Academic Job Hunts From Hell: Keep on Script

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
David D. Perlmutter. “Academic Job Hunts From Hell: Keeping on Script.” Chronicle of Higher Education, February 7, 2016. Academic Job Hunts From Hell: Keep on Script The job interview is not a spontaneous exchange, it’s a minefield Estúdio Reversa / Creative Commons By David D. Perlmutter FEBRUARY 07, 2016   Afriend described the exact moment his interview went sour. Two members of the search committee started to bicker, then argue outright. The skirmish ended in shouts, a thrown pen, a slammed door, and a long, awkward silence broken only when the chair asked with a grimace, "So, do you have any questions for us?" Our profession has many peculiarities, some of which — like intellectual autonomy — are positive. But during job searches some of the problematic features of academic culture can emerge, and typically the candidate is the victim. In this series on the less-than-pleasant aspects of job hunting, so far we have surveyed fake searches, bad fits, inappropriate questions, andscheduling challenges. Now we turn to the...
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Academic Job Hunts From Hell: Timing Is Everything

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Academic Job Hunts From Hell: Timing Is Everything David D. Perlmutter. “Academic Job Hunts From Hell: Timing is Everything.” Chronicle of Higher Education, January 10, 2016. How to juggle interviews and campus visits and stay focused and sane iStock By David D. Perlmutter JANUARY 10, 2016 January brought one faculty job candidate the happy news that she had five campus interviews. Then came the not-so-happy details: Two of the departments insisted she visit on the same day. A third let her choose a date, only to ask her to switch to one that conflicted with another interview. And the fourth department could only bring her in on one date — the day of her parents’ 30th wedding anniversary party. In this series on the worse-case scenario aspects of job hunting, we have surveyed how to spot a "fake search," how to detect a bad fit, and how todeal with inappropriate or hostile interview questions.   Next up are the challenges you may face with the "when" and "how...
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Academic Job Hunts From Hell: Detecting a Bad Fit

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
David D. Perlmutter. “Academic Job Hunts From Hell: Detecting a Bad Fit.” Chronicle of Higher Education, November 3, 2015.   Academic Job Hunts From Hell: Detecting a Bad Fit How do you recognize when a department with a job opening is not the place for you? Observatorio Ocupacional / Creative Commons By David D. Perlmutter November 01, 2015 You took the job because you thought it seemed like a good fit and, after all, it was a tenure-track offer. Then you arrive on the campus only to find yourself trapped in a bog. Maybe the problem is bait-and-switch support, where the department promises much more than it intends or is able to give. Maybe the faculty culture turns out to be toxic, and you spend every day praying for deliverance from your sniping, backstabbing colleagues. Maybe the administrators in charge are petty tyrants who have no management principles beyond paranoia and punishment. Or, as is very common nowadays, departments may...
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The Completion Agenda, Part 3: Revising Your Dissertation

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
The Completion Agenda, Part 3: Revising Your Dissertation You’ve successfully defended — but you’re not done yet Dean Terry / Creative Commons By David D. Perlmutter July 06, 2015 If you had to pick a cliché that best describes completing a dissertation, "it ain’t over till it’s over" would work well. So far in this series we have discussed finishing a submittable draft and successfully defending the dissertation. But as every doctoral candidate knows, no matter how well the defense goes you are very likely not quite free and clear yet. In my case, while I waited outside the meeting room, my committee discussed my dissertation for either 10 minutes or two hours; I honestly can’t recall through the fog of tension and time. I do remember encountering a friend in the hallway to whom I described my situation. She asked, "What’s the best possible outcome?" I had no doubt: "Ideally, they pass me without asking for any revisions."...
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The Completion Agenda, Part 4: Finishing and the Job Hunt

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
The Completion Agenda, Part 4: Finishing and the Job Hunt How are you using your dissertation to move your career forward? Jeremy Wilburn / Creative Commons By David D. Perlmutter August 12, 2015 One of the sadder conversations I have had in my 15 years of writing about academic careers is, unfortunately, a common one. It usually happens when I’m at a workshop or a conference and people approach me who are enduring a rocky patch in graduate school, on the job hunt, or on the tenure track. At some point I will ask them, "How are you using your dissertation to move your career forward?" And the answer is usually either, "I’m so burned out I don’t want to think about it anymore" or "What do you mean?" Here’s what I mean: A dissertation should be a thoughtful intellectual contribution to knowledge in your discipline. But it must also be a tool for you to succeed in your career,...
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Career Lingo: “Ability to Teach the Following …”

