Index
- Before the Process Begins
- Before Applying
- When Applying
- When You Get Interviews
- At the Convention
- On-Campus Interviews
- When You Receive an Offer
Before the process begins:
- Talk to faculty at your home institution, or, if you have a temporary position, to your colleagues, to find out as much as you can about the hiring process from the institutional point of view. This will help you to understand the constraints under which search committees and departments operate and make you readier to be a professional colleague. Be aware that much of the advice you will encounter about the academic job market is anecdotal and can be based on rumor.
- Find out as much as you can about academic life. Many job candidates don't fully understand the actual demands of faculty positions. Ask teachers and colleagues about the job requirements typical of their institutions or others at which they've taught. Faculty members in tenure-track and tenured positions are normally evaluated on some combination of teaching, research, and service (institutional and professional), but different institutions value these categories differently and sometimes mean slightly different things by each. Some prior investigation in this area will not only help you understand the different kinds of jobs to which you are applying, it will also make the job itself easier to do once you get it. Published guides, such as The Academic Job Search Handbook by M. M. Heiberger and J. M. Vick (4th ed., 2016: University of Pennsylvania Press) and The Professor is In by K. Kelsky (2015: Crown), are helpful, although they are quickly outdated.
- Explore mentorship opportunities through professional organizations such as the Women’s Classical Caucus, the Asian and Asian American Classical Caucus, CripAntiquity, the Association of Ancient Historians, AIA Student Affairs Interest Group, etc.
- Carefully consider the difference between liberal arts institutions, teaching-oriented state universities, and larger research institutions, both public and private. Each sort of institution—and indeed each institution—has different needs and makes different demands on faculty. Liberal arts schools tend to privilege teaching and interaction with students, but most also require solid research from faculty members. Research universities will require an active, continuous, and substantial research profile, but they will not want to hire disinterested teachers. If you apply to very different institutions, make sure that you do not convey, even incidentally, a hierarchical attitude that ranks one type above the other.
- Consider yourself a member of the profession before starting the job search. Applications and interviews are always stronger if the applicant comes across as a member of the field who is exploring career possibilities within it rather than a suppliant begging for admission to it. Know who you want to be in terms of your career and your profession. What characterizes your work? What links your research interests into a coherent professional identity? Do you want to emphasize teaching and outreach? research? a balance of both? Thinking through some of these issues beforehand can help you to seem like a professional.
Before applying:
- Inform yourself about the process of a job search in Classics, in particular by speaking with those who have recent experience of being on the job market. The various mentorship programs in affiliated groups may be helpful if you do not have peers or colleagues who can talk to you about it.
- Ideally, attend the annual SCS/AIA convention in person in the year before you are going on the market, to network and maybe to give a paper. If you cannot go in person, attending hybrid sessions is also useful, and going to regional meetings or conferences in your areas of special interest is excellent for both intellectual and professional development.
- Sign up with the SCS Placement Service
- to receive regular updates of the most comprehensive job listings in Classics, Ancient History, and Archaeology;
- to participate in the SCS's collection of important data on the placement and hiring process.
- Set up a dossier probably at Interfolio. There has been constant bloat in what institutions ask for:
- A cover letter
- A curriculum vitae
- 3-4 letters of reference (to be submitted by the application deadline unless otherwise indicated)
- Transcripts (graduate transcripts usually suffice)
- A writing sample. It is usually better to offer a dissertation chapter that is central to your research interests than even a published article that is not. The sample should not be longer than 10,000 words and reading even a few pages should convey an impression of how you think and write.
- A research plan. This should explain not just what you want to do, but why; it should point to your central interests and theoretical and methodological views. Emphasize what shows the importance of what interests you to colleagues who aren’t in that field (and sometimes will not work in ancient studies at all).
- A statement of your teaching philosophy. Be specific and avoid clichés. We all want to teach critical thinking, so focus on what distinguishes your teaching from everyone else’s.
- A DEI statement. “Inclusion” can cover many situations, so you can consider the experience that you have with, e.g., racial minorities and first-generation students, people with disabilities, and/or members of sexual minorities.
- A teaching portfolio
- If possible, get a couple of professors to read your research, teaching, and DEI statements.
- Write a Classics CV, not a business resume (see sample online).
- Keep it short, clear, and truthful.
- Design the layout so that even a casual reader notices what you want to emphasize.
- List what you have done, not what you think you could do.
- Don't list the catalog numbers of courses taught; these will not be informative to most readers.
