Loyola University Chicago

Welcome to the English department's job search information Website. For information on placement, please contact the department's placement officer, Paul Jay.

The information contained here is designed to familiarize you with the job search in English—how it works, when to begin thinking about the job search, and how to design your coursework, exams, conference papers, publications, and dissertation topic with placement in mind. If you are visiting for the first time, be sure to start by reading the introduction below. The search itself can seem daunting, and for many years the number of Ph.D.s looking for full-time teaching positions has far exceeded the number of actual advertised positions (follow the link to the MLA Report on Professional Employment for an overview of the situation). The job market is tight, it may remain so for some time, and even the very best students with good publication records may search for two or even three years before finding a position, if they find one at all. Still, our department has had remarkable success in recent years placing its students (see Recent Placement History), so there is good reason to be encouraged. We're clearly doing something right.

The Academic Job Search: An Introduction

It is never too soon to begin thinking about the job market. Keep in
mind that the range of courses you choose to take, and the specialized
courses you take in your fields of concentration, will begin to determine
your qualifications for certain positions before you even begin your
dissertation. Prospective employers often review transcripts to determine
what courses applicants have had in the field(s) for which they are
advertising. The ideal candidate will have a good and clear fit between his or her coursework, fields of specialization (as reflected in the Ph.D.
examination fields) and the dissertation topic. A late decision to write
a dissertation in an area where you have had little coursework can be
a mistake, though sometimes this might be unavoidable. So, a few
suggestions.

Try to plan your coursework so that you have demonstrable strength in your area of specialization, but also some breadth (i.e., if your dissertation deals with mid-20th-century American literature, it would help to have as much coursework as possible in 19th- and 20th-century American literatures). Departments will often want you to teach broadly around your chosen period. Be able to demonstrate competence in literary criticism and theory. There should be some demonstrable connections between your coursework in this area and the theory and method employed in your dissertation. 

Conference papers can be invaluable in gaining experience, establishing your credentials in a field and networking with people at conferences. However, you should keep in mind that graduate student-only conferences won't count for a lot on your curriculum vitae (C.V.), and papers on topics outside the field(s) of a department's advertised specialization won't get much attention. Limit the number of conferences you present at to a few and concentrate on writing your dissertation and getting some of your work published. Publication can often be the single most important determining factor within your control in underscoring your expertise and qualifications. Publication is now, essentially, a requirement, and having a couple of good publications going into the job search is a big plus.

Develop a marketable dissertation topic. Make sure the topic you choose qualifies you for a job. Most positions are still advertised by period and/or national literature (such as 19th-century British poetry or Renaissance drama or American literature to 1865). Ask yourself what relationship your topic bears to these kinds of categories. Of course, this situation is somewhat in flux since many departments are currently looking for Americanists who specialize in non-traditional literatures (African, Hispanic, Asian, Native American), or for students qualified to teach postcolonial or "world" literature, as well as theory.

Whatever topic you develop, you should be able to demonstrate its
contemporary interest and relevance. It should be clear to a job search
committee that you are familiar with critical debates in your field and
that your dissertation intervenes in those debates in an original fashion.

Get as much teaching experience as you can, not only in composition, which is crucial, but in your field of specialization as well. If you are a graduate assistant you will have had training and experience in composition, and a chance to work as a teaching assistant in a literature course. Be sure to apply for teaching fellowships and summer teaching to enhance your experience teaching writing and to develop experience teaching literature. Make sure your advisor or some member of the faculty visits each of the classes you teach at least once and writes a letter about your teaching for your file.

How the Academic Job Search Works

The vast majority of teaching positions in English are advertised in
the MLA Job Information List, published in October, December, February and April. The list is now available in a searchable, online format. (To access the list you will need the department's user name and password. Check with the Graduate Programs Director in mid-September for this information.)

Other positions are advertised in the Chronicle of Higher Education, and some job announcements are sent directly to the department and are posted in the work room to the left of the copy machine. You should check all of these resources on a regular basis. If you are looking for work in the Greater Chicago area you can write letters of inquiry directly to local institutions.

