Linguistics job application
workshop
November 12, 2013
Approximate job cycle
• July- apply to LSA, other major conferences
• August/September- have materials ready, contact
letter writers, clean up professional website
• October 1st- application deadlines start
• December- phone interviews start
• January- campus visits start
• February- job offers start
– Use with caution to see if you are still in the running:
Academic Jobs
Wikihttp://academicjobs.wikia.com/wiki/Academic_Jobs_
Wiki
Time & stats (Karen)
• 214 hours of work = 5+ 40-hour workweeks
• 26 applications sent > 5 phone interviews + 1
campus visit
• http://www.grad.illinois.edu/careerservices/a
cademic/jobsearch/Template_for_tracking_jo
b_search.xls
Stats for Darren
• Two years on the job cycle: final year of Ph.D.
and first year of postdoc
• Ph.D. Year: 1 faculty job application > 1
campus visit (no offer), 3 postdoc applications
> 2 campus visits (2 offers, took 1)
• Postdoc year: 8 faculty applications > 1 phone
interview (no offer) and 1 direct invite to
campus visit (offer)
Finding jobs
• Linguist List (subscribe to digest)
• HigherEd Jobs (can subscribe for headings
such as Linguistics, Spanish)
• Postdocs available but not common
• Think of allied fields (e.g. foreign languages,
psychology)
• Go geographically wide
if at all possible
Components of a job application
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cover letter
Curriculum Vitae
Research statement
Teaching statement
Teaching evaluations
Writing sample
Reference letters
• Free blog:
– http://theprofessorisin.com/pearlsofwisdom/
• Cover letter
– http://theprofessorisin.com/2013/05/17/whyyour-job-cover-letter-sucks/
• CV
– http://theprofessorisin.com/2012/01/12/drkarens-rules-of-the-academic-cv/
• Research Statement
– http://theprofessorisin.com/2012/08/30/drkarens-rules-of-the-research-statement/
• Teaching statement
– http://theprofessorisin.com/2011/09/16/thedrea
dedteachingstatement/
• Teaching evaluations
– http://theprofessorisin.com/2011/09/23/1610/
Solicit feedback!
• Ask your advisor and other faculty to read
over your CV and statements, and give you
feedback!
Cover letter
• Sample outline:
– Brief introduction to yourself: what you study, when you
will graduate, basic thesis topic and 2 sentences on the
implications
– A little more about your research interests
– A little bit about what courses you’ve taught and what you
might like to teach
– Highlight what funding you’ve gotten and that you are
going to be actively seeking more
– Why you’re an excellent fit for the department and
advertised job
• Keep it brief! Under 2 pages! 1.5 is a good number
Do your research on the school
• One sentence “fit statement”
– I am interested in helping the department develop
course offerings in linguistics to complement its
strengths in literature.
– I share interests with several faculty members
including XX, XX, and XX, so I see the potential for
collaboration on both teaching and research.
– I am particularly interested in XXX because of the
department’s expertise in both child language
acquisition and second language acquisition, which
would work well with my research interests.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
CV
Heading
Education
Employment
Publications
Conference Papers
Invited Talks
Teaching Experience
Research Experience
Awards & Honors / Grants & Fellowships
Service (to profession, to department)
Languages, other skills, memberships
References
Research statement
• Current research (especially dissertation
research)
• Draw attention to any journal or book chapter
publications, as well as presentations at
prestigious conferences
• Plans for research in the near future
• ‘Five-year plan’ for future research
Teaching statement
•
•
•
•
Teaching experience
Teaching philosophy
Plans for what you will teach in the future
Experience (if any) with supervision of
undergraduate students
Teaching evaluations
• Send numerical summaries rather than individual
student comments
• Obtain summary of all your evaluations from ICES
• Draw attention to any evaluations that placed you
on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent
Writing samples
• Send exactly as many writing samples as are
requested
• Possible writing samples:
– An article that has been published or submitted for
publication
• If you need help turning a course project/qual into a journal
article, consider Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks
(I got it from the library). http://www.amazon.com/WritingJournal-Article-Twelve-Weeks/dp/141295701X
– A dissertation chapter
– A proceedings or working papers paper
Other materials
• “Teaching Dossier”:
– 1-page teaching philosophy statement
– 1 page summarizing numerical teaching
evaluations
– 1 page of sample student comments
• “Teaching Portfolio”: the above plus
– a syllabus that I had created
– lecture slides that I had vastly improved
– discussion exercises I had created
Reference letters
• Always get a letter from your dissertation
director
• Other letters should come from other faculty
who know you well and are familiar with your
research
• At least one letter should talk about your
teaching (e.g., from your TA supervisor)
• Should you use
?
Preliminary interview
• Interview at the LSA or MLA
• Phone / Skype interview
• Arrange to do a mock-interview with your
faculty
• http://theprofessorisin.com/2011/10/31/thep
honeorskypeinterview/
Make a cheat sheet about the
department
• Bullet points about yourself you want to make
sure to hit
• What your dissertation/researach is about
• What you would like to teach there, specifics,
book you would use for the intro course
• Their faculty (the ones on the
committee/closest to you) and their research
interests
Campus visit
• Get the interview schedule ~2 weeks in advance
from department secretary
• Interviews
• Job talk
• Interview meals
• More research on the department (next slide)
• http://theprofessorisin.com/2011/11/22/drkarens-rules-of-the-campus-visit/
• http://theprofessorisin.com/2011/11/15/1947/
(packing & dressing– consider wearing grown-up
clothes more often your last year of grad school)
Stalk your interview committee
• Katharina Barbe (German),
Associate Professor
– Studied in Texas, PhD in Linguistics
from Rice
– German linguistics: Pragmatics,
Translation, SLA, business German
– dinner, interview, and exit interview
• John Bentley (Japanese),
Professor, Assistant Chair
– PhD from Hawaii
– Japanese Historical Linguistics and
old literature
– tour of DeKalb and lunch Tuesday
and interview
Sample 1-day visit itinerary
• Night before: arrive, dinner w/faculty, hotel
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Breakfast w/faculty
Meet Dean
Tour campus, town
Lunch w/faculty
Job talk
Search committee interview
Exit interview with chair
Questions to ask them
(OK to repeat questions with different people)
• Tell me about your student population.
• What are teaching and research expectations and
support for new colleagues?
• What kind of support is there available on
campus for conference travel/research?
• What kind of technology is available in the
classroom?
• How are graduate students supported?
• What is your timeline for making a decision?
The outcome?
• If you get the job
– http://theprofessorisin.com/2011/12/06/how-tonegotiate-your-tenure-track-offer/
– “Oh, thank you. That is good news. I’m so pleased.
I’d like to know more about the offer. When can we
discuss the details and when can I expect a written
contract?” (e.g. DON’T say yes right away!)
• If you don’t get the job
– This really says nothing about you in this job market
– Continue applying!