Academic Job Market Info

The academic job market for philosophy grads

Application process overview

Maura Priest

0. Introduction
I encourage grads to start prepping their job market materials the summer before they plan to go on the market. This includes asking for letters. Preparing an application packet is a lot of work. But below is a list of what all academic philosophy job market candidates should have ready to go before you start to apply. The listed materials - all of them - will be required for the vast majority of North American applications. Applying elsewhere around the globe might not need all the same documents (they are a bit saner and don’t ask for things like recommendation letters and a research statement on the first round).

I highly recommend finding two philosophers to read offer feedback on your application packet in its entirety. Readers can be other grad students; anyone with relevant background knowledge and a fresh perspective is beneficial. I also recommend finding two TT philosophy professors (ideally recent PhD) who will read your cover letter in total and then skim the other material. Be clear that this is all you are requesting, and you will significantly increase the odds of hearing back.

1. Teaching portfolio -

This part of the application is known as a teaching portfolio in common parlance, but job ads often state "evidence of teaching effectiveness." It should include: (A) 1-2 page statement of teaching philosophy. One page is better than two, typically—nevermore than 2 (single-spaced size 12 font). Here describe your teaching experience, what you have learned, and your general style of teaching. It is crucial to give specific examples of what you do in the classroom. Do not use cliches like "I am so passionate about teaching." In all of your applications, the goal should be to stand out from the crowd. Jobs are getting 400 applications. It's needed. (B) Teaching Evaluations -instead of just putting in the exact evaluations from the university, reformulate them to be easy to read. I had a section with my numerical averages, then I cut and pasted all of the comments underneath. Do this for 4-5 of your courses; no need to do more. (C) Teaching letter: this can be the same as your teaching recommendation letter, but include it here too; (d) sample syllabi: don't include the part with all the university policies.2-4 would be a good number, and try to make sure that the samples fit the job advertisement, i.e. if it advertises in ethics include an example of an ethics syllabi. (E) Optional: if you have taken teaching workshops, had any teacher training, or have done non-traditional teaching like tutoring, include this on a page labelled, "Other teaching training and experience." I would list the title of the event/training/workshop/position and then write a couple of sentences describing things. Include the institution.

2. Curriculum Vita (CV)

Grad students should make a CV their first or second year in grad school. I encourage you to start by going to Phil jobs and looking at 2-4 examples of CVs from students recently hired, especially students from schools like ASU. Include your education going back to your BA, dissertation title, dissertation committee members,

Publications -

If you have any, don't include this heading. DO NOT do something like write “Publications and presentations” and only include publications. You can have a section titled “works in progress” to discuss your unpublished papers. Papers contracted or accepted but not published can be listed under publications, but note that they are contracted or forthcoming.

If relevant, include a section for non-academic publications like blog posts and newspaper articles:

Presentations/Conferences

Straight forward - include titles for “invited” and “referred” if you have enough where this makes sense. Refereed means you submitted an abstract or paper that had to be reviewed and accepted. Invited means someone sent you an email and asked you to give a talk. For all presentations, list the title of the presentation, the conference or workshop title, and the year. Do not include anything that is part of a course you took.

Teaching and teaching assistant experience.

List every course you ever taught, and have two separate headings: Teaching Assistant and Lead Instructor. I would have subheadings of the name of the university and list all the classes you taught at that university under the subheading. If you taught a course more than once, just write "Applied Ethics x3."

Papers in Progress

Includes your dissertation chapters (unless already published) and any works in progress relevant to the job ad.

