Job Search in Academe: Strategic Rhetorics for Faculty Job Candidates - Books

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
From identifying sources of information about positions for academic job seekers of all disciplines, to advising on the preparation of effective CVs and portfolios, through guidance on the process of interview to final negotiation of terms, Dawn Formo and Cheryl Reed--two Assistant Professors happily employed in their first choice institutions--provide a savvy guide to the application process.

Informed by the authors’ experience, the narratives of current and recent job seekers, and the rhetorical analysis of the processes of application, interview and negotiation, this book offers invaluable advice and insights to anyone contemplating an academic career in today’s precarious job market.

The authors cover the full spectrum of potential positions--adjunct, visiting, temporary and administrative appointments, as well as traditional tenure-track professorships--in both 4-year institutions and community colleges.

This book includes sample application letters and vitae, a model for job search workshop, and a rich list of resources both in print and on-line.

This handbook grew out of the demand generated by the authors’ successful workshops. Practical and entertaining, this is the essential guide to navigating today’s complex and changing academic job market.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars

Different, but nice June 19, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

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.

4 out of 5 stars

Very Useful Coaching January 4, 2001
22 out of 24 found this review helpful

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.

5 out of 5 stars

helpful advice from people who have been there December 14, 2000
40 out of 40 found this review helpful

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...).

1 out of 5 stars

When common sense and simple courtesy fail... May 26, 2000
11 out of 34 found this review helpful

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.

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