Job-market discussion thread (2022-23 season)

As many readers of the Cocoon may recall, each job season the Cocoon hosts two job-market threads:

1. A job-market discussion thread (the present thread): to commiserate about the market, discuss particular job ads, the market in general, questions about application materials, interviewing, alt-ac opportunities, and so on.
2. A job-market reporting thread: to post news about interviews, on-campus visits, offers, rejection notices, etc.

Although I recognize that it is very early in the year, given that the academic job-market begins to ramp up in August, I thought it might be good to post this season's discussion thread earlier than in the past. After all, readers who will be heading out on the market may already have questions you'd like to discuss (about application materials, the application process, etc.). So, please feel free to bookmark and visit this thread throughout the job season to commiserate with others, or just to see what others are talking about! 

Because someone always asks, "Why two threads?", there are a couple of reasons. First, some people may want to discuss the market but not stress over daily news regarding which jobs they still do or don't have a chance for. Conversely, others may not want to discuss the market but just want news about the jobs they've applied for. Second, these threads can get very long already, so I think the best way for people to get the information they want in a well-ordered format is simply to have two threads.

A few final notes:

• This thread (the post you are reading right now!) will be the home of this year's job-market discussion thread. So, if you want to discuss this year's job-market, just comment below.
• Please reserve job-market news (i.e. interviews, on-campus visits, hires, etc.) for the job-market reporting thread, which I will open sometime in September.
• A 'permalink' to this thread will be on the upper right of blog's right sidebar for the rest of the job season. -->
• 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 as each new page emerges. I recognize that it can be frustrating to scroll through page after page to get to new comments, and I think this is probably the best solution given Typepad's functionality limitations.

Finally, as always, readers are asked to please bear in mind the Cocoon's safe and supportive mission. I try not to moderate with too heavy of a hand, as I don't like to squelch reasonable discussion and debate. I also realize that the job-market can be an emotional roller-coaster, and that passions can run deep on job-market issues. But the Cocoon has always been intended to be an unique oasis of sorts: as a refuge for early-career philosophers to support each other and discuss issues related to their careers and the profession in productive, supportive way. So, I will moderate carefully to ensure that these threads remain a welcome environment for everyone--and, of course, if anyone has any concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know.

All that being said, discuss away!

Comments

[Too late]

Don't you mean 23-24?

[Just in time]

@Too late. This is 2022. The cycle runs from fall 2022-spring/early summer 2023. Like the academic year. It isn't based on when you start the position but when you struggle through the market.

[MarketMail]

Maybe worth a separate thread, but I'm wondering if anyone has had success using MargyMail for their letters of recommendation? See post here: https://dailynous.com/2017/09/26/free-automated-recommendation-service-now-available/

I know some departments have manual, in-house services like this, but if this software has been working for people it would be good to know and good to reduce efforts spent on sending letters more broadly.

[Anon]

Question about AOS:

There are a growing number of people working at the intersection between M&E and social/political philosophy. E.g., feminist epistemology, metaphysics of race or gender, pragmatics of subordinating speech, implicit bias, etc.

I'm in this category and can never quite get a feel for whether it would be appropriate for me to apply to a job that asks for AOS: social/political. Like many people working in these intersectional categories, my training has primarily been in M&E, though my research applies that training to social/political issues. Is that enough, or are committees generally looking for someone with a more traditional training in value theory, and who could teach a class on, e.g., Rawls?

[Assistant Prof]

Anon: You never know what search committees are looking for, so I would say apply widely! There's very little marginal cost associated with a few extra applications, and the possible benefit is enormous.

[Michel]

Anon: I agree with Assistant Prof: just apply, and let _them_ weed you out.

That said, if you know you're going to be applying for social/political jobs, you should aim, over time, to cultivate the kind of profile that will be attractive for such a job. So, over time, you'll want to put together some syllabi for a few courses which are squarely on-topic (such as that class on Rawls), and so on.

In other words, your AOS fits more or less well, but if you're planning to target those jobs, try to work up an AOC that's clearly relevant. That way, you leave no doubt that you're a fit.

[How About Now?]