- Design two templates of a cover letter, one targeted at research institutions, one at smaller colleges with an emphasis on teaching. Try not to repeat what the other documents say, but design cover letters that can easily be adapted to be relevant to this particular job.
When applying:
- Apply to as many positions as possible, but do not apply for jobs that you would not or cannot accept.
- Take the time to inform yourself about the institutions to which you are applying and adjust your cover letters accordingly. For example, don't express your interest in teaching graduate courses when you are applying to an undergraduate institution. Showing familiarity with the hiring department’s program and needs is likely to increase your chance of making the first cut. Always proofread cover letters carefully before sending to make sure that you have made all the appropriate changes on your template (e.g., that you have used the correct institution name).
- In general, make sure that everything you send has been proofread as carefully as possible. Careless mistakes, however minor they seem to you, give the impression of a careless applicant.
- Have faculty members at your home institution read your application materials. They will often have useful advice on everything from format and phrasing to the way that such materials are likely to be received by hiring departments. People from outside the field and non-academics can be helpful, too. Remember that at some institutions, you will be applying to a department of Humanities or World Languages, and you need to be able to address colleagues from other fields.
- Don't apply to jobs for which you are not qualified. While sometimes a position will be offered to a candidate who is not exactly what the ad seems to seek, if almost all your experience is in Latin literature, you will probably be wasting your time applying for a Hellenist position. If you do not work with material culture, you will likely not be considered for a position focused on material culture.
- Submit with your application only materials requested by the ad, and not more. (The ad may not request copies of published work, but if you have recently published an article, you may mention this in your cover letter and offer to send an offprint.)
- If you can, come in person to the annual SCS/AIA convention in early January. Even though it is no longer where interviews are held, it is where networking happens.
When you get interviews:
First of all, congratulations! You've made the shortlist, typically between 12-20 candidates.
First and foremost, check out this near-comprehensive and excellent post by Katherine McDonald about interview questions to prepare for: https://katherinemcdonald.net/2016/12/01/new-resource-questions-for-aca…
- Do your homework. Inform yourself about the members of each department, their specialties, and their program's strengths and weaknesses. How might your interests and abilities intersect with their interests and needs?
- While it is advisable to gather as much information as possible about the institution and position when applying for an advertised job, direct inquiries to individual members of the department may not be received well. If you need clarification of the advertisement, do so as succinctly and impersonally as you can. You may want to save some questions for the interview.
- If you receive interview questions in advance, prepare them (but try to make sure that you won’t sound as if you are reciting a script). Otherwise, think about answers to typical questions such as the following (a good sample of typical questions and the rationale behind them can be found in the webpages of the Women's Classical Caucus and Mary Corbin Sies):
- What is your dissertation about? What is new and interesting about it? Be prepared to answer this question in one sentence, three sentences, or in a longer monologue (but not longer than a few minutes). In any case, it is better to emphasize why the work is important rather than give a detailed history of the project. Details can be supplied once you've made it clear that you've done something interesting and worthwhile.
- What are your research plans (beyond publishing your dissertation)? What other projects do you have planned and what is the current status of these projects?
- How would you teach typical Classics courses?
- What kind of courses would you like to teach if you had the chance?
- Be prepared to ask questions of your own—about the department, its goals for the next couple of years, its typical majors, the university, its demographics, the city or town in which it is located, etc. These questions can be used to get information on everything from curricular needs to the types of students you will teach, but they can also show that you are interested in the job and are aware of what you will need to know about it.
- Try to set up a mock interview with your own professors or with any available professionals in the appropriate fields. You should be able to find people willing to do this either at your home institution, an institution at which you have a temporary position, at institutions such as the American School of Classical Studies at Athens or the American Academy in Rome, or through the mentorship programs of the affiliate groups. Take the advice you receive seriously; the people providing the mock interview are likely to have had experience with both hiring and being hired.
- If you are scheduled to give a talk at the annual meeting or at a similar gathering, make sure to rehearse it before an audience. This will help you make sure of timing, pronunciation, and other matters which may, without practice, come back to haunt you.
- If you can, find a professional-looking space in which to place yourself for the camera. If you can’t find such a space, use a virtual or blurred background. Do not have dogs, cats, or children in the room. This does not apply if you have a virtual meeting that is not an official interview.
At the convention:
- Remember that the person who is sitting next to you in the airport while you are speaking derisively about a potential employer may be a member of a search committee.
- Behave like the kind of professional, friendly colleague that you yourself would like to work with for the next couple of years.
