Job-market discussion board (2019-20 season)

Given that the academic job-market is beginning to ramp up, I thought now might be a good time to start another job-market discussion thread. As readers may recall, each of the past two years, we have hosted two job-market threads:

1. A discussion thread where job-marketeers can discuss and commisserate about the market, discussing particular job ads, the market in general, questions about materials, interviewing, and so on.
2. A reporting thread where job-marketeers can share news about the market (i.e. first-round interviews being scheduled, on-campus visits, new hires made, searches that are canceled, etc.).

Although, like some other people I know, I think fixating too much on job-market boards can be counterproductive--both emotionally and in terms of time spent--I still think that discussion and reporting threads can play important purposes. They can provide candidates an outlet to share relevant information that might help them on the market, as well as a place to connect with and support each other, particularly (I think) when these discussions occur in a forum governed by a safe and supportive mission like our own.

So, then, without further ado I'd like to open this thread for job-market discussion for the remainder of the 2019-20 academic job-market season. Readers should feel free to discuss job-market matters as they see fit, provided the discussion conforms to the blog's mission. As a rough rule of thumb, readers are expected to refrain from posting aggressive comments that can be reasonably interpreted as undermining a safe and supportive environment. As moderator, I will intervene if need be to let people know why I have elected not to approve their comments, so as to keep the discussion positive.

A few final notes:

1. Please reserve job-market news (i.e. interviews, on-campus visits, hires, etc.) for the job-market reporting thread, which I will open in a few weeks.
2. A 'permalink' to this thread will be on the blog's right sidebar. -->
3. Because of Typepad's functionality limitations (which only permits 100 comments before starting a new comment page), readers may elect to bookmark each new page of comments (or update their previous bookmark) as each new page emerges. I recognize that is can be frustrating to scroll through page after page to get to new comments, and I think this is the best solution (Typepad does have an option for incorporating 'Disqus' commenting, but I intensely dislike that format!).

Anyway, feel free to job-market-discuss away!

Comments

[anon]

It depends on when they've scheduled the interviews. If it's for something that starts in September, the wait shouldn't be too long.

One thing that can stretch this out is that committees tend to want to leave the applicants hanging until the person they've made the offer to formally accepts. But the negotiation process can take some time.

If you want to reach out, reach out to the chair of the search rather than staff. Something like: "Dear X, I'm writing to check in about the status of the search - I'm still very interested in the position." (There's more to say if, for instance, you have another offer.) I don't think this could hurt, but it probably also won't help, either.

Good luck, and hopefully you aren't waiting too much longer.

[I am waiting as well]

Waiting
You should communicate either with the Dept Chair or the head of the Search Committee - but the person who has been in contact with you so far. You can ask whenever you want. But realize that Searches drag on ... we completed interviews in mid-June, and we have not even agreed on who to make the offer to.
So this can go on and on ...