The Philosophers' Cocoon

Tips from Search Committee Members: how do you evaluate candidates in first-round interviews?

The first seven posts in this series examined how hiring committees read and evaluate CVs, cover letters, research statements, teaching statements, diversity statements, writing samples, and letters of recommendation. Let's now turn to first-round interviews.

If you've served on a search committee,

1. How do you and the other members of the committee approach first-round interviews?
2. What sorts of things come across well in interviews?
3. What sorts of things come across poorly?
4. Any other tips for candidates?

Please do feel free to share any insights that job-candidates might find helpful!

Tips from Search Committee Members: how do you evaluate recommendation letters?

The first six posts in this series examined how hiring committees read and evaluate CVs, cover letters, research statements, teaching statements, diversity statements, and writing samples. Before we move onto first-round interviews and various aspects of on-campus visits (e.g., job talks, teaching demos, etc.), I'd like to finish up this first part of the series by asking search committee members to share how they read recommendation letters.

I've heard anecdotally that some search committee members care a great deal about recommendations, whereas others care very little. The Cocoon has also fielded a lot of questions over the years about whether recommendation letters need to be updated each year, on how many letters to include (including teaching letters), on whether it looks strange to not have a letter from someone on their committee or from their current job (e.g., a postdoc or VAP), on how important it is to have outside letters from people not in your grad program, and so on.

So, I think this thread could be really helpful. If you're on a search committee or have served on one in the past:

1. How much value do you place in recommendation letters? A lot? A little? None? Why?
2. What type of institution do you work at? R1? SLAC? CC?
3. Do you notice or care whether a recommendation letter is updated or a bit old?
4. Do you notice or care about whether a candidate has letters from all of their committee members? Outside letters? From their current job (post grad school)?
5. How do you read letters?
6. What types of things reflect well on a candidate, and what kinds of things reflect not so well?
7. Anything else?

Curious to hear everyone's answers!

Tips from Search Committee Members: how do you evaluate writing samples?

The first five posts in this series examined how hiring committees read and evaluate CVs, cover letters, research statements, teaching statements, and diversity statements. Before we move on to two other subjects that I suspect a lot of job-candidates would like to hear from search committees on--first-round interviews and on-campus visits--I'd like to wrap up our discussion of dossier materials by asking search committees about writing samples and letters of recommendation. Today's post will be on writing samples.

Obviously, search committees members are presumably looking for writing samples that bear all of the hallmarks of a good philosophy paper: clarity, originality, soundness of argumentation, etc. But, which of things do they prioritize over others? Does it help candidates if their sample is on a hot topic in the field, or does that make them less likely to distinguish themselves from other candidates (who may submit samples on the same topic)? And, are there are any less obvious things that search committees are looking for in a good writing sample? For example, are search committee members at teaching-focused institutions particularly interested in work that they think might interest their undergraduate students? Finally, how much weight do search committees place on the writing sample? Does this differ for different types of jobs (e.g., R1s vs. SLACs vs. CC's)? Is there anything else that you'd like candidates to know (e.g., about what comes off particularly well or poorly in a writing sample)?

Really curious to hear your answers! Next time, we'll wrap up our discussion of dossiers by examining letters of recommendation, before moving onto Zoom interviews and various components of on-campus visits.

Tips from Search Committee Members: How committees evaluate diversity statements

In our job-market discussion thread, a reader asks:

How much biography is it appropriate to include in a diversity statement? (I have experienced some serious barriers, disclosure of which might risk being TMI, but I think also shows massive resilience and capacity to balance heavy demands while also doing good work)

Another reader responded:

As far as disclosing information is concerned, when I worked at a state college, the HR department would send a questionnaire asking about your status: race, gender, military, disability, etc. DO FILL THIS FORM OUT. At least where I worked, (i) faculty never saw the applicants' answers, and (ii) HR would inform the search committee that a file should be revisited if they were passed over initially, but were of one of these groups. This helped one candidate in particular - they were military, and where we were that mattered. They were a wonderful colleague, and very much deserving of the job. So revisiting their file was both in the applicant's interest and in the department's interest.

This doesn't really address the diversity statement question, however. So, I thought it might be worthwhile continuing our Tips from Search Committee Members series with a thread on diversity statements. If you are a search committee member,

1. How do you read a diversity statement?
2. Which sorts of things in diversity statements tend to produce a positive impression?
3. Which sorts of things do you mostly pass over?
4. Which sorts of things (including common errors) have you encountered in diversity statements that produce a negative impression?
5. What type of institution do you work at? (R1? R2? Highly-selective SLAC? Non-highly selective SLAC? Community College?)

