Of course, the result is that those programs tend to be more capacity constrained by limited number of faculty. It also means that industry demand makes it more difficult to hire faculty to expand these programs. Probably a virtuous cycle for those in those fields (whether they want a faculty job or not), but a vicious cycle for any societal need for people in such fields (e.g. shortage of nurses which limits health care access and quality).
2 Likes
In my experience, your status on the HR website will say “under review” until the job search cycle is over. Rarely, they’ll update if you have (or have not) made it to another round of review.
1 Like
I am not sure why you took Snowball2’s answer for a confirmation that universities already have a candidate in mind. (Maybe I am misinterpreting your response?)
I am at a T50 university and have been on many search committees in the last 25 years and we do not have a candidate in mind when we advertise, and we do not hire people in-house and we do not hire people’s friends. In fact, it is a disadvantage to be in-house or a “friend,” in the first instance because of the “no prophet is accepted in his own country” phenomenon and in the second because faculty tend to be suspicious of making a suboptimal hire to bulk up a colleague’s research area, potentially to their own or the department’s disadvantage.
We post ads in the places where they will be seen, spread the word in the department to encourage anyone who has impressed people from conferences or collaborations to apply, and then we go through the CVs.
When we advertise research chair positions, we still solicit applications from everyone and hope to get the best possible candidate we could. However, since people at that level often already have roots down where they are, sometimes more personal contact and back-channel recruiting is used to get the person to apply. However, that still doesn’t get anyone a job, since they have to kill the job talk and the interview.
5 Likes
My D had one that did that. For example, “Recommendation letters requested October 15”. “Interviews the week of November 6-10”. (As she had not heard anything she just happened to log in on Nov 8.)
2 Likes
Is a tenure track position or is it for an adjunct professor?
2 Likes
Tenure track
If you field inquiries elsewhere, be sure to specify “tenure track” positions as that is typically quite different than non-tenure track positions.
1 Like
I work at a state university. Any tenure track position needs to be advertised, even if there is a strong internal candidate in a visiting professor or adjunct role currently covering the classes for the tenure track position.
If there is someone in a visiting professor or adjunct role currently covering those classes they would need to apply for the tenure track position and be evaluated alongside all of the applicants. Sometimes the internal candidate rises to the top and is offered the tenure track position and sometimes they do not.
When a tenure track position becomes available we are encouraged to share with our professional networks, but beyond that there is nothing we do (or can do) to preference a particular applicant. The vetting of candidates is in the hands of the search committee, department head, and dean, and closely monitored by HR to make sure all policies and protocols are being followed.
The process may be looser at private institutions, but at public institutions (at least mine) the the process is pretty structured.
3 Likes
I worked at a public university for 15 years. For tenured faculty positions, there was a clear process for hiring, which included advertising the positions in publications like the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed, as well as on the university website.
There are sometimes positions advertised available only for internal hires, but those are typically administrative type positions. I interviewed for an internal hire position where one of the administrators had already identified someone else for the position. I had been approached by a faculty member who felt strongly that the position “needed some competition” and was asked if I would apply. After reading the job description, it sounded very interesting, so I did apply. And because a committee was tasked with the hiring decision, they overruled the administrator who had already decided who they wanted, and I ended up being offered the position. So even situations where they have someone else in mind, the outcome can be different.
3 Likes
I work at a community college district. It’s definitely lacking in prestige, but it covers 5 campuses, so there’s a lot of opportunities to teach based on sheer volume. A lot of university faculty get their start at community colleges. Many stay full time because there tends to be decent job security and less politics than university positions.
2 Likes
This is definitely not true in my discipline – at least not for tenure-track faculty, unless possibly it’s something you do while completing your Ph.D. Right or wrong (and there’s certainly some snobbery built into the system), working at at a community college appears to put you on a different career track than that followed by university faculty. Someone who aspires to a tenure-track position at a four-year college or university is better off adjuncting at a college or university while on the job market than teaching at a CC.
6 Likes
Honestly, as many postdocs and academic positions as you can handle. Be open to positions abroad; the EU in particular has some very generously funded multi-year research positions with minimal teaching obligations and excellent publication opportunities.
Expect to get rejected A LOT even if you are a superb candidate from a top PhD program. I know far too many people with a published book or two, multiple articles, a long list of conference presentations, a good teaching record, etc. who’ve walked away empty-handed.
I spent the last several years bouncing around the country from one postdoc or visiting professorship to another, and it is quite stressful and exhausting never knowing where you’ll be in a year or two or whether you’ll land on your feet. Thankfully I was one of the lucky ones and snagged a TT position last year.
7 Likes
Here’s hoping you actually get tenure when you’re up for it. That’s a whole other problematic fork in the road.
