Thursday, October 27, 2011

Searching for Jobs

If you are looking for an assistant professor position in American institutions in the following school year, the fall semester is the time to search and apply for jobs. Between August and December, universities begin listing their vacancies and application deadlines. You might be wondering, where can I look to find these job opportunities? In this blogpost, you will find a few sources to begin your search.

1. The Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com/section/Jobs/61/). Here you can search for jobs using keywords. If you have certain geographic areas you want, you can select specific states or countries within your search results. If you sign up for an account, you can create a folder of jobs you are interested in applying to. Also, if you save a search (e.g. “science education”), each time a job is posted that matches your search parameters, you will get an email notifying you. This can cut down on your search time. It is advisable to still continue searching weekly as you would not want to miss your dream job because it was missed in an automated search.

2. Indeed (http://www.indeed.com/). Here you have access to a variety of jobs, not just those in higher education. It provides you with access to more than one database of jobs at a time. It is like the Google of job searches. You can put in search parameters and specifically search for certain locations, eliminating places within a state that you might prefer not to work in. In contrast to The Chronicle, you may find more jobs that do not fit assistant professor positions or those that fall out of your search parameters because it locates Computer Science Assistant Professor positions rather than Science Assistant Professor positions.

3. HigherEdjobs (http://www.higheredjobs.com/). This is similar to The Chronicle. You can search for jobs in higher education through search parameters. You can create a job seeker account and enter a list of your interests in the system. It will then automatically email you notifications when new jobs are posted. On a personal note, I have found it less helpful than any of the other sources.

4. Listservs. Both AERA and NARST (National Association for Research in Science Teaching) have their own listservs that you can subscribe to. NARST will only help you if you are interested in science and maybe math job opportunities though. Through these listservs, you can get email updates about job openings and other educational opportunities. This will provide you access to opportunities without having to perform any searches.

AERA Division C- http://www.aera.net/divisions/Default.aspx?menu_id=68&id=493

NARST- http://www.narst.org/listserv.cfm

Good luck in your search. Below is also a chart that you could use to help keep track of places you are interested in applying to, their deadlines/requirements, and if you have sent your application materials in. Feel free to use this and modify it to best serve you. I color code mine so that I know what is of high priority and what I have decided not to apply to. Our next blog post will provide you with a chart to help keep track of interviews and contacts, as well as questions you might get asked during an interview.


School
Locale
App. Deadline
Letter of Interest?
CV
Names of Refs
Letters of Rec
Research Statement
Teach.
Philos.
Transcripts
(o/u)
App
Send
Date
























































**(O/U)—official or unofficial
**Names of Refs vs. Letters of Rec—some schools require names of references while others want the letters before the application is considered complete

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