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

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Job-market discussion thread (2025-26 season)

Given that it's late August, new job ads are posting, and someone seems to have already asked for an update on one of the jobs on last year's reporting board, I figured now is probably a good time to start this season's job-market boards.

As many readers of the Cocoon may recall, each job season the Cocoon hosts two different job-market threads:

  1. A job-market discussion thread (the present thread): to commiserate about the market, discuss particular job ads, the market in general, questions about application materials, interviewing, alt-ac opportunities, and so on.
  2. A job-market reporting thread: to post news about interviews, on-campus visits, offers, rejection notices, etc.

This post will serve as the discussion thread, and as in the past I will open the reporting thread at a later date, around or after most job applications become due.

Because someone always asks, "Why two threads?", there are a couple of reasons. First, some people may want to discuss the market but not stress over daily news regarding which jobs they still do or don't have a chance for. Conversely, others may not want to discuss the market but just want news about the jobs they've applied for. Second, these threads can get very long already, so I think the best way for people to get the information they want in a well-ordered format is simply to have two threads.

A few final notes:

  • This thread (the post you are reading right now!) will be the home of this year's job-market discussion thread. So, if you want to discuss this year's job-market, just comment below.
  • Please reserve job-market news (i.e. interviews, on-campus visits, hires, etc.) for the job-market reporting thread.
  • A 'permalink' to this thread will be on the upper right of blog's right sidebar for the rest of the job season. –>
  • Because of Typepad's functionality limitations (which only permits 100 comments before starting a new comment page), readers may elect to bookmark each new page of comments as each new page emerges. I recognize that it can be frustrating to scroll through page after page to get to new comments, and I think this is probably the best solution given Typepad's functionality limitations.

Finally, as always, readers are asked to please bear in mind the Cocoon's supportive mission. I try not to moderate with too heavy of a hand, as I don't like to squelch reasonable discussion and debate. I also realize that the job-market can be an emotional roller-coaster, and that passions can run deep on job-market issues. But the Cocoon has always been intended to be an unique oasis of sorts: as a refuge for early-career philosophers to support each other and discuss issues related to their careers and the profession in productive, supportive way. So, I will moderate carefully to ensure that these threads remain a welcome environment for everyone–and, of course, if anyone has any concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know.

All that being said, discuss away!

Posted in

190 responses to “Job-market discussion thread (2025-26 season)”

  1. worried

    are there any jobs???

    Reply
  2. c

    Re worried: no

    Reply
  3. Early?

    How many postings are there normally around this time of year?

    Reply
  4. On the search

    Yup. Jobs have been posted on philjobs and the higher ed board. Not sure how the rate of job postings compare with previous seasons but some jobs are coming through.

    Reply
  5. Sara

    @worried I’m in the EU but have the same question… Really not happy about graduating from my PhD in 2026 lol

    Reply
  6. Don’t worry yet

    It is very, very early in the season, but it does seem that there are less advertised (at least with October 1st deadlines) than in past years.

    Reply
  7. grateful to be waiting

    we have this same conversation at this time every year. it’s still so, so early. i know of multiple searches whose job ads have not posted yet.

    Reply
  8. TT

    FWIW, my SLAC department is planning to conduct a TT search this fall, most likely with an early October deadline, but the ad has not been officially approved yet. I’d expect that there may be ads posted a bit later in the cycle with shorter turnaround times, given that many universities have been unsure about budget etc. with everything going on in the last few months. Not to say that this will be a stellar year for the market, but don’t give up hope just yet!

    Reply
  9. Speculative Knowledge

    I also have it on good sources that a Canadian University will be posting a job in Ethics, FWIW.

    Reply
  10. R1s

    I think you can expect almost no jobs at US R1 universities. SLACs and universities without medical schools have been hit less hard, but I suspect there will still be fewer jobs at those sorts of places too. But there are already jobs listed on philjobs, and that’s better than a lot of people thought it would be this year.

    Reply
  11. Curious and wondering

    Any word on jobs hiring for Non-western or Global this year?

    Reply
  12. non-western

    @Curious and wondering UCL and Toronto both have ads for non-western

    Reply
  13. Hoping for hope

    I know that no one will have knowledge about this, but wondering what people are forecasting for next cycle’s (2026) job market. Assuming things are roughly stable, would you expect a slight recovery of jobs or decrease?

    Reply
  14. Hoping along with you

    @Hoping for hope: No one should listen to me, but I’d bet on the current job cycle (25-26) being worse than last year (24-25) and the next job cycle (26-27) being better than last year (24-255). Admins are spooked by all the uncertainties and will not approve searches this year, but will find that worst case scenarios do not materialize, and internal pressures will push them to get back to “business as usual” in 26-27. So hires that would have happened this year will be put off until next year. This is my hopeful stance.

    Reply
  15. berkeley grad student

    No, it’s a regular search.

    Reply
  16. R1 faculty

    I don’t see anyone on their website who fits the description for this job at all (if you mean the Jewish thought one–I didn’t see anything on philjobs from them and I saw a link to that posted on facebook). But, for what it’s worth, it’s, while not unheard of, extremely unusual for R1s, especially ones with prestigious PhD programs, to hire their own lecturers into tenure track jobs. (This is not me approving of that fact, but it is a fact.)

    Reply
  17. R1 faculty

    Oh, I now see you mean the Kant or post-Kant one. It seems extraordinarily unlikely to me that this ad was written to move a lecturer who happens to work in a similar (but quite broad!) area of philosophy to the tenure track.

    Reply
  18. marcelian hope

    @in house, I totally see your point, and I too find it suspicious. I don’t really understand the department’s necessity to hire another Kant scholar given that quite a few professors have an expertise in Kant, albeit of a strictly analytic orientation.

    Reply
  19. knock it off

    @Bers Offerman This is almost certainly false and more importantly not the kind of post that’s in line with the cocoon mission.
    Now on thin and anonymous speculation, would-be applicants may believe Berkeley is not engaging in a good faith search. Now, if the person you’re clearly identifying does get the job, you’ve aired public speculation that it was not because they won a good faith search. And perhaps, would-be applicants may be discouraged enough to not apply.
    Weird behavior. Post this with your name on it if you’re happy to suggest this kind of thing.

    Reply
  20. Agree

    Honestly a few posts about this job are… at least weird. Why would a random anonymous commentator know better than Berkeley’s faculty what they should hire in? Just for example.

    Reply
  21. Marcus Arvan

    Moderator’s note (updated): I have taken down two comments that several people raised concerns to me about (viz. the Cocoon’s mission), along with another that seems to me to raise similar issues.
    Moving forward, I would like to ask commenters to avoid speculating about identifiable individuals (particularly potential job candidates).

    Reply
  22. apologies

    i think the designation “post-kantian” very likely indicates a continental-oriented scholar in the kantian and post-kantian tradition (a phenomenologist, a critical theorist, a hegelian, etc.).
    i made the original post (now deleted) and i apologize for including information that identified an individual – obviously wasn’t thinking. r1 gave a pretty reasonable response and i didn’t expect the conversation to move far beyond that. find some of the overly moralistic responses on both sides to be a bit weird, to be frank. anyhow, carry on.

    Reply
  23. counterpoint

    perhaps controversial, but, as the job market is very thin this year & there are an immense number of pro forma searches (whether to move a candidate from one position to another, for visa approval, etc.) i think in general information about how likely the department is to make an external hire is genuinely crucial for prioritising applications & effort spent on materials. of course this shouldn’t defame identifiable individuals, but i agree that the moralising to this effect is quite strange. practically speaking shunning this kind of talk at cocoon will simply ensure only the well-connected know which jobs to invest the most time & effort in, because it’s a given that it disseminates through academic whisper networks regardless.

    Reply
  24. Data need

    Does anyone have real data about what the job market looked like in past years by mid-September? I feel like there are no jobs, and I want to turn that feeling into a justified belief.

    Reply
  25. S.

    RE the post about the Berkeley Kant and post-Kantian job:
    I don’t think that there is reason to suppose that this post is earmarked in advance for a continental-focused post-Kantian scholar, simply because Berkeley already has Kantians on the faculty (nor do I find it suspicious that they are advertising in Kant). FWIW R1 departments are often particularly likely to hire in areas where they already have some faculty members because they’re trying to consolidate a core strength. More specifically: if there are only senior faculty in a given area, an addition of a more junior scholar in the same area can be desired both to keep the department up-to-date with the newest developments in the field, and to ensure the continuity of that area of strength into the department’s next generation. Some of those senior members could be looking to retire in the coming years. Or it can be a matter of keeping the department overall competitive as a top destination within a sub-speciality by having a cluster of people who make the department into a major hub for that area.
    In general, R1 departments aren’t necessarily trying to check the box on every single sub-specialty, so much as build up a combination of depth and breadth, with a number of distinct focuses that establishes the department as a destination for top graduate students in that area.
    tldr–it’s not odd for a department to hire in an area where they already have a couple of people.

