Lindsay Palkovitz will be the Coordinator for the APA Placement Service at the 2008 Pacific Division Meeting. Questions concerning the Service should be directed to Lindsay at The American Philosophical Association, University of Delaware, 31 Amstel Avenue, Newark, DE 19716. She can also be reached by telephone at (302) 831-4298, fax: (302) 831-8690, or email: lindspal@udel.edu.

APA Placement Service General Hours of Operation:

Wednesday, March 19: Placement Information, 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, March 20: Placement Information, 8:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Placement Interviewing, 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Friday, March 21: Placement Information, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Placement Interviewing, TBA

Saturday, March 22: Placement Information, 8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Placement Interviewing, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

APA Placement Service Locations

The Placement Services will be located in the Pasadena Hilton and in the Pasadena Sheraton as outlined below. For your convenience, maps of the hotel appear at the back of this issue.

Job Candidates

1. Candidate Numbers will be assigned at the Placement Desk.
2. The location of a Job Interview will be available from the Placement staff, or posted on the bulletin board at the information desk.
3. Additional “Request for Interview” forms will be available at the Placement Desk.
4. APA Membership Applications will be available at the APA Meeting Registration Desk.
5. Information and instructions for using the Service will be available at the Placement desk (also see following pages), and posted on the information bulletin board.
6. The mailboxes for Job Candidates will be located at the Placement Desk.
7. A complete set of Job Postings will be available at the Placement Desk.
8. A message for the APA Placement Ombudsperson can be left at the Placement Desk.

Interviewers

1. Interviewers check in here—as soon as possible upon arrival.
2. Payments for On-Site Interviewing Departments will be received here.
3. Space will be provided here for interviewers to check their files.
4. “Request for Interview” forms received from job candidates that have been reviewed by interviewers should be returned here.
5. A list of interviewing table assignments will be posted on the Placement Information Bulletin Board.

Interviewing Area
1. APA Interviewing Tables will be located here.
2. In the event that additional space for interviewing is needed, we will post the additional location on the Placement Information Bulletin Board.

Information and Instructions for Job Candidates

Requirements for Using the Placement Service

1. You must be an APA member in order to use the Service. Placement is a benefit of membership for candidates, and there is no additional charge to use this service. Membership applications are available on the APA web site (www.apaonline.org) or by contacting the APA National Office (302) 831-1112, or at the Membership/Registration desk at the Meeting.
2. You MUST REGISTER for the MEETING in order to use the Service.
• If you register in advance for the meeting and indicate that you will be a candidate (an advance registration form is located at the back of this issue), a candidate number will be assigned in the National Office and will appear on the back of your badge. You must pick up your badge from the APA Registration staff prior to using the Placement service.
• If you register on-site for the meeting, present your badge to the Placement Staff, who will be available to assign you a candidate number in the “Placement Service” line.

What to Bring with You

1. Your copies of recent issues of Jobs For Philosophers.
2. Several copies of your curriculum vitae. If you run out of CVs at the meeting, the hotel has a copy center located in the Business Center.

How to Use the Placement Service

After you have picked up your registration materials from the APA Registration staff, you are ready to use the Service. If you do not yet have a candidate number on the back of your badge, please go to the job candidates’ area to receive one.

Job Candidates’ Area

Here you will find a file folder (mailbox) with your candidate number on it. All communications addressed to you during the meeting will be placed there. Your folder contains:
1. “Request for Interview” forms. Additional forms will be available from the Placement staff. Be sure that your Placement Number appears at the top of all forms.
2. A “Locator” form for you to list your name and hotel address. Please do not remove this form from your folder. This is used only in the event that we need to contact you during the meeting.

Job Postings

New jobs (not having appeared in the Jobs for Philosophers) will be posted on a bulletin board in the Placement Service Area. You should check this board regularly for new postings. Each ad should contain instructions on how to apply.

