Debbie Roberts' Advice for Philosophy Job Hunters

Debbie Roberts, who recently got the 'holy grail' of a permanent job in philosophy at York after completing her PhD at Reading, has kindly agreed to provide some advice for philosophy job hunters:

The advice for job-hunters that I have is probably not going to be different from what you have already come across elsewhere, and some of it is incredibly obvious. But here is my two cents: do everything you can to turn yourself into a good philosopher, a good teacher and a good colleague.

As a graduate student:
Get involved. Don’t spend (the approximately) three years hardly going in to your department. Attend, and participate, in everything on offer: seminars, classes, reading groups, visiting speaker talks etc. And volunteer to present at your department’s graduate seminar as often as you can, ideally as often as you are allowed to. If you hate presenting and want to avoid doing it, force yourself to do it anyway. The same goes for asking questions in talks, seminars etc. Also, volunteer to present at reading groups, to respond to papers if your department has that sort of system in place, etc. Don’t just stick to your particular area of philosophy either; go to reading groups, talks, classes and so on that are outside your area.

Talk philosophy with your fellow graduate students and try to bring it about that you are in the habit of reading and commenting on each other’s work.

Take advantage of any teaching opportunities that come your way. And try not to just teach things in your own specialist area. If you’ve not run seminars before, get some advice on how to approach it, and ask if you can sit in on a few undergrad seminars run by members of staff to see how things are done. Think about what the point of your classes is and how best to achieve it.

Go to as many conferences as you can, and try to present at as many conferences as you can: get into the habit of sending off papers and abstracts. At those conferences, make an effort to meet people. It is good to find people working on similar stuff to you, who you can then exchange work and comments on work with.

Join philosophical organisations.

Not easy but important: publish. But don’t be indiscriminate here. Aim for good journals. If you’re not sure about where to send a paper, get advice from your supervisor and/or other members of staff.

Of course, while all this other stuff is going on you also need to be working hard reading and writing philosophy with the aim of producing a PhD. One combined way to try to deal with the need to publish and the need to write the PhD, is to write papers first which can then later be turned into chapters.

As an applicant
Usually a job in philosophy requires you to do three kinds of things: research, teaching and admin. You need to think about all the skills and achievements you have in those areas and set them out in a reader-friendly way in your cv. You should already have a cv (have a look at other philosopher cvs online to get an idea of layout etc) which you keep up to date, and which you keep your referees updated with. In the UK at least, the usual requirement is three referees. It is good if you can have one referee who knows your work well, but who is not from your current or previous departments. Apply for every job in philosophy that you meet the minimum criteria for. Put some careful thought into your cover letter: spell out how you meet their requirements (even if you think it should be obvious from your cv). Avoid a tone which suggests you’re just robotically going through the motions. Let your referees know when you are applying for something and give them as much advance warning as possible about when their references should be sent off. Make sure you email them with all the relevant details, like the job specification, who they should address the reference to, and when it is required by.

As an interviewee
In preparing for the interview, spend some time on the department’s website familiarising yourself with all the aspects of the department. Think about what attributes you have that would make you a good fit with the department, and think about why you would be a good colleague. Be able to talk clearly, succinctly and enthusiastically about your research and its relevance. Think about what your research plans are and what you would like to achieve. If the department wants someone to teach specific courses or modules, have some sample outlines or at the very least be prepared to say how you would structure the relevant modules, what topics you would cover, what the key things on the reading list would be. Think about what your approach to teaching philosophy is, and what you think makes a good teacher, and what attributes you have which make you a good teacher. Show a willingness to shoulder your share of the admin load. Make yourself familiar with typical admin roles in departments and think about which ones you would be good at and why. If possible, talk to others who have had interviews recently and ask them what they were asked, and think about what your answers would be. Think about and have answers to standard interview questions like ‘where do you see yourself in five years time?’. During the interview be open, and enthusiastic. Don’t be smug, don’t be arrogant and don’t be wildly unrealistic in the amount you claim that you are able to do. Equally, don’t undersell yourself.

Good luck!