Asking if a department is hiring next year?

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

Is it imprudent to contact schools you think you'd be a good fit for and ask if they anticipate hiring anyone in the next academic year? I want to do this for two reasons: a) I'm just really curious, and b) in the event they are, I don't want to i) risk missing their posting, and ii) I want to have time to cater a good job application that fits them well.

Hmm...I'm not sure. I seem to recall us discussing this before and some people suggesting this can be a fine idea, but I guess that surprises me. I doubt much if any harm can come from asking, but most departments don't hire most years, so could it come across a bit pushy?

What do readers think? 

Comments

[Anony]

This strikes me as a bad idea. If this became a norm, every department at every college and university would get dozens (hundreds?) of unsolicited emails asking if they are planning to hire.

An exception: I could see it making sense to email local institutions where you currently are, as they may hire for a class here or there without conducting a search. (And these can sometimes lead to semi-permanent, not-TT jobs.)

[Cal]

Bad idea to cold call, could be an annoyance. fine to do it if you encounter someone there and can ask them in person.

[academic migrant]

I asked a few in the past few years, basically to people I know, and the answer is almost always something about budget uncertainty.

[Bill Vanderburgh]

If you are looking for part time/sessional/adjunct work, contact the chair with a cv and mention your education and teaching competencies in the email. In the Cal State system (and a lot of other places), we keep a pool of lecturers to cover lower-division general education classes, Given that people leave the pool for various reasons and course needs are volatile, it can be hard to predict when a course might become available for someone new to the pool--but we seem to hire new people nearly every year. This is never a route to a tenure track job. In a few scenarios (e.g., in the unionized Cal State system), it can after several years lead to full time teaching (5-5), pretty solid job security, benefits and semi-decent pay.

For tenure track jobs, there's not much point in asking. If the department gets approval to hire this year, you'll see the job on philjobs; if they don't, you won't.

[Michael Titelbaum]

At least for tenure-track jobs, the department literally can’t say anything until the search is approved (and through HR), which often can’t happen until the new fiscal or academic year begins. So if you were to cold call/write anyone in my department right now, all we could say is “wait until fall”.