Faculty Careers
The Faculty Career Path, or Academic Career Path, is the traditional career path for most doctoral students. The faculty career path is more difficult than it once was, but it is certainly worth it for many graduate students. While we provide general information and resources below that should be useful regardless of academic discipline, we encourage all graduate students to utilize their research mentor, director of graduate studies, departmental faculty and home discipline as a first source of knowledge.
Exploring Possibilities
Faculty careers are more diverse than ever before. Future faculty can consider a variety of factors related to positions including institution type, location of the institution, additional institutional/departmental focus or mission, available resources and personal considerations. While you will certainly talk to your mentor, also consider consulting peers and colleagues, as well as doing rigorous online research.
During Your Graduate Education
Regardless of your discipline, it will be important to prepare for the academic job market before you complete your graduate education. Networking, applying for grants, submitting for publication and attending academic conferences, among other tasks, are likely necessary to be competitive in the job market. Each discipline will have their own qualifications, so have clear and thorough conversations with your mentor, and consider completing an Individual Development Plan (IDP) to help guide the conversation and your planning:
Online IDP Tools
myIDP : An online, interactive IDP tool hosted by the AAAS, the publishers of Science, is the leading online IDP tool for those in the biomedical or lab sciences.
imaginePhD: Includes a self-assessment, tools for researching a range of careers and an online tool for career planning originally designed for those in the humanities and social sciences.
Understanding Timeline
Because of the academic calendar, the timeline for the academic job search is more structured than the non-faculty job search. While the timeline varies a bit by discipline, the cycle usually begins in the fall and finishes by the end of spring. The process can last anywhere from 12-15 months.
Preparing Job Materials
The Academic Cover Letter is designed to clarify how a student will fit with the position, organization and department. The cover letter should provide additional information about the most relevant scholarly accomplishments that indicate a student’s future goals and highlight the unique positionality for the specific job advertised.
Access Academic Cover Letter Resources.
The Curriculum Vitae (or CV) is Latin for the “course of life, "which is labeled as such to indicate that it provides a full scholarly history of a student. This document will include name and contact information of the student, education, research, teaching and service documentation and many other categories depending on discipline.
Access Curriculum Vitae Resources.
The research statement is designed to communicate a brief description of a student’s current and future research goals. The statement should document research accomplishments and clarify the future trajectory of that research.
Access Research Statement Resources.
Nearly all faculty positions will require a statement of teaching. This statement should describe your teaching philosophy, including your approach to teaching, how you ensure student learning, specific strategies and evidence of teaching growth.
Access Teaching Statement Resources.