how to get a job as a professor, part 1

Check out this link for an accurate description of an academic job search--this is a search for a dean, so it's a little more high-profile than the searches I've been involved in.

This is what happens when I apply for an academic job.

In about October, the advertisements begin to appear for faculty vacancies for the following academic year (e.g. in October of 2006, I will start to apply for jobs for 2007-2008). New ads continue to run through about the end of December.

When I decide to apply for a job, I amass the following things:

• an updated copy of my CV
• a cover letter explaining why I, and only I, can possibly fill this position
• a CD recording of my playing, usually including about an hour of music
• transcripts from every institute of higher education I've ever attended
• three letters of recommendation, preferably written by close colleagues and former advisors who have high profiles in the small world of academic music
• a standard job application form from the university's human resources department, which looks like the kind of application one fills out for a retail or food-service job. For example, the "education" section always asks if I graduated high school, then leaves one blank for me to detail my higher education.
  

Sometimes, depending on the desires of the search committee, I also include the following:

• a statement of teaching philosophy
• sample syllabi for courses I'm prepared to teach
• copies of student evaluations of me

I send this packet in before the deadline, which is usually about three weeks after the first appearance of the ad. So, for those of you keeping score, it's now between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

I wait. I wait and wait and wait.

Several weeks after sending the application, I receive the Equal Opportunity form from human resources. I disclose my age, sex, race, non-veteran status, lack of disabilities, and hope like hell this stays in human resources like it's supposed to.

I wait.

Several weeks after returning the Equal Opportunity form, I receive my first communication from the search committee. It's well into December at this point. It's a form letter that tells me that either (a) my application has been received and is under consideration, or (b) items are missing from my application, without which it cannot be considered. These "items" are always letters of recommendation. Whenever possible, I ask my letter writers to send their letters directly to me so that I can mail everything off at once and retain a little control over this process. However, when the hiring university demands it or when (like now) I'm very, very far away from some of my letter writers, I ask them to send my letters directly to the search committee. Somehow these letters just don't make it as often as they should.

So, I act. I call the department secretary at the hiring university to inquire about the "missing items." I need her (it's always a woman) to tell me which letters arrived, so that I know which letter writer to call and ask to re-send. Sometimes she tells me, sometimes she doesn't. When she doesn't, I have to call all of my letter writers and explain that they've got to re-send their letters.

I wait.

January passes. More ads appear, from search committees whose administrators only now approved the budget to hire a new faculty member. These deadlines give me less time to amass my packet, but since I've already gotten it into fighting trim from the fall applications, it's really just a lot of printing. And calling of letter writers.

I wait.