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Advice for job-seekers in North America looking at positions overseas?

Brian Leiter

MOVING TO FRONT FROM NOV. 27 IN THE HOPE THAT MORE READERS WILL CONTRIBUTE

Philosopher Corey Dyck at the University of Western Ontario writes:

In light of this recent article in the Washington Post (the spouse of the author is a philosopher in Hong Kong) I wonder whether you might open a thread seeking advice from philosophers employed overseas for job-seekers who might be considering such a position in the months to come? I would be particularly interested in hearing feedback–what should candidates take into consideration before accepting those positions? what institutional differences might they expect?–regarding positions in the relatively fast-growing Middle Eastern (Egypt, UAE, Lebanon) and Asian (Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong) markets.

Thoughts/advice from readers?

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7 responses to “Advice for job-seekers in North America looking at positions overseas?”

  1. Lucas Thorpe

    As a philosopher working in Turkey I would guess that a lot of advice is very country and institution specific. And I would not feel happy sharing specific advice in a public forum. But I would say that if you get an offer I would try and talk to as many people who know the institution as possible and not just those in the institution but also philosophers from other English language institutions in the country who will probably have a fairly good idea about the lay of the land. I would also try and talk to former members of the department. I know that higher education, including philosophy, is growing really fast here in Turkey – and many, if not most, of the new universities are English language. So there are a bunch of jobs out there, and some of them, especially those in new institutions, may not be widely advertised internationally.

    The number of other English language institutions in the country might also be an important factor to consider – as it is nice to be somewhere with a vibrant anglophone philosophical community.

    Information about anglophone philosophy in Turkey (including some links about philosophy jobs in Turkey) can be found here: http://hesperusisbosphorus.wordpress.com/

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  2. Matt

    Something people will want to consider is whether their spouses/partners will be able to work (or, in the case of same-sex couples in many countries, get a visa at all.) For non-US citizens coming to the US to work at a university, the most common visa at first (an H1-B) does allow a spouse to come along, but does not allow the spouse to work- he or she would have to get a work visa in some other way, which can be quite difficult. I'm not an expert on the immigration laws of countries other than the US, but my understanding is that at least some countries have similar (quite dumb) laws, so if one's spouse hopes to work, this would need to be looked at carefully (and if one has a same-sex partner, the rules on visas in such cases would also need to be looked at carefully.)

    A more distant worry, but one worth considering if the job will go on for a long time, is the immigration status of children born out of one's country of citizenship. For the US, children born to US citizens abroad are US citizens at birth in nearly all cases, but if one gains citizenship by birth while born abroad, there are some restrictions on passing on citizenship one's self. (So, if two US citizens have a child abroad, that child will automatically be a US citizen. But, if that child lives outside the US and gets married to a non-citizens, the resulting child [grand-child of the people we started with] will be a US citizen only if the citizen parent has been physically present in the US for a total of 5 years before the birth, including at least two years after the age of 14.) There are other possible complications as well. Obviously, this is a pretty distant worry for most people considering taking a job over-seas, but is perhaps worth considering.

    Finally, if a US citizen taking a job over-seas in married to a non-citizen who is a US lawful permanent resident (has a "green card"), it would be worth considering what will happen to that status if both move over-seas for an extended period. LPR status can be lost via extended periods (more than a year) outside the US, though it can be regained in many cases as well.

    None of this is to discourage looking for jobs outside the US, but only to note that there are often complicated immigration related issues that should be carefully considered before accepting a job.

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  3. Ricki Bliss

    I am on a post-doc in Japan. I am not American. As an Australian, going abroad for a job is something that educated Australians have expected to have to do for a long time. In spite of this, I was still quite nervous about moving to Japan alone. The position is not permanent, and I have neither spouse nor children to worry about. There may well be a slew of complications were spouses and dependents to be involved that I am not familiar with. These possibilities aside, I love living in Asia. Most importantly, I had completely underestimated the effect that being paid stupid amounts of tax-free money to do philosophy, unharrassed, with no teaching duties, in a university dripping with money, in a country that values their intellectuals would have. I feel like I got smarter just by being here. Worrying about everything all the time, and trying to find a way to be happy in institutions that don't mind us being there so long as we can teach 'accounting ethics' and pay for our own health insurance is exhausting.
    Sometimes I feel that I am missing out on aspects of life here because I can't speak the language. Sometimes, I would love to know I could go to talks every week (that I could understand). And sometimes, I'd just like to stomp around the house with my shoes on, and not put a hole in the wall just by looking at it. But then I try and imagine how many bathtubs I could fill with my philosophy millions and go and do some work instead.

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  4. Recent Graduate

    This clearly isn't indicative of most appointments abroad, but I would suggest making sure you have a back-up plan. I'm a recent Ph.D. that was offered a position in China which fell apart after I had rejected adjunct work for the fall. Said situation left me fairly stranded (financially and professionally) for the moment. The department in question missed their own deadlines and continuously pushed back my appointment (without much communication in the interim or concern over my personal situation). Just make sure you have a reasonable back-up plan in case your appointment (due to factors, perhaps, beyond anyone's control) is delayed significantly longer than was expected.

    Additionally, when I was finally sent the contract it was not in English (nor was an English translation provided or offered). I'm not sure if every overseas institution issues contracts in their language, but it might be helpful to inquire on this point and (if necessary) find someone to translate for you.

