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[fiona]

http://chronicle.com/jobs/blogs/onhiring/624

Since this is a question that comes up often, I thought the above might be useful.

Mostly it's not a good idea to be job hunting while just ABD (as opposed to being almost done, with the defense scheduled).

ABDs often don't finish, esp. if they take fulltime jobs. In fact, I can't recall any ABD I've known who did finish after taking a job, unless s/he was already really, really almost done and finished in the first semester on the new job.

Otherwise job hunting while dissertation writing takes so much time and emotional energy that you probably won't finish, or you'll produce a dissertation that's nowhere near as good as it might be if you really devoted mental energy to it, not to waiting by the phone/mailbox/computer. A mediocre dissertation hurts you in that it may prevent you from getting a super job, or getting grants, or getting publication without extensive revision.

This all applies in the humanities. May be different for scientists or people in professional needs, such as business.

The Fiona

[dellaroux]

I think one person I know of (who was brilliant and very much wanted by the college where one of her parents had taught) negotiated a year's time to finish the thesis before she had to start teaching.

She did finish, started teaching, and so far as I know (several years later, now) is doing fine.

But I would guess that's an exceptional situation.

[englitprof]

I went on the market ABD and took the one job I was offered, finishing and defending my dissertation towards the end of my first semester TT.  I certainly would have written a much, much better diss. if I had taken another year before going on the market, but I didn't have the option, as my grad institution was extremely parsimonious with funding and cut you off after five years.

OTOH, the book I am writing from the diss. has really benefited from being able to focus on what I really want it to be, rather than a diss. as such.  That said, I still wouldn't recommend starting a full-time job ABD if one has other options.

[octoprof]

It's not so unusual in my field. But that may be driven by the high demand and low supply phenomenon.  Lots of people start jobs while still ABD, but it's much better on the market to be finished.  And, it's just much better on the job-seeker to be finished!

I started ABD, but defended two months later. We hired a VAP who was ABD and defended shortly after starting. I've known a number of folks in my discipline to be hired ABD and finish within the first semester. However, anyone not close to being done is nuts to be on the market, in my opinion. Getting done gets harder and harder, you know!

In my field, ABDs are usually hired as instructors or visiting folk and their title switches upon defending the dissertation.

[mended_drum]

At my SLAC we've had several near disasters when we've hired ABDs, so when I'm on an SC I don't even look at someone without a firm defense date.  In one instance, we actually had someone run out the clock on their course credits before finishing--possibly the worst example of all.  In other cases, either the new faculty members had to hibernate for years--rather than meeting and forming connections with other faculty members--or they whined incessantly about grading or service requirements.  Clearly, one more year writing would have cut three years off the time to completion in those cases.

[madhatter]

I took a job while ABD. It was a position in industry that was really ideal for my career goals at the time. I thought I would be able to wrap up revisions to my dissertation in 3-4 months and be done. Instead, it took about two years.

On the upside, my new employer paid all of my remaining dissertation expenses, including credits, printing and binding costs, and travel expenses to my defense. They even paid for the cookies & coffee I had catered in for the defense.

[dogvomit]

YES!  but not until you actually have (or will soon in a few weeks) turn in at least one draft of dissertation.  Better if already received the draft back.

HOWEVER, discuss this decision thoroughly with your dissertation advisor and with another professor who knows you but has no vested interest in your decision.  YOur advisor will probably be the best source of guidance.

Be careful, a lot of dumpy schools hire ABDs (this is not to say all schools hiring ABDs are dumpy, clearly its not the case) because they can't get anyone else, then abuse the heck out of them, making them essentially dead wood before they make tenure!

As Bela Lugosi would say, "BEVAIR!"

[larryc]

In history it may take several years on the market to land a job, so it makes a lot of sense to get started early, while ABD. And if you get a offer you better take it.

I took a 4/4 teaching job with my diss half-written and it took me three tough years to finish. I would not recommend it, except for the suspicion that I might not have landed a job at all the next year.

[zarathustra]

Several people in my department were hired with masters and are now pursuing their doctorates (DMA's) while teaching full-time.  I started my tt job two exams short of ABD, took the exams within a year, wrote the paper and defended the same semester I applied for tenure/promotion 4 years later.    Not fun, but doable.  Of course, we're not a "publish or perish" institution, though it's moving in that direction.

[blackbart]

Every situation is different. I can think of a fistful of good reasons a student might (should) wait to take a job and another fistful of reasons a student might (should) take a job while ABD.