When you are invited for an on-campus interview:
You will usually be one of three finalists for the position.
- Be prepared to give a job talk and/or a teaching demonstration. In case you aren't given full information about what is required, ask.
- Make sure you know how long a job talk is supposed to last and do not exceed it!
- It is very important that you tailor your presentation for its intended audience. Will it consist of professional classicists only? of members of various departments or fields? of graduate and/or undergraduate students?
- If you are asked to teach a sample class, make sure you have fully prepared any assignment in advance. Speak to the students; do not act as though you are lecturing before an audience of professional classicists, even though faculty will be observing you.
- If possible, rehearse your job talk or sample class before an audience.
- Do your homework again and refresh your memory about the department, its members, and its needs. Come prepared with questions for conversations you might have with faculty you meet on campus.
- Once you have been invited to campus, make sure that all travel arrangements are clear. Some important questions at this stage:
- Will the interviewing department make travel arrangements, or will you? If you do it, how will reimbursement work? How long will it take?
- Once you arrive, where will you stay? On campus, make sure that you take care of yourself.
- Make sure that you get adequate food and sleep. In such a situation, it is easy to talk through meals or spend too much time without sleeping or at least resting. If you are offered "downtime" to rest or to prepare to give a talk, take it. These interviews are taxing, and you may well show the strain before you think you do.
- Avoid alcohol, or at least drink only a small amount.
- Keep asking questions (while not more than the allotted time). Theoretically, this is a place that you could spend a great deal of your life; it only makes sense that you will want to know as much as possible about the students, department, institution, and community.
- Common courtesy counts for a great deal; be polite and respectful to everyone you meet on campus (faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, office staff, administrators).
- After the interview, ask when a decision is likely to be made.
- Inform your hosts immediately of any job offers or if you accept a job elsewhere.
- Write a thank-you email, especially if your hosts went out of their way to make you feel welcome.
- After an interview or campus visit, it is all too easy to succumb to negativity bias and to regret whatever mistakes you think you made. While it can be useful to identify certain ways you could improve for the future, do not be hard on yourself, and try to find time to do whatever you find relaxing.
- There are many qualified candidates vying for the same jobs, and success ultimately depends to some degree on things you can hardly influence, such as departmental politics and, frankly, a great deal of just random luck. After many meager years, the market is improving for job candidates, but it still takes a lot of talented people more than one round in the job market to find a permanent position.
- You may wonder how to react or respond if you hear nothing from a school that has brought you to campus or if one only communicates a rejection very late. The high road is always best. Rudeness, even if it is born from justified indignation, will never be forgotten. Give institutions the benefit of the doubt. Focus on your career and career development and not on past mistreatment.
- However, if institutions have violated any of the guidelines that have been carefully developed by the Joint Committee on Career Planning and Development, do inform the current chair of that committee. Your name will be kept confidential, and the information you supply will help to make the placement and hiring process more equitable for future candidates.
When you receive an offer:
- If negotiating needs to be done, this is the time. There are a few things to keep in mind. Search committee members, department chairs, et al., can generally only pass on requests about salary and benefits to a dean or other administrator. Do not expect an instant answer to requests for, e.g., a higher salary or a spousal/partner hire. Keep in mind that both hiring departments and institutions (even large or wealthy ones) often have limited flexibility. However willing they are to meet your needs, they may be unable to do so.
- Be careful, and respectful, of deadlines. Just as you wish to find a job and secure a contract, so hiring departments are anxious to conclude searches. The search process is time consuming and no department really prolongs the process for frivolous reasons, however it may seem to individual candidates. If you need more time than you are initially given, ask for more. Be prepared to make a decision quickly if that extension is not granted. Remember that any extra time you take may mean that a department loses good candidates. Searches are sometimes unsuccessful because one or more candidates take too long to respond to an offer. Just as you will want to find the job that best meets your needs, departments want, and have a responsibility, to find someone who will meet theirs.
- This is the time to clarify anything that is still uncertain. Ask any final questions. If any piece of information is vital to your acceptance (i.e., if there is a potential "deal-breaker"), make sure that you nail this down now. If you have not been given clear information about the criteria for tenure and promotion, now is the time to ask for those, preferably in writing (if they are not published); the same goes for the institutional policy regarding leave.
Revised and updated by the Joint Committee on Career Planning and Development, May 2024
Originally submitted for the Committee on Placement by Ortwin Knorr (Willamette University) and Christopher Nappa (University of Minnesota), August 2004