    Reply
  26. Data Available

    @data needed The most reliable source is Charles Lassiter (Gonzaga). You can access these data on his blog here: https://www.charleslassiter.net/blog-data.html

    Reply
  27. Some data

    @data needed
    A quick search of PhilJobs turns up the following results. TT jobs posted on PhilJobs in the period between August 1 and September 12:
    2021: 29
    2022: 36
    2023: 37
    2024: 36
    2025: 27
    So postings seem to be down significantly from the last few years, but not catastrophically so.

    Reply
  28. dataverse

    Wonder what those numbers look like when you take out AI/Data Ethics as AOS and VAP/temp/adjunct.

    Reply
  29. Still No Jobs? Still No Jobs!

    Just checking in every few days to make sure that there are still effectively zero TT jobs in my AoS. Well, at least it saves the heartbreak of not getting a job if there are no jobs for me to be rejected from in the first place!
    To those who specialize in AI ethics, hang in there, the market may be kind to you this cycle. To everyone else, it may be time to start considering your alt-ac options (which is what I’m now getting started on; if anyone has recommendations for particularly helpful alt-ac resources, feel free to point me in that general direction).

    Reply
  30. Processing

    @dataverse I count 55 junior tenure track jobs with only 7 AI/Phil of Tech (12%) Does 12% make it still a hot field or is interest in it also waning?

    Reply
  31. no jobs

    I think it’s safe to say: the reporting thread is threatening to become otiose as a result of there being no jobs

    Reply
  32. January 2026 start date?

    I am somewhat perplexed by a recent ad in philjobs that lists a mid-October deadline for a TT job with a January 2026 start date. I’m guessing most people are in year-long academic contracts that would preclude them from moving somewhere new to start an entirely new job this coming January. Is it typically expected that employers would try to let people out of their contracts if they secure a TT job that needs to start partway through the year? Or, alternatively, should I take this as a sign that it may be an inside hire or something?

    Reply
  33. Sam Elgin

    Re: Start Date.

    I am in the midst of a job-move that involves starting in January, 2026. (I had hoped it would start last July, but the mess that is University bureaucracy took much longer than expected).

    Moving for a January start date has been much more difficult than I expected. My current university has informed me that, while I will officially be employed through December, I will not receive a paycheck for either the months of November or December should I leave in January. (They get away with this given the academic pay calendar – spreading out 9-months pay over 12 months. In effect, they claim that they have already advanced my salary for November and December, and so have already paid me for those months). My university is also putting non-monetary pressure on me to remain at my position; telling me that they had policies against academics resigning in the middle of the academic year. This seems to be false. Other academics at my institution have left mid-year, and there is nothing in my offer letter, contract, or related documents that prohibit mid-year resignation, and it looks like they are relenting.

    Not all universities react this way. I know of other academics who started positions in January whose institutions did not object. If someone is considering a position with a mid-academic-year start, I’d recommend looking into your own university’s policies to see if it is feasible.

    Reply
  34. rabbit

    Another thought on the January start date.

    Sorry, I can’t be bothered to try to look up which job post you’re referring to. But in the continental Europe markets, it’s pretty common for jobs to start at the beginning of the calendar year or at seemingly random times of year. This is because jobs are often tied to grant funding rather than to the academic teaching schedule. If the Jan start date is happening in (say) the US then I’d imagine they have an urgent teaching need for the spring semester.

    In any case, if you have an offer for a new job that overlaps with an existing contract, then you either need to negotiate a delayed start of the new job, or you need to leave your existing contract early. A delayed start is often possible for research positions, especially if it’s for legitimate legal/logistical reasons like if you are moving internationally. Leaving an existing contract early also should not be a problem, at least legally, though it could have social repercussions. If you are currently a postdoc, it’s widely accepted that postdocs may need to leave their positions early if they find a longer-term position. Definitely don’t pass up applying to a suitable TT job just because you are in the middle of a short-term contract.

    I also happen to be making a mid-year move and have had no issues related to my salary, but I am moving between two European countries that have civilized laws and practices related to the compensation of university employees. My sympathies to those in the US who may face intimidation from their institution for making a lateral move. I don’t believe a university can compel someone to remain in a position, but I’m not a legal expert at all and understand the kinds of power imbalances one is subject to at US institutions. Sadly this is among the reasons I’ve decided to leave the US system permanently.

    Reply
  35. Trying Not to Spiral

    Am I crazy, or is the job market looking *much* more bleak than it was last cycle?

    Reply
  36. It is bleak

    You’re right it is much slimmer. This is not just relevant for philosophy, it’s also been relevant for other academic job market cycles, unfortunately.

    Reply
  37. First time marketeer

    I am curious if there is more data available to confirm the severity of the bleakness? The data posted earlier seemed to imply a 25% decrease in jobs, which is notable but not horrible. But perhaps those jobs include a lot of postdocs, and the people who are assessing the market as especially bleak are looking only at TT jobs? Or perhaps if we exclude the AI jobs that number drops substantially (sounds plausible!)? I do not doubt the bleakness, but I am interested in understanding just how bleak things are, especially for someone on the market for the first time.

    Reply
    1. benji

      Here is my anecdotal data. I’m currently on my fourth cycle on the job market with one gap. Over the last two cycles, I applied to 5/6 jobs in October and 11/13 jobs in November. The 13 figure includes two postdocs and the rest are TT research jobs or the UK equivalent. The job areas are open, philosophy of science and a few more specialized areas but excluding AI. Fwiw, the postdocs at least in my field are largely not in the US and largely not posted in the early fall, and so they don’t really affect these numbers.

      This year, I currently have 2 jobs saved for October and 2 for November. There may still be jobs posted for late Nov, but it’s probably too late for Nov 1 jobs which is usually the biggest US deadline. I will say that I went into this season intending to be pickier about applying to US jobs, however, I’ve only had a couple of instances where I saw a job I could apply for but opted not to due to the location. So the decline seems to be driven largely by the market rather than my becoming increasingly selective.

      So, I would say that as a non-AI philosopher of science the market is radically worse this year than I’ve ever previously seen.

      Reply
  38. Uninterested in AI

    My AOS and AOC are such that I *could*, with some effort, pitch myself as having an AI-relevant research agenda. If I were to expend the effort, I could apply to many more tenure-track jobs. Unfortunately for me, I cannot bring myself even to feign interest in this topic. Is anyone else in the same boat?

    Reply
  39. note to marcus

    would you mind attaching the recent comments block to the wordpress so we can see updates to these threads without having to click on them? (instructions: https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/latest-comments-block/). thanks again for your service.

    Reply
    1. Marcus

      Done!

      Reply
      1. Mark Taylor

        Also, while we’re talking about the site: Is there a new “How can we help you?” page? The one linked in current posts is a dead link to the old website.

  40. Also uninterested

    Uninterested in AI: I feel the same. I tried last year to pitch myself as an AI person for a few jobs to no avail (though to be fair, I didn’t have much other success on the job market except for the one postdoc I did get). I don’t think my AI pitch was convincing. Honestly, I think I’d be more fulfilled leaving academia and doing something else rather than work on AI. Sometimes this makes me feel foolish because it is clearly so lucrative and big right now, but I just can’t.

    Reply
  41. robot

    one problem with refashioning your AOS/AOC to be attractive to AI jobs is that you’re likely already too late to the game; there are people who are actually interested in AI, with dissertations and papers that reflect their genuine interest in that topic, that probably shine over your belated refashioning + attempts to feign interest, but also in ways that their AOS/AOC map onto core topics. So that’s a tough spot to be in.

    Reply
  42. eskilelling

    I’m curious whether anyone here has insight from the hiring side on universities’ attitude to the potential $100.000 fee on H1B visas. On my end, as an international candidate applying for first jobs after grad school, it seems pretty likely that no committees will want to run the risk of having to pay that fee, even though it’s currently being challenged in court (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/08/aaup-other-unions-sue-trump-admin-over-h-1b-fee).

    Of course, I’d like nothing more than for someone to tell me I’m wrong, and that us international scholars are still in the running…

    Reply
    1. Texas

      I have heard of search committees (here in Texas at least) being told either no H1B cases or Dean approval needed to interview

      Reply
  43. yeah but

    Eskileilling, I am a faculty from one of the “undesirable” countries. I think you are still in the run, yes. Here’s my sense:

    Typically, hiring committees are completely oblivious about how these things work, and they won’t exclude you unless they receive explicit instructions from Admin, in which case (hopefully!) it should be reflected in the job Ad.

