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[bruceleroy]

I have had a couple phone interviews as an ABD in mechanical engineering but now I have graduated. I am hoping I will be a more attractive candidate now. I have heard as much from several sources, including my advisor. Will you comment if you have experience/knowledge with this?

[proftowanda]

Yes, it can make a big difference with SCs and departments I know (several). 

Now that my doctoral advisee has a defense date, soon, I have let some of SCCs know (the ones whom I know), in case they also are in departments that have dealt with problems of ABDs who do not get to the Ph.D. as soon as planned.  That can create several complications for departments, deans, and on up the food chain.

Congratulations!

[bruceleroy]

Thanks for the confirmation. I'm sure my advisor pointed that out in his reccomendation letters, as I did in my cover letter, he's all for me getting a good teaching position. However, he is a prestigious engineering RESEARCHER which has made my search for a faculty position at a SLAC slightly awkward. He is very supportive, just out of his element.

[ruralguy]

If you are applying to SLACs, you will need teaching experience, actually leading the class. You should also  preferablyhave taught  more than one type of class, and also, preferably with high eval scores to accompany. You should have one letter write who can address your teaching.

However, the good word on your research will not hurt you, and of course, at some SLACs, may even help. Its just a matter of how balanced it is with teaching, not that it exists. There are some "anti-research" SLACs, but most have a reasonably positive view of scholarly activity.

[busyslinky]

Yes, being finished is a big issue for many SCs.  Not the only one, but an important decision criterion.  Also, I'm just wondering how many ME positions exist at SLACs?

[glowdart]

Some schools cannot hire you unless you're done.  So, at those places, degree-in-hand means a great deal. 

[bruceleroy]

If you are applying to SLACs, you will need teaching experience, actually leading the class. You should also  preferablyhave taught  more than one type of class, and also, preferably with high eval scores to accompany. You should have one letter write who can address your teaching.

However, the good word on your research will not hurt you, and of course, at some SLACs, may even help. Its just a matter of how balanced it is with teaching, not that it exists. There are some "anti-research" SLACs, but most have a reasonably positive view of scholarly activity.

I have an unusually large amount of teaching expirience for someone coming from a top ten research university. I also have teaching awards from two very different subjects within mechanical engineering. I taught for my three main references. I even had a phone interview for a VAP job at a top SLAC while I was ABD.

Yes, being finished is a big issue for many SCs.  Not the only one, but an important decision criterion.  Also, I'm just wondering how many ME positions exist at SLACs?

There are quite a few. I was very surprised myself but I am also very happy about it. There is so much emphasis on research at my school that the undergrad education suffers greatly. I was very happy to find out that schools like Bucknell, Lafayette, Swarthmore, Smith, etc. have engineering programs.

[bcohlan1]

I'm ABD in a humanities field and have received very limited interest despite an usually high number of publications, lots of teaching experience, and coming from a top program. But the people I know who were in my position last year and now have their PhDs are getting a lot more interest this year. As in triple the number of interviews, easily. So it does appear to make a huge difference in my field's completely glutted market.

I'd imagine that the bigger the disparity between number of applicants and available positions is in your field, the more of a difference having the PhD in hand makes. When you are getting hundreds of applications you can afford to put aside the ABDs without even looking at them. They're still there if you really need them (which you won't), but you don't have to worry at all about people who remain in the active pile not finishing.

[mazerunner]

I had a doctoral fellowship while I was a doctoral student.  One of the requirements for this fellowship was to attend an annual professional development conference.  University recruiters would be at these conferences.  Here's how I remember the recruiters treating me each year:

FIRST YEAR
Recruiter:  Nice to meet you, Mazerunner.  How far along are you in your program?
Mazerunner:  I just started.  I'm in my first year.
Recruiter (visibly disinterested):  Well, you've got a way to go.  Good luck with your program.  Come back and see us when you get closer to finishing.

SECOND YEAR
Recuiter:  Nice to meet you, Mazerunner.  How far along are you in your program?
Mazerunner:  I'm in my second year.  This is my last year of coursework.
Recruiter (neither noticeably interested nor disinterested):  I see.  Well, come back next year and maybe we'll have something that works for both of us.

