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[dr_dre]

This will be my first year on the market. So far, I'm trying to approach my priorities as: 1) research, 2) applications, 3) teaching. If I strike out this year, then the publications will hopefully be the difference next time. I generally put lots of time into my teaching, but I am working on ways to be more efficient there. I also plan to get back into a regular gym schedule when school starts, because it helps me to feel better. Best of luck to everyone!

[coffeeindeed]

Great list...
thanks

[liquidambar]

I missed this thread before.  I absolutely second (third?) the recommendation to exercise.  A sudden reduction in your normal activity levels can lead to hormonal imbalances that will make a stressful time seem even worse.  That's what happened to me.  Trabb's other suggestions are great too, particularly the delivery confirmation.

Be organized with record keeping--know what you sent to each school and when.  Also keep a copy of the job ad on file, just in case they take it off their website before you interview.  (I made this mistake, unfortunately.)

[comic_book_guy]

My own two cents on this (having made nearly all of the mistakes described on this thread):

Compartmentalize. If possible, look at new job postings once a week, write up applications once a week. Do not concern yourself with it beyond those days--there's nothing you can do about it anyway, at least until your application progresses to the next cut.

And (though I'm sure this has been mentioned elsewhere), centralize your recommendations and transcripts through a dossier service. It's not cheap, but it's extremely convenient and saves a lot of hassles for both you and those writing your letters.

[porcupine]

I have made every single mistake mentioned above. It's a miracle I survived last year. Thanks for the helpful reminders on what not to do this year...

One thing I'm going to avoid is spending hours checking out rental properties in areas where I'm applying. I wasted hours doing that last year. I also panicked about the time taken up by the search, gave up exercise, gained 15lbs and got very depressed, very quickly. Hence I am off to the gym...

zelda, hope things have improved for you.

[pantsz2]

I know I am supposed to write, but write what. I am not presently conducting research. I submitted 3 and got 3 rejections. All day is spent researching and applying for ttpositions. Yes, and exercising.

Write what?

Exercise.
Eat right.
Do not complain to your friends, it gets old.
Write write write write write.
Show your faculty that you are a pro so that they can tell prospective employers the same thing.
Write write write write write.

[pantsz2]

Recently, I had a phone interview, post screening, and I performed poorly. I knew I did. Usually, I am so confident. Why, because I felt so desperate and needed a job badly. This negatively impacted my performance.

Did not get the job and much needed doe. I am a 1/2 full kind of person! and will regroup.

Zelda, sorry to hear your situation is so lousy.  I hope things pick up soon!

For the rest of us seekers... is it just me, or do people make far too much of a big deal out of this process?  I agree with Reluctant - don't overdramatize.  When I first went into this process I read as much as possible about it (of course - that's what I do!), and all the information out there offered the same conclusion: the job search is absolute, impossible, incomprehensible hell.  I spent my first season on the market moping, making myself sick with worry, feeling sorry for myself, and panicking.  Guess what?  I didn't get a job. 

Sure, the statistics are sobering, and no one should go on the academic market without being aware of the stark reality of the number of qualified candidates who will not get the jobs they want.  But I worry that we make ourselves feel horrible and that saps our confidence - and our ability to perform when we need to.  I also feel that the drama can become a self-fulfilling prophecy: last year, I found the job search difficult in part because I kept telling myself that it was difficult, and because I kept reading material that told me how difficult it is.  In preparation for the upcoming hiring season I decided to have a reread of some of the threads here, and I got so depressed! 

This year, I still can't read SCs' minds or magically conjure up jobs in my field.  But I can try to keep a positive attitude.  It certainly won't hurt my chances, and it will make me feel a lot better.  I don't know how long I can keep it up but I'm going to do my best.

Who's with me?

[turnip123]

Another note on "owning" your search: do not let other people's hopes for you become your own. 

