ASP Student Workshop Teaching Portfolios and Strategies for Teaching Job Search Administrative Considerations or “Tales

1. ASP Student Workshop Teaching Portfolios and Strategies for Teaching Job Search Administrative Considerations or “Tales from the DarkSide” Karen Hambright, past Dean School of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences College of Coastal Georgia

2. Strategies for Academic Job Search A Strong Teaching Portfolio: • will give you an advantage over other candidates marketability • in demonstrating your effectiveness in teaching, you gain experience in accountability/assessment • that skill will be used annually in your own performance reviews, and in promotion, and tenure applications, and institutional assessment

3. Strategies for Academic Job Search Where to find academic positions? • Chronicle, higheredjobs.com • Organization websites (ASP, ABS, AAA, APA, Etc.) • Institution websites • Word of mouth, networking, it often IS who you know

4. Strategies for Academic Job Search • Types of Institutions? Research 1, State Universities and Colleges, Liberal Arts College, Community College • Type of positions? Costs/Risks vs. Benefits of each vary with the specific institution • Tenure Track • Visiting/Temporary positions • Lecturer • Adjunct/part-time

5. Strategies for Academic Job Search • I want to inform you of things administrators and search committees are looking for that will either include or excludeyou from a pool of applicants. • Basically Do’s and Don’ts • Many academics learn this the hard way

6. Strategies for Academic Job Search • I want you to realize the value and honor in teaching: • Changing lives • Generating new scientists • Rewarding experience of having hundreds and thousands of academic offspring • Teaching can be extremely rewarding and enjoyable

7. Strategies for Academic Job Search • Even if your ultimate goal is a Research I position, you may have to “bide your time” at another type of institution. • Most academic scientists have worked at multiple institutions since first post graduate position (e.g., Maslow). • Institutions change missions, faculty demographics change, and your interests may change.

8. Strategies for Academic Job Search “Biding you time” gives you opportunity to develop and enhance your marketability • Broadening your teaching experience • Gaining leadership and service experience • Learning the politics and economic realities of the academy • Increasing your publication and presentation record • Gaining grant writing experience on a smaller scale that will serve you in obtaining funding for the large scale research you were familiar with in grad school and post docs

9. Strategies for Academic Job Search The Big Issue is Goodness of Fit • With the particular institution • With the particular position • Other issues (too complex to discuss here) include: • Significant Others • Offspring • Aging Parents

10. Strategies for Academic Job Search For Goodness of Fit you MUST do your homework on each institution you apply to. • Background knowledge of the institution and its mission is essential for the following: • Cover letter/letter of interest • Reference letters/letters of recommendation • Initial Interview via phone, Skype, or in person • Finalist Interview • Keeping your job

11. Strategies for Academic Job Search Social Media • Faculty Searches for good fit is incredibly difficult, looking for anything to limit pool • Institutions search for you • Clean it up! • Delete pictures of illicit behavior • Delete glamour shots, erotica, extreme political views

12. Strategies for Academic Job Search Cover Letters/Letters of Interest • Know whom to send your packet to (HR, Dean, Chair, Search Committee) • Include the correct name of the institution • Address items in the job description specifically • Have someone else proof read it for typos • Failure to do so will get you eliminated quickly

13. Strategies for Academic Job Search Cover Letters/Letters of Interest cont. • Address the institution’s mission, the studentpopulation, & how you will thrive with existing resources and/or what you can bring with you • Highlight the traits you have that fit the institution: e.g., if primarily a teaching position, don’t dwell on your dissertation research, play up your teaching expertise, use of instructional technology, ability to engage and mentor students

14. Strategies for Academic Job Search Cover Letters/Letters of Interest cont. • Use the buzz words of that institution- student centered learning, engaged learning, Service learning, diversity, globalization • Sell yourself as a Teacher at teaching institutions, not necessarily as a primatologist and research scientist • You don’t want to appear too specialized for that will get you eliminated from the pool • I can send you my presentation from last year about ways to teach primatology at an institution that doesn’t have a primate program, animals, or lab

