Earlier this month, I shared feedback that Helen and I have received from mentees in last year's cycle of our Job-Market Mentoring Program. Today's post reports the feedback we have received to date and been authorized to share from this year's mentors. As a quick reminder, we will be running the program again this year. We will just be getting the program started a bit later than usual due to preexisting commitments that Helen and I both had. Our plan is to open new signups next Thursday, August 1st. Helen and I will then move forward with matches as quickly as we can! Also, as we normally hadvemore mentees sign up than available mentors, I'd like to encourage the blog's tenure-stream (and tenured) readers to consider whether to sign up given the feedback below. Our aim, as always, is to help as many job-candidates in need that we can (over the past three years, we have matched exactly 90 candidates with mentors).
For now, here is feedback we received from this year's mentors (who we thank deeply for their participation, and know many of our program's mentees thank as well):
Question 1 - Types of mentoring provided?:
“review of materials, especially CV. Checked in during job search season to offer encouragement. Had brief exchange about it and got an update from [Redacted].” – David Hildebrand (Associate Professor & Chair, CU Denver).
“Dossier material review, interview tips, general advice.” – Jerry Green (Assistant Professor, University of Central Oklahoma)
“I looked at dossier materials and provided advice on topics like interviews, tactics.” – Robin McKenna (Lecturer, University of Liverpool)
“Dossier materials, general strategy, encouragement.”
“dossier materials, suggestions for adapting applications to US institutions.”
“Comments on job materials.”
“CV and cover letter feedback.”
“Mostly emails about strategy for solving the two body problem, which writing sample to use, and which (kinds of) jobs to apply to. I sent [redacted] my application spreadsheet from 2017, so he had an idea of the kinds and numbers of positions, and their approximate deadlines and application material requirements. I think this was useful to him, because it was a lot of information that normally takes a lot of effort to harvest. [Redacted] received a position very early (by September!), and so we didn’t not interact a great deal. We sent a fair number of lengthy emails. But it wasn’t a long-developing relationship. This contrasts with my experience with [Redacted 2] last year, where we skyped on several occasions over the course of almost a year, sometimes for hours, about research, work, job market strategy, work-life balance etc. etc. I have now job-market mentored for two years, with two mentors [sic] each year (one through the Women’s programme, one through Cocoon). Both times I have developed a lengthy and in-depth mentorship relationship with one of the two, and had relatively small amounts of contact with the other. All four were positive experiences, but with [Redacted] it was just “less” of a relationship. Last year I interacted a lot with [Redacted 2], through the Cocoon system. This year I interacted a lot with my women’s mentor programme mentee.“
“feedback on a variety of dossier documents, general advice, letters of rec”
“Reviewed and commented on multiple drafts of dossier materials, including CV, cover letter, syllabus, teaching statement, and writing sample. Also, conducted a mock interview.”
“I read all (or at least virtually all) of his dossier; no mock interview or anything like that, but I did try to send him some questions and sample answers.”
“Reviewing and commenting on dossier materials.”
Question 2 - Do you have any feedback (positive or negative) on the program?:
“This still seems like a very good idea and is worth continuing.” – David Hildebrand
“It would be nice to have a more formal set of expectations or best practices. It’s good to have the flexibility to do things on a case-by-case basis, but I sometimes feel like neither mentor nor mentee are exactly sure what they are supposed to be doing (though in each case I’ve done it we worked things out eventually).” – Jerry Green
“I hope [Redacted] found it useful! I think I could have been of more use if I had worked a little more on his area(s), but I was aware at the outset that we weren’t a perfect “fit” and agreed to do it on this understanding.” – Robin McKenna
“It’s a great idea; keep going!”
“It’s a good idea — it’s difficult to know if it makes a positive difference. So many good candidates strike out in the market that even if the mentoring improves their prospects, that may not show up in actual employability.”
“I don’t have that much. It’s not a benefit for me, but I don’t think it’s intended to be. Nor is it a burden. I spend a few hours, spread out over several months, giving feedback. It’s easy enough and I think the mentee benefitted from the extra set of eyes.”
“I like the programme a lot. I like how early you begin, and I feel you proceed in a responsible manner.”
“No.”
“No, other than that I am grateful to Marcus and Helen for putting together this program.”
“I’m not sure. I feel awful because my mentee’s search was unsuccessful. I wish I had been more helpful as a mentor, but I’m not sure what else I could have done. I think the program is really excellent though, so I would strongly recommend it continue — I would only tweak in light of what mentees (both my own and others) request.“
“The main concern that I had, honestly, was whether I was able to do enough to be helpful. I was able to provide some comments on a few dossier materials, but I don’t think I really knew enough about the candidate’s main research area in order to be especially helpful with respect to more strategic advice.
Question 3 - Would you recommend our program to other potential mentors? Why/why not?
“Yes, because the job market is so tough and it’s important for employed faculty members to reach out, qua professionals, to the upcoming generation.” – David Hildebrand
“Yes! I think it is a really useful way to give back for those of us who had the good luck to survive the job market. And it’s useful to see more about other people’s experiences, what other grad programs and search committees do compared to your own. Not to mention you get to know some great young philosophers and their work.” – Jerry Green
“I would—for the simple reason that there are a lot of excellent philosophers out there, and anything we can do to help them find a permanent position is for the good.” – Robin McKenna
“Sure. I’ve observed a lot of bad advice given by junior faculty and recent PhDs, so I think having some more experienced voices to provide a corrective is helpful.”
“Yes, seems like it can only help to give advice to mentees.”
“Yes. I don’t think I ended up helping my particular mentee all that much, but the program shows a lot of promise and I think it certainly a worthwhile endeavor.”
“I think it’s good for mentees to get feedback from people from different programs, especially if they’re applying to non-elite jobs. Often people new to the market don’t really know how to sell themselves to non-specialists, so I think the biggest benefit of the program is helping the mentees to improve on this front.”
“Yes.”
“Yes. From my limited experience, I’d guess that it’s highly likely that the program is at least minimally beneficial for all the mentees, and potentially significantly beneficial for some mentees, and every little bit helps when it comes to the job market.”
“Yes. I was glad to offer (what I hope to have been helpful) job market guidance to a junior member of our profession. I felt good about marking this contribution, and it was not at all overwhelming. (I perhaps spent 8-10 hours total, over a period of months.)”
“Definitely - because it is really nice to have someone outside of your department to give you some perspective for job prep; the more opinions and the more people to look at your dossier, the better.”
“Yes! It seems like a nice way for those who are not directly involved in mentoring PhD students to contribute.”
Question 4 - Are you willing to volunteer as a mentor again during the 2019-20 job-cycle?
“YES” – David Hildebrand
“[Circled YES].” – Jerry Green
“YES.” – Robin McKenna
“YES.”
“YES.”
“Yes.”
“YES.”
“YES.”
“No, I am sorry. I feel like I have done my share (four job market mentees, and one for graduate school applications). I am about to start my 2/2 TT job, and so will have plenty of students to interact with at my institution.”
“YES!”
“YES.”
“Yes, I would be happy to.“
“YES.”
Question 5 - Do you have any suggestions for how our program might be improved?
“Perhaps opportunities for ANY mentors and ANY mentees to have a social gathering at an APA.” – David Hildebrand
“Not really—it seems like the sort of program where it all depends on whether both sides take it sufficiently seriously.” – Robin McKenna
“I really don’t. I think you get out of it what you put in. I would just stress to the mentee to communicate to their mentor what it is they feel they need most help with. (Not that mine didn’t do that, but I can imagine some pairs were less efficient.)”
“No.”
“No.”
“No.”
Comments