    But this is a highly uncertain time, so I can only sympathize… (I myself also face more visa difficulties)

    Reply
    1. eskilelling

      Thank you for this response. As uncertain as everything is, this was honestly very reassuring. Forging on!

      Reply
  44. M

    I think we need more jobs on the ethics of AI

    Reply
  45. Finally!

    M: Finally, someone is speaking up for the forgotten AI ethicists out there!

    Reply
  46. The Journal of Value Inquiry Isn’t Useless!

    I recently had a paper rejected for like the 6th time (I really like the paper!), and I have started to run out of “good” journals according to my department that might plausibly publish the paper (it’s on a kind of niche topic). I will soon need to submit the paper to journals that my advisors would probably view as fairly useless. As an experiment, I decided to look at the CVs of professors at a university I would love to end up at (a nice-but-not-tip-top SLAC), and I discovered that most of the tenured professors had published almost exclusively in these journals (with maybe one paper in a “good”/top 20 journal).

    It was a good reminder that the way tenured professors at elite R1s view publishing is vastly different from how most TT philosophers do! In case anyone else is feeling some impostor syndrome because they can’t get published in PPR in grad school 🙂

    Reply
  47. Adapting materials?

    I am planning on having different teaching an research statements for different sorts of jobs. None of them contradict each other or my CV/website, but rather go into more detail or emphasize different areas of my research/teaching profile depending on the job.

    When uploading them to Interfolio, is it fine for them to be labeled and uploaded as such (e.g., “Teaching Statement (SLAC) or Research Statement (Political Philosophy)” , or would search committees then worry that such statements were not fully authentic or honest? (To be clear, they would not be- I genuinely would be happy at either a SLAC or research heavy job, and I do have genuine research interests in more than one AOS!)

    Reply
    1. Interfolio tags

      I have a related (technical) question:
      Interfolio lets you to add “tags” to your materials. So you could have two files named “Research Statement”, but with one tagged “Political Philosophy” and another tagged “Ethics”. It seems like these tags should be purely internal to the Interfolio interface, for organization purposes, and in no way visible to search committees receiving the materials. But can anyone actually confirm this?
      Thanks!

      Reply
  48. M

    1) I would not label the *last version* of the docs in any way that discloses your intentions/scope.
    2) Interfolio does have labels; I have used them, and I am pretty sure those are internal to the candidate.

    Reply
    1. Adapting Materials

      Thank you! I didn’t know about the interfolio tags – thanks to everyone who has mentioned them as I will definitely be using them!

      Reply
  49. eskilelling

    Some good news for a lot of us, relating to my previous inquiry: it looks like the egregious visa fees have been waived for university jobs.
    https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/uscis-exempts-f-1-to-h-1b-status-change-from-the-100000-fee-easing-concerns-for-indian-students/articleshow/124719982.cms

    Reply
  50. martacarava

    @eskilelling, it seems that the 100.000 fee still applies to those who are currently outside the US/do not have a VISA. (I hope I am wrong, though).

    Reply
  51. torn

    Question: how are people approaching applying to jobs in red states or schools that have had political problems and scandals recently? On the one hand, there really aren’t that many jobs in my area, and I do need a job. On the other hand, I am confused with all the crises happening..

    Reply
    1. Henry

      I don’t even bother reading the ads. I have a family. It’s a lot to ask them to uproot their lives to go somewhere where they either don’t want us anyway or where I could be fired without even due process. So hard pass for us.

      Reply
  52. M.

    I am very risk-averse, since I am an international scholar in the US. Therefore, my rule has always been “Apply now. With the offer/s in hand, assess it/them.” This also applies to schools in undesirable locations.

    Reply
  53. wonderingaloud

    Do US-based TT jobs nowadays ever do campus visits and decisions in the Fall, or is usually always first round in the Fall / campus visits in the Spring now?

    Reply
    1. ribbit

      First round zoom interviews take place in the fall term/early winter – I’ve never had one earlier than December. I’ve had a limited number of flyouts, but I’ve never heard of one happening during fall term/prior to the winter holidays. I think the “default” schedule for US research jobs in recent cycles has been applications due Nov 1 – zoom interviews just before December holidays – flyouts in February (ish).

      Reply
    2. Christmas can come early

      For the TT position I started this fall, I had a first round interview in October (’24) and the flyout in early December (’24) . The position was offered to me before Christmas (they weren’t following the APA calendar due to administrative constraints). Regional public R2.

      Reply
  54. zanbuguiyi

    Does anyone know what it means when a job ad has both a “deadline for priority consideration” or for “full consideration” as well as a statement of ” no hard ddl, considered on ongoing basis”? If we apply after the full consideration ddl, will the app only be looked at if the committee doesn’t find enough candidates from the “on time” pool? (Ik I should just start early… sigh…)

    Reply
    1. hmmm

      It very much depends. At my previous institutions, we had a “full consideration” deadline and never looked at anything that came after that because we were already inundated with good applications. But I remember back in the days of the APA Smoker and conference interviews, there were schools that had CV drops on location and sometimes interviewed these candidates. So that seems to indicate that at least some places continue looking after their deadlines, so it’s probably worth a shot to apply late.

      Reply
    2. Mike Titelbaum

      At our institution, if we have a hard deadline, then we’re legally not allowed to look at any applications that come in after that date. If we have a deadline for “full consideration”, then we start reading applications in earnest around that date, but people are still allowed to submit applications later and it’s up to us whether to review them. So I’d say go ahead and submit things after the “full consideration” date, but be warned they might or might not get read.

      Reply
  55. sdfs

    sfsdf

    Reply
  56. gigglyp

    Question for job market veterans and people with hiring experience: How important are sample syllabi? I spent some time making new syllabi for courses that are mentioned in the job ads, but I feel it’s too time consuming. Does it make much of a difference? Is it enough if I just talk about how I’m qualified to teach these courses, without making a syllabus showcasing how I would teach the desired courses?

    Reply
    1. Yes, it’s important, but it depends on the department and the job

      I got an interview for my current job (TT) on the basis of having made and sent sample syllabi for courses that (on paper) it was not explicitly clear I could teach on my own. I was also told since that other candidates did not do this (and were not looked at any closer as a result), and that some in their interviews could not give specifics about how they would teach a certain course that the advert had said would need to be taught. I am in a department outside of the US that ranks highly on the philosophical gourmet, so do with that information what you will.

      Reply
    2. frosch

      IMO one should submit exactly what’s asked for in a job ad. So if the ad does not ask for sample syllabi, I wouldn’t submit extra syllabi. You should have several syllabi in your generic teaching portfolio; these should usually only be samples if you don’t have enough real syllabi to include.

      However, there’s some wiggle room in the sense that if a job wants you to teach a specific class that isn’t well-represented in your generic teaching portfolio, you could customize the portfolio to include a sample for that class. Whether this is worthwhile depends on your time constraints. Usually, the best strategy on the job market is to apply to as many jobs as possible vs spending a lot of time on individual applications. It’s also important not to burn yourself out on applications since you will likely be on the market for multiple years.

      At the same time, most people end up specializing on either the teaching or the research market. In the former case you can expect to spend some time on custom teaching materials; in the latter case you need to be able to produce custom research proposals. You can streamline your ability to customize apps by keeping a small number of pre-made samples or outlines for common/high demand topics.

      I did get both of my jobs so far via customized (research) materials, but I didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time on either and they were both required by the app; basically they were proposals that I quickly threw together from existing research material. So not the amount of time one would spend on an entire syllabus. So I guess my answer would be “customize selectively and in moderation.”

      Reply
    3. I haven’t seen it matter, but who knows?

      Honestly, its impossible to know. Did they ask for them? I can imagine a lot of variance.

      I’ve been on hiring committees at a few different universities and I’ve never heard anyone mention any such things (or really much of anything about the the content of what people said they would teach in a particular course). But I was never in a circumstance with a significant specific teaching need or institutions that saw themselves as teaching-first organizations.

      Reply
  57. DChopeful

    QUERY: assistant professor john hopkins (school of government)

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      wrong thread

      Reply
  58. Anonymous

    Does anyone have inside information about what’s happening with Uchicago’s Harper-Schmidt Fellowship? Their deadline was originally October 15, but the application site was never active. On their main site, however, they still state the intention to have a search this year…

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      Chicago’s HSF application process is always a nightmare. I applied three years in a row and they ghosted me every time. The philosophy department also has no say in who they hire to teach philosophy.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Yeah that was my experience last year. I suspect that for me it’s sometimes an advantage that the philosophy department doesn’t decide…

  59. OSU

    Query: OSU Phil of AI?

    Reply
  60. PFO

    Query: Bowdoin?