I can also think of fistfuls of grad-school and professional colleagues who pulled off this hat trick with aplomb, and of other fistfuls who died trying.

On balance, The Fiona's advice seems reasonable... until a new child is born, bills are mounting, job markets are tightening, and an attractive position--which may not be matched in the market in a couple of years when the dissertation is done--falls into one's lap.

...but then years have elapsed, the tenure clock is ticking, the new preps keep coming semester after semester, and the reappointment process hinges on this single issue.

"Candidate, know thyself." If you're not REALLY sure that you WILL pull this off, then don't try... but know that it can be done, and often is.

I took my first tenure-track job with one dissertation chapter written, but with the rest mapped out in my mind. I did nothing about it in my first two semesters, then spent a summer living at the office hammering it out. One more year of revisions and the defense, and I graduated at the end of the second year in the job.

More that ever, your mileage may vary.

[fiona]

I think the people posting here are mostly the successes.

Those who spent their dissertation years seeking jobs they didn't get, or who got jobs ABD and then didn't finish--those people are generally out of the profession now, and not apt to be posting here.

So the answers here may be a little misleading, about whether you should be on the job market while ABD.

I disagree with the last poster who says "Every situation is different." No, it's not. That's a cliche that keeps us from thinking and from seeing patterns. What we're sharing on these fora are our observations of patterns. Any version of "It's up to the individual" is always a discussion stopper, and it prevents people from sharing information.

The Fiona

[octoprof]

I don't think every situation is different, but I do think disciplines are different.  In zarathustra's discipline, it's probably much more normal to not have doctorate in hand when starting the TT.  In my discipline, probably a bit more than average, the ABDs get hired (because of high demand, low supply) but then the pressure to get 'er done is immense.

In some of the lower demand, higher supply disciplines, some folks are desperate to get that elusive TT job and are, therefore willing to go on the TT ABD, which could be a disastrous thing for folks who are not able to get 'er done in a reasonably a mount of time.  Some schools, no doubt, take advantage of this, hire ABDs on purpose, pay them less, perhaps, and then burn them out and chuck them out when they don't finish the dissertation on time.

In summary, it's a very risky thing to do. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't.

How's that for a wishy-washy analysis?

[phdbliss]

Is this only about taking a TT job ABD?

I have a VAP next year with a 4/4 courseload. I'm in the revising stage of dissertation work - the thing is written - 300 pages worth (if not over) - but now we're refining it.

Am I doomed? I don't know. My plan is to get a lesson plan book, and do all the prep for every class over the weekends, so that I have at least an hour or two each day at the least to devote to dissertation revising. This could be a pipe dream. Two of the courses I'm teaching are "easy" - I've done it a million times. The other two courses are new, but only meet twice a week.

Geez. I shouldn't have started reading this thread.

No hijack intended.

[octoprof]

Is this only about taking a TT job ABD?

I have a VAP next year with a 4/4 courseload. I'm in the revising stage of dissertation work - the thing is written - 300 pages worth (if not over) - but now we're refining it.

Am I doomed? I don't know. My plan is to get a lesson plan book, and do all the prep for every class over the weekends, so that I have at least an hour or two each day at the least to devote to dissertation revising. This could be a pipe dream. Two of the courses I'm teaching are "easy" - I've done it a million times. The other two courses are new, but only meet twice a week.

Geez. I shouldn't have started reading this thread.

No hijack intended.

The 4/4 load is particularly scary for an ABD, but if you are only revising, you should be alright. It won't be easy, of course, but it is doable.

Imagine someone in the same new job who's just starting on the dissertation. Ugh.

[seniorscholar]

I have a VAP next year with a 4/4 courseload. I'm in the revising stage of dissertation work - the thing is written - 300 pages worth (if not over) - but now we're refining it.

I agree that you're probably ok -- revising a dissertation is very different than starting a job with a 4/4 load when only the coursework is done, and the whole process of reading, conceptualizing, drafting, etc. lies ahead. Even as a very experienced scholar, I can do first drafts of anything longer than a short book review only in the summer or over a break when I can not only spend all day concentrating but also have a brain free enough to come up with thoughts in the night: the distraction of the multiple streams of thought while teaching (class 1, class 2, the grading, the troubled student, etc. etc.) means that I can't manage to work out a large concept. But for me, revising -- which can't be effectively done for more than half a day at a stretch anyway -- is something to work on during the academic year. Very best to you!