Placement resources

Students & Jobseekers | Faculty & Recommenders | Graduate Placements

What to expect from the job market for reseach/teaching positions at 4-year colleges and universities: For information regarding this topic, please download the following document.

How to build a dossier
In most job advertisements, the term "dossier" refers simply to confidential letters of recommendation written by your professors (when you are just graduating) and eventually by other colleagues in your field (people who know your work and/or have observed your teaching). Graduate students applying for their first academic jobs should have letters from their dissertation/thesis director or primary advisor, members of their committee who have worked closely with them, and at least one letter focused on teaching by someone other than the dissertation/thesis director or primary advisor. Alumni returning to the job market after having held at least one academic position will want to have as few letters as possible from their original graduate school professors and advisors. Letters should come from colleagues in the field (including those at their current institution), if possible from those who are widely recognized. Anyone returning to the market should try to request updated letters wherever possible, even if it's just to get the recommender to change the year's date. In general, letters in the dossier should certainly never be more than a year old.

It's a good idea to give your recommenders plenty of notice when asking for a new letter or an update of an existing letter. It's also general practice to waive your right of access to these letters. Our credentials management service, Interfolio, issues a waiver form for each letter you expect to have in your file. To waive your access and ensure the confidentiality of your letters, simply check the corresponding box and sign each waiver form before you give it to the respective recommender.

To set up an account to manage your dossier, you will need to contact the placement director to receive instructions and a special code. To learn more about the online credentials management service we use, visit www.interfolio.com.

Where to apply for jobs
There are a number of places to look for academic jobs. Visiting or tenure-track teaching/research positions at 4-year colleges and universities will usually emphasize research and publication in addition to teaching (teaching loads will often be 2-2, 3-2, or 3-3).

Teaching and administrative positions (tenure and non-tenure-track) at junior, community and some 4-year colleges will often emphasize teaching or administrative duties over research (administrative jobs may be 9-5, teaching jobs may involve higher courseloads -- 4-3, 4-4 or more).

Postdoctoral fellowships are usually 1- or 2-year positions that involve a comparatively low teaching load and encourage the pursuit of research and publication. Applicants for these positions tend to be in the first year or two out of graduate school.

Use the links below according to the type of position you are seeking:

Key Job Lists
Modern Language Association's Job Information List (JIL)
Listings for literature, creative writing, and rhet/comp jobs at www.ade.org starting in the 3rd week of Sept. Useride & password required - contact Placement Director for more information. (Be sure to go through the ADE site for the list, not through www.mla.org -- our passcode only works through ADE.)
AWP (Associated Writing Programs) Career Center
Listings for creative writing and composition jobs at
http://www.awpwriter.org/careers/index.htm
We don't have a subscription password, but print lists usually are available through the Program for Writers.
NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Classifieds for English ed and rhet/comp jobs
Listings at http://serv1.ncte.org/classifieds/
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Listings for a variety of academic jobs at http://chronicle.com/jobs/
Week-old ads can be searched without a subscription password Key Job Interview Venues

MLA
December 27-30
Information at www.mla.org

AWP
Feb/March/April (schedule varies)
Information at www.awpwriter.org

CCCC (Conference on College Composition and Communication, aka Four C's)
March (schedule varies)
Information at www.ncte.org/profdev/conv/cccc

Other resources
We have a wide variety of resources available to you, whether you're an MA or graduating English major thinking of applying to PhD programs, an MA or PhD student thinking of applying to jobs from junior colleges to research universities, or a graduate of our program returning to the market. Contact the placement director for access to any materials not marked for download.

> Sample interview questions for MLA-style interviews, phone interviews, and campus visits. Click here for the associated document.

> Sample cover letters, cv's, dissertation summaries, teaching statements for jobs at all advanced academic levels, from junior colleges to research universities (samples also cover a range of fields: creative writing, comp/rhetoric, and literature)

> Contact information for area junior and community colleges who hire composition and literature instructors, plus descriptions of common materials required for applying to those jobs

> Sample statements of interest for applications to graduate programs in English

We also offer workshops and individual consultation on:

See the department calendar for specific dates or contact the placement director for more information.