My memory fails me: when are most jobs advertised? Early to mid-September? Late-september to early-October? I seem to recall there being a fair number of posts in August itself but haven't seen as many as I expected.

[Marcus Arvan]

@How About Now: It's actually really easy to find this out on PhilJobs. You just need to search postings for each year during the month of August.

I just did some searches just now and here's what I got for jobs posted between August 1-August 20 for each of the past 5 years:

2022: 34 ads
2021: 28
2020: 14
2019: 22
2017: 20

So actually, this year seems to be stunningly good so far, at least comparatively--easily the best year in the past 5 years.

My sense is that job ads tend to trickle out in August but then pick up in a big way in September and October!

[How About Now?]

Thanks @Marcus!

Unrelated follow-up: I'm a bit frustrated by job posts that do not say anything about teaching load. For me, that is a very significant factor in deciding whether to apply to a job, and it also seems like a very relevant feature of the job itself. This is not prevalent, in my experience, in ads for post-docs, lecturer positions, or even VAPs. Instead, where I've seen it the most is in TT ads.

Is there some motivation for those posting a TT ad to not list specific teaching requirements? I always make an adverse inference when no such information is provided--that is, if nothing is said, the teaching load is pretty significant. Do those putting out ads figure that even the negative inference of individuals like me may be better than how things actually are?

I'd really like to know more about this because, from my limited experience and perspective, it's a practice that is hard to justify to those seeking jobs.

[Anders]

Hello,

My name is Anders and I'm posting on behalf of the Center for AI Safety, We're running a fellowship program for philosophers interested in working on conceptual problems in AI safety, and we wanted to invite users of The Philosophers' Coccoon to apply!

You can find out more about our program here: https://philosophy.safe.ai/

[Curious]

I am not on the market this year, but I have a question about future ads. I have sometimes heard people talk about "x job" before an official post has even gone up because it is somehow known or expected that there will be a hiring line created at x school. My question is, without being too ingrained in any back channels/gossip rings, is there any way to know what jobs might be coming up in future hiring cycles in a particular area? Or, is this specialized knowledge restricted to the privileged few?

[UK Postdoc]

@Curious I am not sure if there are any 'semi-official' channels for this, like a website were these jobs are listed, but I think this is basically what your network is for. Ask your supervisor, people you've met at conferences, people you know at departments where you'd like to work.

You call this 'back channels/gossip', but in the non-academic world, it's totally normal to 'put feelers out' and often people will respond to say 'hey, we have a position coming up, keep it in mind if you're still interested'. Is this unfair? I don't think so, since the jobs in question are still listed eventually and I don't think it affords applicants that much advantage to know about it a few months earlier.

[anon]

Curious, my sense is basically no, but that this sort of knowledge comes along relatively rarely and there's no real sense in which it offers someone a benefit.

For instance, suppose a school has a collective agreement / other understanding with leadership which specifies that a search will be funded in area X as soon as a professor in area X retires (it does happen sometimes!). This means that a search almost certainly follows a retirement (exceptions might include: the department is very busy for a year and needs to delay). And maybe this is common knowledge amongst everyone in the city where the school is located, because these people all talk to each other.

So some local people will have heard about the retirement, search approval, and upcoming ad in area X, and they may have in turn told their social networks about the ad, etc. But at the end of the day, the ad is a normal philosophy job ad that gets posted for a good stretch of time, and everyone who visits PhilJobs gets an opportunity to apply. Candidates interested in the ad presumably were preparing their materials long ago, because candidates are almost always interested in applying for more than one job.

But if you really want to pick up lots of hints like this early (due to retirements as well as other processes), I guess just follow a lot of people on Twitter/Facebook.

[ecr]

@Curious, basically what everyone else said seems right but sometimes people also simply guess that a line is opening up at a certain department in the near future if they know someone left that department recently (e.g. retirement as someone else mentioned, but also lateral moves within the last few years). No guarantees that the rank/AOS for the search will match the departure though.

[A job seeker]

Any thoughts on just how important it is to submit an accessible writing sample? My best work is very formal/technical, and while I've heard it said that writing samples should be accessible to everyone (e.g. not just people familiar with the intricacies of formal logic), it feels wrong to use a paper that seems significantly worse than my best work. Can't shake it.

