Placement Meeting Notes - June 18, 2009; Initial Meeting

From UCSB English Department Knowledge Base

Contents 1 General Information 2 Things to Have Done by September 3 Curriculum Vita 4 Job Letter 5 International Positions 6 The Market 7 Writing Sample 8 Letters 9 Questions

General Information

• Rita has recently run a search
• Radically individual experience, but some common advice is available
• Lots of material available in hard copy from Chelsea
• Rita's story
  • not only a specialized audience - writing for a wide range of people
    • deans / administrators
    • important at the level of the department - search committee may not even have someone in the field in which the job posted
  • importance of C.V. design
    • ways to make it easier for your audience to read
    • Rita/Aranye will work with us very closely on this
• Inter-Folio - website that does what our dossier service does
  • if it's cheaper, use it
• Don't contact search committees to check status of the search unless you are first contacted
  • send updated status on publications, etc. to the same address
• Don't assume malevolence
• Working with Aranye & Rita - materials should ideally have already been vetted by your committee
• Advisors need lots of time to write recommendation letters
  • you want them fully behind you and they need time to help you
• Bring 2 pg questionnaire / checklist for 1 on 1 meeting or in advance of that
• Job materials seem relentlessly impersonal but most successful have something of the personal in them
  • fine line
  • think as a writer and a reader

Things to Have Done by September

(See handout); Materials done before job list comes out; October 15 at the latest

• Dissertation Precis
  • one thing it is okay to send unsolicited
• CV
• Job Letter
• Writing Sample
  • okay to still be thinking about sample and second sample

Curriculum Vita

• manage white space
  • smaller than .5 for tab stops
• manage font style emphases - caps, underline, italicize, etc.
  • choose 1 or 2
• 2 schools of thought on content
  • everything you've ever done
  • streamline 2 - 3 pages, make it meaningful
    • Rita is falling into this school of thought
      • minor service work okay to leave off
      • Intellectually-driven service is different
        • tech work should be included
• Be consistent
  • UCSB vs. Univ of California, Santa Barbara
• Hierarchy of CV
  • depends on your profile that you are trying to establish
    • if you fall neatly into a period, put research interests at the end
    • if you fall into period interstices or multiple fields, then it might go at the top
  • Publications should always be foregrounded
  • Appts, Education, Publications, Invited Talks / Fellowships, Conference Papers, Teaching, Other activities
    • moves from research to teaching, with middle section

Job Letter

• 1st paragraph: be very concrete about what you've written and when you file. Also put committee members in first paragraph
• Dissertation paragraph
  • the more concrete the better
    • anecdote, particular text or critic
      • example of anecdote - "In 1792 this particular text does something...."
        • what sparks the project
          • point to an invention,
  • be clear that main claims are clear
    • thesis statement is not knotted
  • be very aware of phrasing "the ways in which"
    • question, not an answer
    • think what am i really studying, what is the object?
• statement about methodology
  • if you are doing something experimental methodologically
  • "drawing on a set of materials ranging from memos to canonical literature" - example
    • be up front
• 2 pages
• teaching / service go at end
  • a good teaching paragraph - never just 2 - 3 sentences; will suffice for liberal arts schools as well as R1s
• think yourself into the position of the reader - what does the reader want to know
  • people assume that the reader will know what you are doing with only a 2 - 3 sentence description
• question - Laura - ending with "I'm looking forward to relocating to California because..."
  • Rita doesn't like it
  • one exception might be if you are applying to a denominational school, even if it is only historically denominational
  • maybe for schools that are out of the way
    • remote school in Idaho
  • never for a research 1
  • postdoc - okay to mention connection with faculty, etc.
• Don't customize the letter for R1 schools
  • talk to your committee members and see what they say
• separate letter for teaching positions
• third type letter that explains that you've been trained in English and are portable to other departments
  • for applying to multiple departments - i.e. Digital Humanities type positions
• write the letter that expresses who you are in the best possible light as much as possible
  • don't customize letter to each job listing
    • listings are written by committee, go through administrative review, etc.
• work on the one letter first this summer
  • who you are and what you want to do
  • think about customizing later
• Third paragraph - hardest
  • Future projects?
  • most customized
  • worked out in meetings with Aranye / Rita
• Teaching Paragraph
  • give weight to independent teaching you have done
  • courses you envision teaching
    • draw on / refer to the teaching portfolio
      • documents should be aligned, though do not duplicate them
  • teaching statement
    • something about how you are in the classroom
      • esp. if you incorporate technology
        • power point, hand outs, visual materials, film, etc.
  • set aside the examples of other teaching paragraphs - tends to be the most formulaic part of the letter
    • write your own statement about how you are and what you teach
    • then look at other examples
  • mention distance learning, etc.

International Positions

• different beast
• database?
  • jobs.ac.uk
• different c.v.
• you write a profile of yourself to fit specialized MA courses
• SK's observation: Not a year long job cycle
  • don't bother unless you are done

The Market

• the market is bad, but we don't know what is going to happen
• yes, cast a wider net, but it's also your life to think about
  • if you know you will be unhappy somewhere, then don't apply there
  • don't rule things out because you think you might not like it in a place

Writing Sample

• the institutional wisdom is to send your best piece of writing regardless of what it is
  • RR found it very strange when it wasn't from the dissertation, and sometimes not even in the field
  • if you send something out of field, also send something from your dissertation
    • adhere to pagination rules
• don't shift to single space or change margins

Letters

• Have letters from all your committee members;
• teaching letter can also be from someone on your committee -
• send all of your letters, even if the ad, says "send no more than"; if it seems like boilerplate language, go ahead and send more

Questions

• LS - 2nd writing sample?
  • could request your introduction, another chapter, etc.

• LM - applying for things "sort of" in your field
  • there should be some connection
  • if you are really far afield, then it probably isn't worth applying
  • If you have only one chapter in the area, sure why not?
    • no chapters? then skip it

• LS - end notes count in writing sample pagination?
  • No

• LS - publications? Send stuff out now from dissertation so it looks like you are getting stuff out there?
  • say to yourself, "I have to professionalize for the market" and ask yourself how you would do it?
  • okay if not in primary field / rel. to dissertation because it shows you are professionalizing yourself
  • if you have not submitted anything for publication, it's probably a good idea to do so this summer
    • Deans are going to ask themselves, "can you do what it takes to get tenure?"

• YA - Timing for next meeting? Fall?
  • RR & AF will look at materials once the quarter starts
  • one on one meeting is the next meeting, though there will also be a Fall meeting on preparing for MLA, etc.

• LS - teaching school - also list publications first?
  • yes

• LM - what advice was RR not given, or what was the more valuable advice she was given?
  • not really advice given, but had to learn that appearance is important
    • appearance of materials, and learning to look a certain way
      • piercings, tattoos, etc. can be distracting - it's not right but it is the reality