When to Enter the Job Market

You should not consider applying for a full-time, tenure-track position unless your dissertation is substantially near completion, you have finished, polished sample chapters to send out as writing samples, and you expect to have the Ph.D. in hand by the end of the academic year. It is also extremely helpful to have one or two publications accepted or published at the time of application. Short of this, you should at least have an essay or two submitted and under consideration at appropriate journals.

The job search in English is organized around publication of the MLA
Job Information List. By the time the first edition appears in the middle
of October you should have done the following:  

• Decided on the kinds of positions you intend to apply for. You should have more than one area of specialization in mind.
• Drafted letters of application for these positions and had them reviewed by your committee and the placement officer. Your letters
  should be distinctive, tailored to the specific kind of position for which you will be applying. Sample letters are available here for you to review. (Please request the password from the placement officer.)
• Created a C.V. Sample C.V.s are available here for you to review. (Please request the password from the placement officer.)
• Set up a placement file with the Career Development Center.
• Prepared writing samples, either chapters from your dissertation or apreviously published essay. 

You should begin checking the Chronicle of Higher Education for job
advertisements in the early Fall. When the October job list appears you should review it immediately, discuss positions that look right for you with your advisor(s) and the placement officer, and begin sending out letters of application. Most departments ask for a letter and C.V. only. Some may also ask you to send a placement file and/or a writing sample. Many departments hold off making these requests until they have reviewed your letter and C.V.

After your letters go out you will wait to be contacted by departments
interested in pursuing your application further. Screening of these materials runs through mid-December. In the meantime, another edition of the job list will appear in early December, and it may contain new positions you want to apply to. When departments have completed screening applications they phone those applicants they wish to interview. These phone calls can come as early as the first week of December and as late as December 23. Interviews take place at the MLA convention, which is scheduled to run every year from December 27-30. You should plan on attending in order to be available for interviews. The placement officer will schedule a mock interview for you before the conference if you wish.

After MLA interviews search committees return home and reconvene in
early to mid-January. They usually decide on a short list of about three
candidates to invite campus for a visit. Phone calls inviting you for such a
visit may come anytime between early January and late February, depending upon the length of each department's winter break and how many candidates they want to bring to campus. During this period you should continue to consult new editions of the job list, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and any job announcements that may appear in the department's work room. Keep in mind that while some positions are filled in January and early February, many offers are not made until March or even late April.

Creating a Placement File

Contact Loyola's Career Development Center to begin the process of setting up a placement file. This file, commonly referred to in our profession and in job ads as a "dossier," usually contains your graduate school transcripts (from Loyola and anywhere else you've done graduate work), at least three letters of recommendation and a copy of your C.V. This file needs to be complete and ready to be mailed out by the middle of October. Some schools will ask for your dossier in their ad, but most wait until they've reviewed your letter of application before requesting it. Some departments will ask you to have the dossier sent, while others will contact the Career Development Center directly. The Career Development Center charges a small fee for each copy of your dossier they send out.

Letters of Recommendation

Most placement files contain at least three letters of recommendation. Normally, these are written by the candidate's dissertation committee members, although you may want to include other letters from faculty who have reviewed your teaching or worked with you in some other special capacity. Make sure that your letters cover your teaching abilities as well as your coursework and dissertation. Faculty members at Loyola are experienced writing job letters, but you should meet with each of your recommenders to discuss the positions for which your are applying, to let them know who else will be writing letters for you, and to suggest the kinds of things you would like them to cover in their letters. You should arrange to have these letters written during the month of September so that they are in your placement file when you begin writing application letters.

Curriculum Vitae

Your curriculum vitae (C.V.) is an extremely important part of your job search. Departments request that you send a copy of your C.V. along with your letter of application, and it is usually given very careful attention. Some job search committee members may go directly to your C.V. before they even read your letter of application to make sure your qualifications fit their advertised needs. It is important, therefore, that you take great care in putting your C.V. together and that it clearly conveys your expertise and accomplishments. A C.V. usually contains the following entries (sample C.V.s are available from the placement officer): 

• Personal Information: Put your name, centered, at the top of the C.V., underlined or bolded, in a font larger than your text, followed by both your home address and your department address, including phone numbers and your e-mail address.
  
