Daniel Nexon has some interesting thoughts and advice on the whole job-seeking process, all of which would be well-taken by the novice job-seeker. I would particularly reiterate his point about not “build[ing] an imaginary life for yourself,” something that is admittedly hard to avoid when trying to tailor the cover letter to the particular institution you are applying to. Bear in mind, though, that cover letters—unlike notes on Christmas cards given to family members—are not going to be shared around among the recipients, so you don’t need to make them that original.

Dan Drezner, from whom I got the link, fairly cogently summarizes the state of the job market thusly:

The academic job market, as I’ve witnessed it, is a globally rational but locally capricious system. Some people will undoubtedly slip through the cracks—but on the whole, talent is recognized and rewarded.

Mind you, that equilibrium state takes a long while to arrive for many, and it’s one punctuated by frequent instances of blind panic as you attempt to get your various files in order.

I get an inordinate number of Google hits looking for the political science job market blogs… so here are the links that I’m aware of (as of October 2009):

• Political Science Job Rumors: the discussion board that’s not really a blog.
• 2009-10 Jobs Wiki
• Public Policy/Public Administration Jobs.
• The IR Rumor Mill.
• Methods discussion blog.
• Political Theory/Public Law.
• REP (Racial/Ethnic Politics)

For the record, I have no responsibility for any of the above blogs or wikis, although I have commented on some of them on occasion. I will be happy to add any additional links that are germane to this post.

You can now subscribe to comments in your feed reader of choice on most Blogger blogs in Firefox by going into the particular comment thread and clicking on the little “feed” icon and choosing the last “Atom” feed listed. (There is also a direct link at the bottom of some, but not all, Blogger blogs to do this.)

I also updated the market paranoia PSA recently, with links to all the rumor blogs I know about and the current and 06–07 wikis. As always, I remind readers that I am not the proprietor of any of said blogs or the wikis.