Philosophy Job Market

Hiring Departments Ask Candidates To Anonymize Materials

At least a couple of philosophy departments that are hiring this year have instituted measures to shield the identity of applicants from those reviewing some of their application materials. (more…)

The Where, What, and When of Philosophy Jobs

Mark Alfano (Delft), one of today’s more data-driven moral philosophers, has taken information from PhilJobs regarding the location and types of advertised jobs and placed it on a map at Tableau Public. Here’s where the jobs are: (more…)

Job Market Mentoring for Women

Now in it’s third year, the Job Candidate Mentoring Program for Women in Philosophy” matches job candidates with junior faculty mentors who have recently been on the market. The program provides mentoring and peer support to women candidates during their job search through videoconferencing and online forums.” (more…)

On Campus Visits: A Job Candidate’s Critique (guest post)

Below are critical suggestions from a graduate student, who’ll go nameless, who was on the market this past season. The suggestions are for departments, in regard to how they arrange and manage campus visits. We’ve discussed some flyout horror stories before, but there seems to be no lack of resourcefulness in how departments can make things lousy for job candidates..

Gender & The Philosophy Job Market

“The odds of women obtaining a permanent academic placement within two years is 65% greater than men when all else is held constant,” according to an analysis discussed by Carolyn Dicey Jennings, Patrice Cobb, and David Vinson (UC Merced) at the Blog of the APA.

Jennings and Vinson do not argue for any particular explanation of this finding, but note three possibil..

How to Talk about the Philosophy Job Market with those on the Market

A philosopher currently on the job market writes in:

I wanted to start a thread/have a place for job market candidates to talk about what is, and is not, helpful for our friends/mentors/professors/colleagues to say around this time of year.

The job market is, by all accounts, abominable (and not only for those of us who don’t land jobs—there are different stre..

APA Issues Job Market Calendar Guidelines

It used to be that the timing of the job market in philosophy was anchored by the publication schedule of Jobs for Philosophers and the practice of holding first-round interviews at the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA). Now that the ads are posted continuously over the year, and video interviews, which can be scheduled anytime..

Applying for Jobs You Won’t Take

A graduate student in philosophy asks:

“In today’s job market climate is it immoral to apply for a job and go deep in the interview process when one knows (not just reasonably foresees) that one will not take the job if offered it? Or is this practice, common among senior philosophers to increase their salary at their current institution, just a shrewd career str..

Interview Catch-22?

In the latest installment in his APAblog advice series on applying for jobs in philosophy, Allen Wood (Indiana University Bloomington) takes up the job interview, writing about what he sees as a dilemma for applicants:

Much could be written about the current circumstances, in which many very talented and well-trained young philosophers are applying for jobs at pl..

New Heights (Lows?) in Philosophy Job Application Requirements

A correspondent who prefers to remain anonymous brought to my attention the job advertisement of California State Sacramento, and sent along the following commentary:

As those on the market all know, the application process can be a hassle. In addition to all the intellectual investment and tedious editing that goes into putting together a decent portfolio, depar..

The Job Market: Shifts in the Schedule?

With the increased use of video calls in place of first-round conference interviews, as well as the inauguration of the January scheduling of the Eastern Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association, some philosophers on the market are curious about how this has been affecting the timing of the process. We discussed some aspects of this back in August,..

APA’s Best Practices for Interviewing

Interview season is creeping up on us. Interviewers and interviewees may wish to check out the new edition of the American Philosophical Association’s Best Practices for Interviewing. It includes an overview of the typical stages of the interviewing process, along with advice for those hiring.

For example:

Members of the hiring committee should confine themsel..

Late Letters of Recommendation

A philosopher currently on the job market writes in with a query:

The philosophers who are writing my letters of recommendation are incredibly overworked. They send in recommendation letters sometimes a week after the deadline. Is this the norm? Due search committees overlook this aspect of the application?

My sense is that slightly late letters tend to not ..

Philosophy Jobs Wiki Is Up

The Phylo Job Wiki is up and running. From the site:

A job wiki is a space for philosophy job seekers to post unofficial information about the status of various job openings in philosophy. Job seekers traditionally share information about when hiring departments schedule interviews, make offers, and so forth. Although job seekers provide this information as a ser..

