-campus interview I have ever attended was in a conference room in a neighbouring hotel and that was because of building work on campus, I seem to remember. I can't see giving a paper while looking for a job being a fun experience - I'm amazed people don't implode from the stress!

[elricmelnibone]

On campus interviews are the second stage. The finalists after the MLA interviews are invited to campus interviews.

[elricmelnibone]

In the US, there are roughly 200 hundred applicants for each tenure-track position.

[elysistrata]

200,000?! ;)

[elricmelnibone]

No, just a regular 200. I really should edit myself better. Though looking around the mess that is the MLA, one would think 200,000 for each job.