    Reply
  61. Anon

    There seem to be a lot of postdocs, “society of fellows” type jobs, and other non-TT (but also non-adjunct) jobs that I miss. Many of these seem not to get posted to PhilJobs. Does anyone have recommendations for websites that track those sorts of things? Should I just be looking more regularly at InsideHigher Ed jobs? Is there some other site I am missing?

    I’m thinking, for instance, of UChicago Harper-Schmidt; Michigan Society of Fellows; USC Society of Fellows, etc.

    Thanks!

    Reply
    1. re anon

      I applied for a few ‘society of fellows’-type positions, but unfortunately have not found any unified place where they get posted. I’ve found them by (rather tediously) just googling: “[elite university] society of fellows” over and over. I did this for all the Ivies, Chicago, Michigan, etc. Of course it means that if I don’t guess a school will have a SoF then I’m going to miss it, but I have not yet found a better way.

      For the UK equivalent (JRFs), it’s a bit easier. I’ve found several via jobs.ac.uk–though sometimes have had to vary my search terms. Since they are often interdisciplinary, searching “philosophy” does not always yield all the relevant JRFs. Searching “(junior) research fellow(ship)” has helped, and then I’ve had to manually go through and see which ones philosophers are eligible for.

      Reply
      1. Humanities

        The general humanities academic jobs wiki is helpful for this, but not exhaustive:

        https://academicjobs.fandom.com/wiki/Academic_Jobs_Wiki

      2. Anonymous

        You can also check the Oxford Gazette and the Cambridge University Reporter for all the JRFs being posted by their respective colleges.

  62. Anonymous

    In case anyone is curious, UNC received over 430 applications for its open position.

    University of Richmond received over 200 for its position in applied ethics. That seems super high, I didn’t realize so many people did applied ethics!

    If anyone else has information on how many applications search committees are getting, it is very helpful to know. Considering that there have only been around 20-30 TT jobs in ethics (all subfields) posted this year, it seems like there is less than 1 job per 10 people applying for TT positions in ethics. Oof. I don’t even know how bad it would be for people in other fields, but that seems especially bad.

    Reply
    1. Mike Titelbaum

      In case it’s helpful for the data, the junior-level AI & Phil Mind job we advertised here at UW-Madison got 80-something applications.

      Reply
      1. Applicant

        Thanks Mike and Anonymous above for sharing these numbers!

    2. Anonymous applicant

      If it is still helpful, I heard through the grapevine that the University of San Diego (*not* the UC school, but the catholic liberal arts school) received around 150 applications for its modern philosophy job.

      Reply
  63. Anonymous

    The application link for the Eastern Connecticut State University job now takes you to a page that says “Hiring for this position has been put on hold at this time.” Anyone know what’s going on with this posting? Do we think this is a temporary delay, or is this a job opportunity in the process of disappearing?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      I followed the link for the Eastern Connecticut State University job but I’m not seeing that message, only the option to apply. But I haven’t submitted my application yet. Are you seeing the message after you press “submit”?

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        The message appeared immediately upon clicking the link to apply in the PhilJobs posting. But that message is no longer showing up, so I guess the issue or hold or delay or whatever got fixed very quickly!

    2. Anonymous

      Nevermind, the link works again!

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Just to check: did you get a confirmation email when you completed applying to ECSU? I did not, but I am unsure whether this is a particularity of their form or a result of this technical problem.

      2. Anonymous

        I did get an email confirming my application! I submitted it two days ago.

    3. Anonymous

      I just tried to submit an application and I got the message that others have mentioned, indicating that hiring has been paused. Hopefully it gets lifted soon!

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Has anyone followed up with the ECSU department itself to see if the search was indeed paused or cancelled as opposed to this just being a message that shows up now that the app deadline is passed?

  64. Being Trans in Philosophy: A Zine

    Trans readers of the blog—for a follow-up issue of Being Trans in Philosophy focusing on the job market, we are inviting both questions for more experienced trans/feminist philosophers and pitches for contributions (due Dec 20, 2025): https://being.transinphilosophy.org

    We are hosting a zine reading + launch party at the online APA Pacific in April; this will be a free-to-stream “public session.” We are also going to Baltimore for an information session on the status of trans people in/and the profession at the APA Eastern. Please come say hi!!

    Reply
  65. Second-timer

    This may have been asked many times already, but what do you think is the typical time between a job application deadline and when the committee sends out Zoom interview requests? From my (admittedly limited) experience, it’s about two weeks. But I remember people mentioning 4 to 5 weeks last year. What are others’ impressions? Does it differ between the U.S. and Europe?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      I haven’t tracked the dates I’ve gotten interview requests, but 4-6 weeks sounds more likely to me than 2. Committees often have to sort through several hundred applications and schedule meetings amidst their normal semester obligations. I checked the reporting thread and there seems to be no news yet for any of the TT jobs I applied to in mid to late October this year. If I had to wager I guess requests might start going out next week for pre-holiday interviews (but I’m not holding my breath or anything).

      It’s hard to compare the US and Europe because European countries are really highly varied in terms of their hiring processes. A better generalization might be that specialized postdocs tend to move faster than broad professorship searches. Overall, I try to adopt the mindset that a job ceases to exist and will never contact me back once I’ve applied to it. If I later get an interview request (or a timely pfo!), that’s a nice surprise.

      Reply
    2. Anonymous

      I have gotten interview requests within two weeks, but the vast majority I’ve received have been 1-2 months after the application period closed. UK jobs sometimes list the fly out dates in the advert.

      Reply
      1. Second-timer

        Thanks a lot to both!

  66. Anonymous

    I received an email related to the Louis Skolnick Postdoc at Princeton (https://philjobs.org/job/show/30290) notifying me that one of my letter writers hadn’t yet submitted their letter and asking me to get in touch with them to submit it.

    I am wondering if this is an indication that my letters were pulled / that my application had advanced beyond the initial stage, given that the application instructions mentioned that letter writers “may be contacted either immediately upon submission of your application or at a later stage determined by the academic unit.”

    Does anyone have any information on that or did anyone who applied receive a similar email?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      The same thing happened to me, I can’t work out if they have a bad application system or whether we’ve advanced to the next round. I didn’t receive the email until 25th November FWIW.

      Reply
  67. i think it doesnt mean anything 🙁

    I received a similar email and also one of my other letter writers told me that they received an email to submit their rec almost as soon as I submitted the app, so I think it’s standard

    Reply
  68. for those who apply for UK jobs

    About UK immigration. This is aimed at non-UK citizens who are considering working in the UK. Reason for writing this is that myself and some friends who are currently working here are slightly annoyed by the potential financial implications of the recently proposed changes.

    I’m not an immigration lawyer, so the information may not be fully accurate. It is also based on a bit of speculation.

    The public document you should read is called “Changes to UK visa and settlement rules after the 2025 immigration white paper.” Currently it is the consultation period.

    Terminologies:

    Global Talent Visa – the good visa category
    Skilled Worker Visa – the bad visa category
    Settlement/Indefinite Leave to Remain – not exactly equivalent to PR/Green Card, but one probably won’t be asked to leave the country
    Visa Application Fee – very cheap, just above £1,500 per person
    IHS – Immigration Heath Surcharge – an expensive fee, more that £1000 per person per year
    2029 – the next election where it is possible that a more anti-immigration government will come into power

    As philosophers looking for jobs, we don’t have much choice. But remember, some scenarios are better than others.

    1. If your potential employer will pay for all the visa costs, including Visa Application Fee AND IHS for YOUR WHOLE FAMILY, stop reading. This is the best case scenario.
    2. If your potential employer offers to put you on Global Talent Visa, you should qualify for Settlement at the 3 year point. Still rather expensive, but better.
    3. If your potential employer offers to put you on Skilled Worker Visa, do the math, as you will pay a lot.
    4. If you are on Skilled Worker Visa, make sure you are paid over £50,270, or will be in 2 years. £50,270 is the threshold for reduced time (5 years vs 10 years), but I’m not sure whether it is at the point of applying for settlement or must be for a few years.
    5. Double your costs if you bring your partner. Kids have a slight discount.
    6. After settlement for a year (I think), apply for citizenship. Both these applications are very expensive.
    7. The likely scenario in 2029 is that anti-immigration would go further. The politician who’s on track to become the leader of the country claims to intend to end Settlement, so getting citizenship is crucial to not be on Skilled Worker Visa permanently.
    8. It is likely that being on Settlement won’t qualify for any benefits.
    9. You may wonder why your potential employer won’t pay for your Visa costs. That’s because financial situations are bad or just because they don’t want to.
    10. You may wonder why your potential employer won’t put you on Global Talent Visa, even if it is much more expensive for you. It’s rather simple: bargaining power. Skilled Worker Visa is tied to the employer, while Global Talent isn’t. A person on Skilled Worker Visa cannot quit without worrying about being deported, so it makes you exploitable. (There’s a literature on Visa being tied to employer.) If you think your potential employer cares about you, think again.
    11. It is currently under consultation, but it is possible that your partner will have to qualify for reduced time based on their own merit. So it is possible that you will qualify for 5 years settlement, while your partner will have to wait for 10 years. Things might be different for Global Talent, but I’m not sure. I quote:

    “For example, the consultation says that accompanying partners of people on work visas will now need qualify for indefinite leave to remain in their own right rather than alongside their sponsor. It also suggests that those granted indefinite leave to remain will no longer gain access to the welfare system as a result – they would stay on ‘no recourse to public funds‘ – with the right to claim benefits restricted to British citizens. ”

    12. Consultation ends around next February. I think rules will become slightly more hostile, but of course I hope for the opposite.
    13. Even if the motivation of being tough on immigration has a lot to do with racial thinking (pleasing the average voter), costs are based on what passports you have; so having white skin won’t help your financial situation. Ignore this point if you don’t believe that the average voter engages in racial thinking.
    14. You might wonder whether being tough on immigration is good for the UK. The Keyword is NHS.
    15. Consider the financial implications before accepting the job.

