The higher education job search “season” for tenure-track teaching and research positions runs from the fall into the spring. Jobs open up later, usually in response to a faculty member’s decision to relocate, but many of these are one-year positions. If you intend to begin a tenure-track position in a college or university in the fall, the time to look begins in prior fall semester.

The following is a rough timeline for the search:

• October through December: job postings listed (See Getting Started)
• October 15 through February 1st: deadlines for applications (although many include statements like, “Review of applications will begin November 1st and continue until job is filled,” it is understood that applications in before the review date will get most serious consideration).
• December –January: preliminary interviews at winter meetings, phone interviews.
• Mid-January through March: on-campus interviews.
• March –May: Job offers made, negotiated, and accepted.

Institutions are not bound by these conventional timelines, but in order to be considered by the greatest number of qualified candidates, most adhere to them most of the time.

Getting Started

For a job the following fall, begin getting ready in September or October:

1. Research: Have a meeting with your advisor to discuss your options, preferences, strategies, and to find out about the practices and productive job listings for your area of study. You may want to have similar conversations with other faculty you have worked with closely.
2. Define goals: Make some decisions about the type of job you are looking for: find out what you need to know about the characteristics of jobs in your field at the various types and levels of colleges and universities. Things to consider: do you want to teach undergraduates or graduate students? What mix of teaching and research are you seeking? What classes are you prepared or willing to teach? Are there geographical limitations on your job search? What family issues must you consider?
3. Search: Look at job postings, both those posted in the large higher education sources such as Chronicle of Higher Education (see Higher Ed Job Links), and those for the professional organizations in your field.
4. Evaluate options: Look closely at the institutions where you wish to work. Comb their websites, look up the faculty in the department you’re considering and see what sort of work they are doing. Some schools post course descriptions and syllabi you can look at. Call or e-mail anyone you know who knows the department or school.
5. Prepare your application materials very carefully. Have your advisor and other knowledgeable friends go over your c.v. and application letters to help you craft them into documents the search committee will want to look at carefully. Make an appointment with us (call 262-1755) for further help.
6. References: Talk with your advisor, professors, and anyone else you may have write letters for you. Discuss your search, and let them know what you are looking for. Ask them what they need from you to write these letters: they will probably want at least a copy of your c.v. and copies of any job postings they are addressing. Some professors will write letters to individual institutions, and others will want to write one letter for you to send out as part of a credential file.
7. Set up job search account including a dossier file with EPCS.
8. Send out your applications. Schools want a variety of documents; make sure you satisfy the particular demands of each application (see Write Towards the Future!).
9. Get back to work on your dissertation and publications, so that when you get that opportunity to interview, you have real progress to talk about!
   

Web page maintained by Ann Halbach
Send comments or questions to ah@education.wisc.edu