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[scabnin]

OK. I know there are no easy answers to this question given the variables, however, I would like to hear what senior people have to say. I have had conflicting opinions from dissertation committee members regarding the chances for ABD's on the job market (lit). Some say ABD's are tossed aside--others say that ABD's sometimes appear more "fresh" and that if you are done with your degree that many assume you were on the market before and did not get a job and are somehow less than attractive...and finally, my favorite, that if you are not from a top program, regardless of your publications and teaching experience, you are toast...your thoughts?

[sciencephd]

I think it depends on your CV/accomplishments, which you haven't described.

[sugaree]

This is also highly field-dependent - another missing bit of info from the OP.

[mountain_ivy]

Or, think of it as practice....testing the waters....

[mended_drum]

In my MLA field, we tend to avoid hiring ABDs for jobs at SLACs like my own, specifically because the teaching load makes it difficult to finish in a timely way, especially if you plunge into the SLAC culture.  On the other hand, we probably interview from a wider variety of programs than an R1 sc will, especially if the candidate has extensive teaching experience.

If you can afford to do so, and if it won't set back your progress on your dissertation, going on the market ABD is a good idea, in my opinion, because the best preparation for interviewing is interviewing.  Candidates get better at it with practice.  And, of course, you may actually be offered a job.

[dundee]

I am in lit. too. I went on the market ABD, had plenty of interviews, and two offers. I was six months away from defending and had lots of teaching experience and publications. I did not go to a big-name or top-tier university, just a solid one. My sense is that it was my teaching experience and publications that got me the interviews and then the offers. At one institution where I did not receive an offer, despite what seemed to be an excellent campus visit, I later learnt that the successful candidate already had the Ph.D. in hand and was teaching at an Ivy - I have no idea if that candidate had the edge on me due to having finished, or having the Ivy-league job (or both). I know quite a few people who landed tenure-track jobs in English while ABD, but also know just as many who have had the Ph.D. for several years and still don't have a tenure-track job, despite being excellent candidates. It's a crapshoot.

[scabnin]

Thanks for the feedback. Again, the field is lit--from a major state U--a few publications from good journals and some 30 courses taught independently as a grad student and adjunct for the last two and a half years. Absolutely agree that it is a crap shoot, however, some are playing with loaded dice...

[polly_mer]

If you want permission to go on the market ABD, I hereby give you permission.  If you don't apply, you certainly won't get a job.  If you apply and fail, you will at least have the experience of doing a search and will have materials that just need a little updating to be ready to go next year.  If you apply and succeed, you will have a shiny new job.

I caution you to apply to places that mention ABD considered or similar language to minimize wasted effort, but go ahead and send out applications this year if you think you are competitive for the jobs you want.

[waxwing]

Remember also that there can be a down side to success here.  If you were to be hired t-t at many institutions, the job would be contingent on you finishing within a specified period of time.

So far, so good.  However,the time and energy it takes to finish your dissertation would take away from the time and energy  that you ought to devote to developing a dossier that can get you promoted.  It may well be that much of your dissertation will be publishable.  It is nevertheless clear that writing a dissertation while you adjust to your first tenure-track job in a new place, and beginning to put together a dossier that can get you tenure is a big task, one that may require additional sacrifices from you, your family, etc.

This is not to say that this path has not been followed successfully, just that you should have no illusions about what it will require if you were to land in a place with substantial research requirements.

Good luck!

WW

[englitprof]

From personal experience:

Going on the market ABD: good practice, you never know (as it happens, I did land a job); but

Starting the TT ABD: bad, bad, bad.  I only needed one semester to finish my diss., and I did it, but I was literally ill nearly the entire semester (and that was with a newbie's reduced load of 2 classes instead of 3).  I defended my dissertation in a codeine cough syrup haze.  And my diss. wasn't nearly as good as it could have been had I had more attention to devote to it; however, I didn't have any choice (no funding after five years at my PhD institution).

[seniorscholar]

My large public research university will not give a contract to anyone without a PhD in hand by July 1st (the beginning of the fiscal year). Since we don't want to waste a year's search (or fall back on our 5th choice in July -- since candidates #2-4 have accepted positions elsewhere), we will not interview anyone at MLA in December unless a phone call to the supervisor (and sometimes also to the director of grad studies at your school or someone else on your committee, whether or not that person is listed as a reference) confirms that the defense will be held in mid-May at the latest.

So yes, "apply" ABD, but without near-certainty that you'll be finished by July 1st, we'll toss your application no matter how many publications, classes taught, etc. you have. We'd do it even if you had a book under contract, since there is no way to get the Provost to issue a contract to anyone whose degree is not in hand on July 1st.

Note: this absolutely firm deadline came into being about 8 years ago, after several departments had hired ABD "stars" in fields where there's a lot of competition for faculty, seen them take 3 or 4 years to finish the dissertation (even with a 2-2 teaching load), and had to let them go when they failed to meet the tenure standards.

[larryc]

What the others said--many places will disregard you right there, a few will hire you. The market is so dismal and you only have a few years before you start to look stale, you might as well try.