Preparing for the Job Market: The Lay of the Land (Part I)Bill Carbonaro, DGS

University of Notre DameDepartment of Sociology

January 2012

Step ONE: Decide What You WantKnowing the “lay of the land” . . . .

What Type of Job Do you Want? The “Job Market” in sociology has many

different segments (niches):

• Different Types of Candidates are competing for Different Types of Jobs

LONG BEFORE hitting the job market, you must decide what type of job you want, and plan accordingly.

“Find your niche and dominate it!”

Job Market SegmentsAcademic Non-Academic

• RESEARCH ONE ▫ Notre Dame, University of

Indiana-Bloomington, etc. • RESEARCH TWO

▫ IUSB, Towson, Univ. of South Alabama

• TEACHING INSTITUTIONS▫ Small Liberal Arts (E.g.,

Skidmore, Kenyon, Middlebury)

▫ State System (E.g., U-W Whitewater, Cal State)

▫ Community Colleges• ADJUNCT TEACHING

• PUBLIC ▫ Government Agencies▫ NGO’s (Quasi-public)

• PRIVATE▫ Market/Survey Research

Firms▫ Independent Research Firms ▫ Non-Profits▫ Think Tanks

• COLLEGES/UNIVERSITIES▫ Institutional Research▫ College Administration▫ Research Centers, Institutes

(E.g., ICPSR, etc.)

Is there Academic Life Beyond Sociology?• Any other dept.s as

options? It depends on what you want and what you can do.

How Academic Jobs Differ

INCOME: Research jobs pay the most

PRESTIGE: Status

Distinctions within each

strata

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIE

S: R-1 will support and

reward research

GRADUATE PROGRAM?:

Research jobs only

TENURE EXPECTATIONS: Alignment with

mission of the University

Income Differences across Institution Types

Two Questions only YOU can Answer

What’s most important to you about your job?

What kind of career do you want to have?

Step Two: Knowing if You are Ready

Are You are Ready?How Do You Know Whether You Are Ready to go “on the

market?”

Answer really depends upon the kind of job you are seeking.

Try to cover all of your bases, but be sure that your strengths match up with the kind of job you are seeking

Ex – Seeking a teaching job: build a very strong teaching record, but be sure to publish something as a grad student

Ex – Seeking a research job: focus on research excellence, but be sure to establish a track record of respectable teaching

What Employers Look For

•Experience? •Performance?Teaching Record

•Publications?•Grant Support?•Conference Activity?

Research Record

•Completed Chapters? •Analyses? Dissertation Progress

Weighting the CriteriaThe weight given to each category varies depending on the

type of position sought

INSTITUTION Research Teaching Dissertation Progress

Research-1 **** * **

Research-2 ** ** **

Teaching -1 * **** **

Teaching -2 ??? **** *

Judging Research PotentialSolo Author

First Author

Second Author

Third and B/y

Encyclopedia Entries

&Book

Reviews

Theory, Review, Think Piece

Empirical

Anywhere Tier

Second Tier (SSR,

Sociology Quarterly,

etc.)

Top Tier (Big Three, Top

Specialty)

Book Chapters Peer Reviewed Journals

BEST

BEST

BEST

Other Research Benchmarks

Book Writers?

•How does a book manuscript get weighted?

▫Do you have a contract? ▫What press is publishing it? (Status

hierarchy)▫Is it empirical?

Other Research BenchmarksCONFERENCE ACTIVITY

Where (what conference) was the paper presented? How active was the student in presenting (a lot or a

little)?RESEARCH GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS

▫External Money – NSF Dissertation Improvement Grants, Dissertation Fellowships

▫Internal Money – Not as noteworthy, but something!

*** Neither of these things is a SUBSTITUTE for publications!!!

Teaching BenchmarksTaught Own Class

T.A. – discussion groups, w/ CIFs

T.A. – no CIFs

Poor Student

Evals

Average Student

Evals

Great Student Evals;

Teaching Award!

BEST

BEST

BEST

Other Teaching IssuesDoes it matter WHERE (at what institution)

you teach?

Does teaching a lot of courses (in number or variety) help? (How much teaching is “enough”?)

Does the classes that you teach matter?

Is NEVER teaching as a Grad Student a hindrance?

Dissertation ProgressHIGH QUALITY

Not Ready May be Ready Good

to Go!

