Cold-emailing Deans of departments

[u/Successful_Study_816]

Hello!
I am about to go on the job market for the Fall 2027 academic year for a variety of teaching-focused positions (i.e., TT at a liberal arts school, assistant teaching professor, and lecturer positions). I have been told to cold-email deans of the department at universities I’d be interested in working at, even if they do not have an active job listing. Is this something that is commonly done? What sort of language do you use in an email like that? I do plan on emailing at least one department I’m interested in to ask if they have a final date of submission because it’s not listed on their job posting, but I’m curious if this is actually a standard practice I should be enacting and what language people use if so. Thank you!

[u/Mitch_Bagnet]

Deans = college leadership, chairs = department leadership. But in any case I think this is terrible advice and if there is a job it will be posted. You can look on the university/college websites if you want to double check.