The Academic Job Search Handbook

12. Web Sites

Chapter 12 Web Sites As more and more people use the Internet as their primary means of finding information and communicating, some job candidates are constructing their own Web sites. This practice is now common in both technical and nontechnical fields. Job candidates who take the time to construct professional sites carefully report that potential employers are interested and impressed. A typical site might begin with a homepage that links to a vita, a statement of research interests, publications, sites one has prepared for courses or other professional purposes, other professional sites (such as those maintained by one’s professional association), and, perhaps, sites reflecting personal interests. The vita is also typically linked. For example, one might be able to click on an advisor’s name and find a document with an entire list of that person’s publications, or click on the name of the degreegranting department and be linked to a graduate catalog or the department ’s recruitment materials. For candidates in fields where visual materials are important, a Web site offers an outstanding opportunity to make it easy for an employer to view work, rather than dealing with cumbersome slides or portfolios. For example , candidates could provide a complete set of photographs of a portfolio, diagrams of molecular structures, patented drawings for a new mechanical device, a clip from a documentary video, CAD-generated perspective drawings of a new building, or archival photographs of the ritual objects analyzed in a dissertation. Obviously preparing a good site can become quite time consuming, and one is rarely required as part of an application. Since at this point a Web site will not substitute for any of the written materials you need to prepare, before you set out to construct one to use in your job search, decide how many people are likely to view it, how helpful it is likely to be to you, and, therefore, how elaborate you want to make it. Web Sites 149 Constructing a Web Site If you decide you want to take the time to construct a site, here are some things to consider: • Browse through other people’s sites for inspiration before you start to construct yours. • Keep the site current. Make sure that all the links are to current addresses. If you find that the connection to a particular site is slow, you might want to put a warning to that effect on the menu, so that the reader ’s first attempt to use your page doesn’t result in a frustrating wait. • Remember that millions of people worldwide have the potential to view your site. Even though site pages are frequently used as expressions of personality, including humor only one’s friends might find funny, don’t include anything unless you want it to be seen by the chair of the search committee at your first-choice school! • As with a vita or any other job search materials, review your site carefully, making sure it is perfect. • You may tailor a vita to specific applications. However, because of the universal access to your site, if you have more than one version of it, anyone who views one may also view the others. This form of presentation requires you to present a more uniform view of yourself. • Make sure the menus have a clear and obvious sense of organization. If you include many links to other sites, group them in ways whose logic is immediately apparent to the reader. • Give some thought to the danger of having materials ‘‘stolen’’ or otherwise misappropriated. It may not be advisable to put up any material you have not already published or given in a public forum. You also may have some concerns about the use of your ideas. For example, your statement of research interests may prove inspirational to someone in your field with whom you view yourself as competing. Add a copyright symbol and a phrase such as ‘‘Not to be copied or distributed without permission’’ to everything you post, unless you don’t care if someone else uses it. A Note About the Sample Web Sites That Follow The following examples, generously volunteered by real scholars, are provided to give you an idea of some of the wide variety of ways in which a site may be designed. Since they are public documents, we have not changed the authors’ names. 150 Written Materials for the Search Sample Humanities Web...