Category Archives: Major Job Market Mistakes

Why Your Job Cover Letter Sucks (and what you can do to fix it)
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For the next few months I will be posting the “best of the best” Professor is in blog posts on the job market, for the benefit of all those girding their loins for the 2013-2014 market.  Today’s post was originally … Continue reading

Posted in Bad Advisors and Good Mentors, How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Stop.Acting.Like.A.Grad.Student, Strategizing Your Success in Academia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 125 Comments

The Six Ways You’re Acting Like a Grad Student (And how that’s killing you on the job market)
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For the next few months I will be posting the “best of the best” Professor is in blog posts on the job market, for the benefit of all those girding their loins for the 2013-2014 market. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today we have … Continue reading

Posted in How To Do Conferences, How to Interview, How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Stop.Acting.Like.A.Grad.Student, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Tenure--How To Get It, Yes, You Can: Women in Academia | Tagged , , , , , , , | 43 Comments

How To Identify Yourself as a Diversity Hire
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One of the most important things a job document can do is communicate an applicant’s status with regard to diversity hiring. If you qualify as a diversity hire, you must make sure the committee knows it. But how does one … Continue reading

Posted in How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Promote Yourself!, Race/Gender/Sexuality, Yes, You Can: Women in Academia | 33 Comments

Of Cover Letters and Magic (A Follow-up Post)
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There is some advice I give that I believe in fiercely and will defend to the death (ref: Should I Do an Edited Collection?).   And then there is some advice I give that I am very willing to concede … Continue reading

Posted in How To Build Your Tenure File, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Publishing Issues, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Tenure--How To Get It, The Campus Visit, Writing Instrumentally | 4 Comments

How To Write a Journal Article Submission Cover Letter
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Today’s post is a special request post for several clients who have written to inquire how to write a cover letter for the submission of an article manuscript to a journal. ****Addendum (4/29/13):  Please read the follow up to this … Continue reading

Posted in Major Job Market Mistakes, Publishing Issues, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Tenure--How To Get It, Writing Instrumentally | 22 Comments

Three New Webinars, and Campus Visit Thank You Etiquette
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Today I want to answer an urgent query from readers that I am asked at least once a week, about the etiquette of thanking a department that has hosted you on a campus visit. And then tell you about three … Continue reading

Posted in Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, The Campus Visit | 5 Comments

For North Americans: the peculiar British interview process (A Guest Post)
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This wonderful post on the British academic interview process is written by Kean Birch, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Science at York University in Canada.  It was originally published on his blog.  He received his Ph.D. in … Continue reading

Posted in How to Interview, International Perspectives, Major Job Market Mistakes | 32 Comments

Why Have I No Power? Thoughts on Negotiating the Tenure Track Offer
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I was working with a Negotiating Assistance client last week, and about halfway through our work, as I said for the fourth time or so, “you can’t really ask for ALL of that; you’ll have to pick and choose,” he … Continue reading

Posted in Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Negotiating Offers, Stop.Acting.Like.A.Grad.Student, Strategizing Your Success in Academia | 12 Comments

Nobody Cares What You’re Interested In
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One very common error that writers of job documents make is going on and on about what they are interested in. It’s often quite a writing tic. “I am interested in…. and I am particularly interested in…and a topic of … Continue reading

Posted in How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Promote Yourself!, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Writing Instrumentally | 19 Comments

Gerund Addiction and Word Repetition–Two More Scourges
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Faithful readers know that I have several posts on different kinds of writing tics that plague many academic writers.  These include list addiction, dyad addiction, and cheap adjectives. There are two more writing tics that I’ve come to identify: gerund … Continue reading

Posted in How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements, Writing Instrumentally | 6 Comments