Also wondering if the rule here should vary by institution.

[Oh No]

Is it just me, or are there far fewer jobs at this point in the cycle than there were last cycle? I'm getting scared!

[on the tt]

@Curious: just to second what ecr said, a natural thing to do is ask someone who might know (e.g. someone at the same institution) if there will be an opening to replace someone who recently left. Obviously you should be somewhat circumspect about this and make an effort not to appear crass, but I think people in the profession generally do realise that this is crucial information for junior people, and will not take it amiss if you ask. They may not be able to say anything helpful, of course. But it is often worth asking.

(There is sometimes an inverse to this: a job posting in a particular area at a particular institution can lead people to wonder if the specialist in that area at that institution is leaving, and the institution is hiring their replacement…)

[Oh No x2]

I would like to second Oh No's worries about job postings to date. I realize the total number of postings is apparently higher than the past few years, but it sure does feel like the number of tt jobs is lower... Any thoughts on why that might be?

[not on the market]

PhilJobs shows about 30 tt jobs since August 29.

I'm not sure what "feels like" means, so I thought the number might be helpful.

[AOS watcher]

I wonder how much of the impression that there are not many TT jobs is driven by the AOSes in the ads. This seems like a big year for social / political, and a particularly bad year for LEMM. But I haven't crunched the numbers to verify my hunch.

(And personally, I suspect many places that would hire a metaphysician would be especially interested in someone doing social metaphysics.)

[Marcus Arvan]

Hey 'Oh No' (and others): If one does a PhilJobs search for 'junior faculty' jobs that are 'TT or similar' from Aug 1st - September 20th (today) for the past series of years, we get:

2022: 51 job ads
2021: 51 job ads
2020: 11
2019: 60
2018: 78
2017: 54
2016: 66

So, it indeed does appear not to be a great year for TT jobs so far, though perhaps not catastrophic.

However, if we look just from Aug 29th - Sept 20th, we get:

2022: 34 'TT or similar' junior job ads
2021: 33
2020: 10
2019: 45
2018: 56
2017: 39
2016: 47

So, here again, things indeed don't look very good on the whole (indeed, even a bit worse), even setting aside AOS differences.

What explains these differences, particularly given that (at least as I reported last month) the overall # of ads this year seems pretty good?

Two possibilities stand out:

(1) It could be a statistical anomaly, as it's still early in the job season--and it could well be that a lot more TT jobs will be advertised.

(2) Institutions are doing more non-TT hires, such as postdocs, VAPs, and 'Teaching Professor' positions (which may be permanent but not tenurable).

My money is on explanation 2, as this seems to me (for better or worse) to be a trend at colleges and universities these days. But I don't know for sure, and plan to keep an eye on things here at the Cocoon. I'll try to give some updates on what I find in the next couple of months, and open things up for discussion when I present whatever it is that I find.

Good luck, everyone- I know it's hard out there, and I hope the market starts to look up.

[Take it easy]

@A job seeker: I would try to think about this from the committee’s point of view, which will certainly vary by department. I would not assume that every committee will understand highly formal/technical work. Consider a small liberal arts school or a state university where nobody really specializes in anything formal (hence the possible need for someone that does logic). From their perspective, there might not be any noticeable difference between a highly formal writing sample and a mediocre accessible paper, even if the formal paper is really good. I suspect the paper will not make an impression and so the application might get skipped over, especially if other samples are accessible. This isn’t to say any technical paper is automatically out of the question, but I would make sure that at a minimum the main line of argument and significance of your thesis is accessible for a general audience even if the details are not. (There are lots of really good phil logic and language papers where the main view/argument is clear even if the details are not.)

Of course, perhaps the research statement can help orient the committee, presumably that is accessible. Or maybe the letter writers will help orient the committee, though the committee will have to have some reason to trust the letter writer’s judgment.

[The OG Oh No]

Thank you, Marcus!

