On how do you know a place is a good place to start (or would you really want to work there?).
This year, my academic family is in transition - my advisor is retiring, my senior students are considering moves, & my fifth-year students are on the job market.
I’m not really sure where anyone will work next year - except my more recent students - who seem to be nesting & progressing towards tenure.
Against this backdrop of change, some rising students have posed lots of questions about academic job searches & picking a place to work.
This evokes an interesting conversation- about tells that a place is good to work.
So how did the conversations go?
After I revert into yoda-mode, it’s been a fairly consistent response for 20 years.
It begins with a caveat.
The market is the market. You can’t change it. You don’t pick who hires that year.
So set aside whatever delusions you have that you get to pick a school or city.
You take what the market brings you.
After crushing dreams of Boston or New York or LA, we turn to discussing details of what makes a good place to work versus not.
Usually, I cite a couple of good schools like Arizona and Temple (no bias, I promise) & a couple of places that I would never send a student (if I have to name them, then shame on your advisor.
I say the difference between academic Heaven & academic Hell comes down to five attributes.
(1) the dept chair.
A good chair, can make a place that is broke feel like the Garden of Eden.
Listen carefully to how people talk about the chair.
(2) the people.
Ask if they feel heard and respected.
If they do not, run.
(3) tenure and resources.
The expectations need to match the resources if you want to be happy.
1 of 3 schools that I worked at had a mismatch.
2 of 3 had a match.
You connect the dots.
(4) a PhD program
For me this was important. For many of my students it’s not.
But you need to think about it.
(5) status
You want to work at a place people respect.
Esp. For your first job.
It’s very very hard to move up the academic pecking order - my moves have been mostly lateral - it’s much easier to slide down the hierarchy.
Then.
Usually, students ask a lot of specific questions about schools and what I think.
I share that what I think doesn’t matter - they have to work the job.
More than that, I encourage them to apply widely. Until you visit a school, you can’t make many of these qualitative assessments.
I can say this, if the dept chair is kind, the people are happy, and the resources match expectations - you can be sure it’s a good place to work.
Then, decide if the doc program and social status matter to you.
Once your sort these things out, you’ll know if you are looking at academic heaven or hell.
For me, places like Arizona & Temple are Heaven.
But they may not be for you, so take your time to think where you go through!
To everyone on the job market, in my academic family and beyond, best of luck.
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