The Mla Guide to the Job Search

For More than two decades graduate students -- more than 25,000 of them -- have relied on the Modern Language Association's guide for job seekers in the academic market. Previously called A Career Guide for PhDs and PhD Candidates in English and Foreign Languages, English Showalter's MLA Guide to the Job Search has been updated and greatly expanded for students facing the job market of the 1990s and for department administrators hiring new faculty members and helping graduate students find jobs. The guide offers students preparing to enter the job market invaluable advice on seeking jobs at two- and four-year colleges and universities, as well as outside the academy. It suggests when to start looking, how to begin, where to apply, whom to ask for letters of reference, which materials to include in a dossier, and what to expect from interviews and campus visits. A new chapter by Howard Figler explores the many career opportunities outside higher education for PhDs in the humanities. Figler discusses which academic skills are valued in the nonacademic job market, what strategies job seekers can use to research fields and find positions, and how graduate students can make the transition from the academy to other fields. The guide also offers advice to department administrators, on how to recruit prospective teachers, screen likely candidates, conduct interviews, and ensure that applicants receive fair and courteous treatment. It specifies ways to prepare graduate students for their careers and reviews types of job-placement services that institutions can offer. Other sections of the guide provide useful statistics about the academic and nonacademic job markets, speculate on futureprospects for academics, reprint policy statements made by MLA committees, and suggest additional resources for applicants and employers. -- Advice on preparing for and conducting an academic job search, from graduate work to the job offer -- Information on seeking employment in two-year colleges, four-year colleges, four-year colleges, and universities -- Discussion of the nonacademic job market: how it differs from the market in academia and how PhDs ca apply their training to it -- Advice for departments on handling each stage of the hiring process effectively -- Essays examining the past, present, and future of the academic and professional labor markets -- MLA statements on recruitment, hiring, and employment practices -- Dos and don'ts for interviewers and interviewees -- Statistics on the employment of PhDs in languages and literatures -- Sources of further information