Institutions that have Checked in with Placement

The names of institutions that have registered to use the Service will be posted on the bulletin board (updated regularly) in alphabetical order. Each listing will indicate the following:
1. If the listing institution has checked in with Placement.
2. If the institution is accepting interview requests at the meeting.
3. The relevant JFP for the institution’s opening(s).
4. Where the institution plans on interviewing (Table with number assignment).
5. Miscellaneous notes deemed appropriate by the Placement staff or the institution.

Submitting an Interview Request Form

Complete the top portion of the “Request for Interview” form and attach a copy of your CV. Be sure that your candidate number appears at the top of all forms. After you have completed the necessary information, place your request form and CV in the box marked Requests for Interviews which will be prominently displayed on the Placement Service Desk. Your “Request” will be forwarded to the institution by a staff member.

Interviews

After your “Request” has been reviewed by a representative from the institution, the form will be returned to your file folder with the institution’s response appearing on the bottom of the form. Check your file folder often so that you can be certain to receive your messages promptly.
By Noon on March 22, all “Requests” submitted by you should have been returned to your file folder, and you should remove them at that time. Occasionally, an institution may retain applications to review at a later date. If you applied for a job that had been posted and the institution did not check in with the Service during the meeting, it is suggested that you contact the institution by mail.

Interviewing Locations

Some departments will be conducting interviews at tables. Each institution using a table for interviewing will be assigned a table number. The table numbers assigned to institutions will be posted on the bulletin board in the Placement Service Area.

Advice for Job Applicants

The APA Committee on Career Opportunities offers the following advice for job applicants: The schedule for those seeking jobs and those Departments offering positions is difficult for all concerned. From the point of view of Departments, any publication date for Jobs for Philosophers is a compromise between the competing demands imposed by the need to get funding for positions, so the later the better, and by the need to have time to process applications, so the sooner the better. From the point of view of job applicants, there are also competing demands: the sooner it is published, the more time to apply, but the later it is published, the more opportunities will be available. There is no easy solution to this problem, but you can ease your difficulties somewhat by being prepared when the JFP is published. You should have your curriculum vitae ready to put in an envelope, a generic draft of a letter of application ready to be fine-tuned for particular job opportunities, and the rest of your file ready for mailing. This means talking to those who are to write letters of recommendation long before the JFP is due to arrive, preparing material about your teaching capacities, and selecting a writing sample for those Departments that request it. Applications should be complete, as well as clearly organized. It is to your advantage to send in your application as soon as possible after an ad appears.

Information and Instructions for Interviewers

Requirements for Using the Placement Service

1. It is expected that all individual interviewers will register for the meeting either by using the registration form found in the back of this issue or by stopping at the APA Registration Desk to register on-site prior to using the Placement Service.
2. All Departments (not individuals) planning to interview at the meeting should complete the Placement Service advance registration form found on our web site, www.apaonline.org/apa/divisions/pacific or at the end of this section.
Upon receipt of an advance registration form additional information pertaining to the Placement Service will be sent to the attention of the contact person listed on the form. In the event that we send Placement forms either via email or mail, please be sure to complete these and return them to our office at your earliest opportunity. Not doing so may cause your materials to arrive after the Staff has already left the office to travel to the meeting. In this case, we must have you fill out the forms again on site. If time does not allow sending them to us, please bring them with you and turn them in at the Placement Desk.

