Customer Reviews

Job Search in Academe: Strategic Rhetorics for Faculty Job Candidates (Stylus)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I think the other reviews are much too hard on this book - I found it an extremely helpful resource. Certainly it duplicates a certain amount of information found in other academic job search guides (why is this surprising? 90% of any job search books on the market probably share about 90% of the same advice), but what is valuable about this book is the perspective that its authors bring to the topic. Formo and Reed have been on the market recently, and understand the experience very personally. For me, this made the book more useful than what I would consider the closest runner-up, the also excellent _The Academic Job Search Handbook_ by Heiberger and Vick (their advice is great and they are very sympathetic, but their distance from the personal experience of the job search occasionally made me resentful of how easily they talked about this difficult process). What I found particularly helpful about the Formo and Reed book was how they were able to discuss and provide examples of how necessary it is to get a real sense of oneself across in job applications. Using the Heiberger/Vick book, I produced applications that looked just like anyone else's; using the Formo and Reed book, I was able to come up with applications that looked like me. Finally, if, as one reader comments, these books are filled with information that any advanced grad student would know already, I advise her/him to check out any number of graduate programs that do nothing to prepare their graduates for the professional process of job applications, and in which students honestly in fact *don't* know much of what this book explains (it amazed me too, but I've been at conferences with such people...).

Maybe this book is not for everyone, but I truly found large portions of it helpful when I was on the market last year. Women and men-of-color may find it more useful than white men. I especially recommend the chapters on the interview itself. I took this book along in my suitcase, would re-read the interview chapters, and then leave the hotel room, ready to communicate my main message. Only for the socially challenged? Gee I don't think so. One of the important messages of this book is presenting one's authentic self in a stylized way which makes interviewers perceive you as real but fits within the structure of a formal interview. The discussion of the type of school you would prefer and how to fit was useful as well. I requested that our local public library buy this, they bought 2 copies which are usually checked out.

I bought this book at the late stages of my job hunting process, i.e. after my first, phone interview, and right before the on-campus one. This book is not the traditional "how to get a job" book. It is written in a completely different style and this will make it difficult for some to follow (especially if what someone is looking for is a numbered list of things to do, say, question and answer). I myself found the relaxed, friendly tone of this book more entertaining. It covers all the phases of the job hunting process, starting from the application process (although I didn't read this part) to the first steps as a junior faculty member (which I plan to read). I focused on the middle, but most important phases, that of being interviewed in different situations (on conference, over the phone, on campus, etc.) What I really liked about this book is that it covered all different kinds of academic jobs, focusing on the differences between the interviewing process in community colleges, state universities and phd-awarding institutions. I also liked the fact that the authors used their own experiences and guided the readers through them. What I didn't find as useful was that the book is written by people who've been through this process searching for jobs in the humanities/literature/philosophy areas which seems to be a lot different that computer science/engineering positions, which was my case. The same holds for the resources on finding job announcements placed in the end of the book. The aforementioned fields are not there. Of course, one can always use the web!

I would recommend buying this book, perhaps along with another, more generic, less detailed book, such as the "Academic Job Search Handbook" by Heideberger and Vick.

I rated this book highly because I think it provides great insight into the nuances of the job search & interviewing process. As someone who has interviewed & been successful at it, I found that the book increased my awareness of minute details that I would have normally ignored or not paid much attention to. Although it covers much of the information set forth by the Vick & Furlong book (another great resource!), it has less of the formulaic feel of that book. It seems more geared towards the psychological preparation of the faculty candidate for the task at hand: interactions w/search committees/faculty members/students/deans/VPs, presentation of oneself during teaching/research presentations, etc, etc.

Most importantly, I appreciated the authors' advice on parsing job announcements, school websites & interview schedules for important unstated clues about the job, the institution & its culture. I recall one "campus interview from hell", where, had I paid attention to the tiny red flags that popped up weeks before the interview (as this book encourages), I certainly would not have gone.

The authors seem to assume that by the time most graduate students complete and defend their dissertations they are bereft of the simplest social graces. Doctorally prepared adults who can't keep themselves from being obstreperous with prospective colleagues, chairpersons and deans need therapy and not "strategic rhetorics." This is a poorly written and highly dispiriting book. You'd do well to stay away from it.