2 Likes
When I was being recruited to teach, our Community College system offered great job security during maternity/paternity leaves, and I was really impressed and shocked by their pay scale. BETTER starting pay than the local CSU and private college! I recently checked the employment pages. Openings, in my field were and continue to be rare. I would love to teach at the local one, since it is 1 freeway exit from my house!
2 Likes
I have a good friend who tried for a year to get a tenure-track position. His CV says: PhD, History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University. He is working on turning his dissertation into a book right now, and continues to participate in academic conferences and such.
No luck getting what he wanted (and he was open to just about any location). He took a job teaching at one of the specialized high schools in NYC. He had been a teacher at another NYC high school (not specialized but with a good reputation) before he began his phd studies and would have returned there if they had a position for him. But I think he’s pretty happy where he is, and his high school students have done very well.
1 Like
If one is a tenured prof at one university and wants to change locations, how possible is it to negotiate tenure terms? For example, are they always taking the risk of having to apply for tenure vs having it already?
What about associate v assistant v full professor? Can one expect, realistically, to have their existing designation matched? Even if that is not the job that is advertised?
What are the risks/downsides to changing locations after tenure? Assume top regional unis, not top national unis.
1 Like
The most likely time to move from one institution to another is when you’re an assistant professor – that’s not altogether uncommon (in other words, it’s not the norm, but it’s not extremely rare, either). Departments would generally rather make a pre-tenure hire because they can have a probationary period before offering a new hire the relative permanency of tenure.
Some searches will target the advanced assistant/associate range. Some will be completely open-rank. Very, very few will target full professors – in most of those cases, the department’s looking for (and can afford) a star. On the other side, some (usually recently) tenured faculty will apply for and accept non-tenured positions if the new job is especially desirable. Perhaps they’re trying to get out of a troubled department/institution, move to a more prestigious school, or to a more desirable city/region. In those cases, the faculty member who is moving has to make a calculated decision – is the job worth giving up tenure? Can you negotiate for years of credit on the tenure clock? Are you in position to earn tenure at the new institution? Is the move worth a potential pay cut?
My husband did this. He went on the job market the year he applied for (and earned) tenure at the institution where he had his first faculty job. It’s not uncommon to do this – especially when a tenure case is iffy (he had a strong case, but it’s never a sure thing), it’s worth it to go on the job market in case you need/want an escape route. The main reason he went on the job market is that I was on the market, too, and we were trying to figure out how to get two tenure-track jobs in the same metro area. Even though he was awarded tenure that year, he took the new job as an assistant professor for a few reasons: the new job is in his home town, near family; it’s in a more desirable location; and it’s in a metro area where I would be more likely to find a tenure-track job (and I did, two years later). The new job was not tenured, but he got a couple of years of credit on the tenure track, which expedited his tenure process a little bit. And he ended up getting tenure in the new job, so it all turned out fine.
But it’s not all that easy to make a move like this. Most people stay their whole careers where they are initially hired, and an even higher percentage stays once tenured. There’s a reason tenure is called the “golden handcuffs.”
4 Likes
I don’t know about regional universities specifically or how they differ in hiring practices from national universities. However, the situation @Shelby_Balik describes is not uncommon in my experience. In my department, we’ve hired two young profs who had recently received tenure elsewhere but wanted to move to be closer to family or to be in a metropolitan area. (The job advertised was for assistant prof but they applied anyway.) In my experience, departments match rank when they hire like that but typically require 3 years at the new institution before tenure review for young associates, while giving senior tenured profs tenure with the position. I don’t know if it’s the same everywhere.
I think one reason people stay at a place is because it is a stressful hassle to get on the market, and once they have kids it is more complicated. However, people often do apply elsewhere pre-tenure as there is the possibility of losing your job, and the possibility that something better’s out there. An offer elsewhere, whether pre- or post-tenure, gives you leverage with your home university that you never have without an offer. Your home university has invested in your development and your lab, so they do not want to lose you. They may not take an offer seriously if the other university is less prestigious or if you have important ties where you are. But if the other university is attractive (prestige, better market for a spouse, closer to family), that offer can be used for more salary, more space etc. that would never be given without it.
I agree with @Shelby_Balik that staying at one university is the most common path. Still in my department, 6/34 tenured/tenure stream faculty were hired from jobs at other universities (2 pre-tenure, 2 just post-tenure and 2 senior faculty recruited to research chairs). Among the 10 members of my grad class who became academics, 6 stayed their whole lives at the same university (but 3 died in their prime, at 41, 46 and 52) and 4 switched universities (3 moved post-tenure to better places, and one moved after being denied tenure at a T10). Not sure about faculty mobility in regional universities.
3 Likes
What is the general timeline? When do the majority start to interview candidates? How long do they usually take to decide their choice after interviews are complete? How much time do they allow a chosen candidate to take an offer? When is the most likely they wrap up the hiring process? March? April?
Read upthread (post 17, I think) – I answered this question, though there could be some variations in timing depending on discipline.
1 Like