political science job rumors

Things may get weird. Trying to fix the problems.

1. anon
   Unregistered

   My advisor is one of the true stars of the discipline, there's no doubt about that. He's even frequently mentioned in threads on PSJR (for whatever THAT'S worth) as one of the most reputable political scientists. But I have gotten nowhere on the job market. How can I better leverage my advisor's star power? The schools I apply to are obviously getting his letter. Should I make a point to drop his name in the first paragraph of my letter? (E.g., I studied at Stanford under PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, who was the advisor of my dissertation, "Keeping...) Is the all caps a good idea? Certainly more people would notice.

   Part of the problem is that most of the places that have vacancies are not R1s among whose faculty my advisor is well-known; they're at SLACs and state schools whose faculty barely seem to know anyone in the discipline.

   I expect a lot of snarky replies, but please tell me, what would you do differently if your advisor were one of the stars of the discipline instead of one of the up-and-coming unknowns?

   Posted 2 months ago #

2. Anon
   Unregistered

   Spread your cheeks.

   Posted 2 months ago #

3. Anon
   Unregistered

   Prepare your anvs

   Posted 2 months ago #

4. anon
   Unregistered

   The problem is not that you're not leveraging your advisor's stardom, but that you're OVERleveraging it. You see, he wrote you a fairly mediocre recommendation, and that's the problem. If you try to sell your other committees less ("I didn't really do much with [advisor], so his letter doesn't say much about me, but [other member] knows me really well!") you'll have a better shot.

   Posted 2 months ago #

5. anon
   Unregistered

   Look, not to be a jerk here, but you're probably putting too much emphasis on the issue of letters and star power. It is absolutely true that your advisor's reputation, and his letter, is important in getting you campus visits; but once you're at that stage, the letter, and his name in general, matters for much less. After getting the fly-out you're largely on your own, and will get hired or not hired based mainly on your job talk and general presentation. So, not to be a jerk, but your problem is mainly in your interview skills. You'd be better off paying attention to the quality of your job talk, how you answer questions, your general presentation, etc. Your advisor is getting you in the door, now you need to seal the deal.

   Posted 2 months ago #

6. anon
   Unregistered

   ^ yeah, sorry, I see now OP was talking about not getting flyouts, rather than about striking out in interviews. My bad.

   Posted 2 months ago #

7. anon
   Unregistered

   OP, you do know that you have to send other stuff with your job application, right? The letter does not suffice. And the people at the schools you disparage have it right. These stars are nothing of the sort in the real world.

   Posted 2 months ago #

8. flyoverprof
   .edu verified member

   You need to sit down with your advisor and talk about your job market strategy. In particular, you need to talk about his or her letter. I suspect there is a problem in the letters. This problem may be (1) it is not written in anticipation of your application to LACs (an entirely research, R1, focused letter), (2) unfavorable comparisons to current or past graduate students (Joe is the seventh best PhD student I've had in the past five years) or, and this is the worst, (3) completely vacuous in advisor's anticipation that his or her name and endorsement is sufficient to carry the student. These are not common, but I have seen these letters; two or three paragraphs that largely say "I Big Shot Advisor endorse this candidate". That doesn't help. That said, an advisor's letter will only carry you so far. There are also big shots in the discipline who are respected very much for their research, but not for their ability to educate graduate students. These people are better known to folks who have been in the business for awhile than they are to aspiring graduate students. Anyway, sit down with your advisor for the talk and do it soon.

   Posted 2 months ago #

9. behopeful
   Unregistered

   I work at a SLAC and have been on two committees this year and here's my experience: in the first round of reviewing applications for phone interviews (short-list) I start with the CVs and then read the cover letters only to glean any sort of personal information or answer nagging questions raised by the CV. Once we have a short-list and set-up phone interviews, then I go back and read the letters of recommendation. Many of my colleagues do this as well. Often times we only have a few days to review applications (after the deadline) and before the committee meets for the first time, so we don't have a lot of time to read every single part of the application. The letters of recommendation matter, but if your CV and cover letter are poor, you won't even get past the first gate. My $0.02.

   Posted 2 months ago #

10. anon
    Unregistered

    OP: Play well in his Ultimate games and you will do fine.

    Posted 2 months ago #

11. anon
    Unregistered

    ^^ behopeful, can you give an example of a "nagging question" you had from a c.v. that you went to an advisor's letter to get an answer to? And what makes cv's and cover letters poor? What do good ones do that poor ones don't?

    Thanks for your helpful reply.

    Posted 2 months ago #

12. anon
    Unregistered

    Good things that letters do:

    - Speak to the job posting and how you fit. Don't run off a form letter. It's probably pretty obvious to most committee members.
    ---- Probably pretty obvious, but a letter to an R1 will lean on your research skills and publications, while a LAC will often look for teaching accolades/methods and teaching&learning research. Do not make the mistake of leaving the other one off completely, though.

    - Don't avoid bad things or weaknesses on your CV. Explain them in your letter while emphasizing how you are working to fix them.

    - While pointing out good things on your CV, don't play them too hard. It makes you look arrogant.

    - Explain how you see yourself fitting into the department and the area where the school is. Departments usually are not interested in hiring someone who will be right back out on the market in a year or two; they want someone who is coming to stay.

    Posted 2 months ago #

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