Job Tracking - Week 4

There isn't a lot to add about the job search this week. My guess is that things are about to slow down, as the first big round of submission deadlines is in the midst of passing, and it will likely be awhile before most of those committees have been able to meet and come to some decision. In my field, at least, the early deadline seems to only work for the big schools who use them (though not always).

One of the things I'm going to start asking about in interviews - just so someone starts thinking about it as a possibility since I've not encountered it anywhere else - is whether the university in question offers any sort of student loan assistance. I continue to think that schools are going to have to figure out ways to support junior faculty with mounting loan debts, and maybe if enough people ask, it'll become an option. I actually floated a proposal to our union rep here (as I was trying to guard him in ultimate frisbee), and he seemed to think my idea was both and good and doable: that universities could offer a percent of salary each year to faculty towards their student loan debts the same way they towards 401k's.

Each year a faculty member stays, that amount would go up a little bit. Even if such a program only went through tenure, it would have the potential of putting a decent dent in someone's student loan debt. My thought is that, particularly at small schools like the one I'm at, it would be a way of attracting candidates and keeping them. Has anyone heard of something like that being offered? Or feel like taking up the challenge and asking about something similar when you're interviewing?

And with that said, here's the week's job search stats. [10/11/08 - edited to add this link to the week 3 post]

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 11/19
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $81.62
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $7.42
Total spent in U.S. dollars on travel, etc: $0
Total amount in U.S. dollars reimbursed: $0
WHERE THE CALL CAME FROM:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed: 2
HigherEdJobs.com: 0
Other online service (listserv, etc): 14
Friend/Colleague: 2
Personal Research: 1
THE JOB IS IN THE DETAILS
Total number of paper submissions: 10
Total number of e-submissions: 1
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 10.1
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 15
Total number of requests for references: 5
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 6
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy 6
Total number of research packs: 6
Total number of transcripts requested: 1
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 8
Total number of confirmed reference contacts: 0
Total number of phone interviews: 0
Total number of conference interviews: 0
Total number of on-campus interviews: 0
Total number of offers: 0
Total number of rejection letters: 0

It's also been a slow week for new ads to appear. Hopefully some new ones will crop up, as I've got a goal of 25 applications this year. And with that, on to midterms.