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[satwik80]

With a year to go before the OPT expires, what can international Ph.D graduates hope for in this current economic situation? Will they be actually considered for a position or just serve to enhance the numbers of the specific university or college's "diverse" pool of applicants?

[polly_mer]

Your post does not provide enough information to give you a reasonable answer.

Engineering and physical science departments frequently hire international people, particularly if those people are already in the US so that arranging interviews is reasonably cheap and convenient.  If you have a Ph.D. from an American university, being a foreign national should not be held against you for those academic positions.

However, this is not a good year for anyone on the job market.  Thus, while your chances may be as good as anyone else's chances with comparable qualifications and personality, those chances might still be very small.

So, in short, yes, you probably will be considered for a position, if an appropriate position exists and you are one of the top few candidates from the big pool that applies.  Being an international student should be a negligible factor if the remainder of your package is competitive.  However, what competitive means for your field and whether you fall into that category, I do not know.

[systeme_d_]

Just an anecdote for the OP:

This year, we hired two VAPs.  In both cases, we interviewed scholars from outside of the US.  In one case, we hired a scholar from a different country.

For these late-in-the-hiring-season VAP searches, it did occur to us to weigh in factors associated with hiring someone who would have to go through all the BS associated with a working visa, etc.   But the fact that one of our hires is an international hire should demonstrate to you that generally, search committees want the best person for the job, no matter the country of origin or residence, and immigration/visa concerns are but minor.

If these searches had been TT searches, we would not have even thought twice about interviewing or hiring someone from outside the US.  The time crunch associated with these two VAP searches was the only reason this concern was even articulated.

[satwik80]

I guess I should have been more specific. I have a doctoral degree in American Literature from a university in the south. I've applied to about 100 univs and colleges and have got polite rejections from about 20 or so. It has been kind of frustrating so far. For ex, one of the REALLY small colleges in Georgia rejected my application (the town has a population of 2500 or so ; I came to know about it later) . It is remotely possible that if they didn't find my application viable for their generalist position, I stand a little chance of cracking the bigger univs and colleges. Since only TT jobs get assistance with the H1, it looks that much bleaker since most available jobs are those one-year, non-tenured jobs.

[polly_mer]

*sigh*

American literature?  You want a TT job in American literature this year with a degree from a program that you don't describe as top anything?  Being a foreign national isn't your problem.  Choosing to do a degree in an overstocked field is your problem.  Have you read some of the hundreds of threads about how tight the market is in the humanities?  Yes, you sent 100 applications everywhere.   So did everyone else who graduated in your field and all the related ones this year and all the previous years who didn't get a permanent position yet.  That college that you turned your nose up at (town of 2500 and they didn't pick you) probably had 100 applications to choose from.

Were I you, I would be looking into multiple back-up plans immediately.

[seniorscholar]

Ditto to polly_mer. 

American Literature is the most overstocked of all fields that are taught in US English Departments. Now partly this is because there need to be a lot of classes -- at many colleges and universities at least half of the undergraduate English majors are planning to teach in middle school or high school, and almost all states require a number of American lit courses for teacher certification. Nevertheless, far too many of those people fall in love with (1) being in college and (2) some aspect of American Lit and apply for PhD programs.

In other words, when we advertise ANY position in American lit at this large urban research university, we receive up to 350 applications, and even after eliminating all the people who "love to read and would like to teach" and the disgruntled lawyers looking to change careers and the people who have not yet defended their dissertations and the people who have not published anything and the people with no experience teaching undergraduates in a class for which they have full responsibility, there are in the neighborhood of 200 applicants to choose from. (One hire in recent years, however, does have a UK doctorate -- but I suspect you'll be able to figure out that it was awarded by one or the other of two UK universities.)

[bacardiandlime]

As well as the competitive field, the OP does have a disadvantage as a foreign national, in that s/he can't stay in the US after completing the PhD, piecing together work as an adjunct til going on the market next year. Search committees for VAPs are also unlikely to want the hassle of sorting out a visa for a one-year job, unless you are from Canada or Australia (or Mexico?) and the visa is easy to arrange (nationals of these countries are eligible for limited-term work visas under free-trade agreements).
It seems like it is less and less common for people to jump straight from the PhD to the Tenure-Track, rather to spend a few years in VAP, adjunct, or postdoc positions.

OP: you're in a tough market. You've got to be FABULOUS to be competitive for a good postdoc (many times these will be offered with a J-1 visa, not H1B, which is less expensive and difficult for the university), or a Tenure-Track position. Best of luck.

[guenglish]

I don't know about your specifics, but a foreign degree is generally more difficult to peddle.  Departments, outside of ones in R1s, usually don't have enough international experience to know how to place you or your program.

[porcupine]

You actually have an advantage in that you have a US Ph.D. - departments often ask whether a foreign Ph.D. can teach US students, for instance, as well as wondering how to evaluate a Ph.D. that does not involve any coursework.

Publish, publish, publish, work hard on getting good teaching evaluations, and your immigration status will not be an issue for most, if not all, search committees. I have a foreign Ph.D., and I just got hired for a tenure-track position. It can be done.