    Below is what Google AI told me after a Google Search, may not be accurate:

    A family of four applying for a Skilled Worker visa will likely cost over £15,000 for a 5-year visa, and at least £9,000 for a 3-year visa, which includes the visa application fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) for each family member. The total cost is calculated by adding the individual application fees (e.g., £1,519 per person for a long-term visa) and the IHS (£1,035 per adult and £776 per child per year) for one main applicant and three dependants. 

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      Addition to UK jobs: I think this was not included in the former quite thorough description of the immigration processes, but if you apply for a Global Talent Visa, you will be eligible for ILR after three years, but your DEPENDENTS AFTER 5 YEARS. Possibly 10, depending on what happens in February

      Reply
    2. Anonymous

      Wow, thanks very much for this info as someone who’s widely on the market. If the poster or others in the know see this, I have a few questions.

      Is there a typo in the written application fee (1500) or was “cheap” sarcastic? #8: Surely this doesn’t mean benefits in the US sense, i.e. health insurance?? Finally, I’m guessing not, but does anyone know if there are advantages for citizens of commonwealth countries?

      Reply
      1. OP

        It was sarcastic, but in comparison to IHS, it is relatively cheap. So what I told you is true….from a certain point of view.

        Regarding commonwealth citizens, as far as I can tell, you get the right to vote, so better than nothing. This is the time where I prefer benefits/free immigration over the right to political participation.

        But just think this way: by working for the UK, you get to pay more. If you see the fee and IHS as tax (and yes you will still have to pay National Insurance contributions as part of your tax), suddenly Nozick sounds pretty plausible, right?

        And to be fair, you will get to use the broken NHS without additional costs, as, well, you’ve paid twice for the crappy service.

      2. OP

        on #8

        the most relevant to me is “The Child Benefit rate is £26.05 weekly for the eldest or only child, and £17.25 per additional child. Payments count towards the benefit cap.”

        That would be two years worth of annual salary increase.

      3. Don’t listen to the haters too readily

        This broken NHS: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2024/sep/mirror-mirror-2024 ?

  69. Anonymous

    Curious: did anyone who visits the Cocoon happen to apply to the Applied Humanities position at Cal Poly Humboldt? If you did, and you happen to get news of an interview (or already have), I’d be grateful for an update. Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      Hi!

      I applied for this job, but it was only two weeks ago since the deadline passed and one of those was a holiday so my guess is they won’t be reaching out about interviews until December (also, for future updates you’ll want to head over to the job market “reporting” thread and not this one which is for general discussion and not interview updates).

      Good luck!

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Well, the deadline was Nov 9, so three weeks ago, which is a fair timeline for someone to wonder about interviews imo. I am aware of the other thread, but felt like polluting it with with a non-philosophy job query would maybe set a bad precedent, hence my posting here.

  70. Anonymous

    QUERY: APA grant applications? specifically the small grant fund? Or any info on when in December announcements are typically made?

    Reply
  71. Anonymous

    What’s up with Australian Catholic University posting so many ads for permanent positions? Didn’t they just lay off a bunch a faculty after having hired them only a few years before? Do they think we have no memory?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      I had similar thoughts, and almost wondered if Marcus should put this to the whole blog to see if someone in the ‘know’ could comment, given the recent gutting of their Dianoia Institute.

      Reply
      1. Marcus

        I’d be happy to.

  72. Anonymous

    I wonder if anyone has applied to the NYU postdoc in liberal studies (https://philjobs.org/job/show/29950) and encountered a similar situation as I do. The deadline of the job is Nov 15, and it says explicitly that it requires only a cover letter and cv. The job is hosted on Interfolio. I logged on Interfolio today and wad told by the system that this application is “Previously submitted; requirements incomplete”. I clicked into it and a bunch of requirements that were originally not there – ranging from letters to syllabus to statements and student eval – all showed up in there, and yet I cannot change my application or upload anything to it… Does anyone know what’s going on there? I never got any email about request for extra documents or anything else about this job, and I don’t even know who to ask at NYU about this because the job is not hosted by philosophy but by this liberal studies core thing…Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      based on your question, I looked at my application in interfolio, and the same thing happened to me. But looking at the post (https://apply.interfolio.com/174370), it is pretty clear here that all they wanted initially was the cover letter and the CV. not sure what’s going on with the updates!

      Reply
    2. Anonymous

      the same thing happened to me. I wonder if anyone has received notification or permission to submit additional materials.

      Reply
    3. Anonymous

      Same here—I see the new fields, but I can’t submit anything and haven’t been contacted.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Same thing on my end. Were you able to reach anybody to ask about it?

      2. Anonymous

        I haven’t contacted anyone yet. I figure either they’ve already contacted those longlisted or they’re preparing to contact the longlisted.

  73. Philosa-mom

    Anyone have thoughts about whether one should mention being a mother/having a family once in the on-campus interview stage? On the one hand, I don’t want to work anywhere that would see my having two young kids and a partner as a disqualifying or unattractive fact about me as a job candidate. On the other hand, I understand that employers might consciously or unconsciously hold it against me, and I really do want a job so that I can feed said children. Any strong opinions on the matter?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      I would neither bring it up out of nowhere (that might seem odd) or avoid the conversation. People know it is illegal and generally try to avoid it, but it can be natural in the course of ordinary human conversation. For example, someone might say “You might be interested in learning about the school system here– my kids go to X school because Y” or whatever and I find it weird to not mention the existence of my family then even if they aren’t trying to solicit that information.

      (For what its worth, I think that information is not usually seen as negative, but there are always nightmare scenarios.)

      Reply
      1. Mike Titelbaum

        I just want to clarify something about the comment Anonymous made, in case anyone reading is unaware: People interacting with a candidate in an on-campus interview situation ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT say things like “You might be interested in learning about the school system here…”. That can be read as fishing for information about whether the candidate has a partner, has a family, intends to have a family, etc. I’m not sure whether it crosses the line into being explicitly illegal, but it’s certainly unethical and a bad practice.

        I realize Anonymous’s comment is about how a candidate should react if a comment like this is made, which can be a subtle and difficult question. But I just wanted to flag for anyone new to the market that these kinds of comments are not okay.

  74. Anonymous

    Wondering if any non US citizen/PR-holders had success stories with applying to jobs that say something along the lines of “we don’t promise sponsorship” but end up getting the job and sponsorship anyways?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      Why would they offer sponsorship if they already say they don’t? I simply just didn’t apply to those jobs.

      Reply
  75. Anonymous

    Does anyone have some insight into what interviews/meetings with Deans are likely to be about? Thanks in advance!

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      Usually it’s a chance to discuss tenure and promotion standards and policies, and as well as other college-level initiatives and resources (e.g., support for grant-writing, awards, internal funding). Sometimes it’s just chit-chat and the Dean (or, more likely, the Associate Dean) is just trying to help with recruitment. It’s unlikely that you’ll be grilled about research or teaching, as the Dean/Ass. Dean won’t have spent long with your dossier. They do like to hear about grant funding though.
      In my experience these meetings are fairly pro forma, as the Dean usually defers to the Department regarding offers (though this varies – some Deans do weigh in on searches). But it’s still good to be on the ball, because sometimes you end up negotiating over your offer directly with them (rather than with the Dept Head).

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        This is very helpful, thank you!

