It’s the question I hear most often from academics on the job market.

Usually it comes after months of searching. They’ve checked the obvious job boards. They’ve sent applications. They’ve watched colleagues land positions they never saw advertised. So they assume there’s a list somewhere (maybe one I keep in a locked drawer) that everyone else can see.

There is no secret list. I’ve checked the drawer. I’ve also sat on enough search committees to know that most academic positions are advertised, because they have to be. What some candidates have is a head start. They knew a job was coming before it was posted, so they had weeks to tailor their materials instead of days.

That head start comes from steady, unglamorous work, week after week: watching the job boards for the countries you’re targeting, checking the career pages of the universities you’d most like to join, being visible where your field gathers, and telling people, specifically, that you’re looking.

Most people I talk with do one or two of these well. Very few do all four. And almost nobody keeps track of what they find, so every week they start from scratch.

One more thing. Many scholars limit their search to the country they’re already in. If you publish regularly in strong journals and compete for research funding, you may be more competitive (and better paid) in places like Hong Kong and Singapore than you realize. Searching abroad comes with its own unwritten rules, and committees there read applications differently. Still, it’s worth knowing the option is there.

A few questions for you:

• Where are you looking right now, and where aren’t you?
• Who in your field knows you’re on the market?
• If the position you most wanted were posted tomorrow, how ready would your materials be?
• Have you looked beyond the country you’re in now?

Get in touch if you would like me to support you in building a successful academic career.