In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, Ed writes:
I'd be grateful to hear thoughts from you and others on what new assistant professors should do in their ~five years on the tenure clock to make themselves as competitive as possible for other positions at the widest range of institutions when going up for review at their home institution.
This is an interesting query because, as we've discussed many times before, there isn't just one academic job-market; there are multiple ones--roughly, the elite R1 market, R1 market more generally, R2 market, elite SLAC market, non-elite SLAC market, community college market, and so on. Bearing this in mind, I'm not entirely sure there is a way to make oneself "as competitive as possible for other positions at the widest range of institutions." Maybe having an excellent record across the board--in publishing, teaching, and service--will make you competitive across a wide array of institutions. But I'm not sure. When it comes to elite R1's, my understanding is that you basically have to be a 'star' to be competitive. At R1's more generally, I expect you just need to have a stellar publishing record. At elite SLACs, I suspect you probably have to have a stellar publishing record and a good record as a teacher. But non-elite SLACs, state schools, and community colleges? It's unclear to me how much a good publishing record matters.
Anyway, I guess my answer to the OP is: I don't really know! I suspect that, in general, it's important to stand out in some way: to have some kind of record of extraordinary achievement during your time on the tenure stream (in research for elite places, teaching and/or service for non-elite SLACs), etc. I also expect that having a strong record across the board is likely to make you an attractive candidate at many places. But, beyond these speculations, I have to confess that I don't have much of a feel for things here.
What do you all think, particularly those of you who have moved institutions successfully after tenure-review or who hired someone at that stage?
Here are my thoughts. I was at a state college for years - it was a fine, but not stellar place. I applied selectively for jobs at more research oriented places. Sometimes I would emphasize my strong service experience, for example, when I applied for chair jobs. Other times I emphasized my research - which was quite strong. The sorts of schools interested or impressed by the research did not care AT ALL about my service. NOT AT ALL. They were looking to hire an accomplished and recognized researcher.
Posted by: thoughtful | 05/08/2020 at 12:54 PM
Thanks for the responses!
Posted by: Ed | 05/13/2020 at 03:01 PM