Getting A Job In The USA

General overview

Most US jobs are advertised in the September and October editions of Jobs For Philosophers, which is published by the American Philosophical Association (APA). Shortlisted candidates (10 - 12 of them) are usually expected to attend the Eastern Division Meeting of the APA - at their own expense - for interview. The meeting is held between Christmas and New Year in either New York, Boston, Washington D.C. or Atlanta. You need to check the Eastern Division APA website for details. [links need to be checked]

From the shortlist, a shorter shortlist of around 3 - 4 people is chosen. Each shortlisted candidate is invited for a "campus visit" where s/he spends up to several days getting to know the faculty, giving a job talk, and being interviewed. Jobs generally start at the beginning of the academic year, which is mid-August.

When should I start thinking about it?

If you're really well organised, you can submit a paper for the Foreign Scholar Travel Stipend (details of which are also to be found in the Proceedings and Addresses of the APA and at the back of Jobs For Philosophers). If the paper gets accepted you'll get a travel grant (currently US$500), not to mention some CV brownie points. The deadline for submission of papers is March 1 (i.e. around 18 months before the start date of the jobs you'll be applying for). [links need to be checked]

The most important issues of Jobs For Philosophers come out in September and October. The RSSS Philosophy Program subscribes to JFP so you can borrow a copy from Di's office; or you can join the APA for yourself (see below).

DO NOT SIT AROUND AND WAIT FOR JFP TO ARRIVE. Getting your "dossier" together is a long process; start it well in advance. Some of the application deadlines are as early as September, so you will have to send your application off right away. BE PREPARED.

What's a dossier?

Your dossier is the heap of stuff you have to send in as your application. Job adverts are normally very precise about what your dossier should include. They will ask for all or some items from the following list. (The general points from the page on getting a job still apply, but there are some points that apply specifically to US job applications.)

• CV: You must say (on the front page) what your Areas of Specialization and Areas of Competence are. Try to make your CV sound as American as possible. Use the words used in the ad: if they ask for competence in Intro to Symbolic Logic, use those exact words on your CV. These people have a lot of CVs to trawl through; you want your suitability for the job to be as glaringly obvious as possible. [link does not work]
  
• Letter of application: It is very important that you let them know how best to contact you in a hurry if you think you may be away during December. You may be invited for interview at the very last moment, and if they can't contact you, you'll miss the boat. Also, instead of saying when you will be available for interview, tell them that you will be attending the Eastern Division Meeting.
• Statement of research interest
• Writing sample
• Letters of recommendation: Many US graduate schools have a "placement office" which will have students' references on file, compile their dossiers, and send them off. You have to do this yourself. To keep the references confidential, decide how many applications you are going to make and ask your referees to give you that many references, each in a sealed envelope signed across the seal.
• Transcripts: Send copies of your Undergraduate and Master's transcripts if requested. They will also be expecting a transcript from the coursework element of your PhD; obviously you don't have one of those.
• Teaching evaluations: If you do any teaching in the Philosophy Faculty, CEDAM can help you arrange teaching evaluations. If it's too late to organise this, or if you've been teaching somewhere that doesn't have teaching evaluation, you can try to compensate by including a "teaching reference" from someone who can say something nice about your teaching ability.

Decoding the job ads

JFP job ads have a language all of their own. Successful translation is essential. The following translation manual should suffice. (Ignore all abbreviations like AA/EOE, EO/AAE, EEOE/AAE, etc. These all mean a combination of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity.)

• * This means "possible position", i.e. the job may or may not simply evaporate at some stage.
• ABD "All But Dissertation". This refers to the state of your PhD, and it means "finished the coursework component of your PhD". Obviously this does not apply to you. But effectively it means: not expected to have finished PhD at time of appointment, but ought to be pretty close.
• Teaching load: Teaching load is standardly measured in courses per semester. A course typically involves three lectures per week, with no tutorials, plus essay and exam marking. Sometimes the ad will simply say, for instance, "3/3 teaching load". This means three courses in each semester. Or it may say "12 hours per semester; this means 12 hours of lectures per week, so probably four courses per semester. Generally speaking, a 2/2 teaching load is very light; 4/4 is a lot of work
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• Liberal arts college: These are like universities except they don't take graduate students. Some of them are very rich and have very good undergraduates.

There are three basic ranks of job to look out for (apart from postdocs):

• Instructor: Employers looking for ABDs will generally be hiring at the instructor level. This is a temporary, fixed-term appointment. You will not generally be expected to do any admin ("non-teaching duties") or any graduate level teaching.
• Assistant Professor (temporary): Like an instructor but they'll normally expect your PhD to be finished by the time of appointment. You may be expected to do some graduate level teaching and admin.
• Assistant Professor (tenure track): Permanent job (if you get tenure after the first few years). You're highly unlikely to get one of these if your PhD isn't finished or very nearly finished at the time of application.

Do I have to join the APA?

Joining the APA as an overseas Student Associate Member costs US$45 per year, for which you get the Proceedings and Addresses and JFP. If you're unsure about going to the APA meeting, save your money and photocopy the RSSS Philosophy Program's copies of JFP instead. If you intend to go to an APA meeting, you must be a member of the APA. Click here to join. [link needs to be checked]