Surviving Your Academic Job Hunt: Advice for Humanities PhDs

by K. Hume

Overview

This candid book dispenses essential advice for academic job hunters and gives them the skills and knowledge to land a job in the humanities. Fully revised and updated, this book offers a comprehensive look at the do's and don'ts of the application and interview process and provides indispensable tips and a variety of practical tools.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230109469
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	01/19/2011
Edition description:	2nd ed. 2011
Pages:	227
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

KATHRYN HUME Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English, Pennsylvania State University, USA. She is the author of Fantasy and Mimesis: Responses to Reality in Western Literature, Pynchon's Mythography: An Approach to Gravity's Rainbow, Calvino's Fictions: Cogito and Cosmos, and American Dream, American Nightmare: Fiction Since 1960.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 How to Plan Your Job Hunt: Timeline and Documents 1

2 Preliminary Interviews: Conference, Phone, and Video 29

3 Campus Interviews, Negotiating Terms, and Some Alternatives to Tenure-Track Employment 65

4 The Economics of Being an Assistant Professor 101

5 The Politics of Being an Assistant Professor 117

6 Epilogue for Placement Officers 141

Appendix I Examples of Job Hunting Documents 145

Appendix II Job Market Checklist 221

Index 223

Recipe

"This 'survival manual' should be required reading for every doctoral student in the humanities who intends to pursue an academic career. In a realistic rather than idealistic approach, Professor Hume offers under one cover candid information not only for ABD's about to enter the job market but also for assistant professors during their first years in a tenure-track appointment. Written in engaging prose, this volume is a road map for success that stretches from sage advice for conference and campus interviews to departmental politics. The appendix contains many model examples of letters of application and of documents that doctoral students must submit when applying for their first faculty position."--Edward V. Williams, Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University

"Deft, detailed, unerring, candid, upbeat, and filled with examples (including sample CVs and cover letters appropriate to various fields in the humanities, with variations for applying to schools that emphasize teaching and institutions emphasizing research), this is the best book of its kind that I've ever seen. It will be essential to job hunters all across the humanities. Those who own a copy and follow its counsel will enhance their employment prospects about tenfold. Those who don't will find themselves at a tremendous disadvantage. Highly recommended to graduate students, untenured junior faculty, and their mentors."--David Cowart, Louise Fry Scudder Professor of Humanities, University of South Carolina

Editorial Reviews

"This 'survival manual' should be required reading for every doctoral student in the humanities who intends to pursue an academic career. In a realistic rather than idealistic approach, Professor Hume offers under one cover candid information not only for ABD's about to enter the job market but also for assistant professors during their first years in a tenure-track appointment. Written in engaging prose, this volume is a road map for success that stretches from sage advice for conference and campus interviews to departmental politics. The appendix contains many model examples of letters of application and of documents that doctoral students must submit when applying for their first faculty position." - Edward V. Williams, Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University

"Deft, detailed, unerring, candid, upbeat, and filled with examples (including sample CVs and cover letters appropriate to various fields in the humanities, with variations for applying to schools that emphasize teaching and institutions emphasizing research), this is the best book of its kind that I've ever seen. It will be essential to job hunters all across the humanities. Those who own a copy and follow its counsel will enhance their employment prospects about tenfold. Those who don't will find themselves at a tremendous disadvantage. Highly recommended to graduate students, untenured junior faculty, and their mentors." - David Cowart, Louise Fry Scudder Professor of Humanities, University of South Carolina

From the Publisher