      2. Anonymous

        At our institution/college, the Dean is very involved and it’s a proper interview. The Dean asks about research, general approach to collegial life, service, fitness to the university identity and mission, and a bit about your research. This is on the higher end of involvement from my own experience in searches; but just to give you a heads up that the answer to this question is VERY institution-specific. Many dean interviews are a kind of break in the day or pro forma, but some are not. Often and importantly it’s a chance for you to find out about institutional support for your research and to get a sense of the Dean’s personality.

      3. Anonymous

        Just want to flag that on the four fly outs I’ve been on (all at R1s with highly regarded PhD programs) the dean asked me extensive questions about my research and teaching and it very much seemed like an interview (and one in which it was important to be able to say things about my research that were intelligible to non-philosophers). In my experience in hiring at an R1, the deans rarely say anything about those meetings to the hiring department, but they do sometimes raise concerns (once such a concern was that the candidate would not be an adequate teacher because they could not engage intelligibly about their work with non-philosophers).

    2. Anonymous

      There are some Deans who want to hear about your research, but this is also likely a bit of a “break” meeting for candidates. The Dean will do almost all the talking.

      Reply
  76. Anon

    Are campus flyout email invites ever staggered over the course of days, or are they almost always sent at once?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      There can always be weird exceptions, but in my experience (from having received several myself and from secondhand info from friends, etc.) it’s almost always all at once, sorry 🙁
      One exception is if a candidate drops out because they’ve accepted another offer before they have a fly out. In that case, departments will sometimes invite a backup candidate to take that slot.

      Reply
  77. Anonymous

    I know it’s late in the game but I’m wondering if I hurt my chances this season. It’s been a dry one this year and I had a good number of first round interviews the last two years. I know this cycle has been bad (especially for my AOSs). But I was wondering if 1) my having a teaching position in a different field (writing studies) hurt me (I still got two co-authored things published in okay journals this year) or 2) if mentioning that I have a wife who’s an assistant professor in philosophy and that we’ve started a family hurt me. She’s a few years ahead of me and is objectively more impressive. I wanted to be upfront about my situation and I also thought maybe hiring committees would be interested in poaching her. But was that stupid?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      I think the wife thing would definitely throw many departments off, for a variety of reasons. First, it seems irrelevant to your application and just generally unprofessional to mention it. YOU are applying for the position, not your wife. Second, arranging a spousal hire is often directly difficult for many departments, especially given the budget situation of many schools.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        That makes sense. I can see how it comes off as self-undermining in a way and how it can raise alarm bells related to budgetary concerns. I hadn’t realized it was unprofessional. My placement director said relaying such personal information could make the difference (to be fair, I haven’t had that experience; so, I’m inclined to agree with you but I’d like something like an explanation of it’s unprofessional nature).

    2. Linny

      I doubt (1) hurt you, esp given your publishing. For (2): The general rule of thumb for me when I put something in writing is: what’s the worst way for me this can be interpreted, given the speed with which these are read and the number of applications?

      Mentioning your wife is an asst, professor could also signal: it’s going to be hard to move me, if you take me. After all, shes the bigger star. And so the thought is: why bother going through with you only to find out you can’t make the move?

      You need to write letters and statements in ways that always point towards something g like: this is a reason why we should hire this person. Your statements about family and partner will be unlikely to be read in that vein (more likely from single profs: great, another person who won’t be teaching early morning or afternoons). (Maybe a catholic institution might see if favorably lol)

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Thanks, Linny! This also makes sense both as an explanation and as a good rule of thumb. Alas, I’m often unable to see potential interpretations (good or bad) that others seem to see clearly (just diagnosed with ADHD; so, that might have something to do with it?). But I’ll definitely try to think through these things more thoroughly for future applications this cycle and next.

  78. Anonymous

    Placement director and many-iteration-search-committee-member here. The wife/assistant professor thing almost certainly would kill your chances almost everywhere. It would be especially confusing why you were mentioning it unless you were saying something explicitly like “I am looking for a position for my partner and myself”, which sometimes people do when they are on the market already in a TT job and trying to solve a two body problem but don’t want to waste people’s time if they aren’t interested (for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t recommend doing it even then). Most of them probably read it that way, given that it is the only reason I’ve ever seen anyone mention something like that in a cover letter, and hiring at all is incredibly hard right now, let alone partner hiring. (And many universities — including my own — have actual at least informal policies against it except in truly unusual cases or big name senior hires.) The only exception would be in places that are a close commute or manageable commute from where you are, in which case it might make them think that you would likely stay since it is becoming increasingly difficult to move two people at once. Even if I wanted to consider you in a search that you wrote something like that in, I would know that my colleagues wouldn’t want to pursue you, probably correctly, since it would end up being a waste of time/a first round interview slot when we couldn’t offer a job to your partner.

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      Thank you! I’m glad to get confirmation from someone with such extensive experience. And it’s reassuring in a way. At least it’s maybe not totally bad luck or a bad cycle. I made a correctable mistake.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        I know this is old but I just wanted to add that, if you feel comfortable doing so, you should really let your placement director know that several people on here disagree with the advice they gave you about disclosing that info early on. In my opinion it was bordering on malpractice that they told you to disclose that, and it suggests that they don’t know what they’re doing. I’m really sorry you were misled! It really sucks getting bad job market advice when so much is already stacked against us.

  79. Anonymous

    This is a question about whether certain personal information should be mentioned in cover letters and, if so, how.

    I am currently in a postdoc, and my spouse lives elsewhere. Obviously I’d be very keen to move to where they live. Is this situation worth mentioning in a cover letter for jobs near my spouse’s location?

    Similarly, my parents and siblings all still live in the region I grew up in, and I’d be very happy to move back there. Is this worth mentioning in cover letters?

    Assuming that some of this could be worth mentioning some of the time, do people have any thoughts on how best to frame it?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      I think it would be worth mentioning if you thought that there would otherwise be a “why are *they* applying *here*?” question about your application, such that you might otherwise seem to be a flight risk – e.g., if you’re moving from an R1 TT to an R2 TT. Otherwise it’s just not a relevant consideration for a search committee deciding whether to hire you vs someone else. You can still include it, but it won’t do much good.

      Reply
    2. Anonymous

      It depends a bit I think on the nature of the university you’re applying to. Having served on committees for a small teaching uni in a small town, personal connection to the area is a big notch in someone’s favor. It wouldn’t alone get someone the position, or even really looked at if we weren’t otherwise interested in their profile, but it can definitely help assure us that a candidate could be happy long-term in the position, which is a big consideration for smaller name unis like ours.

      I imagine for a research university, or a university in an otherwise attractive location, that information would do little or nothing, and could actually be counterproductive.

      I would be matter of fact and brief in mentioning it, if you choose to, and I’d include it alongside other information you provide about fit/interest in the position. Something like “Personal ties to [city/region] reinforce my interest in the position.”

      Reply
  80. Question about long research statement

    I recently applied to an interdisciplinary position (committee likely mostly philosophers) with a ~2,500-word research statement. I now realize this is way too long and won’t make the same mistake again. But I’m wondering: will the committee likely pass over my application entirely because of the length, or might they still look at it and just not read the whole thing? I know there’s no way to know for sure, but have I totally shot myself in the foot here?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      I think it’s really hard to say something concrete here. I don’t think you’ve totally shot yourself in the foot if the rest of your file is really fantastic. No one will love your file but then dismiss it because your statement is too long. And, if you’re a quite experienced researcher, it also might look less weird that your statement is that long.

      Reply
  81. Australia Query

    In addition to a CV and letters of recommendation, ANU asks for “a statement addressing the selection criteria” and “any other supporting documents.” Does the “statement addressing the selection criteria” need to explicitly state how the applicant satisfies the less tangible criteria, such as “Demonstrated ability to foster inclusive, respectful and productive working relationships with staff, students and colleagues at all levels”? And what kinds of “other supporting documents” (e.g., writing sample, research statement, teaching portfolio) should applicants submit? It looks like applicants can upload up to four files with supporting documents. Advice from anyone familiar with the Australian system would be appreciated!

    Reply
  82. Curious

    How long do US jobs usually take to get back to a person post-flyout? UK jobs and European jobs – same or different? I’m sure it depends on the particular job, but do people have a general sense?

    Reply
    1. Mike Titelbaum

      This one has a huge variance, because different institutions have different rules about what needs to happen before a candidate can even be told they’re the top choice. Also it depends how many people they’re bringing out and how far the visits are spread. Once you conclude a flyout you should be told what the timetable is; if you’re not told it’s perfectly reasonable to ask. But other than that I don’t know there are any useful generalizations that can be made.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Thanks! Do you think it’s appropriate to email and ask for a timeline a bit afterwards, if you weren’t given one originally? Or is this just not worth it if, say, you’re past a couple weeks at a US job or a couple days for a UK job and you haven’t heard anything?