[Open Question]

I have a question about open searches. Suppose that I specialize in X and am competent in Y and a department runs a TT open/open search. But also suppose that the department already has 1-2 people that are strong in X and Y. Is it still worth taking the time to apply? I feel that it isn't. Unless maybe the department wants to be stronger in X and Y, but I feel this might not be likely for LEM specializations (and if the department is not a big R1 program on top of that).

(Also, I don't think the "it doesn't cost much to apply so just do it" reason is good. It seems to me that if I just submit a throw-away app then it likely won't be taken seriously and hence a waste of time. So that means I should take the time to really show in the cover letter why I'm a good fit and to tailor other documents, e.g., sample syllabi, in a way that reflect the department's presumed needs. All of this takes a significant amount of time, especially with heavy teaching, research, and other services to the profession fighting for your time (not to mention mental health).)

[ancient_ancient]

From time to time, I've seen searches for general humanities positions (like core/liberal studies/integrated programs) pop up on philjobs and other job databases (e.g., https://philjobs.org/job/show/21346). Yet I have a sense that there are more of these jobs to which philosophers could apply, but which aren't actively advertised to philosophers. Any sense about how to best search for these jobs? And any thoughts on how to best present yourself to them when applying (e.g., how it should differ from an app to a standard phil department)?

[anon]

Question about letters of recommendation. When I apply for jobs that are a combo of teaching and research, I've been providing (at least) one recommender who speaks strictly to my research, one recommender who speaks to both my research and teaching, and then one who speaks to my teaching. In past years, the recommender whose letter speaks to my teaching is the chair of a dept. where I taught as an adjunct for 3 years ('17-'19). Currently, however, I just started a one year position where I'm teaching a 3/3 and none of the TT faculty in this new dept. are philosophers. Should I ask someone in this new dept. to write me a teaching letter or should I stick with the person from the old institution?

[closed answer]

@Open Question, FWIW, I don't bother applying to Open/Open jobs in departments that already have people working on my AOS.

This is year five on the market for me, and I can't recall any such past Open/Open job leading to the hire of another person in my subfield if the department already have one. I also can't really imagine a scenario in which the department would want another one of my types and not specify that in the job ad.

But, needless to say, not all subfields are equivalent, there are other factors like geography, etc. Good luck out there.

[closed answer again]

@ancient_ancient, FWIW, I applied to a lot of generalist humanities positions in my first two years on the market, and then stopped doing it after getting zero interviews or bites of any kind on them. (And it's worth adding that I also work in the history of philosophy.)

Still, I'd be curious to see a good answer to your question, and myself only know of the 'Humanities' section of HigherEdJobs.com as a place to look for such ads.

[Non-US citizen]

I am on the job market and curious about citizenship. Today I submitted my application to a US institution. I thought it was open to all, including non-citizens of the US. But as I was filling in my info on their website, it became pretty clear that they are not willing to sponsor a visa for a non-citizen. I totally wasted my time curating my application for this job and am very irritated to learn about their policy only at the very last stage of the process. Am I too naive to assume that all jobs on PhilJob are open to all unless the ad says something explicitly about their policy? I really wish the ad at least hinted their policy...Ugh....

[non-US too]

@non-US citizen, similar things happened to me during my time on the market!

Usually the ad does explicitly say close to the end whether the institution is willing to sponsor a visa for the position or if it's only for US citizens. In my experience, only a few shorter-term positions (postdocs mostly) were closed to non-Americans.

But even if the institution is open to sponsoring visas, I was often nervous that they wouldn't want to do the extra paperwork to hire me when they could just hire an American instead. In fact I often got interviews for VAPs in the US later in the job market season that I assume I didn't get because it was too close to the start of the term and people were too busy/didn't want to do extra work to get me a visa. I have no proof that this was why, but as a non-American I was always nervous anyway that I wouldn't get hired because of visa stuff. It sucked! For what it's worth I did end up getting hired in the US for a permanent job but I definitely share your frustration.

[non-US three]

To non-US and non-US too
To hire a non-America requires that an institution argue that there was no qualified American to fill the position. Elite universities have easy ways around this .. after all, they are hiring the best people in the world! So, assume for ALL jobs in the USA, it is primarily intended for a US citizen. Given the law, there is no requirement to advertise that. How do I know? I was a non-American working in the USA. And it does cost the institution time and money to process such things.