THIRD YEAR
Recuiter:  Nice to meet you, Mazerunner.  How far along are you in your program?
Mazerunner:  I'm in my third year.  I'm writing my dissertation now.
Recruiter (paying noticeably more attention to me):  Congratulations on making it this far.  How far along are you in your dissertation?
Mazerunner:  Well, I started writing it a few months ago.
Recruiter (still interested, but with a more concerned facial expression):  Do you have a defense date?
Mazerunner:  No, not yet.  But I expect to be finished next summer.
Recruiter (noticeably less interested):  Okay, your dissertation topic sounds interesting.  Good luck, and please keep us in mind when you get closer to finishing!  In the meantime, why don't you add your name to our database so we can keep you up to date on available positions that may come up in our department?

FOURTH YEAR
Recruiter:  Nice to meet you, Mazerunner.  How far along are you in your program?
Mazerunner:  I am an ABD, but I am defending my dissertation exactly one week from now.  So I am almost finished.
Recruiter (visibly interested):  Hey, congratulations!  Why don't you have a seat and tell me a little about your dissertation?
Mazerunner:  Well, my topic is blah blah blah
Recruiter (smiling):  Let me introduce you to Recruiter #2 who happens to be the dean/department chair/bigshot of our university's X Department.  Which area of your field do you specialize in?
Mazerunner:  My research area is XYZ.
Recruiters:  Excellent.  Let me tell you why you should consider our university.  Blah blah blah.  Do you have a business card and a CV?
(ten minutes later)
Recruiters:  It was very nice talking with you, Mazerunner.  I am going to forward your information over to Professor/Administrator X and we will certainly be in touch.  Good luck with your defense!  If you've made it this far, the defense should be easy.

For what it's worth, I am able to attend this same professional development conference next year even though I've finished my program.  If I don't have a TT job by then, I can only imagine how the recruiters will treat me when I tell them I have the doctorate in hand and am available since most of the other people at that conference will not have the degree in hand.  In short, being PHinisheD makes a huge deal.  I'd imagine this is because a lot of ABDs never finish, a lot of ABDs take longer to finish than they anticipated, and ABDs are generally not as competitive for jobs as people with PhDs in hand when the job market is tight.

[bruceleroy]

Thank you all for the comments. I feel very reassured and am hopeful about this year's recruiting season.

[fedscholar]

Not sure if this is apropos, but the best thing about being finished is ...being finished!

I was hired with about "three months" to go on the dissertation. Add exciting full time job, and "three months" turned into three years of hell. I wouldn't wish that on an enemy.

[westcoastgirl]

Just to clarify, I'm not done (yet). I'm working hard, more or less, to finish.

I'm in one of those limbo type situations. My defense should be in the next few months and my adviser writes that on her recommendation. I just don't think places are buying it. Not when they have people with degree in hand.

I honestly wish they'd just skip over me though and not call me for an interview because I get my hopes up. I applied in a very narrow geographic area. Out of four places, I had phone call interviews with three. Then I got dumped. Well, it seems like it anyway because I haven't heard a thing. Either I'm a really crappy interviewer, or this bodes well for next year when I do have the darn thing done and I apply more widely.

[pink_]

I'm in an insanely crowded MLA field, and I had nary a nibble when I was ABD. The interviews didn't come pouring out of the woodwork the next time around when I had finished and filed, but I did get a few, one of which led to my current job.

I had a few friends who landed interviews while still ABD, but they were all in less-crowded fields, or they were working on very hot sub-fields (or both). None of my friends in my area got anywhere until we had degrees in hand. If you have a stack of hundreds, that's an easy way to cut the pile.

[seniorscholar]

My defense should be in the next few months and my adviser writes that on her recommendation. I just don't think places are buying it. Not when they have people with degree in hand.

At the three public R-1 universities in this state, it is required that candidates have the degree in hand by June 30th or they can not be hired. We would be willing to interview someone with a really hot record whose defense is definitely scheduled for May 15th or earlier, but after that, no chance; we'd lose the line if candidate did not have dissertation defended and submitted by June 30th. "My defense should be in the next few months" would sound to us like "or maybe in 2013 sometime," and you'd have gone into the "no" stack as soon as we read those words. You are not "in limbo" -- you are an ABD who will not be a PhD for this hiring season.

[al_wallace]

I'm on a search committee now for a tenure track line at a SLAC. In our ad we state specifically that a PhD is required. The very first thing I do is check the CV to see if they have a PhD in hand. If they don't, I don't read any further down the CV--not matter how stellar they may be otherwise. I don't even read the cover letter. We have hired ABD in the past and watched the hire get booted from the institution after three years because s/he was still ABD. Of course PhD in hand is an easy standard to hold when you have another 150 applicants with one, two, or three years of post-doc experience looking for a job. Judging from the high quality of our applicants this year, it must be a brutal job market.