Job Tracking - Week 3

A good week as applications go. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the guest speaker I had lined up had an emergency six minutes before my class was to start, leaving me holding the bag with lots of VIPs watching to see how things went. A little tap dancing, a few mea culpas, and a quick dismissal of the class gave me some extra time to dig in today. With that break, I managed a lot of packets since last week's report .

And more importantly, after a quick phone call to a search chair, I found it would be possible to apply for two jobs with one application packet, and since it was a huge packet, you'd better believe I took them up on that accommodation. But it also worried me that the department was hiring multiple positions at once. Granted, I'm at a SLAC now, but I can't recall any of the schools I've ever been at having been able to hire multiple positions without there being some pretty compelling back-story. This isn't to say the details were always bad, but it's always worth noticing.

That got me thinking about other signs that give me pause in a job search. There are big obvious ones, like multiple hires or - worse - the same position advertised from one job season to another. Within the process, little details are interesting to think about. Early in the process, one thing that gives me pause is having to supply my own stamp to send back the Equal Opportunity forms. It's a small thing, but it is always just enough to make me wonder about the state of the school or program's budget. I'm sure there are others, and obviously, I'd love to hear from others about things that make them think as the process goes on.

In any case, here are the update stats:

Total # of academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified: 8/19
Total # of non-academic jobs applied for/# of jobs identified 0/0
COST OF THE SEARCH
Total spent in U.S. dollars on applications: $52.85
Average cost in U.S. dollars per applications: $6.60
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: 7
Total number of e-submissions: 1
Total weight in pounds of application packets: 7.5
Total number of recommendation letters requested: 9
Total number of requests for references: 4
Total number of "proof of teaching excellence" packs : 4
Total number of requests for Teaching Philosophy 3
Total number of research packs: 4
Total number of transcripts requested: 0
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
Total number of acknowledgments of receipt: 3
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

I had a weird moment this week that I expect may bring high drama in the coming days. I informed one of my usual references I was applying and that I'd like them to continue being a reference, but I buried the request amid some other discussions in an e-mail. And so, when they replied to those other questions with a CC to someone else, they let slip that I'm on the market. I've already been stopped by one person in the hall to ask about it, so I'm sure there will be considerably more discussion.