The Committee on Academic Career Opportunities and Placement of the American Philosophical Association (APA) has launched a new academic job-market mentoring program. . According to an announcement from the APA: The APA Job-Market Mentoring Program, run by the APA Committee on Academic Career Opportunities and Placement, pairs philosophers going on the academic job market with mentors who have recent experience of the market themselves. Its purpose is to make good job-market mentoring more equally available across the discipline. The program is formative: mentors help candidates present themselves well and navigate the process. Mentors and mentees will meet (over phone, Zoom, or email) several times throughout the market cycle to discuss the mentee’s plans and dossier, for a practice interview, and as otherwise needed. Alongside the announcement, the APA released a mentoring program guidance document about the expectations mentees and mentors should have about the program. Among other things, it says: Our mentors are experienced guides who help candidates present themselves well and make sense of the job market. The role is meant to be a bounded commitment: a few hours spread across the year, with a couple of more concentrated moments around document review and a mock interview. Mentors are not expected to be on call, to solve every problem, or to keep going indefinitely. It is better to do a bounded job thoroughly than to over-promise and disengage. In an email, the chair of the Committee on Academic Career Opportunities and Placement, Amy Berg (Rice University), said, “we’re anticipating that demand will outstrip supply, but we’re hoping to get as many mentors as we possibly can, particularly mentors who have recently been on the job market themselves and/or who work at teaching-focused institutions and two-year colleges.” The announcement included links to the mentee application form and the mentor application form. Applications are due August 1st. You can learn more about the mentoring program here.

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