What sort of timeline does the academic job market operate on? How can you be strategic about your fields of study? How do you select letter writers? What do job applications actually require? What sort of language do they use? How can you set yourself up for success long before you go on the market? This talk will be an introduction to the basics to help those considering academic careers start thinking about how to set yourself up for success well ahead of time and be aware of what the market can look like. It will also include some reflections on recent hiring trends in East Asian Studies.

Paula R. Curtis is a historian of medieval Japan and an active participant in digital communities in and beyond East Asian Studies. She is presently the Yanai Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow and a lecturer with the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her current book project focuses on metal caster organizations from the twelfth to sixteenth centuries and their relationships with elite institutions. In addition, Curtis collaborates in several online projects, including Digital Humanities Japan; an online database for digital resources related to East Asia; and the collection and visualization of job market data in East Asian Studies. She is also operations leader for Japan Past & Present, a new initiative under development to create an open-access online repository for digital resources on Japanese Studies around the world.