A question for those who have applied to jobs while defending:

So, the upcoming academic year is my 'final' year, and I plan on submitting the 'intent to submit' around Christmas, and will defend in the spring. I noticed that job adverts for the following academic year begin showing up online around November, with closing applications the next month or so. Some say 'close to completing PhD' as the requirement.

Since I will be in this in-between stage of waiting to defend, is there a special term I can use on the CV? I think in America it is ABD (all but dissertation), where it signals to the employer that necessary coursework is completed. However, here the coursework is the thesis itself!

Additionally, I would be open to any advice from those who have sent applications while awaiting the defence. (This also probably applies to similar time frame of submitting thesis in spring, defending the autumn while also waiting to start the job in the autumn.)

Thanks in advance!

In the UK, close to completion tends to mean have submitted the PhD and are either awaiting the viva or doing corrections. In that case, you'd just include in your cv /cover letter the date you submitted / viva date / outcome of viva depending on which stage you were at. Earlier than that and it's just the subjective opinion of the applicant as to where they are and we all know that most people submit later than they had first hoped, as things invariably take longer to finalise. So I guess the pay-off is whether you spend loads of time applying for jobs before you submit, and risk both not being seen as a viable candidate yet and delaying submission, or missing a perfect job. If you are in the UK, I'd suggest selectively applying for things where you REALLY tick all the boxes pre-submission but holding off on the more speculative ones until you can definitely be described as near completion.

Ok, good to know, thanks for the advice bewildered!