In Part 1 of this post, I focused on two key things that academic job seekers should do during the summer to improve their chances of finding a position: Keep up with the job listings, and network. Here are four more off-season activities that every prospective candidate should consider:
Plan your attack. Summer is the perfect time to re-evaluate your job-search strategy and decide what has worked and what you might want to change during the next round of applications and interviews.
For instance, are you looking at all of the possible jobs that you might be qualified for, at every kind of institution? Are you paying attention to openings all over the country? Or are you artificially limiting yourself by looking, say, only at research-oriented jobs in the part of the country where you prefer to live? That sort of decision is personal, but if you really want and need a job, you might consider broadening your search.
I’ve been telling people for years, in this space, that they shouldn’t ignore the community college-job market just because they have dreams of being research professors. No, there’s no guarantee you can get a community-college job, either, but by opening yourself up to the possibility, you increase your list of potential employers by about 40 per cent.
The same holds true for geography. If you’re an adjunct looking for full-time work, you have two ways to maximize your chances: Stay where you are, try to make yourself indispensible, and hope for a tenure-track opening, or be willing to move across the country.
Revise your materials. If you’ve been trying for a while and you haven’t gotten many interviews, that may be an indication that your application materials need work. Take a long look at your resume or CV format, and compare it to sample formats you can find on the Web. Better yet, ask friends who have gotten jobs — or at least interviews — to share their materials. Update your teaching statement. Play around with your cover letter to see if you can make it more engaging and persuasive.
I was fascinated, a few weeks ago, to read my fellow blogger Isaac Sweeney’s post entitled “A Recent Cover Letter,” in which he shared a sample letter he had written. The letter itself was unlike any I had ever seen in academe — honest, straightforward, conversational, short. I thought to myself, “I appreciate what Isaac is doing, but he’ll never get a job with a letter like that.”
Au contraire. In his very next post, Isaac informed us of the happy news that he has just landed a tenure-track job. Obviously, his decision to try something different worked for him.
Enhance your CV. One of the best things you can do to improve your application materials is to add more substance. If you’re not doing much else this summer, it might be a good time to pull out that manuscript you’ve been playing around with for years and see if you can finally turn it into a publishable piece. Get back in the library or the lab and tackle that research project you’ve been putting off. Polish that book proposal and send it off to some editors. Find out what conferences are coming up in the fall that you might be able to attend and begin putting together a presentation.
There are other activities besides writing and research that can enhance your CV, too. Find out if there are any volunteer opportunities available in your community that might relate to your professional goals, such as a neighborhood literacy program or a summer-science camp. See what seminars or short courses your college might be offering as the new semester approaches and that might enable you to develop a new pedagogical approach or technological skill. All of those things could help you stand out from other candidates and make you more marketable.
Sharpen the saw. Remember that nobody can be in job-hunting mode all the time. We all need downtime to relax with family and friends, read a good book, take a trip. And summer, of course, is great time for all of the above. You may well find that, if you get away from the job search for a little while, you’ll be able to return to it fresh and with renewed energy.
After all, even Kobe Bryant takes a couple weeks off after the NBA playoffs. Then he’s right back in the gym, hoisting 500 jumpers a day.
Follow On Hiring through your favorite RSS reader: