Career Services Office
The Academic Job Search Process
Where to Look
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The majority of tenure track positions are announced nationally, usually through more than one source.
Chronicle of Higher Education:
chronicle.com/jobs/
The Chronicle of Higher Education is the most common resource used in the academic job search. An
annual subscription is required in order to receive the weekly print version and/or online access
to all articles and resources. However, the Chronicle Careers section of the Chronicle is
available online to non-subscribers. The Chronicle also features a job alert service through which
you may sign up to receive weekly e-mail messages when the Chronicle has posted jobs in the field
or fields that interest you. Sign up at
chronicle.com/jobs/notify.htm.
Higher Ed Jobs:
www.higheredjobs.com/
Higher Ed Jobs has one of the largest job databases focused exclusively on open positions in
higher education, and it usually has thousands of postings for positions for tenure track and
adjunct faculty, staff, and administrators. It posts positions for four year colleges and
universities as well as community colleges.
Academic 360:
www.academic360.com/
Academic 360 is much more than a job search tool. It is a compilation of a vast number of
scholarly organizations, listserves, and other discipline-specific resources. Conveniently
organized by area of study, Academic 360 can help you identify numerous sites where academic
jobs-and some relevant nonacademic jobs-are posted.
Education Week:
www.edweek.org/
Education Week is a useful tool for individuals seeking jobs within various segments of
education. Education Week posts relatively few higher education positions, instead featuring
larger numbers of primary and secondary school postings. However, it is a comprehensive tool,
providing information about a multitude of positions, and it may be particularly useful to
administrators, curriculum designers, and consultants in primary/secondary education and
not-for-profit organizations.
Academic Position Network:
apnjobs.com/index.html
APN is an additional resource for the job search. While it does not feature as many postings as
the Chronicle, it may be consulted to make your search more comprehensive.
Academic Careers Online:
www.academiccareers.com/
Academic Careers Online includes faculty, research, post doc, adjunct, administrative, and senior
management positions at colleges, universities, and research institutes around the world.
Applicants may also sign up for free e-mail notification of new job postings.
Individualized college and university sites:
www.mit.edu:8001/people/cdemello/univ.html
This is fairly comprehensive list of colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, and
numerous other foreign countries, and it provides a link to each institution's home page. This
list may be useful if you want to explore job opportunities at specific institutions. Many
universities will post academic positions on their own Web sites.
Greater Chicago Higher Education Recruitment Consortium:
www.gcherc.org
The Greater Chicago Higher Education Recruitment Consortium is a free resource that combines the job listings of over 20 member colleges and universities, and cultural, research and medical centers in the greater Chicago area. Listings include faculty and staff positions of all types. GC HERC is a collaborative response of member institutions to the many challenges of academic recruitment and retention, and a particular focus of the consortium is to develop dual-career friendly policies. The HERC Web site has a special feature that enables dual-career couples to link their job searches. An e-mail alert option allows job seeker to recieve posting that meet their search critiera.
Other Resources
In addition, job candidates should pay close attention to the information networks within your discipline. Job postings are often announced in the newsletters and journals of scholarly organizations and made available online and even through regular e-mail alerts of major scholarly organizations. Check around. You should also check for postings at conferences. Sometimes the first notice about an available position is made at a national conference, and current faculty may be there to begin the candidate screening process.
Finally, you must look to resources within your department. Sometimes colleges and universities will notify your department of available positions, and individual faculty members may even learn about new positions through their personal network. Some departments will post these job announcements on a public bulletin board.
The Importance of Networking
In general, networking is the most successful means of finding a job. This is especially true outside academia where many positions are never advertised but instead are filled without a formal search. In the academic world, however, the majority of tenure track faculty positions are advertised nationally. So, while networking may not be as critical for helping you identify positions, it is still useful to help you secure a job. Your relationships with your adviser and faculty members in your department may help your application. Conference attendance is also an opportunity to meet other scholars who will be interested in your research and writing. You never know when someone you've met at a conference might end up on a search committee. Many students raise objections to networking efforts, believing they should be able to stand on the merits of their work alone. Certainly, if the quality of your research and teaching are substandard, you will fare poorly on the job market. If you produce high-quality work, however, and are also well networked within your field, your chances of receiving a job increase. Employers generally prefer to hire someone about whom they already have positive information. If someone on a search committee can speak positively about you, it can potentially increase your chances of receiving an interview or job offer.
