Re: academic jobs in Britain- multiple responses

From: Andrew Elliott <[email protected]>

Dear Rebecca,

Two other important sites are www.jobs.ac.uk, and www.thes-jobs.co.uk,
which are usually the first port of call here in the UK. Additionally,
subject-specific mailing lists like CST (Critical Studies in Television) or
MeCCSA quite often list jobs, as well as shorter-term post-docs, research
fellowships, etc.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

Andrew Elliott.
********

From: Leo Enticknap <[email protected]>

 Rebecca Prime writes:

"I would like to expand my job search this year
to include positions in Great Britain. I sometimes see posts for jobs in
the UK on the Society of Cinema and Media Studies, H-Net, and Chronicle
listings, but wonder if there are any other sites I should be checking
that may be more specific to the UK. Any suggestions would be
appreciated!"

jobs.ac.uk, subscribing to the Times Higher Education
Supplement and joining the British Association of Film and TV Studies
(www.baftss.org) might all be a help.

However, two words of caution.
You don't state what country(ies) you are a citizen of, but if you do
not hold full citizenship of any European Union member countries, please
read on. If you do, you have the legal right to live and work in the UK,
and so the following is irrelevant.

The present UK government was
elected on a ticket to reduce net immigration to below 100,000 during
the lifetime of this Parliament. As it can no more restrict immigration
from other EU countries than California can from Arizona (a citizen of
any EU country has the right to live and work in any other, and
primarily because the UK is second only to Greece in the generosity of
its social security system, there has been a huge wave of migration from
the recently joined eastern European countries to the UK in the last
decade or so), it is concentrating its efforts on people trying to
immigrate here from outside the EU. This means that the visa rules - and
especially for work-based visas - have recently been toughened up. The
bottom line, from what I can gather, is that the situation is now very
similar to that of an academic who is a UK citizen trying to get a
work-based visa for the United States: unless you're a realistic
candidate for a chair level position, forget it.

The government
requires anyone wanting to employ someone from outside the EU to
demonstrate that they have tried and failed to recruit someone who is
qualified for the job from within it. The kicker is the 'qualified for
the job' bit. If you are a chair (or have a CV that makes you a
realistic candidate for one), then anecdotally I've heard that there is
no problem - someone with that level of expertise can be recruited
because you want them specifically. But if you're looking at an academic
post on grades 7-9 (assistant or associate prof), then unless your
research area is especially obscure, or you have a very unusual
combination of skills that the employing institution just has to have, I
fear that they're unlikely to sponsor you for the visa. So if a
university wants someone with expertise on the history of Uzbekistani
soap operas and who also holds an Air Transport Pilot's Certificate and
you fit the bill, then you're in with a chance. But if you're a newly
qualified PhD with a thesis on psychoanalysis and the portrayal of women
in Hitchcock films, well, they're a dime a dozen and the institution
might not feel it worth the cost and hassle of sponsoring a visa
application. In any case, I'd suggest speaking to the head of any
department you're thinking of applying to informally before applying, so
that you're not wasting your time with a great long application that
stands little realistic chance of going anywhere.

If it's any
consolation, I'm in this situation too: recently engaged to a US Citizen
and we're trying to decide which of us emigrates. Universities and other
employers in her neck of the woods are telling me to get in touch again
after I've got the legal right to work in the US, but are not interested
in me before then, and she has had exactly the same reaction from
potential employers in the UK.

Secondly, are you really sure you want
to come here? After you take into account income tax, council tax
(roughly equivalent to property tax in the US, except that you also have
to pay it if you rent your home as well as if you own it), 20% sales tax
on virtually everything except food and clothes, and petrol taxed such
that it costs around the equivalent of $9 a gallon, most Brits pay an
effective tax rate of 55-65% when all is done. Car ownership is
virtually impossible for people who live in inner cities, violent crime
is increasing at an alarming rate and don't believe what Michael Moore
tells you about our 'free' healthcare system either: there are long
waiting lists for all but emergency procedures, a lot of leading drugs
and treatments are not available on the NHS (for example, if you get
breast cancer, forget Herceptin - not allowed - the government thinks
it's too expensive) and I am unable to register with my local GP (family
doctor), because her books are full and she won't take me. The nearest
one who will is a 30-mile drive away. Given our huge national debt and
stagnating economy, the best we can hope for is flat salaries (most UK
academics have had an effective pay freeze since 2009) while tax
continues to go up. I know lots of highly qualified professionals who
are desparate to get out of the UK at the moment, but you're the only
one in a long time who has expressed a wish to immigrate
here.

Leo

---
Leo Enticknap
Institute of Communications Studies
2.35,
Clothworkers' Building North
University of Leeds
LS2 9JT
United
Kingdom
My personal website [1]
My page on the University of Leeds's
website [2]
My page on academia.edu [3]

Links:
------
[1]
http://www.enticknap.net
[2] http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/staff/leo
[3]
http://leeds.academia.edu/enticknap




******
*Thanks also to Lee Stickells, Laszlo Strausz, Anthony Mcnicholas ,
Aylish Wood, Theresa Cronin and Niamh Thornton**
for responses which offered the same website suggestions.*