Name-Blind Hiring

The BBC reports that

Leading companies and universities are being asked to remove names from application forms in an effort to stop “unconscious bias” against potential recruits from black and ethnic minority backgrounds… Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that Ucas, the UK’s university admissions service, will carry out “name-blind” applications from 2..

Applying for Jobs at a SLAC?

A revised version of the Guide for Applying to Jobs at Selective Liberal Arts Colleges has been published at Inside Higher Ed. Check it out. The original was created by a group of philosophers and first published here at Daily Nous over the summer.

Cognitive Biases and Limitations of Search Committees

A philosopher whose last name starts with a letter towards the end of the alphabet writes in:

I wonder how often members of search committees work through alphabetized stacks of dossiers? I recently had a few conversations with people who have been on search committees, and both mentioned working through an alphabetized stack.

I work in phil cog. sci. and psy..

This One’s Not For The Ladies

You may recall that last week was the launch of the Job Candidate Mentoring Program for Women in Philosophy. As you also may recall, this announcement was followed by clamor for job market mentoring for others besides women. Well, from your lips to bloggers’ ears, folks.

Announcing: The Philosophers’ Cocoon Job-Market Mentoring Project, “a philosophy job-market m..

Reaching Under-Represented Job Candidates

Job search committees are asking the American Philosophical Association (APA) for help in reaching potential job candidates who are members of under-represented groups in philosophy, according to Teresa Blankmeyer Burke (Gallaudet), the acting chair of the Committee on Inclusiveness in the Profession. Of particular interest are email distribution lists (listservs) t..

Philosophy Job Market Mentoring for Women

A program informally piloted last year is officially launching now as the Job Candidate Mentoring Program for Women in Philosophy. According to the program’s website,

the Job Candidate Mentoring Program for Women in Philosophy matches job candidates with junior faculty mentors who have recently been on the market. The program provides mentoring and peer support ..

Administrator-Faculty Spousal Hiring

A reader who prefers to remain anonymous writes in with question:

My spouse is a finance professional interviewing to work for a university endowment. While there is plenty of information out there about faculty-faculty spousal hires, I haven’t been able to find anything about admin-faculty hires. That is, if my spouse is offered the position, would a spousal h..

Philosophy Job Placement Data Update

Carolyn Dicey Jennings (UC Merced) posts that the final report for the Academic Placement Data and Analysis project is complete. She’ll eventually be posting more about it, but I repost some of the information from the report below. One thing worth noting is that though 169 programs were contacted, only 87 added or updated information to the project database. If you..

The Job Market in the Post-APA Eastern Era

Over the past several years we have seen an increased use of video calls (e.g., Skype) as a replacement for in-person first-round interviews at the Eastern Division meeting of the APA. Though there may be some holdouts (for various reasons), the trend seems likely to continue. What have been the effects of this change, so far, on the job market? And are they saluta..

A Prospective Grad Student Says “No Thanks”

I am not sure what I expected when I applied to PhD programs. But when April rolled around, I began to ask myself what kind of future I was signing up for, and how different it would be from numerous other paths. After all, horror stories abound about the process of getting a PhD, and the terrible job market afterward. At best, I could hope to be turning 40, with a ..

A Guide for Applying to Jobs at SLACs

You received your PhD from a major research university. Your advisors work at a major research university. Your placement director works at a major research university. But if you are on the job market, you are likely applying to some jobs that are not at major research universities. Among the various other institutions of higher learning you might be applying for j..

A Guide for US Students Applying for UK Jobs

A group of rather successful philosophers currently or formerly employed at universities in the UK have put together a guide for students and other applicants from US universities who are interested in academic jobs in the UK, and kindly offered to allow me to post it here. The authors of the guide wish to remain anonymous because, apparently, human resources depart..

Research On Excess Philosophy PhDs

Are there too many philosophy PhDs? Do those seeking PhDs in philosophy have an accurate understanding of their chances of securing a permanent academic position? Ingrid Robeyns (Utrecht), is beginning a research project on the topic. She writes that, in the Netherlands,

In those debates, one often hears the rough number that about 9 out of 10 PhD students aspire..

Paying Their Own Way For Job Interviews

A junior job candidate reports that twice this season she has been invited for on-campus interviews but told that the inviting departments would not be able to pay for her travel to the campuses. At all. This is like being invited over for dinner but then told that you will have to bring all of the food and drink. It’s like being taken out for a night on the town bu..