Job Market Tips

The job search process is a long one. You will start on the job market process more than a year before you actually start working. Because you start on this process so early, it is normal to feel that you aren’t ready. There are definitely exceptions to this, but generally, you want to have defended your dissertation proposal and have at least some of the data collected for your dissertation before your initial interviews. Again, this is not a hard and fast rule, just a general guide. There will certainly be people on the market who haven’t defended their proposal, and others who are nearly done.
Sign up with placement services and create your profile. This can be done as early as January in the year you go on the market. Be sure to keep your profile up to date. Here is the link: http://aom.org/placement/.
Make sure you register for the AOM Annual Meeting early so that recruiters know that you will be there. Placement services run a career fair at the Annual Meeting where recruiters will do initial interviews. Although these interviews will (hopefully) be the first of a few rounds, it’s important to make a good first impression - be sure to have your business attire on and a polished answer to the ‘tell me about yourself’ question.
There are also some interesting presentations you may want to attend so check the conference program once it is released. Check out their website for instructions on this: http://aom.org/Career-Fair-at-the-Annual-Meeting/. You can also find a lot of information on the job market process here: http://aom.org/Placement/AOM-Placement-Presentations.aspx
Have a web presence. At a minimum, you should have an active LinkedIn account. You could also consider a Google Scholar profile, Research Gate, Academia.edu, etc. Google yourself and make sure you are happy with what comes up. Get a professional head shot done and use it for all your accounts.
Prepare your job documents early (in the Fall of the year you want to go on the market) and be sure to get feedback on these documents. You need to have an academic CV, a research statement, teaching philosophy statement, and sometimes a diversity statement. You will also need a cover letter for each job. It may be worth creating a few templates for cover letters for different types of jobs (research, teaching, and balanced schools). ‘The Professor Is In’ by Karen Kelsky provides some helpful tips on writing these statements and the job market in general, although it is not tailored specifically to management jobs. Consider asking people from your department who have recently been on the market for advice on these statements.
Start thinking about who will write your letters of recommendation. You may also want to approach these people in advance to make sure that they can commit to doing this. You probably want to have 3-4 people on stand by, although the number of letters required will vary by position.
Create a spreadsheet to keep track of your applications. As the job season ramps up, it will become difficult to keep track of what stage each of your applications is in. You may also want to share this spreadsheet with those writing letters of recommendation for you so they can keep track of what letters they have or haven’t submitted.