A few weeks ago, I decided to start a new feature at the Cocoon, "How can we help you?". Basically, because the Cocoon is here to help early-career philosophers (e.g. grad students, job-marketeers, postdocs, adjuncts, etc.), I thought it might be a good idea to solicit questions from readers on a fairly regular basis. Given that we are rapidly approaching the heart of the fall academic job market, I figured now might be a good time to once again solicit reader queries. So, then, how can we help you? Do you have questions about the job market you could use help with? Or, are you grappling with non-job-market things that we might help with? Just chime in below in the comment section and we'll do our best to lend a helping hand!
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Posted in How can we help you?
3 responses to “How can we help you?”
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Are there any philosophers working at non-academic organizations that are currently hiring, and for positions that philosophy PhDs–or former PhD students–might qualify well for? I speak on behalf of myself and maybe other philosophy grads in saying that we are more than happy to take almost any non-academic position insofar as it provides health insurance and enough money to scrape a living off. Let us know in the comments or by advertising on blogs like this.
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I am currently on the job market and would love advice on how to signal in my applications that I will certainly be done in time to start a position in the summer or fall. I have heard conflicting advice on this: defend as early as possible, have the PhD in hand, etc. I am in a situation where I could defend as early as March (and my whole committee has met and agreed that I am ready), but as soon as I defend, my funding gets cut off. So I would like to hold off on the defence so that I can continue to receive funding and not go into debt (!!) If I say in my cover letter that I will be defending in June, is that a red flag or is it early enough for search committees to take my application seriously?
Thank you! -
Hi D.
A search committee has no reason to believe an applicant that s/he will be done her/his dissertation when s/he says s/he will be done in an application letter. We have all been lied to far too many times. And the applicant is not always in the best position to say this with any authority.
Indeed, most of us do not even trust thesis supervisors on this issue.
I know this is not what you want to hear but that is how it looks from the other side of the table. I would always pick an applicant who has their degree in hand.
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