Karen Kelsky, through her business, The Professor Is In, has advised countless graduate students and junior faculty members on how to navigate the perilous waters of the job search. Here she answers questions from readers on all aspects of the hiring process. Following is a sampling of her recent columns.
Advice
A look at what the Covid-19 crisis might mean for untenured faculty members on and off the tenure track, and for new and returning doctoral students.
Advice
A common question from job candidates is how to cope with a major disconnect between the place where they earned a Ph.D. and the campuses that are hiring.
Advice
In applying to small liberal-arts colleges, your local ties may be worth bringing up in your application.
Advice
With the cold and flu season comes the pressure on faculty members, especially the many untenured ones, to teach through an illness because canceling class would “look bad.”
Advice
You may lose a year or two in moving to a new doctoral program, but sometimes that is the best call.
Advice
Few benchmarks for tenure are more important than getting that first book contract if you are in a book field at a research-focused institution.
Advice
Sometimes the financial health of your institution can matter more than whether your position allows you to seek tenure.
Advice
What to say (and not say) when asked about your professional plans during a job interview at a teaching-focused college.
Advice
How to read the mixed messages from an “aspirational” teaching institution that is looking to raise its profile.
Advice
For many professors, the possibility of changing departments triggers uncertainties that are not always easy or possible to resolve.
Advice
Whether or not you have the leverage of a second job offer, ask your potential department for what you deserve (within reason).
Advice
You don’t want the search committee to think you sound like a panicked undergraduate trying to explain why a paper is late.
Advice
Deflect your doctoral students’ excessive praise by emphasizing that academe is a workplace — not a holy order.
Advice
A CV and a cover letter are not just redundant vehicles for the same information.
Advice
Here’s why you should always assume that everyone you meet on a campus visit may have a say in who gets the job.
Advice
Calling or emailing ahead of time might seem like a good way to get information about the place, but it’s more than a little risky.
Advice
All sorts of magical thinking can distort the realities of the tenure-track job hunt.
Advice
A Ph.D. starting her first job in the fall wonders how to respond to a flood of professional and personal suggestions.
Advice
If students already think I’m a good teacher, doesn’t that mean that I am just “meeting expectations”?
Advice
In a campus visit, you are assessed on your adherence to social scripts expected of you in that setting.
Advice
A job candidate wonders how to decide which of two offers to accept when both have drawbacks.
The Professor Is In
Is it OK to renege on a job offer once you’ve accepted it? That all depends on the nature of the position.
Advice
Why bother if an inside candidate is in line for the job?
Advice
How do you tell your Ph.D. adviser who disdains nonacademic careers that you’ve accepted a private-sector job?
Advice
Sometimes it’s not easy to tell whether a hiring department is more interested in your scholarship or your pedagogy.