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Expressing that one wants to leave a TT job for one’s home country in a cover letter?

In our January “how can we help you?” thread, a reader writes:

I have a question about trying to move from one institution to another as a person with a permanent job.

I have a permanent job in philosophy. However, I absolutely hate where I am and so does my spouse. I only started the job a year ago. I have been a postdoc for years beforehand, and have lived a broad for a while, but I do not want this to be my life permanently. Both me and my husband desperately want to return to our home country, and there are a couple of jobs coming up there this year.

My question is: How do I express on my documents (usually just a cover letter) that I would genuinely take a job in my home country at far less prestigious universities than the one that I am currently at simply because I want to be home?

I have been told by a few people close to me that one concern that some search committees might have is that I am seeking to leave a job that I have just been appointed to, without really giving it a go.

I cannot think of a professional way to express that I just don’t want to live overseas anymore and I want to work in my own country.

I think I would just be forthright about this in the cover letter, as it seems to me a completely understandable reason to want to move. But maybe I’m missing something.

What do readers think?

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8 responses to “Expressing that one wants to leave a TT job for one’s home country in a cover letter?”

  1. Anonymous

    I’ve seen people use this kind of language in cover letters when I was on search committees, and I think it’s worked well:

    “While I had no anticipated going on the job market so soon after beginning my current job, the position you are hiring for was a uniquely attractive opportunity that I could not pass up. The job itself is especially attractive for [reasons]. Moreover, I am originally from [country], and would ultimately like to return there, so this job is a uniquely attractive fit for both personal and professional reasons.”

    It reassures search committees that you’re not a flake who is just job hopping, it lets them know what particular reasons you are excited about their job in particular, and it also reassures then that you’re serious about wanting to be there even if the job is “less good” on paper than your current job.

    Good luck!

    Reply
  2. Anonymous

    I applied to a TT opening at the undergrad institution I attended in my hometown, and got an interview. I only changed two small things on my cover letter.

    (1) In the first paragraph, where I say “I’m a [position] at Uni X. I completed my PhD at Uni Y …” I added, “… after an undergraduate degree at Uni Z.”

    (2) At the end, where I normally finish by saying, “I would be thrilled to teach/research yada yada yada,” I wrote instead, “I would be thrilled to return to Uni Z and teach/research yada yada yada.”

    I don’t know if I got the interview partly because of my relationship to the university, but the committee must have noticed it, and I think the cover letter did communicate that I’d be genuinely excited to go there. Marcus might be right that you can be more forthright about this, but if you don’t want to make too big a deal of it in your cover letter, I think you can still get across how much you want to return home (regardless of prestige) with small changes like the ones above.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous

    If it is the kind of institution that would be concerned about hiring a flight risk (which is a lot of them!!), then I would think it is definitely worth mentioning in the way that the first poster mentions!

    I would recommend having a full paragraph about it, since when I’m on a search committee I skim cover letters and might miss the odd sentence here and there.

    FWIW, I know a lot of people who really put some weight on whether a cover letter is tailored to an institution (and this can be as easy as adding a paragraph at the end!). So I think this is generally a good thing to do.

    Reply
  4. not tactful

    I agree with everyone here that this is a professional and appropriate thing to say. Naturally, you would not want to be too explicit about the negative part (how much you hate your current location). A few years ago, I did this: I was completely honest about my negative feelings in cover letter etc and didn’t think twice about it, due to overconfidence over my candidacy. I didn’t hear back. Not even first round.

    Reply
  5. Anonymous

    Just want to express my sympathy. You are not alone. I just want to go back to my home country, preferably with an academic job; but as I’ve been trying quite a few times, I’m starting to get to the point where I would be willing to give up my permanent job for any job back home.

    Reply
  6. homeward bound

    Just wanting to also express sympathy about wanting to go home! It is easy to absorb the values of the academic system around you and think that this is “merely” a quality of life consideration, but do I hope that you and your closest relationships do feel able treat this as a weighty consideration, one that you are entitled to hold dear, etc.Wishing you success 🙂

    FWIW my evidence is also that people are quite matter of fact about personal considerations like this. I think it is completely fine to say in a cover letter, “This opportunity is particularly exciting to me, since I was born & raised in X city and would ultimately like to relocate to X permanently and long term”. Besides showing that you are serious about them, this also can indicate that you are serious about your current job and not just applying out willy nilly, i.e. that you are not someone who looks to leave their current job *qua* current job.

    Reply
  7. Anonymous

    My opinion on this is that a candidate’s desire to work in a particular place is not a reason to be hired. While I like the sample paragraph someone gave above to allay worries about leaving a good job soon after taking it (“this is such a great opportunity I can’t pass it up”), what you really need to do in the letter is to convince the committee that you are the right person for the job. The fact that you are applying is, I would think, I pretty clear indication that you want the job. Certainly leave out any negative comments about where you are now. It is worth saying you would love to return to your home country, but there’s no need to say more than that.

    Reply
  8. Anonymous

    OP here. Thank you all for the kind and very helpful responses, and to Marcus for reposting this!.

    Reply

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