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[Yanqui]

Several people in various Chronicle forums have suggested that it is more difficult to get interviews for US jobs if you are applying from Europe.  I have a postdoc in southern Europe, so this frightens me quite a bit.  Is the problem just that plane fare is more expensive?  Are there ways to get around that, such as suggesting phone interviews, or tacking a job interview on to the end of a US conference trip?  Or, is the problem with finding a job from Europe more deep-seated than that.  For example, do US universities not want to deal with international visa problems, or distrust international candidates for some reason?  Should I be putting my US citizenship on my C.V. in big, bold letters?!?

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone with experience in this matter, either as a job applicant or as a search committee member.

[%sig%]

[search committee member]

Good question.
I don't know that airfare (or US citizenship) is the most important issue, but the reality is that there are things that make a not-first-rank university like mine be nervous about applications from people in Europe (not to mention Asia):
1. recommendations: outside the US, people often, though not always, offer more realistic portrayals of the people they recommend than are customary in the hagiographic US recommends. But it's more than this. They also write shorter, more general recs. Thus, instead of a two and a half page discussion of the candidates's research strengths, with specific examples of brilliance and how she connected her research to innovative teaching, we get a less-than-one page statement that the candidate is good. That can sound like a negative. Especially if no one on the committee knows the reviewers or their institutions.
2. teaching: bureaucratic structures and teaching expectations--even ideas of what the teacher's role is--can be drastically different outside the US than in, say, a mediocre liberal arts college in the US that emphasizes carefully leading students with lots of help and guidance (as opposed to independence and challenge). People on hiring committees I've seen pay a great deal of attention to where the candidate did her undergrad work (does she understand anything other than a research university) and look for evidence of ability to communicate beyond a tight research focus, both for collegiality, and for teaching versatility.
3. logistics: airfare is a part of this, but more serious is the bastard combination of jetlag and committee scheduling. Speaking as someone who crosses the pond regularly, I shudder to consider having to be at my best on a two day visit while contending with a 5,6,7 or (aargh) 8 hour time difference. Yet adding days to the candidate's visit is expensive not simply in terms of lodging, but committee members' attention, at least at places where we babysit candidates. Sure there are ways to manage this, but if all else is equal, why bother.
4. networks: new members of a mediocre department can be miserable and unable to establish a network of intellectual associates unless they've got them from grad school and post-docs. This is less a problem now, with email and suchlike. But senior members of departments may still see international candidates as not fitting in to available resources and communities.
5. yes, visa, the silly security and suchlike issues: mid rank or lower institutions often bumble visa requirements, and many members of the faculty can thus cite a really bad screw-up that involved someone not being able to teach on schedule, a job having to be re-advertised, etc. And then of course there's always the fear that the post 9/11 crackdowns will throw up more hassles. And for non-American-English speakers, there's the language issue (note English, Australian, Indian, etc versions of English can cause non-cosmopolitan students to complain).

Please note: I'm not saying any of these are good reasons for search committees to be hesitant. And I'm definately sure they apply more at the bottom of the job pyramid than the top (where being cosmopolitan and cool is a clear advantage). But I do think they happen. I've seen them all. Anything a candidate can do to deflect them is likely to be helpful. Also, if applying from a European university, make sure you know the norms of US job applications: what should your letter look like (hint, not the <1page statent that you are qualified that I've seen from some candidtes). Especially in the humanities, I think the language and form of letters is likely to be scrutinized for personality and fit considerations.
Hope this helps.

[%sig%]

[Pete]

In my experience -- as a US citizen with a PhD in the humanities from a (good) American university, then working at a leading university for my field in Western Europe -- it was just hopeless applying for jobs in the US while abroad.

The remarks from "search committee member" capture many of the reasons why hiring committees won't take your applications as seriously as they should.  I'll add my impression that committees are increasingly unwilling (or incapable) of looking beyond the standard "widget".  Substantial experience working abroad is a sort of "diversity" they can't grasp.

[Yanqui]

Thanks for the information and tips, Search Committee Member.  Pete´s experience is exactly what I am afraid of, but I guess I´ll just have to hope that it will be different in my case.  The one good piece of news is that many people in my field do overseas research, even if they don´t usually have academic jobs or positions overseas, so perhaps my European post-doc won´t seem quite so unusual.

Thanks!
-Yanqui

[jeremy]

one thing to keep in  mind is that several major research universities are really trying to be transnational universities in the next few years.  if you are in an international/transnational field, you might be able to leverage that into getting better interviews.   In short, take every imagined negative and try to turn it into a real positive.

[Yanqui]

Jeremy - what does it mean when a university becomes "transnational"?  Do they set up satellite campuses in other countries, or form partnerships with overseas institutions or what?  I haven´t heard about this trend, but it sounds promising.

