PhD Resources > Academic Job Search

Graduate Students

The Academic Job Search

introduction | CV Prep | Cover Letters | Job Search Process | Videos

The Center for Career Services supports graduate and PhD students who seek employment in higher education. In addition to the resources linked from this page, such students may:

- discuss their goals and strategies with our Associate Director for Graduate Student Career Services, Rosanne Ecker. Contact her by email at recker@syr.edu or explore an appointment with her by calling 315 443-3616.

- utilize the print resources we have collected to support graduate students, notably:

The Academic Job Search Handbook by Heiberger and Vick
How to Prepare Your Curriculum Vitae by Acy Jackson
Cracking the Academia Nut by Margaret Newhouse

- use our Credentials Service for letters of recommendation and other supporting materials

http://career.berkeley.edu/Phds/PhDCV.stm

CV Preparation/Examples:

Preparing Your CV - A Power Point presentation that outlines CV preparation process and topical element

Overview of CV's (from Cal-Berkeley)

CV Example: MFA (from the Chronicle of Higher Education)

CV Example: New PhD in Humanities (from the Chronicle of Higher Education)

CV Example: New PhD in Applied Sciences (from the Chronicle of Higher Education)

CV Example: ABD in Humanities (from the Chronicle of Higher Education)

Cover Letter Preparation/Examples:

Academic Cover Letters - A Power Point presentation describing issues and guidelines for writing cover letters to support academic applications.

How to write academic cover letters, including a sample (from The Owl at Purdue).

How to Write Appealing Cover Letters (from the Chronicle of Higher Education)

Sample Cover Letter for an Advertised Position (from the Chronicle of Higher Education)

Sample Cover Letter When No Position Advertised (from the Chronicle of Higher Education)

Job Search Process/Resources:

Academic Job Search Basics - An informative PDF of a presentation given by Rosanne Ecker on October 2, 2009.

The Academic Job Search Timeline - A handy reference guide to when to start a search and what to anticipate on a month by month basis to further job search success.

Job Listings for Higher Education - Links to resources where positions may be posted.

 

Video Presentations

Watch the video - Panel Discussion: "The Academic Job Search: Large or small, public or private- where will I find the best fit?"

Watch the video - Panel Discussion: "The Academic Job Search: Negotiating an Academic Job Offer"

Watch the video - Presentation: "Adjusting to your first year as faculty" (Power Point slides)

Watch the video - Panel Discussion: "What can you do with a PhD at a University besides teach? "

Watch the video - Panel Discussion: "How to Get a Post Doc and Make the Most of it"
Listen to the advice of a panel made up of three SU first year faculty and two post docs as they describe their experience in searching for and productively using their post doc opportunities. Panelists include:

Gareth Fisher, PhD, Asst. Prof., Religion;( Post doc at Yale);
Ines Mergel, PhD, Asst. Prof Public Administration, (Post doc at Harvard);
Andrew Darling, PhD, Asst. Prof, Dept. Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, (Post doc Dartmouth); Nancy Kang, PhD, Faculty Fellow in the Humanities, English, (Post doc Syracuse University)
James R. Metcalf, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Earth Science, (Post doc at Syracuse University).

The inside scoop on the grant application process.

Trish Lowney, Ph.D., is the director of the Office of Sponsored Programs at Syracuse University.  The Office of Sponsored Programs assists faculty in pursuing grants. During these four sessions, Dr. Lowney clarifies the grant application process, assists you in identifying funding sources, and sharpens your understanding of the review process. Dr. Lowney  has served as the program manager of two competitive grant programs at the New York State Department of Health. She has also been a grants program manager for the Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research, Inc. and the National Dairy Council.

This four-part series on grant writing was sponsored by the Office of Sponsored Programs and the Center for Career Services during the Fall of 2008.

Grant Writing Workshop, Program 1: Managing Expectations video | Power point
Grant Writing Workshop Program 2: Practical Strategies video | Power point
Grant Writing Workshop Program 3 video | No Power point for this program
Grant Writing Workshop Program 4: Mechanics of Applying video | Power point

Dr. Lowney also presented a program in September of 2009 on writing a successful travel grant application. Video soon | Power Point Slide Show

The Changing Landscape of Higher Education
Chris M. Golde, Ph.D., Associate  Vice Provost for Graduate Education, Stanford University and Research Director of the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate, provides an overview of higher education in the United States, addressing how changes in tenure and in the student population will affect you as a future professor. A program from October 2008 sponsored by the Center for Career Services, Maxwell Career Services, the Graduate Student Organization (GSO), Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, and the Graduate School.