[Non-US citizen]

@ non-US too & non-US three
Thank you for sharing your experiences and thoughts!

[Yili]

@ ancient_ancient
Maybe try this website:

https://www.higheredjobs.com/

They will send job application recommendations according to your interests to your email box almost every day, and it is free!

[curious]

Does anyone know what is going on with this ad? I can't find any information on what Omniphysical is, what it does, or who runs it. Very mysterious!

https://philjobs.org/job/show/21626

[Curious]

Anyone else notice the number of ads that are open, or close to it, but specify analytic philosophy? I don't think I've seen that before, yet there are like three positions so far with that specification.

[WANTJOB]

@curious: I had the same question, but the fact that nothing shows up on Google (beyond the filing of the LLC) makes me weary of the whole thing. Cool name, I guess

[Out there searching]

Is there a reason that the UB job, https://www.ubjobs.buffalo.edu/postings/37937, is not listed on philjobs? Beyond maybe just I'm impatient and it will show up?

Related: are there other (US) jobs which are not showing up on philjobs?

[humaniteez]

re: Humanities jobs. I got a couple of interviews for general humanities and liberal arts postdocs in my time. Some opportunities even advanced to the final round, when (sadly) the search committee realized in horror that I truly am a stereotype of an analytic philosopher. So, anyways, those are worth applying for.

UVA college fellowship is one such postdoc, if you want to search for it. These things are not usually on philjobs, but higheredjobs.

[No more searching]

@Out there searching, the Buffalo job is now on PhilJobs. FWIW, I have in past years done Google searches to find philosophy jobs on university careers pages not listed on PhilJobs or HigherEdJobs. I found some, maybe about ten over three years, but every single one either later turned up on PhilJobs or HigherEdJobs, or ultimately proved to be an internal hire.

[Letters letters]

A question about letters. Does it look bad to search committees when a letter is dated to the previous year? Obviously a more recent letter is better than older one, but sometimes things come up in recommender's lives, etc., that make them take a while to revise their letters. Plus, some jobs are listed early in the season. Is using an "older" letter bad?

[letter writer]

Letters letters ..
just think of all this stuff comparatively ... other things being equal, if there are two candidates who are identical in all other ways, but one has updated letters, that person will stand out ... just a little bit. But that is just to say that having an updated letter matters ... a bit.

[Open AOS Jobs]

@Open Question: I see what you’re saying, and debate this myself especially for open-rank jobs! But, remember, you might not have all the info about the current state of a department, their needs, or restrictions the university may give a dept. for using certain funds for hiring. Usually, it’s not advertised or reflected on a department’s website when faculty are retiring, relocating, teach only part-time, or will be on leave.

Department websites are usually designed to attract students to take their courses, be philosophy majors, or apply to their graduate program. So, I wouldn’t necessarily rule out applying to open-AOS jobs because there are people in your area already. You never know! The market is an unpredictable crapshoot!

[A hungry wolf!]

Was NCSU starting consideration on the 10th (as the body text says) or the 20th (as the philjobs listing suggests)?

[Don't Mess with Texas]

UT-RGV is hiring in philosophy of law again this year. Does anyone know whether this tells us something about their hire from last year?

[what to do]

For those who use Interfolio for their recommendation letters and are applying for the Manhattan College position: how are you listing your references on your CV? Are you putting your Interfolio links, or your recommenders actual email addresses?

Thanks in advance.

[East Coaster]

What to do:

What I've done in the past is list both emails, like:

Distinguished Professor Barbara Jones
University of Genius
dsfasdfadsf@interfolio.com (for direct delivery of letter)
bjones@genius.edu (for all other inquiries()

[Dr. Way in Which]

Should I apply for a job at a school where I know that I was the second choice last year(the first choice candidate accepted so I was not given an offer)? Thanks!