[jeremy]

university of tennessee, knoxville's strategy was to drastically increase the presence of its students overseas, through a wide variety of means.  

cornell seems to be intent on opening a satellite or two.

virginia tech has established campuses and programs in several developing and developed countries.

so when you see a job advertisement, go look and see what they are up to in that arena.  most universities with resources are trying to expand in this arena for a wide variety fo reasons.

[Taikibansei]

After 6 years teaching at an Asian university, I was hired t-t at a tier 1 in the States.  We just hired another person from Asia as well.

SCM is right about the obstacles.  My advice to you is to use your cover letter and CV to address as many of them as possible.  The letter, especially, needs to make your fit clear--anticipate the possible committee member biases and address them.  However, go into any overseas search with the understanding that your CV--especially your publication record--needs to be not just "good" but better than the other candidates.  You need to demonstrate that, even if you've been out of the country, you still have been contributing--and will continue to contribute--to the literature in your field.

The bottom line, however, is that it can be done.  Good luck.

[moom]

US PhD helps a lot. I got more interveiws when I lived outside the US! I'm not a US citizen, that doesn't matter.

[Search Committee Member]

In the last three years in my humanities R! dept we've interviewed four candidates from overseas (different positions, different years): two were US citizens and two had US PhD's, but those were not the same two people. All of them had good publication records; these were all searches for senior asst or beginning assoc. All four of them really bombed on campus, for various reasons. Jet lag had something to do with it, I'm sure. But one research presentation was truly embarrassing ("I've been sort of thinking about doing these things" [but didn't know the most basic literature on the subject]), and one spent all of the time with the graduate students talking about how terrible the city we're in was compared to the candidate's current site, and one (who had a US undergrad degree) seemed not to have a clue about undergraduate teaching in classes rather than large formal lectures. The fourth had already taken another job in Europe, and evidently accepted the interview for the air ticket to the US to see family, we later learned.

Needless to say, these four experiences in three years may leave us less welcoming next time, though several dept members (including me) have non-US degrees and/or citizenship. So: do at least get a good sense of what's expected at the kind of school you're applying to; inquire about the nature of your research talk; ask lots of questions about undergraduate teaching if you're not sure you understand the system (and the fact that many students will be non-majors, even, often, in upper-level classes), and -- most important -- have a decent publication record. Oh, and understand that many of the faculty have experience abroad, and unless it's a very small department, many will have taught and studied in other countries. Don't assume we're all uninformed hicks waiting for enlightenment.

[American Abroad]

Hi --

I am an American citizen with a humanities PhD from a "top" program in the States.  I'm a postdoc at a Big German University (er, they're all big, actually). I've been on the market in my rather small field for the past two years in the US and have had not had quite as terrible an experience as some posters suggest may be the rule. I've been flown to the US twice for interviews at Research I-type places.  Although I ended up getting neither job, I had the feeling that once search committees had gotten used to my "unusual" candidacy they were ready to cut me some slack, e.g. by flying me in a day early to take the edge off the jet lag. In neither case did I have the feeling the expense of my travel arrangements was a big hinderance -- it's important to remember that transatlantic flights are now much cheaper than they used to be.  Bottom line: if they think you've got what they want, a serious department will commit the resources to take a closer look.

Maybe I just got lucky, and of course I have no idea how many of my less successful applications got short circuited because of my foreign address.

Some further advice:

Keep your CV understandable, that is, if you are planning long-term to come back to the US, build up your qualifications as an American would.  For example: in German humanities fields, "peer review" is still a pretty vague concept.  Many (fine) publications are "by invitation" and appear in Festschriften and conference reports.  So while I'm happy to get asked for things like this, I save my more intensive efforts for US and British peer-reviewed forums; there is no reason why you cannot publish in these when you are working in a non-English speaking country.

Take extra care in cover letters to explain how your teaching would "translate" to the American system.

At least in my field, there is plenty of crossover between the UK and the US.  It is sometimes unbelievably cheap to get to Britain from the continent (all those cheapo airlines); I submit lots of papers to conferences across the channel -- it keeps me publishing in English, see above, and it gets me exposure on the UK job market (which has its own special qualities, a subject for another post...). You also tend to meet plenty of American colleagues  at conferences in Britain, too.

If you get an interview in the States, don't be shy about asking for an extra day to adjust (when they're flying you in that far, another night at the hotel doesn't cost much more).  If you have any influence on your schedule, try to use it to ensure that you get most of the heavy lifting done in the morning.  Avoid "important" evening events if you can.  Go to bed outrageously early (i.e. stay on European time).  Get up at five and work on your job talk.  You will feel pleasantly "ahead of the game" when a potential future colleague picks you up, bleary-eyed from a night of grading, for a breakfast meeting at seven.

Living abroad is a great conversation starter.  Academics are of course curious people, and many (more than I thought) will have had similar international experiences.  Use the perspective you get from living on the "outside" to your advantage! Goodness knows, our students need this perspective sorely, but that's also a subject for another post.

Best of luck!

AA