    2. Anonymous

      My experience in the UK is that you would get an offer the day of the interview and a rejection the day or two after that (presumably once the person offered the job accepts it). In the US it is very variable. I’m in Canada and our department conducted interviews in November and is still making offers (due to first and second choice candidates having declined our offers).

      Reply
  83. AGT

    Yes, in the UK the offer would likely come the same day. Elsewhere in Europe it can be a long and laborious process often taking weeks or even months (e.g. in Scandinavia). And of course, in many cases, what we mean by ‘offer’ is not anything official but e.g. someone calling you to ask. The official offer would still be delayed, even in the UK, for days or weeks since it has to go through the uni bureaucracy.

    Reply
  84. Anonymous

    I know at some Scandinavian schools that the entire process (from application submission to job offer extended) can take almost a year, though I don’t know how common this is

    Reply
  85. AGT

    It is common, it certainly takes several months before a decision is made. This is because the whole process is meant to be transparent – although the last, interview stage is not – and there are all sorts of checks built into the system. Job committees have to write evaluations of all candidates, or at least say something why they weren’t selected, provide a ranking of candidates (and the process can be appealed by candidates) and this takes time. The administration of things is also slower and there is little flexibility.

    Reply
  86. off the market now

    Without mentioning any names or getting into specifics, I just want to remind folks that if you see a postdoc ad that says the pay is “very generous”, you might want to ask around and find out what that means quantitatively before you get any fanciful ideas.

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      Retweet….

      Reply
    2. Anonymous

      Ugh. I don’t understand why there isn’t a universal norm of posting the salary (at least a range or estimate, if there isn’t a fixed pay scale) as well as the exact teaching load for every position. It wastes everyone’s time when people apply to jobs they wouldn’t if they had more info. It’s also bad for the committee if they get to the offer stage and people decline because of a salary surprise. Of all the weird things about the philosophy job market this may be the thing I get the least.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        One big reason there isn’t such a norm about posting salaries and teaching loads etc. is because many schools are super poor and desperate, and it would be embarrassing to post such in the ad itself. They are usually already at a competitive disadvantage, so listing that would further decrease the size and quality of their applicant pool. (It would also allow cross-disciplinary salary comparisons for people who work at the same institution, or at the better school across town… that embarrassing, and fosters resentment and diminished morale. When faculty in the humanities or sciences or whatever can see how much more their new colleagues in business or nursing or whatever make, it’s devastating, especially when the humanities/arts/sciences folks often must be better scholars and teachers to land their TT job out of the 100+ who applied; but the business or nursing faculty member who takes their job from a pool of 5-10 applicants, can be crappy at what they do (often enough they came over from industry so don’t have higher ed experience at all). In some cases the professional schools faculty make twice as much as the liberal arts faculty, and when many at full prof in the low-paying fields may get less than new assistant profs in the better paying fields, that’s obviously a situation that management would prefer be kept under wraps.)

      2. Anonymous

        I get that, descriptively, HR people may be thinking such things. But “we can’t afford to pay our humanities faculty” and “we don’t want the humanities people to see how much we pay to the law and business people” is … kind of a self-created problem. Assuming the above anon is thinking particularly of US institutions (sorry if not), I have zero sympathy for this type of reasoning (by the admin/HR people). Any university that can afford a law or medical school and a basketball coach can afford to pay the humanities staff a non-embarrassing salary. Also, the initial complaint was about a postdoc salary. If a university can’t afford reasonable pay for their regular teaching faculty, why are they trying to hire temporary researchers? It’s not in general about universities lacking money, it’s about exploiting disempowered workers.

        As a proof of concept, I’ve been a postdoc in a couple of countries that *do not charge tuition* and they paid me a salary that was definitely not embarrassing. These countries have pay scales, pro-worker laws and unions that, while far from perfect, serve to reduce the amount of salary inequality among university staff. US institutions (and some others) are in contrast charging their students financially crippling amounts of money on a semesterly basis and then pretend they cannot come up with the money to pay essential teaching and research staff a living wage, while at the same time paying random administrators and sports coaches high six figures and more. I call bull.

        Thanks for attending my ted talk.

      3. Anonymous

        I mean, of course it’s a self-created problem; but for the administrators in charge (not the HR folks, but the Provost or Deans), it’s not a problem, is a feature. They benefit from filling positions in the cheapest possible way, given their financially precarious institutions. (And NB, we’re mostly not talking about colleges in the US that have law schools and medical schools, or are paying huge salaries to sports coaches. I, at least, am talking about the typical smaller, struggling, private college, or most of the regional state universities, etc… namely, the majority of institutions in the US context. These are schools which definitely lack money, and which increasingly cannot get enough students to enroll who will pay anywhere near the listed tuition price [those get discounted to nearly half just to get students to enroll at such places]… while the original question was indeed about postdocs, the broader point was that compensation and transparency problems are a bigger, general feature of most of higher ed in the US, namely all those schools that are outside the R1s or fancy SLACs, since those are the most well-supported and desirable places to study/work.)

  87. Anonymous

    In case anyone else applied to the George Fox Honors job, on facebook a faculty member posted that it is only open to USA citizens and permanent residents, while not listed on the ad.

    Reply
  88. anonymous

    I am applying for a number of post docs that have been advertised with people who directly work in my area based in China. I am wondering whether anyone knows if there is a bias against applicants who have done post-docs in China/difficulty going into a different market afterwards. I have seen conflicting opinions online about this. The market where I live now is very bad, so it would be good to go somewhere else for a while whilst things shake out and I think these post-docs would be beneficial for publishing, but I’m not sure if there’s a bias against these jobs that might effect my chances of getting a permanent position in e.g. Europe somewhere down the line.

    Reply
  89. Anonymous

    This is my third year on the market, first year on the market with PhD in hand. I’ve done on the order of 10 final round interviews/flyouts at this point and many, many more first-rounds. Is there a point at which I should take the hint that the discipline doesn’t want me? I see my work having significant positive impact on public discourse and policy as well as science and engineering practice, but that seems, if anything, to detract from my value to traditional philosophy departments. This process has been exhausting, dehumanizing, and demoralizing and is making me resent the field and the people in it. What strategies do long term job market veterans employ to avoid burnout and resentment? How should a person decide when to walk away?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      My sense is that you’re disappointed (understandably—it’s hard coming so close to not get an offer) but not interpreting these data correctly. Having 10 campus invitations/final round interviews with only half a cycle of PhD-in-hand is far better than many—probably the majority—of us are doing. Keep the faith. All the signs reasonably point to the conclusion that the field _does_ want you. That said, I hope at least some committees have given you feedback on your candidacy or given some insight into their decision. If you’re not asking for feedback, it’s definitely appropriate to do so. I have no idea where you’re applying but try to apply to a broad variety of institutions and don’t shy away from post-docs and VAPs. Good luck, OP.

      Reply
    2. Daniel

      Although there are exceptions, I think in the majority of cases, anyone who gets a flyout, and most people who get first round interviews, are people the institution would happily have hired if there wasn’t another person who was a better fit during that round. So although it is very disheartening to come close and then not get what you want, I would take this as positive evidence about your circumstances, rather than negative evidence. This may not prevent burnout, but hopefully it helps stave off some resentment. Far from failing to appreciate you, in fact people are rating you very highly.

      Reply
    3. Anonymous

      I just wanted to report that I’ve had my PhD for several years now and you’ve had a lot more flyouts than me! From the sounds of it we even do broadly similar kinds of work. So without downplaying your reasonable exhaustion, I think you’re doing pretty well on the market.

      The main strategy I use to not burn out is to try very hard not to become attached to any job I apply or interview for. I try to go into interviews assuming that it’ll go well and the people will like me but nevertheless I will never hear back. I also try to view it as completely non-personal when I am ghosted or rejected. Committees have more qualified candidates than they have funding to hire, and they aren’t in control of HR procedures.

      If I can make a positive suggestion, how international/varied are your applications? Often people have differing levels of success in different countries/regions or for different job types. FWIW, “impact on public policy” is generally very marketable across Europe. It’s also quite rare now for people to land TT jobs straight out of grad school, even in the US. Sometimes it helps to manage your expectations about what types of job you’ll likely be doing, e.g., expect to do multiple postdocs before getting a professorship, and be prepared to move internationally.

      Reply
    4. Anonymous

      10 flyouts is great! It suggest your file is very strong and people think highly of your work. The field definitely wants you.

      I think there is an enormous amount of randomness in which on-campus interviews converge to offers, and it’s a small-n game, so the numbers may not be meaningful. That said, if most jobs have ~3 flyouts, one would expect ~1/3 of the flyouts to convert into offers. So it might be worth investigating whether there is something about the way the job talk or 1:1 meetings are going that isn’t fully reflecting your strength as a candidate. Could you get feedback from either your home department (practice job talk and 1:1 meetings) or from departments at which you have done the flyouts, and then practice those things? It may be pure chance of course!