“Other relevant experience” (if applicable)

This section might include work or internship experience, volunteer experience, leadership roles within the university or any philosophically relevant committee work. Conferences and workshop organization is listed here too. Be sure to include a section called,

Recommendations or Referees

that notes the names and emails of your letter writers (might also be titled "references"). A neighborhood listing any awards, fellowships or grants, typically comes right after the publications. A section including all your graduate coursework is optional. You should err toward inclusion if your CV is on the shorter side or if coursework is relevant to the particular job ad. You should separate the courses you audited from those in which you wrote a paper. Lastly, at the bottom of your CV, include a one-page dissertation overview. If you speak a language other than English, this is worth noting under your AOS/AOC with the heading “languages” and a note on whether you are fluent. If you are not a US citizen, don’t mention this when applying for US jobs (although it usually doesn’t matter much.) If you have citizenship outside the US, mention this when applying to jobs in your country of citizenship - be very upfront about this. Put it on your CV and in your cover letter, as it can make a considerable difference. If you are a dual citizen (i.e. have US citizenship plus another one.), you should note this citizenship on US applications. It is only lacking US citizenship or whatever citizenship of the local country for which you should remain mum. If you are a US citizen, you usually don’t need to mention this unless other parts of your application might cause them to doubt your citizenship. FWIW, the US is probably the most willing to hire non-citizens. Lacking citizenship can be a significant barrier outside the US, especially in Canada. Europe is hit or miss, but having EU citizenship always helps.

3. One page (single-spaced) dissertation overview. I think it would benefit you to make your dissertation seem like not merely epistemology but the intersection of epistemology and ethics. Having an ethics specialization and a part in an ethics dissertation will *significantly* increase the number of job options. Being able to sell it as applied or applied ethics is also very helpful.

4. Research statement

Schools used to request one almost 100% of the time, but it seems job ads now ask for one, perhaps just 50% of the time. In any case, This should be 3-5 double spaced pages and discuss your dissertation, any other research projects that you are working on, and where you think you will take your research after the dissertation.

5. Cover letter

Do not underscore the importance of cover letters. After your CV, I’d argue this is the essential part of your application. It is often key to whether a search committee member gives you the cut in the first round of a search.

I recommend having two to four "base" cover letters: one for schools primarily focused on teaching, one for schools with more research focus, and perhaps one or two for postdocs. Two different types of postdocs are research and teaching postdocs. These cover letters for postdocs would be similar to teaching and research job cover letters, but other base letters will be helpful for practical purposes, i.e. how you phrase things in terms of your fit for the school vs the program, etc.

It is vital for postdocs positions that candidates specifically say why they are a good fit for the one in question. Whether the postdoc is teaching or research, usually committees want someone particular to the type of position.

As was stressed at the job market event earlier this year, you personalize cover letters for teaching-focused schools. You can have a base letter, but you should go through and mention something specific about the job or the school to prove that you want and are a good fit for the particular job at issue.

For each job, more generally, you will want to modify your letter a bit according to the job advertisement. Personalizing is less critical for research-focused employment, but you should make some effort even then. You want it to be obvious why you are applying to a specific job. One strategy is always to include a couple of lines referencing something mentioned in the job ad, which explains why you are a good fit for that position.

6. Diversity Statement

About 1/3 of jobs ask for this now, and probably 3/4 of those who ask for it require it. If it is ever optional or an application allows you to upload "additional documents." yours should include your diversity statement. Try not to be cliche. About 90% of diversity statements I’ve read have said the same thing. They talk about how the candidate diversified the syllabus by picking readings written by minorities; they mention that the candidate recognizes the importance of diversity. There is a statement about how they call on all kinds of students to answer questions during their courses. Oh, and a promissory note about being more involved in the future is often something the candidate also includes. My friend who works at a small liberal arts college says she is impressed when people talk about working with people of low incomes, who live in rural areas, or who are disadvantaged in non-traditional ways. So basically, talk about your own life experience, teaching experience, or other work/educational experience that shows you can understand persons who are not middle to upper class white straight males.

I know this is a lot, and I will forward you the application materials that I sent to a different ASU grad student a few years ago. I will also deliver you the list of all the places to look for jobs that I sent out maybe a year ago.

7. Recommendation letters

How many?

Ideally, aim for a total of 5. More would be okay, but I'd aim for at least 5. If you do more than 5, make sure you have more than five faculty who know you and your work well. Short letters by big names often do more harm than good. Big names are good, but only if they know you well enough to write a letter that is at least a page long. One of the five letters can be a teaching letter - more on that below.

Who?