[tired]

Departments that require only one document addressing DEI issues are clearly not fully committed to DEI issues. Here's CSU-Fullerton, wanting both a stand-alone document committed to DEI (not a problem) *and* that you address your commitment to DEI at length in the cover letter:

"Cover letter in which you address the following: How you meet the qualifications of the position and are prepared to support the missions of the university, college, and department, especially regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion. [...] Candidate Commitment to Inclusive Excellence Statement (no more than 2 pages): This statement should provide your unique perspective on your past and present contributions to and future aspirations for promoting diversity, equity, and social justice in your professional career."

[Prof L]

Dr. Way in Which—sure, why not?

[being vs seeming]

@tired It doesn’t seem right to me to equate requiring any amount of documents as indicative of a commitment to DEI. Perhaps the requirements say something about the politics of an institution’s donors, but there’s no way of knowing just from those requirements whether those superficial commitments are reflected in department culture. In my experience, plenty of institutions that require multiple DEI docs do not back that up on the ground, while institutions that require no such docs can be inclusive and welcoming.

[sarcastic?]

@ being vs seeming, Isn't "tired" being sarcastic? That's my impression (but I might be wrong..)

[philjobs]

Has philjobs been acting weirdly for anyone else? I had a bunch of jobs saved to the "my jobs" tab that seem to have all disappeared a couple of days ago.

[Mirror watchin']

philjobs, I don't know if this is related, but the philpeople web analytics data has seemed wonky in the past couple of days, with some days showing bunches of visits, and the next day zero. (And I know the zero is false, because at least I looked up a paper.) Those systems are all connected, so maybe something is going on?

[a third kind?]

Anyone have a strong sense of whether Bucknell is asking for a combined teaching and diversity statement? Or would they be happy to receive both docs? Or is it just a diversity statement? The job ad asks for: "a statement concerning their approach to teaching that addresses their training in or experience with inclusive pedagogy"

[bucknell]

Looks like a combined one to me. You could always just tack a teaching-only DEI statement on after your normal one.

[non-tt faculty]

Wanted to mention how nice National University of Singapore's call for applicants is.

"Applicants should submit a CV, a writing sample, and 3 letters of recommendation."

Would be even better if the letters were only required later. My guess is that many hiring procedures just look at CVs at the very first stage. This minimal requirement saves everyone's time.

[Trying to be helpful]

There are good guidelines, with sample answers and a suggested 'marking rubric' for assessors when reading Diversity statements on the UCSC page:
https://apo.ucsc.edu/diversity.html

[Tired of Fruitless F5ing]

Any idea why there has been so little movement this year? Last cycle, despite having considerably fewer "early" job postings/deadlines had significantly more interview requests posted. Are people not commenting as much this year? Or are schools taking longer?

[PageUp?]

Does anyone know what it means if I got a few Interfolio email notifications saying my letters had been requested and sent via PageUp? It was a couple days after I'd done all of my Nov. 1 applications so it's hard to know which school it would be from.

[lollol]

@PageUp, I have one of those notifications. It was from the University of Oregon.

[PageUp]

@lollol got it, thank you!

[Researchin']

Siena College asks for a research "portfolio." I'm not familiar with the concept. Is that a research statement, a research statement plus a writing sample, a research statement plus more than one writing sample, or something else entirely?

[WANTJOB]

@Researchin' I had the same question, and figured your second option was the best one (statement plus writing sample). They don't otherwise ask for a writing sample, so I figured it couldn't hurt to include it
I've already sent in the app, so I hope that was correct!

[Stop wasting our time!]

It is incredibly aggravating when departments ask for custom documents, but it is doubly aggravating when a department does so while proudly claiming to be concerned about barriers and inclusion. I'm looking at you, Macalaster! Do better!

[anon]

Hi everyone, what’s your impression of the strength of the market this year? I have about as many jobs saved on philjobs as in previous cycles (with the exception of the initial year of the pandemic). I don’t want to speculate too much about chances with any particular job, but having a more general understanding of the trajectory of the market would be really, really useful.

[Random Man]

Anyone know if this Postdoc is really paying $90,000?
https://philjobs.org/job/show/22225

[WANTJOB]

@Random Man--I had the same question. It essentially seems like a $90,000 paycheck for 8 months of being a research assistant?