      Reply
  90. Anonymous

    I didn’t get my first flyout for a TT job until I was three years post-PhD. That year I had two, but none of them led to offers. The following year I had six zoom interviews, none of which I converted to flyouts. Then the next year I converted nearly all my zoom interviews to flyouts and got 8 flyout invites, of which I accepted seven. In the end, I got one offer, at a job that looks much better on paper (private R1, PhD-granting, all that) than many of the places I fly out to and didn’t get offers. It’s a crapshoot.

    Reply
    1. sen

      May I ask what do you think had changed in that third year? Do you think it had something to do with you (better interview performance, more publications etc.), the job market demands that year, or seemingly pure luck? I’ve done 6 zoom interviews so far, got a soft rejection by 2 of them and ghosted by one. I thought I had a really positive experience in all of them, and now I just feel like I was delusional. I wish I knew what went wrong.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        I moved to a lecturer position and got experience teaching my own classes which I think helped a lot in terms of answering teaching questions, and probably just improved my overall standing in any implicit or explicit ranking of candidates at the zoom stage.

      2. Anonymous

        @sen – It’s likely that nothing went wrong. There are just too many great, qualified people applying for each job. I’ve had interviews that I thought went great and then was ghosted, I’ve also had interviews I thought I did badly in and then got an offer. Hiring decisions have a lot to do with fit considerations, some of which aren’t transparent to applicants, and also internal politics – none of which you have control over.

  91. Anonymous

    There were exceptionally few jobs this cycle looking specifically for an AOS in non-western philosophy. I think there were two jobs for non-western philosophy broadly (Monash and UCL), one for East Asian philosophy (Cal Poly), and one for SE Asian Buddhist philosophy (NIU). UNC also mentioned non-western philosophy as one desired AOS. Several more wanted teaching competency in non-Western philosophy, so presumably those AOS folks would have been more competitive for those jobs (provided that they also had an AOS in a more mainstream field).

    From what I can imagine, while such jobs are hard to find, the number of qualified applicants is also much smaller! I’m curious to hear from anyone who might know just how small. I have some intel that at least one of these searches had less than 20 applicants who specialized in non-western philosophy. If you do non-Western philosophy, please reply! I am interested especially in what area you work on and how many people you know on the market in your field.

    For example, I do Buddhist philosophy and only know of two other Buddhist philosophers on the market right now (who are not already in TT positions). I’m guessing there are more out there but they aren’t very google-able if so!

    Reply
    1. Token Non-Western Philosopher

      This will be a difficult question for any individual to answer because most people who are ‘non-Western’ are actually a more specific subcategory of ‘non-Western’ (e.g. Buddhist, in your case) which has limited interaction with other non-Western subfields. You reasonably don’t know much about the state of Latin-American philosophy, or disability/feminist studies (which is amusingly grouped into ‘non-Western’ job ads rather frequently), and this makes our individual guesstimates more difficult than someone applying to a more coherent grouping of AOS/AOCs. So whereas you seem to have good data on the sub-(sub-?)field of Buddhist scholars working from within philosophy, you (predicability!) don’t know the state of other non-Western sub-fields.

      Perhaps in the replies it would be useful for folks to specify what knowledge they have for their own non-Western sub-field, instead of putting the call out to only those who might have more general information about all non-Western folks. For indigenous philosophy, I’d guess the pool of people who would an AOS or AOC (excluding those currently in TT positions, who could very well be part of the applicant pool) is less than 10. I would also predict that there are more non-Western applicants in other non-Western subfields.

      Reply
    2. Anonymous

      I’ve been in the market for a few years and this was actually the most non-Western positions I’ve seen advertised in a given year. There does seem to be a small pool of applicants, but these jobs are also open to senior scholars, and I would suspect that universities lean more towards hiring them than junior scholars. Also, I would expect that there’s a lot of candidates who do Chinese philosophy compared to any other type of non-Western philosophy, so even if there’s few Buddhists or Indian philosophers (like myself), the pool could be bigger than one might think. Also, people from other fields like Classics, area studies, and religious studies might also be applying for these jobs.

      Also, I’m an Indian philosopher who works on Vedanta (so a lot of philosophy of religion stuff). I know of a couple more Indian philosophers who might be on the market. There are probably a good bit more I just don’t know about though.

      Reply
    3. Anonymous

      I can add that Georgetown also had an ad that was open to non-Westerm, Hawaii (Manoa) had a call for Chinese philosophy, Vienna had a position for philosophy of religion, and Leeds has a Non-Western/Philosophy of Religion/non-Western religions opening

      Reply
  92. Anonymous

    The recently posted job ad for Wellesley (https://philjobs.org/job/show/30845) is listed as a Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor, but upon looking at the job details the minimum salary is listed at $20,000, explained as $10,000 per course for two courses. My understanding is that VAPs are typically full-time salaried positions, rather than paid on a per-course basis. This job seems more like an adjunct position. Am I misunderstanding something here? As far as I can tell, Wellesley seems to be advertising an adjunct role as if it were a VAP – this seems somewhat dishonest.

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      I think this dishonesty is somewhat mitigated by the 2 courses/year teaching load and that the job is listed as part-time.

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        I know of at least one other elite SLAC that treats a “VAP” more like an adjunct position (where, for example, the job doesn’t include benefits)

      2. Anonymous

        Still, it’s kind of bizarre to list it as two vacancies for a VAP when they are looking to have two individual courses taught on an adjunct basis. If not outright dishonest it’s a nonstandard and predictably confusing way to describe the job. (What do I care, I’m not applying for this…)

  93. Anonymous

    I’ve not seen a “visiting assistant teaching professor” position before, but I suppose that, just as there’s a difference between assistant prof and assistant teaching prof, so too is there one between VAP and VATP. It doesn’t strike me as an adjunct position disguised as a VAP: it’s not listed as a VAP, it’s listed as a VATP. And the pay strikes me as better than adjunct rates…

    Reply
  94. Anonymous

    How do you people who seem to know when job offers get extended get this info? Is it just a numbers game, that enough of us here are tapped in, so that friends or friends of friends are getting these offers? Do you search philosophy facebook or bluesky for news? Genuinely interested if it just happens that it’s just our friends who get these jobs.

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      I have always assumed that people are either reporting the news that they themselves have received directly (i.e., they are the ones who received the offer) or are reporting what they know second-hand from their friends/others in their department. Receiving an offer doesn’t tend to be something people are particularly closed-lipped about!

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        Can confirm that when I report updates I’m generally reporting news that I have gotten directly. Sometimes I can infer that an offer/interview invites have gone out based on the nature of a PFO I got. I think that a high enough proportion of at least US/anglophone job market people are on here that there is usually someone with direct news for any major search. Maybe sometimes dept members also report when their dept has made an offer.

  95. Grad Student

    I’m wondering if someone could shed some light on the causes/reasoning behind postdoc search schedules. I applied to a number of postdocs with deadlines in early November that by all appearances still have not produced shortlists almost 4 months later. Some comments from people apparently in the know have reported that search committees would not even start reviewing applications until February or March. So why is this? If you’ve received all applications in November, why not review them until February? Or if you’re not going to review applications until February, why have them due in November?

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      This is completely a guess – it’d be helpful to confirm which country these postdocs are based in. But having apps due in Nov may be for consistency with the US job market cycle. Perhaps they think certain candidates will stop checking for new jobs after Dec. The reason for not reviewing until later would be because they want to wait until TT offers have gone out before making postdoc offers. They could be expecting some of the candidates to accept a TT offer and withdraw.

      Reply
  96. Anonymous

    Before anyone else wastes their time applying for the CSAD postdoc at Kenyon College: the application requirements listed on the application website are *completely* different from those listed in the ad. (E.g. according to the website they want a course proposal and a writing sample of 8-10 pages.)

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      Thanks for warning people! This is so, so annoying when this happens and so incredibly inconsiderate in terms of wasting (relatively vulnerable) candidates’ time.

      Reply
    2. a little confused

      I applied for this job, and submitted a course proposal and 8-10 page writing sample. Was this, or was this *not*, what applicants were supposed to do?

      Reply
      1. Anonymous

        a little confused, I think you (and I) did the right thing. I have no inside information, but my best guess from searching the wording in the PhilJobs posting is that a third party copied an early version of the ad that included Kenyon’s boilerplate for postdoc positions. Then someone realized that the materials the committee wanted weren’t being asked for and so they updated the ad on the Kenyon website and other official postings such as the Chronicle, but since the PhilJobs ad was copy-pasted it never changed.

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