Checking in with the Service

Before you begin to interview candidates, please check in with the Placement Staff. We will need to know that you have arrived on site for candidates inquiring about your institution. Additional information will be requested from you (or confirmed if your department pre-registered) at this time as well.
Some institutions accept interview requests at the meeting; some of these job notices may have appeared in Jobs for Philosophers while others are unpublished positions. A new, unpublished position will be assigned an AD# and posted on the bulletin board in the Placement Service area. If you are bringing such a job notice with you to the meeting, please provide the Placement Staff with four copies of the notice for the position you are advertising. Such a position announcement should be typed on one side only in a good size and easy to read font, and be as brief as possible. Only positions that have not appeared in Jobs for Philosophers will be posted. If you would like a position that has been posted at this meeting to appear on our website immediately following the meeting, or in the issue of Jobs for Philosophers, you need to submit this ad immediately, following the close of the meeting via our website, www.apa.udel.edu/apa/publications/jfp/advertise.asp. If you need assistance with this, contact the APA National Office.
Some institutions interview by prearrangement after placing an advertisement in Jobs for Philosophers and then contacting candidates prior to the meeting. When you arrange an interview with candidates, please inform them that they must be APA Members in order to use the Service and they must register for the meeting in order to use the Service.
If you plan to conduct job interviews anywhere other than at the interviewing tables/suites we have provided, please let us know your plans because candidates often come to us to ask questions about the location/time (etc.) of their interviews, and we need to have complete, up-to-date information in order to help them (and you).
Departments using a Suite for interviewing will need to complete an interview schedule form at the time they check in with the Service. Doing so enables the Service to notify the candidates you wish to interview of your interviewing location. Be assured that only those candidates listed on your interview schedule will be told the location of your hotel room, unless you have directed us to give this information to all candidates who ask. Departments interviewing at tables DO NOT need to complete this form.
N.B.: If you are conducting interviews in a hotel room, please be aware of the following policy statement adopted by the APA Board of Officers at its November 2004 meeting:
“Departments should not conduct Job Interviews in non-suite hotel rooms. Candidates who are subject to such interviews can appeal to the APA and are guaranteed anonymity.” (Originally published in Proceedings and Addresses of The American Philosophical Association, Vol. 78, No. 5, pp. 23, 119.)

APA Interviewing Tables

The Placement Service provides numbered tables for interviewing purposes; you will receive your table number assignment when you check in. These table number assignments will also be posted on the Placement Service Bulletin Board. Should additional space for interviewing tables be necessary, this location will be posted as well.

Institution File Folder (Mailbox)

There will be a file folder bearing the name of your institution located in the Candidates’ Area. Requests for interviews from candidates will be placed in this file folder.

Reviewing Interview Requests

When a candidate requests an interview with your institution, you should receive her/his curriculum vitae attached to a “Request for Interview” form. The bottom of this form is to be completed by you and returned to Placement staff. If an interview is granted, space is provided on this form to list the time, date, and location of the interview. If you are unable to interview a candidate, space for this response is also provided on the form. Any request you receive in an envelope contains confidential material and should be destroyed rather than returned to the candidate. As a matter of professional courtesy, all requests should receive a response. When a candidate receives a “Request” form back without a response, he or she is likely to assume that the material has not been reviewed and might return this to you via our service or contact your institution by mail.
Each candidate is assigned a numbered file folder to facilitate prompt communication between interviewers and candidates. Materials that you wish to transmit to a registered candidate should be handed in to the Placement Service staff located, and will be delivered to the candidate by our staff.

APA Statement on Placement Practices

The APA Committee on the Status and Future of the Profession reminds you of its Statement on Placement Practices: The APA discourages the nomination by graduate departments of job seekers for positions in philosophy, and the submission of their dossiers in response to announcements of positions, without their knowledge or interest. This may seriously mislead those who are conducting searches, and may have unfortunate consequences both for them and for genuinely interested applicants. Graduate departments using a nomination procedure or submitting dossiers on behalf of job seekers should either attest explicitly that the candidate wishes to be considered for the positions in question, or (preferably) ensure that the job seekers themselves submit personal letters of application for these positions. Departments conducting searches are encouraged to recommend or require explicitly (in their position announcements) that each candidate, to be assessed of full consideration, should submit a personal letter of application for and interest in the announced position.

A Placement Ombudsperson will be available at the meeting. Please see the Placement Service Staff if you would like to contact the Ombudsperson.