Tips from Search Committee Members: How committees evaluate teaching portfolios

The first four posts in this series examined how hiring committees read and evaluate CVs, cover letters, research statements, and teaching statements. In today's post, I'd like to ask search committee members to answer some or all of the following questions about teaching portfolios:

1. Which parts of a teaching portfolio are you the most interested in?
2. What do you think belongs in a good teaching portfolio?
3. What do you think does not belong?
4. How much weight do you assign to student evaluations?
5. Should candidates provide student comments? If so, is it better to provide curated or non-curated/complete comments? 
6. Anything else you think candidates should know about how you read and evaluate teaching portfolios?
7. What type of institution do you work at? (R1? R2? Highly-selective SLAC? Non-highly selective SLAC? Community College?)

Really curious to hear your answers!

Tips from Search Committee Members: How committees read teaching statements

The first three posts in this series examined how hiring committees read and evaluate CVs, cover letters, and research statements. In today's post, I'd like to ask search committee members to answer some or all of the following questions about teaching statements:

1. How do you read a teaching statement?
2. Which sorts of things in teaching statements tend to produce a positive impression?
3. Which sorts of things do you mostly pass over?
4. Which sorts of things (including common errors) have you encountered in teaching statements that produce a negative impression?
5. What type of institution do you work at? (R1? R2? Highly-selective SLAC? Non-highly selective SLAC? Community College?)

Finally, if there are any other questions you think are worth addressing not listed here, please feel free to volunteer and answer them. 

Really curious to hear your answers!

The first three posts in this series examined how hiring committees read and evaluate CVs, cover letters, and research statements. In today's post, I'd like to ask search committee members to answer some or all of the following questions about teaching statements:

1. How do you read a teaching statement?
2. Which sorts of things in teaching statements tend to produce a positive impression?
3. Which sorts of things do you mostly pass over?
4. Which sorts of things (including common errors) have you encountered in teaching statements that produce a negative impression?
5. What type of institution do you work at? (R1? R2? Highly-selective SLAC? Non-highly selective SLAC? Community College?)

Finally, if there are any other questions you think are worth addressing not listed here, please feel free to volunteer and answer them. 

Really curious to hear your answers!

Tips from Search Committee Members: How committees read research statements

The first two posts in this series examined how hiring committees read and evaluate CVs and cover letters. In today's post, I'd like to ask search committee members to answer some or all of the following questions about research statements:

1. How do you read a research statement?
2. Which sorts of things in research statements tend to produce a positive impression?
3. Which sorts of things do you mostly pass over?
4. Which sorts of things (including common errors) have you encountered in research statements that produce a negative impression?
5. What type of institution do you work at? (R1? R2? Highly-selective SLAC? Non-highly selective SLAC? Community College?)

Finally, if there are any other questions you think are worth addressing not listed here, please feel free to volunteer and answer them. 

Really curious to hear your answers!

Tips from Search Committee Members: How committees read cover letters

The first post in this series examined how hiring committees read and evaluate CVs. In today's post, I'd like to ask search committee members to answer some or all of the following questions:

1. How do you read a cover letter?
2. Which things do you lend the most weight to in deciding who to interview?
3. Which sorts of things in cover letters tend to produce a positive impression?
4. Which sorts of things do you mostly pass over?
5. Which sorts of things have you encountered in cover letters that produce a negative impression?
6. What type of institution do you work at? (R1? R2? Highly-selective SLAC? Non-highly selective SLAC? Community College?)

Finally, if there are any other questions you think are worth addressing not listed here, please feel free to volunteer and answer them. Really curious to hear your answers!

Tips from Search Committee Members: How search committees read and evaluate CVs

It's been a number of years since this blog has had any new series on job-market tips, such as our Job-Market Boot Camp and Notes from both sides of the market series. Given that these past series mostly involved me and other authors sharing our impressions on various job market materials, interviews, etc., they didn't necessarily provide a representative picture of how different search committee members at different types of institutions see these things.

So, in this new series, Tips from Search Committee Members, I'd like to rectify this. In today's post, I'd like to ask search committee members to answer some or all of the following questions:

1. How do you read a CV?
2. Which things do you look for first? Why?
3. Which things do you lend the most weight in deciding who to interview?
4. Which sorts of things do you mostly pass over?
5. Which sorts of things have you encountered in CVs that produce a negative impression?
6. What type of institution do you work at? (R1? R2? Highly-selective SLAC? Non-highly selective SLAC? Community College?)

Finally, if there are any other questions you think are worth addressing not listed here, please feel free to volunteer and answer them. Really curious to hear your answers!