You should always have a letter from your chair and at least one other person on your committee. Is it ever okay to have a committee member *not* write a letter? This opinion is controversial. I’d say yes, it can be okay to leave one person off a 3 or 4 person committee and up to two off a five-person committee. But this always depends on the details. There are some people you never want to leave out. If you have a philosopher outside of ASU on your committee, always have them write a letter. Usually, non-philosophers outside ASU would be the same, but it depends on how close their field is to philosophy. There are two other reasons to never leave a committee member off the hook for a letter. If a committee member is a well-recognzied philosophical name, then do not leave them off. And if the committee member is someone you are confident thinks very highly of you and your work, then do not leave them off, regardless of whether they are a big name. So when it comes down to it, the time to leave a committee member off your letter request list is if (1) they aren’t a big name in your field, (2) they don’t know you and your work all that well, and you are unsure of how much they like you (philosophically like you), (3) even without them, you still have at least five letter writers, (4) At least two other professors on a 3-person dissertation committee, and three other on a four or five-person committee, are writing you letters.

Research & teaching letters

The default standard for many professors is to assume that a recommendation letter is a research recommendation letter. I hope that this is changing - especially at places like ASU. I’d argue the default letter should include commentary on a student’s (1) research, (2) teaching, (3) other traits that would make them a desirable colleague. Regardless, the default letter will have a central focus on your research and may or may not include other information. I’d encourage ASU students to send their letter writers info about your teaching, and any other stand out facts about yourself. Many writers will not include this unless you prompt them, and it can make a big difference in your chances. When you have served in leadership roles, taught in a prison system, worked at a hospital, etc., these are all points that you want to be highlighted both by yourself in your cover letter and by letter writers when possible.

External letters

Having an “outside” letter is a big plus and something I’d encourage all grads to think about early in their career. An outside letter can mean either (1) outside the ASU philosophy department, or (2) outside your committee, or (3) within philosophy but ASU and your committee. I think (3) is the most traditional sense of the term and the most important one. You want a philosopher that has no personal investment in you to speak on your behalf. All committee members, and all ASU philosophers, have some emotional investment in you doing well. It speaks volumes when you can find philosophers who support you without any potential conflict of this sort. The easiest way to get a letter like this is to sit in on a course at another university. You can often do this just by asking the professor and not enrolling in the class at all. The increase in online seminars has made this option far more possible than before. The other way to get these letters is by joining working paper groups and involvement in conferences and networking groups within your subfield. Lastly, you can always send a paper to someone you respect cold and see what happens. Usually, professors ignore the requests.. But sometimes it works; it worked for me. It is more likely to work when you contact a professor who doesn’t have graduate students at their school. Also, do not expect the professor to read an entire paper of yours. Instead, briefly summarise the main things you work on and attach a CV< and say why you would like to work with them. Doing this is also an excellent way to get an outside person on your dissertation committee, and asking them to do this might be easier than just asking them anything else. Having an external ASU person on your committee is good, even if they can’t be an external letter writer. I’d recommend the cold call method most for getting an outside committee member and recommend the course auditing for an irrelevant letter.

Teaching letter

A teaching letter is unique because the letter-writer focuses solely on teaching; hence, this letter usually (and should if at all possible) come from someone who has observed your teaching first-hand. It would be helpful if this same individual also reviewed an online course of yours. If you can’t find someone to watch your education (but do everything you can to make this happen), having someone write a letter with a close evaluation of your online class is the second-best option. This teaching letter will be critical, and the best person to report it to is someone outside ASU”s philosophy department. Ideally, it will come from someone outside ASU, i.e. at an institution outside ASU where you have taught courses. If it must come from ASU, make sure the faculty member is not on your committee, and tenured is better than not.

8. Interfolio Account

I believe Interfolio Accounts are free for one year with an APA membership. Regardless, these accounts are needed to apply to many, if not most North American jobs. Watch a youtube video on how to use Interfolio to save yourself some time. Your letter writers will upload their recommendation letters here. An increasing number of schools are using Interfolio for the application itself, but a much greater number use the system for recommendation letters. Even schools that don’t mention Interfolio are often ones fou can still use Interfolio for letters. The process is a bit confusing, so be sure to watch some youtube videos.