UKC

Hi,

I'm just completing a PhD in social science at a UK university and am job hunting. I'm really interested in moving to north America for a while and am looking for academic posts over there. I was wondering if anyone here had any experience of doing so and could offer any advice please? Or anyone currently working within the US/Canadian academic systems. I'm interested in anything to do with finding posts/applying/administration/moving/life as an academic in the US or Canada etc.

I'm mainly looking via sites like higheredjobs.com at the moment, can anyone reccommend other good routes/sources/approaches please?

Of course I'm searching online, speaking to relevent academics etc, I'm just asking on here as well for any extra information or experience.

Many thanks and happy Christmas!

In reply to control freak: I'm looking for either research posts (including postdocs) or teaching jobs.

In reply to control freak: bump, with an acknowledgement of the extra 'c' in recommend typo...

In reply to control freak:

I have a friend who might be able to help as he's doing the same--I'll send him a link to this thread.

In reply to alicia: That would be great, thank you.

In reply to control freak:

Also, my parents are both academics in the US and I'm probably going to speak to them tonight, so I'll see if they've got any ideas on the job search front.

As far as working life, from what I can tell about my parents' jobs v. the academics I've met in the UK, the level of bureaucracy is roughly equal but the pay is much better in the US!

Good luck with the job hunt.

In reply to alicia: Thanks Alicia.
I've also just discovered Chronicle.com which might help.
I'm so familiar with the UK HE system and just don't know where to start with the US!

In reply to control freak:

Okay, just spoke to my mum. Yes, the first thing she mentioned was the Chronicle of Higher Education, which must be Chronicle.com. She was saying though that you'd probably have to subscribe to it to be able to get the job listings.

She also said that there should be some sort of national organisation for social scientists which will have a list of jobs online. It will also have an annual meeting where a lot of people will have interviews if they've already applied for jobs.

The bad news is that apparently a lot of universities aren't hiring at the moment because of the recession (I remember my friend saying he was running into this as well).

Apparently the most commonly-asked for items will be a CV, covering letter and references, although places might also ask for a writing sample, evidence of your teaching ability, and a masters/PhD transcript.

Hope that helps you get started...

In reply to control freak:
alicia was referring to me. I am currently doing a postdoc in the US. I am not exactly sure about looking for postdocs in the field you are interested in, but higheredjobs could be helpful. The way I have applied for postdoc positions in the past (this is my second) is to look at faculty who do stuff that I am interested in - and then just email them directly. It does work reasonably often, I would say (of course, only a handful reply back). As far as administration - well, it is, as alicia mentioned, probably not that much different than the UK.

Moving - well, in my case, it required putting all the stuff in my car and start driving towards the new job - of course, this exact procedure may not work that well for you from across the pond. But seriously, most of the time I have just moved to a new location and then tried to find a place to live - but then I only moved to relatively smaller cities.

Life - well, that really depends upon your postdoc advisor (if postdoc is the path you choose). I have been quite lucky in that regard - none of my advisors have particularly cared if I suddenly disappeared from the office for a couple of days to go climbing (as I have often done - just ask alicia).

As far as finding a teaching/faculty post - that is quite a bit harder than finding a postdoc. I am in the process of trying to find one. But, perhaps, it is hard in UK too.

I am not sure what else information you are looking for - feel free to email me at divesh.bhatt at gmail (I seldom check this site). Good luck.

In reply to alicia: Thanks to both you and your Mum! It's a gloomy outlook everywhee at the moment.
I'm going to join the Am Assoc of Sociologists and the Chronicle first.

In reply to devious: Thanks divesh, I might email later tonight. Good luck with your search also.

In reply to control freak:

It's been a while since I was in this situation - in fact nearly 20 years! However, I am still in the field and at least in biology the normal route was to choose the lab. or labs first and contact them directly. Often contacts at conferences or between lab. leaders would help. I am sure online sites are now also very useful but post-docs tend to be quie specific and tailored to fit.

Mike

In reply to pog100: Thanks Mike. The postdoc is one route - I might try and find some funding to get out to a conference - but I'm also very interested in teaching over there for a while. It seems that this is difficult to access. I'm also wondering if there are differences in the academic job titles used in the States compared with over here - some of the job descriptions for jobs don't match what they would be over here...!
I also have the impression that post docs don't involve the same process of 'joint proposal between student and supervisor to funding body' tat they do over here...? Can anyone cast any light on that please?

In reply to control freak:

The job titles are very different. Anything in the UK that would be discribed as a fellowship or lectureship is a professorship in the states. The low rank teaching jobs are likely to be assistant or associate professor and the best will be discribed as "tenure track". I don't know about the social sciences but the procedure for post-docs in the bio-sciences is the same as here in that funding is obtained by the supervisor for a particular project and they then recuruit a post-doc.

In reply to davidwright:

You tend to see a few overseas academic jobs in the THES or the Guardian on a Wednesday - very few in North America but more in the Commonwealth so Australia/NZ and parts of Africa too.

In reply to control freak:

Not sure if you've done this yet but get on to the Canadian Govt. website to check the visa requirements.

I have a friend who is a reasearcher here in Saskatoon and his partner is German. I'll ask her how it went if ya want but things might jave changed since she came over here.

PS. Don't wait for official PR visa before you come over, if ya get a job offer come on a temp work visa and apply for PR here. I'm almost certain that you will meet the points requirements.

In reply to Removed User:

Meant to say that his partner is teaching at the university so her being here has some relevance to your thread!

PS and she came via the UK

In reply to davidwright: Thank you David, that's really useful and confirms what I was beginning to realise about 'Professorships'.

In reply to Removed User: Cheers. I've just found a job in Manitoba! I'd really appreciate anything your friend's partner can offer in terms of advice

In reply to control freak: Thanks so much everyone - keep any other thoughts coming please! I'm incredibly motivated to move across the Atlantic at the moment and really want to make it work.

In reply to control freak:

I'll see what I can do. Whereabouts in Manitoba? Winnepeg is not a great city but still quite cheap to get a house in. Lots of lakes and forests close by.

In reply to control freak:

I came over here last January and have no regrets so far.

In reply to control freak:

One other thing that occurred to me--have you found this site yet? http://forum.diveintoamerica.com/

Good for moving/living info for the US.

In reply to alicia: Cheers Alicia. I've found some jobs I'm interested in... to my shame, am now going to have to scour a map of the US to work out exactly where they are ;(

In reply to control freak:

Interesting post - anything you'd like to tell me??

>>hijack - give us a ring over Xmas if you fancy a chinwag! BTW think I misread the Xmas present situation big time!!<<

In reply to Sammy the Shammy: hee hee. Actually no, I have thoughts on that front and will not be persuing it. But I've been thinking about it being a really good time to make an exciting move!

Eek - text me!

In reply to control freak:


Talked to Sabine yesterday. She came over on a Post Doc and then applied for a full time position (which she got) from here.

The bad news is that the financial crisis has hit Universities VERY hard over here as many posts were funded from the proceeds of investments that have just tanked.

In reply to Removed User:


Yeah, I've noticed. I'm still trying though (had fun writing my teaching philosophy!) and have a number of teaching jobs to try for. Absolutely nothing on the postdoc front though. It's shame that enthusiasm and effort only get you so far! not giving up mind you.

In reply to control freak:

More importantly, are any of the jobs you've found to apply for in places that are good for climbing??

In reply to alicia: Colorado... Despite the desperation for a job, my priority is still the mountains My reasons for wanting to go are not only academic!

In reply to control freak:

Excellent on the location front! Just watch out for the subaru-driving, prana-covered yuppie crowd, though