15. Strategies for Academic Job Search Reference Letters/Letters of Recommendation • Ask specific persons for specific positions and provide them with the job description and contact info • Use references who have supervised you and your teaching, who can speak to: • Your work ethic, reliability, and integrity • Your ability to play well with others • Your ability to engage students • Your knowledge of assessment • In other words, use different references and letters of recommendation from different people for different types of institutions and positions

16. Curriculum Vitae Strategies for Academic Job Search • Ditto for organization of your cv • Tailor the format of your cv to fit the institution. • Always put your academic credentials and teaching experience before research skills and publications for a primarily teaching job • For example: Animal handling skills are great, but shouldn’t be at the top if you are applying for a position at an institution without animals

17. Initial (Phone, Skype, on site) interviews Strategies for Academic Job Search • Know the Institutional Mission • Know the student population (trads, non-trads, commuters, residents, admission requirements) • Know the departmental faculty composition • Know the expectations for the type of position you are applying for. • If you know someone who knows someone, find out what their experience with that institution has been before the interview

18. Some institutions are notorious for mistreating new faculty • e.g., “Mercy”- three year temp position, history of using newly minted ph.d.s from UGA, implying possibility of tenure track position-never materializes- I know of four psych ph.d.s in 12 years that they went through and saved a ton of money, at the expense of the career pathways of four people and their families.

19. Initial (Phone, Skype, on site) interviews Strategies for Academic Job Search • Answer the questions asked • Be cordial, be professional, and assume nothing • Prepare questions for the committee that weren’t addressed or clear in the job description, (e.g., teaching load, what amount/ type of research presentations and publications expected) • Ask the mission of the department if not available online. • Ask faculty about morale, their own experiences, & general regard of faculty by admin

20. Initial (Phone, Skype, on site) interviews cont. Strategies for Academic Job Search If no institutional Fact Book online: • Ask Faculty length of time to tenure, • Ask Faculty ratio of tenured to non-tenured • Ask Faculty who does research? • Ask Faculty whether there are resources: • labs, • equipment, • animals, • teaching assistants, • faculty development opportunities

21. Finalist Interviews Strategies for Academic Job Search • Will likely interview with Search Committee, Dean, Provost, VPAA, and President • Dress for success: no “slut wear”, avoid 6 inch heels, you may have to tour campus, expect biases (e.g. hair color), men wear tie and jacket • Be engaged, enthusiastic but genuine, make eye contact, firm handshake, lean forward when conversing, don’t fidget, breathe • Have questions prepared for all, and don’t be surprised when answers vary with individuals

22. Finalist Interviews cont. Strategies for Academic Job Search • Know where you really want to be in five years • Read the faculty handbook, and familiarize yourself with policies including promotion and tenure procedures, course load, course assignment/scheduling, textbook choice, etc. • If SO is an academic wait until this point to mention Significant others and possibility of their employment in another department or as an adjunct • Wait until offer made to negotiate, rank, salary, startup funds, travel, sabbaticals

23. Finalist interviews cont. Strategies for Academic Job Search • Be prepared to TEACH, not to give a colloquium, unless they specifically ask for both. • Be sure to answer the questions they ask, don’t dodge them • Be prepared to demonstrate your facility with instructional technology • Don’t read you presentation, glance at notes or powerpoint, but teach as if it comes naturally

24. Keeping the Job you Accepted Strategies for Academic Job Search • Don’t be a diva or an elitist • Recognize your “dominance rank” • Understand salary compression can lead to interpersonal difficulties • Establish a close/positive relationship with clerical staff (the people that make the institution run) • Never piss off the clerical or IT staff • Collaborate with new peers

25. Keeping the Job you Accepted cont. Strategies for Academic Job Search • Be flexible, make no assumptions • Be prepared to do institutional assessment, advising, service, and professional development • Be prepared to work as hard if not harder than when in grad school • If not happy, look for another job while you have one • Realize how grateful you should be to Have a Job!