LOW QUALITY

Proposal Defended

Data Collection

and/orPreparatio

n in Progress

Data Analysis under way!

Data Analysis

completed (writing it

up!)

Chapter Drafts

Completed

Something under

review; drafts of

most everything

Ph.D in hand (Post-doc?)

Be wary of the tradeoff b/w quality and your rate of progress! Faster is better, but not if it comes at the expense of quality

Time to GraduationDoes it matter how long you take to finish your Ph.D?

YES – There IS a such a thing as finishing too fast!

No benefit to getting done in four years, only to find that no one will hire you because you don’t have the right things on your CV!

▫Although, post-docs are always an option for these cases.

There IS a stigma to taking too long! What is “too long?” In sociology, between six and

seven years is normal. Eight is OK. Beyond eight is not good (and not really possible at ND).

CAVEAT – this is issue is ALWAYS judged relative to your productivity as a grad student.

Time to GraduationDoes it matter how long you take to finish your Ph.D?

REMEMBER Notre Dame’s graduate programs are set up on a “fast clock.”

Mostly, a six year clock, and getting funding from the department beyond the sixth year is generally NOT an option.

Does Where you Go Matter?

Sort of – Effects are indirect.

Quality of Grad

Program

Grad Student Accomplishments

(Publishing, Teaching, etc.)

Quality of Job

Placement

Quality of Applicants

+++

+

++

++

++

Example – Beth CYear in Program: 5th • Type of Job Sought:

Research One or Two

• Research Profile: First authored publication in top specialty journal Probably a second authored publication in top specialty journal Second author encyclopedia entry Numerous conference presentations

• Teaching Experience: TA for one semester Teaching Year fellowship (Two classes next year)

• Dissertation Progress: Three paper format:

Analyses for all three papers under way Papers being presented at conferences One will be under review at journal in the summer/fall

OVERALL ASSESSMENT:

Good fit between the record and the jobs she is applying for

Timing of the Job Market Events

JOB POSTINGS

INTERVIEW-ING

HIRING

Research One, Two

August-December

(Mostly August and September)

Mid-October through Early

January (Mostly November and

December)

Mid-November through January

Teaching One, Two

August through March

January through March

February through April

Post-Doctoral Positions

February through Summer

A Newly Emerging

Norm?

February through Summer

Timing of Job Market Events

Other Disciplines? Each discipline outside of sociology has

its own calendar

Education Departments, Schools of Education – Mostly in the spring

Economics – January and February Etc.

Pursuing a Post-Doc?

Pursuing a Post-Doc?

Should I plan to do a Post-Doctoral Fellowship?

Students should think more seriously about whether this route makes sense for them.

Avoid thinking of it as simply your “back-up” plan.

It’s not a “consolation prize”; it can be a great opportunity to launch a successful career.

Things to Consider Regarding the Post-Doc Does my skill set and research agenda “fit” the post-doc market?

Most post-docs seek applicants with quantitative research skills in substantive where research money is readily available.

Ex – Robert Wood Johnson; Ies Postdoctoral Fellows; CREO, Rice Post-Docs

What’s a “Good” Post-Doc?

•Provides time to work on one’s own research

•Provides opportunities to branch out into new research directions

•Provides new opportunities to meet and work with esteemed faculty in highly ranked departments

•Provides opportunities to work with other talented young scholars (grad students or fellow post-docs)

What’s a “Good” Post-Doc?

•Competitive Application Process (“Credentialing” – cf. “Teach for America”)

•One year vs. Two Year

•Nine Month vs. Twelve Month Appointment

•Possible teaching opportunities (if needed)

Who Benefits from a Post-Doc?

•Students who seek a research position but who have not yet built a strong research record

•Students who need additional training that one’s home institution cannot provide (E.g., specializations that lie beyond one’s dept; advanced methodological training that is not available in one’s home program; etc.)

Who Benefits from a Post-Doc?

•Students who are on the job market when there are few jobs, or there have several bad years and the job market is “recovering”

▫Allows time for the supply-side “queue” to clear

Does a Post-Doc Look Bad on Your CV? NOT AT ALL! •It has become more common. •It is FAR BETTER than adjunct (“visiting

professor”) stints (even at good departments)

•It shows that you are serious about pursuing a research career.

** REMEMBER – you have to produce! Make the most of your time.