[Sad LEMM person]

@anon I feel like the market continues to be about as bad as it was last year for non-social/political/ethics TT jobs. Maybe even slightly worse than last year. There are more posts this year overall, perhaps, but not if you're hoping for a TT LEMM job

[Michel]

FWIW, I know of a few postdocs that pay around that--Princeton, for one, has a fancy interdisciplinary one you can only ever apply for once.

It's a lot of money, though. It's three times what I made as a postdoc just a few years ago, and 50% more than I make now in my permanent FT job. It sounds like it would be a pretty enjoyable gig, too. Good luck!

[RH]

@Random Man & @WANTJOB — To me, that doesn't look like your average postdoc or "research assistant" position. The ad says they're looking for someone to function as a "literary executor," i.e., someone to handle the academic "estate" of a specific person (in this case, Paul Woodruff). It does make sense that you'd want someone with the relevant expertise to handle that; and to me that sounds quite different from what you'd expect of someone who is simply a research assistant.

[Eternal Recurrence of the F5]

Has anybody heard from Tulane (Political Philosophy/Political Economy) or UC Davis (Open)?

[hurdles and hurdles]

@Stop wasting our time! -- Have you seen the ad for El Paso? They require a syllabus on Immigration Ethics!! (it's listed as an AOC desire of theirs, not even an AOS) That's next level... So, right there with you on how frustrating it is. Makes me think they've just got an inside candidate.

[Not a waste of time]

@hurdles and hurdles I feel the frustration and I find myself upset by many aspects of the job market. But this doesn’t strike me as an unreasonable request for two reasons. First, it seems that whoever is hired will in fact teach an immigration ethics course. Second, El Paso is a major border city and immigration is a very relevant issue right now. In fact you could argue that the ad is saving our time, e.g., I won’t be applying.

[also fed up]

Follow up: While I think the El Paso ad is fair, I definitely appreciate the sentiment about respecting applicant time. For example, I just had a zoom interview with no guidance on the format, given no idea what the questions would be, and was told during the interview they are interviewing as many people as possible and rushed off the meeting at the end. I thought this was pretty unprofessional and felt like cattle being herded. Again, I fail to see the point of zoom interviews and do not see how a short anxiety inducing interview can provide any real insight into an applicant.

Dear hiring committees: many of us put in many extra hours of difficult and draining mental and emotional labor on the job market every week while teaching full loads, contributing research to the discipline, and serving the profession. Please respect our time and efforts by finding ways to improve your hiring process. For example, you can start by requesting and carefully reading the many documents we pour our souls into rather than wasting our time with ill prepared interviews.

[Second being fed up]

also fed up: Was this Utah Tech by any chance? I interviewed with them and it definitely felt rushed.

[another perspective]

I also interviewed at Utah Tech. It definitely felt rushed due to the time constraint, but I appreciated the efficiency. It felt like less of my time was wasted than would be with a full hour long interview. They didn't tell us the questions ahead of time but none of them seemed surprising based on the content of the job ad.

[Michel]

Hurdles: if you want next level wasting, a few years ago (before Covid) a job in California required applicants to create an entire online course and sign over all rights to it. At the inital applcation stage.

[also fed up]

@another perspective and @second…: I was not talking about Utah Tech. In fact, I didn’t even know they were hiring (and can’t find the ad anywhere!).

[hurdles and hurdles]

@Michel-- lmao, that IS next level. (It's the level in which one battles the final boss.) @also fed up and @Not a waste of time— I agree that there's some merit to their request, particularly given the institution's location. It also saves candidates time insofar as it keeps some from applying. My thought, however, is that it would be more reasonable to ask candidates to address their plans for such a course in the cover letter, or ask them about their plans in an interview. Very few candidates have such a syllabus lying around, and while I am considering making one, it would take a lot of work and there's a very high chance (of course) they won't hire me anyways. But enough complaining...

[Call out bad behavior!]

@Michel which school in California was this? I think it's totally fair to name schools for behaving badly, especially when it's *that* bad (and perhaps illegal?!)