In my search out of grad school, I landed an interview at a place that, considering how far along I was on the dissertation, was plum out of my league.  One of my advisers, someone who had always been very supportive of my work, was elated and really wanted me to get the job, probably even more than I did.  (I was worried that the job at Dream U would be all-consuming and allow me no time for family or myself.  And I thought the SCC, who would also be my main senior colleague, was dreadful.)  I gave it my darnedest in the campus visit and thought that I had done about as well as was possible for my situation.  In the end, though, the SC went with someone else.  Even though I got another great offer at I school I really like (which I accepted), it took me months to get over my "failure," until I realized that I felt worse about disappointing my beloved committee member than I ever felt about coming up short at Dream U. 

[mended_drum]

Everyone probably knows this already, but never assume that the SC is as organized as you are, especially at interviews.  Have duplicates of everything you sent and when someone calls having completely lost your cv, you'll look incredibly efficient if you can fax it over or hand it to the one committee member who spilled coffee on it that morning.  The more organized you seem to be, the more impressed the exhausted SC will be.

[quixote]

If you happen to be in the humanities, I heartily recommend Kathryn Hume's book on the job search.  It does a wonderful job of distilling all the other available job-market tomes, and is far more useful.

[appleaddict]

Terrific list.

I'd like to add that you should make copies of everything you need for your research and teaching demonstrations, including transparencies, whiteboard or overhead pens, and lots and lots of photocopies of your handouts--even if the SC says they can make your copies when you arrive at the interview. Try to think of everything that might go wrong or might not be as you were told it would be. At one interview, the copier was acting up and I was nearly unable to copy my handouts (that was my first one--I never made that mistake again!). Also, at another interview, I was told that a room had a transparency projector for my teaching presentation, but they had no markers! That possibility never even crossed my mind. I improvised with a thick sharpie and supplemented with a whiteboard in the room and I did get an offer from that school despite the snag, so it seems that showing how you deal with things like equipment snafus can also impress SCs.

[apablo]

Don't spend too much time on this forum.

[belladonna]

Great suggestions in this thread. My two cents for those who are on the job market for the first time (combination of observing grad school colleagues and personal experience): Keep a low profile wherever you are right now. Don't holler from the rooftops every time you get one of those Equal Opportunity cards or letters that say "We have received your application and will review it..."

And if you get an interview in a place where you have family/relatives/friends, you may want to keep the interview to yourself. Or else you may get the "Did you get the job yet? Didjadidjadidja?" from your family/relatives/friends from now until the SC contacts you with the results of the job search. Or worse, your family/friends/relatives may start making plans for "when you get the job and move there."

When you get a job offer, yeah, that's the time when you holler the news from the rooftops.

[libbilou]

I have some questions and concerns.  I attended a recent conference that had an interview placement service.  I spent most of my time at the placement service meeting with potential schools.  Five invited me to meet with them, 3 I asked to meet with them.  I enjoyed the meetings (interviews) and decided based on those meetings and where they were located to apply for the t-t assistant professor positions. 
Two schools have emailed me encouraging me to apply, which I did.  My question(s) is that how good are interview placement services?  If I have gotten emails from two schools encouraging me to apply are my chances better than the ones that did not email me?

P.S.

I certainly am enjoying these forums they are helpful in keeping me sane while I apply for a job!

[timber]

Hey Trabb,

Thanks for posting this. All very wise advice. I really need someone to just tell me to stop and breathe every once in a while... before I take a big breath and go back under the water again...

Both my roommate and I are new to the job search this year.... and me.... I tend to get a little obsessive (checking all the job search websites every single day - even on weekends, agonizing over every cover letter for hours - making revisions until its "perfect," checking the wiki incessantly).  It's really difficult for me to not be obsessive: I live in a very very expensive city (where I got my degree), I have no fall-back option (like parents to go back and live with if all else fails or a spouse with a job etc.), and I have a giant loan that comes due in February.  I'm so obsessive about my search because I'm really scared.  The market I am in is completely saturated.  It's even tough to get adjunct work where I live.  What do people do to survive while they're looking for that full-time position? Wait tables?