• Education: List your degrees in descending order from Ph.D. to B.A., including dates of completion. If you haven't yet received the Ph.D., put the month and year you expect to receive it, followed by the word "expected" in parenthesis, i.e. "May 2007 (expected)." You might also include under this heading the three fields in which you were examined for the Ph.D., since this can help underscore the range of your preparation and specializations. You can also list your competencies in foreign languages here.
  
• Dissertation: The title and a brief (6-8 line) description of your dissertation should follow. This can come under the "Education" heading or in a separate entry. List your committee either after the title or underneath the description. 
  
• Teaching: List your teaching experience, beginning with your most recent assignments. Include the institution, course title and semester taught. Be specific but don't let this entry get too long.
  
• Publications: If you have relevant publications, list them according to MLA Works Cited format, beginning with the most recent. Include forthcoming essays if they have already been accepted, and submitted articles if they are out to a journal.
  
• Conference Papers: List beginning with most recent. Cite the paper title, then the conference title, location and date. Formatting note: For institutions with a strong commitment to research and publication, you may want to list your publications and papers before your teaching experience.
  
• Service: List department committees and university committees you have served on, E.G.S.A. positions and any other relevant service (Writing Center Director, etc.). Academic Honors: List honors conferred, including distinctions on exams, Clayes Award, college awards, Graduate Assistantships, Teaching Fellowships, Schmitt and Dissertation Fellowships, and other outside awards.
  
• References: List those people who have written letters for your placement file and/or can be contacted to inquire about your qualifications. List them by name, rank and affiliation.

Letter of Application

Note: Sample letters of application are on file with the placement officer and are available for you to review.

Be sure to write your letter on English department stationary (unless you have a teaching position at another institution). Your letter should begin by stating that you are writing to apply for the position the department advertised in the Job Information List (or wherever you saw it advertised). Be sure to make it clear exactly which job you are applying for, since some departments advertise for multiple positions in a single ad.

Your letter should state your qualifications for the position you are applying for as specifically as possible (in terms of your coursework, examination fields, publications, teaching experience and dissertation topic). Your letter should include a one paragraph description of your dissertation and a second paragraph describing your teaching experiences and interests, discussing courses you would like to teach in the future. If you have been a graduate assistant you should
describe the teaching preparation it afforded you. Be sure to mention any awards you have received at Loyola (Clayes Award, Teaching Fellowship, Dissertation Fellowship, etc.) or elsewhere. If you have publications, mention them. Throughout, the letter should be tailored as specifically as possible to the position for which you are applying. Be sure, however, to stress your experience teaching writing and your interest in continuing to
do so, since most positions will involve some composition teaching. If the job ad to which you are applying mentions desired secondary fields of specialization try to stress your qualifications in these areas as well. If the position is with a department primarily dedicated to teaching, put your teaching experience first in the letter. If it is a research institution that will expect publication, feature your dissertation description and publications/submissions first, then discuss your teaching experience.

It is always a good idea to look at the Websites of the departments you are applying to so that you can get a feel for the institution, the makeup and character of the department, its faculty and the courses it offers. You should be able to tell from the Website what courses you would teach in your field.

Additional Resources

The Academic Job Search - A very comprehensive site produced by the Graduate English Program at Texas A&M University. This site is full of useful, practical information on preparing letters, the C.V., finding openings, applying for positions and preparing for interviews at MLA. It also contains links to a variety of other sites.

A bibliography of books and articles about the job search in English

The Journeyman Project: Getting Into and Out of Academe, by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, deputy editor, Encyclopaedia Britannica. The story of one Ph.D.s transition from academe to an editorial position with Encyclopedia Britannica. Contains a lot of helpful suggestions for thinking about your training in terms of looking for work outside of full-time teaching.  

NYU's Online guide to over 300 English department Websites

Online guide to two-year colleges - A comprehensive list of Websites for two-year colleges in the United States. It includes community colleges, technical colleges, junior colleges, branches of four-year colleges that focus on associate degree education and accredited two-year proprietary schools.

A Yellow Wood: Diverging Career Paths for English Ph.D.s.
A very helpful Website on careers other than full-time university teaching for Ph.D.s in the Humanities set up by the University of California, Santa Barbara. This site contains a list of alternative career paths and links to a number of resources relevant to each.