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[schoolmarm]

I am also in a "hot" field, and went on the market ABD, with my orals left as well.  It is HARD, but you can finish.  It took me four years to write my dissertation, but I think it would have taken me longer had I not had ONE tenure-track job.  I was trying to finish with FIVE part-time jobs and still scrambling to make ends meet.  I had more time to write and do research and conference presentations with the tenure-track job.

I considered this job my "ABD" job, and left the year after I earned tenure for an R1.  The trick there is to network, publish and present enough at your "ABD" job to make the leap to an R1, if that is what you want.  

If you are in a "HOT" field, you need to listen to your advisors.  I am assuming that you are not in the humanities, like so many posters on this forum.  They really have it tough and NEED to have PhD in hand to be competitive.

The job search can be streamlined.  Get templates for your cover letter done and one or two versions of your CV (teaching emphasis and research emphasis).  Print many copies of your CV and supplementary materials--syllabi, teaching philosophy, copies of transcripts, etc. Check the job listings only ONCE per week and then sit down and knock off the cover letters for each job and assemble the packet from the items that you have already prepared.  Put in envelope, enter the job in your database for tracking, and MAIL it that day.  If you don't have a credential file, email your referees so they can send the references.  If you have a credential file, send them the list once per week.

Write on your dissertation while you are waiting to hear back about phone interviews or conference interviews.  Each field has a "season" for interviewing.  My field does most of the interviews between February and May.  Others are earlier, some are later.  Find out what the cycle is in your field.  

If you do get an on-campus interview, take some of your dissertation with you to work on at the airport AFTER your interview.  Try to use your time wisely.

Good luck!

[%sig%]

[6 of 1]

I am meeting with two of my committee members over the next 2 wks. The reason I am cautious is that I kind of feel rushed and while I think I can finish the diss, I know the job app process is taxing and one of the two (diss or job app) would suffer. That said, I am in a "hot" (hot or not?) field, without getting two specific I entered in a humanities program but much of my dissertation is closer to the technical side of information science with a bit of social analysis and it allows me more flexibility for jobs.

I am going to consider the visiting assistant stuff more.

[search com]

I echo the advise to wait, but I'll offer another reason that (I think) hasn't been mentioned: there is an advantage, later in your career, to having a PhD date that is later rather than sooner. (Assuming, of course, that both potential dates will give you a time-to-PhD that's in the ballpark for your field.)

Why? At least in my field (a social science), "years since PhD" is often used as an implicit and sometimes explicit denominator in assessments of a tenure or job candidate's productivity. All else being equal, an additional calendar year added to the date of the PhD will shrink the denominator and thereby increase the apparent rate of productivity.

Using the years-since-PhD metric is, of course, unfair to people who take an extra year on the tenure clock because of, say, family leave. In fact, it effectively guts the policy, and arguably makes it more harmful than helpful. But, that's a topic for a different thread.

[to schoolmarm]

what is your field may i ask?

[Schoolmarm]

Music education with a "needed area" specialty.
I also play (and teach) an unusual instrument.to schoolmarm wrote:

> what is your field may i ask?

[Harry]

Sorry it's taken me a while to respond. My situation? I went out the first time with about 3 chapters of five drafted (note that doesn't mean polished by any means). I had a decent set of convention interviews, and got a visiting offer that I nearly rushed to get done. For a variety of personal reasons I didn't. Note that my advisor wasn't that psyched I didn't take the visiting job.

Dealt with personal stuff, finished my diss in November the next year. Wrote a *much* better final chapter that has become my favorite of the whole thing. Got two TT offers. Revising the diss is work, and my offers were at teaching places that had higher loads than what I was teaching in grad school (and less access to a strong library). Having rushed out would have had a ripple effect.

As someone guessed, I'm in the humanities. Not saying don't do it, rather figure out precisely why you want to go, and know that it's a big chunk of work. I've heard of successful searches like yours as well.

One other note--at least in my field search committees are increasingly disinterested in people being hired ABD without reasonable chances to finish. Those I've known will check with your chair about how realistic it is to finish.

One place I know of told its ABD finalists that the job was listed as PhD in hand, and if you didn't have it, you'd be hired as an instructor, the search would reopen next year, and you wouldn't be considered.

Their rationale? Since the ad specified "in hand," and you were hired w/o it, any applicant that was rejected who *did* have the degree had a legal case against the school (i.e. they hired someone who didn't fit their stated criteria and rejected someone who did).