Navigating the Job Search: Notes from the Trenches

Job searches and interviews are never easy but, like auditioning, you can learn the skills to find successful employment in both teaching and administrative roles. 

Dear colleagues,

My goal was to come up with a catchy title for this article, one that would make clear that I too am experiencing the challenges of job searching, facing the same unknowns as you. I wish I had concrete answers to share with you all. Since I don’t, I have written this article to offer some advice and encouragement, and to assure you that you are not alone, whether you are just starting your career or are a veteran educator. 

I suspect that everyone reading this article is fully aware of the challenging situations in which we find ourselves. These are volatile times, when the very ideals of creativity and the promises of higher education are being questioned—and in some cases, erased. The path toward a career as a professor at a college or university has become even more difficult to navigate. But for those of us called to teach, we must create a path that allows us and our future students to thrive. The following quote attributed to Albert Einstein has resonated with me for years, and it may serve as a reminder that what we do is vitally important: “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”

For those who are just starting to apply for a teaching position at a college or university, I hope you will not be discouraged by the search process. There are steps you can take to prepare yourselves for this experience, and you already possess many of the skills and materials you need to apply for an academic position. As performers, you have learned to prepare your materials and yourself for a variety of audition experiences: writing a performance resume, acquiring professional headshots, researching audition opportunities, rehearsing and recording repertoire, traveling for auditions, and responding to results. These are also skills that will help you navigate the academic job search process. Granted, some of the materials required for a teaching application package are different from an audition package, but the expertise needed to create those packages are similar.

Here is a short list of the items most often requested when applying for a teaching position. Many of these were explained in my article “Adjunct Teaching: Is It a Good Fit for Me?” accessible on csmusic.net.

• Curriculum Vitae 
• Cover letter
• Unofficial transcripts of all your degrees
• Links to recent performances
• List of 3 to 5 references

If your application makes it past the first level of evaluation, you may be asked for additional materials prior to a phone or online interview. These can include the following:

• Teaching demonstration videos
• Copies of student and/or administrative evaluations
• Sample syllabi
• Videos of productions you have directed/conducted

If you are invited for a phone or online interview, prepare by researching the school even more thoroughly than you did when you decided to apply and wrote your cover letter. Explore the school’s degree and ensemble offerings as well as how the music area (college, school, or department) is a part of the larger institution. Be prepared to discuss the ways you will support the mission of the institution and offer ideas for growth. 

Following the phone/online interview, institutions typically invite three to five finalists to campus, with these visits taking place individually and lasting a day. They often include multiple levels of interviews (with the search committee, students, department lead, dean, and possibly others), teaching demonstrations, and a brief performance. Following the campus visits, the institution will make its hiring decisions and candidates will be informed of their status. Sometimes this process takes weeks and sometimes it takes months, so having patience is vitally important.

For those who have been working in academia for years, the job search has its own specific challenges. Only you know when it is time to leave your current situation in search of another opportunity. But you need to be aware that some of these opportunities may be at a lower rank than your current position. Speaking from experience, leaving a job you have dedicated so much time to, a job that has been fulfilling to you and your students, isn’t easy. Please allow me to share a word of caution: it is always easier to leave a job when you first have a new one confirmed. 

Note that it’s especially necessary to have a signed contract, not just a job offer, for your new job prior to submitting your letter of resignation for your current job. If you decide you cannot stay in your current situation, you will want to carefully review your faculty handbook so you know precisely the procedures for resigning or retiring from your school. Your handbook will explain timelines and processes for tendering your resignation or declaring your intention to retire. And while you may never return to this particular institution, you want to be sure to leave on professional terms. 

During your time at your institution, you will have submitted yearly reports, syllabi, and other documentation of your work to your department lead or dean. There is no need to resubmit any of that. However, I encourage you to collect any forms, procedures, or other assets you created for the department and deliver them to your department lead. This is especially important if you have led complicated committees—such as the curriculum, financial aid, or admissions committees—to ensure that the next committee lead will have all the information they need to succeed. 