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Career Lingo: “Ability to Teach the Following …” August 24, 2015 Image: Men reading the want advertisements for jobs, Melinda Street, Toronto, Canada, 1919, by William James (City of Toronto Archives) Academic job ads are not Rubik’s cubes. They often don’t yield enough information for you to “solve” them -- that is, to know exactly what the hiring department means or wants. It helps, however, to be aware of how common jargon found in those ads can vary in meaning. Hence this series on career lingo. So far we’ve talked about the meaning of: “degree completed by,” “in a related field,” “required” versus “preferred” qualifications, “we will begin reviewing applications by,” and “the search committee.” Now let’s turn to a specific request that, as always, contains more nuance than you would imagine upon initial reading. Here are some factors to consider when responding to an ad that asks about your “ability to teach.” (more…)...
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Welcome, Outsider: Here’s How You Can Foster Faculty Confidence

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Welcome, Outsider: Here’s How You Can Foster Faculty Confidence By David D. Perlmutter September 15, 2015 At a leadership conference almost a decade ago, I met an incoming dean who had no previous academic experience except being a student. He was, in fact, a longtime business professional with a list of impressive "real world" accom plishments. He had been hired, he said, to radically transform a business college at a major research university. I cautioned him that to accomplish anything in higher education, especially a revolution, he would have to work long, hard, sincerely, and creatively to win over most of the faculty (not to mention staff, students, and alumni). Fast forward: After two tumultuous years and several faculty revolts, he was "resigned" by his provost. The recent major upset at the installment of J. Bruce Harreld, a business leader and consultant, as the new president of the University of Iowa, thus, did not surprise me. I spent four years...
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Academic Job Hunts From Hell: The Fake Search

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Academic Job Hunts From Hell: The Fake Search How do you recognize when the favored candidate has been predetermined? iStock By David D. Perlmutter October 04, 2015 In an ideal world, every academic job search would be efficiently, faithfully, and sensitively planned and executed and every candidate treated with respect. In reality, the quality of a search depends entirely on the competence, attention span, ethics, and intentions of those who run it and thus varies considerably. The sad fact is that, starting when you are a graduate student fresh on the market, you are going to suffer searches that are badly run, disingenuously staged, or even spiked with hostility. So, in a series of essays, I will look at different kinds of "search fails" and detail not only how to survive them but also how to gain insights that might help you be a better candidate for the searches that could actually bear fruit. (more…)...
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How to Use Student Evaluations Wisely

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
How to Use Student Evaluations Wisely June 16, 2015  Image: Scales condemned by Department of Weights and Measures, 1917 (Seattle Municipal Archives) When I was a doctoral student, nervously facing my first set of student evaluations, I turned for advice to my father, who was already a professor when those evaluations were first introduced. “We should be polling students to see what they thought of our classes,” he insisted. “Of course, their evaluations can’t signify the be-all and end-all for what constitutes effective teaching.” His position sounded sensible to me then -- and still does, now that I am a dean. And yet -- as Stacey Patton’s recent essay, “Student Evaluations: Feared, Loathed, and Not Going Anywhere,” demonstrates -- many administrators make the mistake of using those evaluations as the sole, definitive, and objective measure of teacher quality. (more…)...
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The Completion Agenda, Part 2: The Best Defense

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
The Completion Agenda, Part 2: The Best Defense   It probably won’t be harrowing, but you need to be prepared in case it is Neil H. / Creative Commons By David D. Perlmutter Early in my career, I sat on a doctoral committee in a field outside my discipline for the first time. I recall being startled at the dissertation defense when professors in the young man’s department began delivering scorching assessments of his theory, method, cases, and conclusions. As the incendiaries kept flying I grew concerned about his health. He whitened, started sweating visibly, and several times laid his forehead on the table. When it came my turn to speak, I froze and ended up sputtering, "Well, you have answered all my questions!" and fell silent. But then something incredible happened: The candidate was asked to leave the room, and the committee briskly and unanimously voted in favor of passing his dissertation with minimal revisions. He was ushered back in to the accompaniment of back...
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