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Job-Market Reporting Thread (2025-26)
Job-Market Discussion Thread (2025-26)

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Good idea or bad idea?

A while back, someone asked in a comment thread here at the Cocoon whether it might be a good idea to note in a job-market cover letter that they personally know someone at the university they were applying to. Over the years, job-candidates have asked a lot of questions like this, such as whether it's a good or bad idea to change the order of their CV for research and teaching schools; whether it is a good idea or bad idea to list papers under review on their CV; and so on. Looking back on my own time on the job-market, there were a lot of things like this: things I was uncertain were a good idea or a bad idea.

Anyway, it occurred to me the other day that insofar as we've had questions of this sort in the past–and insofar as I routinely ran into puzzles like this as a job-candidate–it might be good to devote a thread to questions like these. So, then, is there something job-market related that you're wondering whether it is a good idea or bad idea to do? If so, then ask away in the comments section below! Your question can deal with any part of the job market: dossier materials, Skype interviews, on-campus interviews, contract negotiations, and so on. Other readers should feel free to answer – but I may select some particularly good questions and devote separate threads to discussing them (in much the same vein as our "how can we help you?" series).

It will be interesting to see the kinds of questions people have – and hopefully we will be able to provide some good answers!

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17 responses to “Good idea or bad idea?”

  1. Another Anon

    Is it a good or bad idea to include a list of graduate coursework on one’s CV?
    Off the top of my head, here’re some pros and cons I’ve heard:
    Pro – could show evidence of breadth of philosophical education, which committee members might take as evidence that you’d be able to teach [insert courses here], or that you’d be interesting to have in the office down the hall, etc.
    Con – could show evidence of lack of breadth of …
    Pro – could show committee members that you’ve taken a course with [insert name of professor], which they might take as evidence that [insert something good]
    Con – …, which they might take as evidence that [insert something bad]
    Pro – helps to fill out an otherwise less filled out CV (e.g., if you don’t have pubs, etc)
    Con – in listing coursework you present yourself as a student with a more student-y mindset rather than as a potential co-equal colleague [someone regularly on search committees told me this]

    Reply
  2. Marshall

    I have a lot of experience teaching high school students (both philosophy and ‘debate’) and because of this I’m a much more experienced teacher than would be apparent if I just described my experience TAing and teaching college philosophy. Not only do I have much more ‘in the classroom’ teaching time, I’ve also filled curricular design and instructor development roles at academic camps (things I have not had any opportunity to do at the college level).
    I’m unsure if its a good idea to emphasize this experience in some way in my dossier. I expect it will show up in my CV no matter what, but I’m not sure if it is a good or bad idea to make it more prominent. For example, I could include teaching evaluations (either by students or my employers) in my teaching portfolio (they are quite a bit richer and more detailed than what I have through my department), or a letter on my teaching from one of my employers (one of whom is also a professional philosopher if that matters, though I expect he would not be the one I have write the letter as we are good friends).

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  3. Chris

    My view on courses: if you have a good variety and it helps make a case for an AOC, for example (or a secondary AOS), then the Pros (which are generally small) outweigh the Cons (which are also usually small).
    However, as the last point by “another anon” suggests, as you get further from finishing your PhD (after first year out, maybe?), I’d err on the side of not including them.
    I’ve been on many search committees for both teaching and research oriented jobs, and mostly they don’t matter much. But in some cases they can help make the case why you’re competent to teach in Ancient, etc. For a big research job they probably don’t matter. Once it a while, they can lead to a question on a campus visit (e.g. “I see you took so and so’s seminar in philosophy of physics” etc).

    Reply
  4. JR

    Not directly related to job-market but I ask anyway.
    After receiving a rejection from a journal is it a good or bad idea to send the paper to another journal in a shape that includes phrases such as: “anonymous referee raised the following objection/worry…” So is it a good or bad idea to show the editors/referees indirectly that the previous version of the paper was rejected from a different journal?
    cons: it might indicate that the paper should be rejected because it was rejected before.
    pros: it might indicate that the paper should be accepted because it has improved a lot after the previous submission.

    Reply
  5. Amanda

    Coursework: I would only list it if it is relevant to proving your AOC, and if you are only a year or two past the PhD.
    Marshall: I think your experience might be incredibly helpful for teaching jobs, and I would definitely include student reviews in your teaching dossier, and probably mention a line or two about your experience in the cover letter and teaching statement. In this market committees want someone who stands out, and that experience makes you stand out in a good way for teaching schools. Even better if you can tie your experience to a specific school, i.e. your high school students come from a similar background to the students at the school you are applying to, etc.
    As for a letter – you should have one teaching letter. I would only use the one from your high school experience if you can’t get a better letter about your college teaching. While the high school stuff can help you, ultimately the committee wants to know that it will carry over to college. On the other hand there is no harm in having a letter uploaded to interfolio. Some schools have no limit on number of letters, and in that case I think it would be fine to upload the high school letter along with the college teaching letter.

    Reply
  6. Christopher Hitchcock

    JR: A compromise is possible. It is common to anonymize/blind acknowledgments as part of the process of blinding a paper for review. Thus you could write “[blinded] raised the following objection…” and add in that it was an anonymous referee after acceptance.
    Coursework: Chris has it right. The pros and cons are small. But it makes more sense to include coursework if you are applying straight out of grad school, and to delete it if you have already been out for a few years.

    Reply
  7. anon1

    This is slightly off topic but how long does it usually take search committees to make their offer to their first-choice candidate after all on-campus interviews have been conducted?