[Legit]

@Random Man: Yes, it's legit. Paul spent most of his career there, he's held respectable and influential positions within the university, the higher-ups like him, and the university could easily fund this to support his transition to retirement.

[save us from sifting]

Following @that guy's post in the reporting thread (in a better place for discussion):

I second the suggestion to try keeping the reporting thread a forum for *reporting* news. Perhaps folks could try to keep their inquiries about jobs brief (i.e., less back and forth about a given job with no news)? Or, ask about jobs that expired reasonably *long enough ago* to inquire about them? (For instance, the York CS job only expired on Nov. 1st.)

We have this separate discussion thread for market inquiries/discussions, right?

[supersonic]

Migrated from the other thread:

Random question: did anyone apply for the following job(s) at Seattle University, https://philjobs.org/job/show/21478? Do you remember if you ever had the opportunity to input information for letters of recommendation? I didn't have the opportunity to do this, so I uploaded a document with my letter writers' info. I probably should have asked the search chair, but I never got around to it.

[Michel]

Call out: It's been too long, I don't remember. One of the Polys, I think.

[reply to supersonic]

@supersonic - I applied for it too. I never got around to asking the search chair about this either. But I did the same thing as you did. I noted in my spreadsheet that I submitted a list of references in a PDF doc since there wasn't anywhere in the application to put contact info for letter writers. (My spreadsheet's memory is better than mine!)

[Aquinas]

@supersonic I applied and uploaded a doc with my "contact information" (i.e. the three names and three emails of my recommenders) too.

[New Postdoc]

Has anyone applied for the LSE cogsci/AI postdoc? I supplied two Interfolio addresses for the references but so far they haven’t been triggered yet. I wonder if it’s just a delay or that their system does not support Interfolio.

[Closing my Western PA Zillow]

Someone just reported a request for interviews from Seton Hill. (Congrats anon!)

But Seton Hill shows up on PhilJobs with a deadline that has yet to pass! https://philjobs.org/job/show/21514

You have to read carefully to see, in the instructions, that Seton Hill has a deadline _much_ earlier than the listed deadline.

I'm not sure who is to blame for this: beleaguered applicants, careless Seton Hill (always striving to measure up to their alphabetically ordered betters), or PhilJobs for not having data better curated.

But it seems to me that PhilJobs and Phil Listings should far prioritize the review deadlines to the "hard deadline."

[Sad sad postdoc]

Hey! Everyone seems to be reporting PFOs by Chicago (open, TT)... but I never saw the philjobs ad! By chance anyone has it?

[lollol]

@Sad sad postdoc: I don't know what particular Chicago job you're referring to. But when you want to search for an expired ad on philjob, you can simply click "more search options" and then check the box " Include expired ads." (make sure to limit your search by putting inputs on posting date)

[RH]

@Sad sad postdoc — it's this one, I believe: https://philjobs.org/job/show/21454

[RH]

@Closing — Generally I agree that there ought to be a clearer spot for (and a way of sorting posts based on?) "review begins on [date]." Is it possible Seton Hill is still accepting applications at this point, though?

[pforj]

Does anyone know if the WashU PNP postdoc opens every year?

[LUC prof]

Here is an ad for a permanent lecturer position (typical teaching load 4/3) at Loyola Chicago. As far as I know, the ad will not go up on philjobs. Deadline is 12/1.
https://www.careers.luc.edu/postings/22746
Happy to answer questions here. Also, maybe Marcus would want to make a post?

[LUC Prof]

Whoops, the ad for the Loyola job will go up on philjobs. No need for a special post.

[semi-insider I guess]

@pforj it's my understanding that it does (although I don't know 100%!). It is often posted later and is due later in the season, though, than most things

[Pforj]

@semi-insider— thank you— I know it opens later, I just wasn’t sure if it was always open every year. I’ll just keep waiting! :)

[Sad sad postdoc]

Thanks RH and lollol! I totally missed this. Oh well...

[Impatiently waiting]

Any news from *anywhere*? There has been absurdly little movement/reporting thread posts compared to the number of jobs with early deadlines. Are people not posting or are schools taking longer to decide this cycle?

[herewego]

Interview request for the TT job in Digital Ethics at American University