The Philosophers' Cocoon

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

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  • Tips for carving out research time?

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

    I’d be keen to any hear tips on carving out time – and making the most of that time – for research in amongst teaching and admin work, beyond “just make sure you spent x amount of time on it a day”.

    I’ve recently moved into an adjunct-type role after submitting my doctoral work and it’s quite the change from being free (even obliged) to spend most of my time on my research. My teaching load isn’t nearly as heavy as it might be, but I find myself ping-ponging between taking classes and office hours, doing my paperwork, etc., such that I often get to the end of the week and find I’ve managed little reading and often no writing. I’m barely even managing any good honest procrastination!

    I find it pretty tough to carve out research time during the semester and am not sure that I have ever developed any real strategies above and beyond “trying to fit in a little and here.” ¯\\(ツ)/¯

    Do any readers have any helpful tips?

    10

  • A list of places to find job-postings?

    In our newest “how can we help you?” thread, a reader asks:

    Could people list all the places they discover job postings? I check higheredjobs, chronicle of higher ed jobs, phil jobs, and community college jobs daily. Are there other places to be looking for job listings that these websites wouldn’t necessarily also list?

    Good questions! Anyone know of places not listed by the OP?

    5

  • Soliciting letters of recommendation?

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

    I have some questions about letters of recommendation. I am currently (and, given the current job market will probably be for the next few years) on the job market. All of my letters are from people in my PhD granting institution. Besides getting a postdoc, how can I get a letter of recommendation from a philosopher working in my area of research? And second, how do I know when it is appropriate to ask someone for such a letter? There isn’t anyone I’m actively working with.

    Good questions! Do any readers have any helpful tips?

    6

  • “Courses you are prepared to teach”?

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

    At “The Professor is In” (https://theprofessorisin.com/2016/08/19/dr-karens-rules-of-the-academic-cv/), it mentions that you may want to have a section on your CV for “courses you are prepared to teach”.

    I am a PhD candidate beginning to eye the job-market. When approaching this category, how much material would you think is necessary to have ready to claim to be prepared to teach the course?

    I would imagine that just having a syllabus written is insufficient, but I would also imagine that literally having a semester’s worth of lectures written out long hand is way more than necessary. What should I be shooting for if I would like have a portfolio of courses prepared, beyond the few courses I have independently taught on my one, that I can claim on my CV in this way?

    These are good questions, and I’m curious to hear answers from people who have served on search committees. Personally, I suspect search committees are going to want some kind of evidence that a candidate has sufficient background in a given area to step in and teach a given course. For example, does the course fall in a candidate’s AOS or AOC? Has the candidate taken graduate coursework on the topic? (If so, it could be good to list graduate courses somewhere in the CV). Finally, has the candidate been a TA in the course for another instructor, or better yet have they actually taught the course before themselves?

    But these are just my thoughts. What do readers think, particularly search committee members?

    11