Keeping the lines of communication open to your colleagues and administrators will certainly be a benefit as you search and interview for new positions as they may be eager to serve as references for you. Remember to compile a file of programs and reviews of concerts or operas you have directed as well as videos of teaching demonstrations and student solo performances.

If you plan to expand your search beyond teaching for your next job, consider the skills that you have honed and how they can be an asset to other organizations. Your ability to mount an opera production or concert series, recruit for the department and institution, and manage endowments and donors easily translate into attractive skills outside of academia. Rebrand your academic CV into an administrative resume, creating equivalencies for the work you have been doing. For example, your presentations at conferences and conventions are comparable to public speaking engagements. Being published in peer-reviewed journals, public performances, curriculum development, running auditions, recruiting students—all of these skills are easily transferable to nonacademic fields. 

Look at job notices posted on common sites such as LinkedIn and Indeed to explore the skills sought by organizations and then translate your successes and abilities into those terms. Please note that for corporate jobs, it is currently recommended that you remove dates of graduation and include only the most recent decade of employment because of ageism. It is also unnecessary to include a list of references.

I am no stranger to the challenges of the job search. I left my tenured faculty/administrative position at a major university in 2022 to join a newly formed music nonprofit. My two years with that organization were profoundly fulfilling and allowed me to combine my administrative, scholarship, and teaching skills, while giving me the opportunity to mentor aspiring classical vocalists from multiple conservatories and colleges across the country. 

When my two-year contract successfully came to an end in 2024, I decided to return to academia. However, the environment in higher education had radically changed in just the two years since I had left. We live in a time when the fundamental ideals of creativity are being questioned and, in some cases, suppressed. Programs are shrinking for a variety of reasons, and some departments have been completely disbanded, leaving students and faculty scrambling to find new academic “homes.” 

Over the past year, I’ve continued to apply for teaching positions around the country, but expanded my job search to include administrative positions with fine arts organizations as well as nonartistic organizations. I have been able to leverage my skills—particularly those related to project management, budgeting, event planning, and grant writing—and currently am a staff member of a nonprofit organization working to unify supply chains for disaster relief. This particular position has nothing to do with fine arts, but the skills I’ve cultivated as a performer, administrator, and educator have allowed me to thrive!

When a friend learned of my current job, they asked if I missed teaching. To be sure, there is a lot that I miss about teaching at a university. Top of the list is that I miss engaging with students every day, helping them to reach their musical potentials in all forms, guiding them as they grow as musicians and scholars, and sharing with them opportunities to use their skills in ways they had not yet imagined. I also miss collaborating with my colleagues. 

Leaving any position is never easy, but when the time comes, each of us has to decide what is in our best interests, and the best interests of our families. Even though my current job is not in the music field, I continue to perform, present at conferences, and share performance, scholarship, and competition opportunities with colleagues and former students.

Whether you choose to leave or your position has been eliminated, you can decide how to move forward. If you choose to pursue academic positions, you have all of the experiences and tools necessary to be successful, with the understanding that there are a finite number of openings and many individuals vying for those positions. 

Remember that applying for teaching jobs is similar to auditioning for a company. A job interview is like an audition. You bring your very best performing self to an audition, sharing your passion with the panel. The question will rarely be if you are “good enough” for a position; most likely the decision comes down to whether you bring with you the precise expertise that is being sought. 

As you continue to search for employment, I encourage you to explore opportunities that might seem out of your comfort zone. Allow your passions to lead you to companies that mirror your beliefs and ideals. Reach out to your network of colleagues for assistance and offer that same assistance when others reach out to you. While contract work comes with its own set of challenges, you might enjoy the flexibility it offers, giving you time to perform and create. 

I know the difficulties of staying positive, but give yourself permission to slow down and consider your options. Since we never know when an opportunity will grow into something greater, take a chance and say, “Yes!” And, finally, remember that you aren’t in this alone.