October JFP is Out
October 8, 2010The October JFP is out. My quick take is that it’s nowhere near as bad as it’s been in the past few years. What is particularly striking is (a) that there are more jobs listed than there were last year and (b) that most of these jobs are for choice or prime schools. Many of these positions are downright plum jobs, not the usual mix of teeth gritters, and anybody landing a TT appointment this year would likely do very well for themselves. Ethics, social and political, applied… these particular fields are in great shape this year. Obviously, there’s a backlog from years past, but it’s pretty amazing for anybody working in this area.
Cruel Mistress 
Of course, the problem with plum jobs is, well, they’re plum jobs. I think I’m a pretty decent philosopher, but I’ll be totally honest and say that I don’t like my chances in open-rank, open-AOS searches at Cornell, Michigan, and Pittsburgh. But you’re right; the situation in moral and political philosophy is better than last year, and if you’re working in those areas (or history, where there seems to be a good number of job ads), the JFP comes as a bit of a relief.
Yeah, I’m not so sure. Maybe you’re right that you won’t land a job at Cornell, Michigan, or Pittsburgh…at least, it will be extremely competitive for those jobs… I think that there are enough plum jobs on the market this year that some of them may break in the right direction.