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  5. Since repatriated

    I'm an American who took a tenure-track job in Australasia. One institutional difference that surprised me — and that impacted the value of the job once I discovered it — was the different expectation regarding office presence when classes aren't in session. I figured I could take extended trips back to the US when classes were not in session, but at least that university expects faculty to be in the office year round, such that one must get permission to be gone for more than two consecutive days (or something like that) or else take proper vacation time. I've never seen a denial of such leave, but it's a bit jarring to learn that one has to get permission to take a two-week trip in summer (even a work trip!); and such permission always requires justifying the trip in work terms (e.g., to go to a conference). I don't know how common this sort of policy is, but it's worth looking into if that impacts how you envision your lifestyle.

    Reply
  6. Santiago Amaya

    Disclosure: I received my PhD in the US last year. Before that, I spent some time in the UK as a graduate student. I am currently a postdoc in Germany and will take up a position next year as Assistant Professor in Bogotá, Colombia. What follows are some thoughts from a limited, but positive, experience in the job market.

    Apply only if you can imagine living a happy life abroad. If you are thinking about moving overseas just for a philosophy job, a change in career might actually be a smarter move.

    Apply only if you can tolerate uncertainty. It does not matter where you go, most things will be different. Of course, that’s why it is exciting to move around the world. Isn’t it?

    Don’t apply if your intention is just to weather the North American philosophy job market. That’s not cool. And the job market is not going to get much better in the next years either.

    Don’t apply if you’ve never thought about living or, at least, spending some time abroad. If the idea didn’t occur to you before, probably multi-cultural exchanges are not the thing for you.

    Think whether you will find the job interesting. There are lots of opportunities to have a real impact in places that are not as regimented as institutions in North America. But these opportunities might not necessarily attract you.

    Look around. There are lots of North American philosophers working abroad or who have done it in the past. Contact them directly. Also good universities abroad tend to have nice visiting speaker programs. Check for past North American visitors and ask them for specifics.

    Don’t think it will be easy to land a position. Universities abroad look for applicants coming from good programs, with solid publication records, etc. And they typically get more than a handful of candidates with that profile.

    If you make it to the interview, be prepared to learn from the local philosophical scene. You will meet smart philosophers coming from different backgrounds. Those interactions make for a nice reality check. In discussion, you can’t just say, “My intuition is that…,” and expect not to be challenged.

    Accept the position only if you can identify a couple of local philosophers that could make you a better philosopher. In or outside North America, most of your contact with your philosophical community will be online anyways. But it always helps to have a good sparring partner in town.

    Compare apples to apples, oranges to oranges. That is, think how the overseas institution compares to specific North American institutions where you can realistically get a job, and how the town/city where you will move compares to specific towns/cities in North America.

    Finally, if you apply and get the position, prepare to make almost everyone jealous. Apart from having a nice a job, you will be living in an amazing place. How many philosophers in North America can say that?

    Reply
  7. Lucas Thorpe

    As Brian moved this post back to the top, I thought I'd add a few more comments.
    Firstly, I'd second all the advice offered by Santiago above. Living and teaching in Turkey is exciting and fun – but one has to expect the unexpected and adapt to the environment you are in. My observations are specifically about Turkey – but might be helpful for suggesting questions for people offered jobs in similar countries.

    It is important to understand something about how higer education is structured in a particular country. There are both state universities and private universities in Turkey, and universities here are regulated by the Higher eduction council (YOK). Private universities tend to have more freedom to act independently. The YOK regulations were originally set up when the vast majority of faculty were Turkish, and there was not much thought about how to treat foreign faculty. Turkish universities, however, are becoming increasingly internationalised and so the regulations are being slowly developed to work out how to integrate foreign faculty. So our legal position is not always clear and developing.

    Although the state universities face more regulation from YOK, in my experience they tend to be more democratic internally. So, at present, at my university (which is a state university) we elect our own administrators and our departments are self-managing and extremely democratic. The private universities tend to be far more hierarchical, with department heads appointed by the administration, and important decisions, such as hiring decisions, made by the administration not the department. So one should not assume when applying for jobs abroad that departments are self-managing. So one might want to find out about the relationship between the department and the administration. In more hierarchical universities, sincere promises about working conditions made by the department or the department chair may not be deliverable, and your welfare may depend more on your personal relations with the chair. (On the other hand, no internal democracy often means very little committee work and few administrative duties).

    One of the biggest concerns we have is about our legal status. So, for example, out pension rights are unclear. Since 2003 foreign faculty have been included in the Turkish social security pension system. But our exact rights depends on bilateral treaties between Turkey and our country of origin. Our administration is currently seeking legal advice on exactly how this works. But these issues are quite complicated. And my guess is that, over time, as the number of foreign faculty in the country increases, our legal status will become more clearly defined. And administrations with large numbers of foreign faculty will be lobbying YOK to improve the status of foreign faculty members. But, if you are thinking of having a long term career in a country like Turkey, you should learn to live with uncertainty. My guess is that the legal position of foreigner would be clearer in universities and countries with a large number of foreign faculty. In a university with very few foreign faculty, it might be the case that no one, not even in the personnel office, really has much idea about these legal issues. It is quite possible that the legal position of foreigners on such issues is unclear. Having an administration that cares about such issues (as our administration does) is important.

    We have similar issues about housing. Apparently, foreigners are now eligible to get mortgages, but it is not clear exactly how this works, and this is another issue our administration is trying to help us with. If you get offered a job abroad you might want to enquire about whether foreigners are eligible for mortgages and whether the university is able to offer any support in guaranteeing such loans.

    There is also a wider gap between the what the law and regulations say, and what actually happens in practice. This has its upsides and downsides. Personal relationships tend to be more important. In most institutions in Turkey there tends to be less certainty and clarity about how things work and what sort of rights and duties one has than in the US our USA. Some people find this easier to adapt to than others.

    Despite these difficulties, I'd much rather be working here than in the USA.

    Reply

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