Becoming competitive for lateral moves?

In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

Given the structure of the market these days, it seems almost impossible to wait for the right fit when applying for one's first job. My question is slightly different, however: what ought one do at one's first job to be appealing to jobs where one wants to lateral? Is there anything unique that would be beneficial (travel, presentations, networking) that applies less for seeking the first job than for seeking the lateral to the right fit?

I know this is a touchy conversation, but it's also a very real and necessary one.

These are good questions, and I confess that don't know the answers. It would be great to hear from people who have made lateral moves, as well as from people who have been on the hiring side of things!

Comments

[Tenured now]

I went on the market from my TT job twice - once in year 4, and once the year I went up for tenure. I got one job offer and several fly outs each time, although I didn't end up taking the offer in year 4. Some things that I think helped (in no particular order):

1) I had a research fellowship for all of year 4, which I think helped me to stand out.
2) Of course, my publication record was better.
3) Networking got me much better letters of recommendation than the first time out, which probably helped given how prestige bias works.
4) More diverse teaching experience.
5) Just coming out of a TT job. For instance, for the job I eventually took, 3 out of 4 fly outs were people already in TT jobs, and the other was in a fancy postdoc.

Different factors will I think matter for different kinds of jobs, though - more diverse teaching experience might matter more for SLACs, while a research fellowship I assume mattered more for the research-focused jobs I applied for (I got fly outs for both types of jobs).

Very curious to see what other people think!

[Mike Titelbaum]

From the point of view of my R1, a couple of differences between applying out of a job and applying for one's first job:
1. If you're getting close to tenure-time, you're going to need to have a publication record that supports our tenuring you almost immediately. We're willing to take a risk on someone just out of grad school as to whether they'll publish enough, but if you're a few years out of grad school and aren't publishing, it's difficult convince us you'll be tenurable.
2. It looks really weird if your only letters are from people at your grad institution. Maybe if you're only one year out it's okay, but after that we need letters showing that you're establishing a reputation in your field. Again, that's going to be a requisite for tenure.