    Reply
  8. Marshall

    Thanks Amanda, this is extremely helpful!

    Reply
  9. Another Anon

    Here’s a question about ‘other work experience’ — include a small section for this on the CV, or not?
    So, I have a fair bit of experience, prior to academia, in the business world doing technology-related stuff. On the one hand, this experience isn’t obviously directly relevant to academic philosophy in the way that, say, teaching in high school shows general experience in teaching (at minimum), or working in biology might be if you do phil bio, etc. (Of course, maybe I’m just having a failure of imagination here, or failing to think outside of the box.) On the other hand, in the career I had one gains a lot of general experience, soft skills, and other proficiencies that can be pretty valuable, but that may not obviously show up on the stat sheet, so to speak.

    Reply
  10. postdoc

    Good or idea or bad idea—viz., listing your AOS and AOCs on your CV when applying for a strictly teaching position? (No AOS/AOCs were mentioned in the advertisement.)

    Reply
  11. Nathan

    One more to throw out there: is it worth listing teaching workshops you’ve been to, e.g. APA Teaching Hubs, or your university’s teaching center workshops, under a header of “Professional Development”?
    My thought was that it may help for teaching-focused schools to show you’re attempting to better your teaching in a more formal environment. But even if it’s stuck at the back of the CV next to “Professional Associations” it may seem like padding. Thoughts?

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  12. Compy

    Another anon,
    absolutely do not list your computer skills on your c.v. for a philosophy job unless you are listing them as a part of your research abilities, and you have published articles using them. Otherwise it looks like you are trying to get in as the guy who will stock the shelves, etc. I helped someone some years ago who had such things listed on his c.v. The year he removed them, he got a permanent position. Clearly that was not the only issue, but listing such skills does not make you look like a peer/colleague. You should be selling yourself as a philosopher.

    Reply
  13. Guy who knows LaTeX

    @Compy
    Not sure whether the computer stuff is harmful. This past cycle I had stuff on my CV about Python, LaTeX, and R, and I had a ton of interviews. These skills also came up in discussion on two different campus visits, even though they are not even indirectly relevant to my current research.
    You’re perceived as a peer and a colleague when you have good publications and conference presentations, and meaningful teaching experience. If you have lines in those areas, you can include a lot of other things on your CV, which are then magically converted from filler into interesting features of your candidacy.

    Reply
  14. Amanda

    I think listing the computer stuff is fine, and more likely to help than hurt – as long as it is near the bottom of the CV after all your academic qualifications. There might be a random reason why the committee would like your experience, perhaps they think it means you can teach a philosophy of technology class or something. My only hesitation would depend on if listing this gave the impression that you are much older than the average candidate.. l do think there is some age discrimination (not always but sometimes) for first time TT candidates over 40.
    Nathan – yes, for sure list your workshops. But I would not list them under professional development. I would have a heading called “teacher training” right before or after listing your teaching experience. I find it very unlikely this would ever hurt you, and some teaching schools do like to see these things as it shows commitment to teaching.
    Re listing AOS and AOC for teaching job only – yes, I would. It would be very odd to see a CV without this listed, and there is a good chance the committee would like to know your specialization.
    As for the time it takes search committees to get back to you after all campuses visits – that varies a lot. I have been notified the same night I left my flyout, to a few days later, to 3 weeks later, to never. It might take many weeks if the school offers the job to someone else and still has you as a second or third choice. They have to wait for the first choice candidate to accept or decline, and they do not always tell you what is going on. Typically there is no harm emailing the chair and asking if they can give a timeline estimate, and if you ever get another offer email the chair immediately. They can often speed up the process in these cases.

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  15. Sam Duncan

    Marshall,
    I want to add on to what Amanda said and maybe qualify it a bit as well. I think for a community college your experience teaching high school classes would be really helpful so if you apply to CC’s I’d emphasize it. Most CCs are having enrollment problems due to the good economy (people don’t go back to school when they don’t need to) and one way we’ve all been trying to make that up is through dual enrollment classes. That is college classes for high school students. A lot of people don’t want to teach those classes because they have no idea how to teach high school students and are deeply spooked by the horror stories about helicopter parents and such. So the fact that you’re not only willing to teach such courses but have experience with actual high school students could be a big selling point.
    Also, I think for most schools one teaching letter is optimal. But at CCs I don’t think having more would hurt you since most care a lot about teaching with research being secondary. If you can it might not be a bad idea to have two teaching letters but only send both to CC jobs.
    Oh and Nathan I think similar considerations apply with your question and CCs and probably other teaching focused schools as well. Admin types at my school love that sort of professional development to the extent they force us to do it.

    Reply
  16. Mike Titelbaum

    Just to add to what Amanda said about search committee response times: After campus visits are complete, the department has to get together to decide to whom to make their first offer. Then that has to be conveyed to a dean or other higher-up, who approves the choice and initiates the process of creating a formal offer. There can be some lag between the visits and when the department gets together, and another (often longer) lag until a formal offer is made.
    If you’ve had a flyout, it is appropriate to ask (usually near the end of the visit) what the department’s timeline is for making a decision. And then once the department does make a decision, they are often happy to communicate it to you before the formal offer is ready.

    Reply
  17. Another Anon

    Thanks Compy, Amanda, and Guy! All good thoughts, and the differing perspectives are interesting. As with many things in this area, there’s lots of disagreement!

    Reply

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