The department has an outstanding placement record. Over the last decade, Ph.D.s in German accepted tenure-track (or, in the case of Harvard, long-term) positions at the following institutions: University of Arizona, Brigham Young University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Southern Illinois University, Indiana University/Purdue University, University of Maryland, McGill University in Montreal, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ohio State University, University of Rochester, University of Virginia, University of Washington at Seattle, and Washington University in St. Louis.
The department is committed to helping students secure appointments in academia. This effort includes a workshop on all aspects of the academic job market early in each fall semester, reviewing of curriculum vitae and letters of application, mock interviews, and follow-up advising.

The following  is a list of first-time—and in some cases current—positions of recent graduates:

Ames, Eric [Assoc. Prof., University of Washington]
Ascárate, Richard [Visiting Asst. Prof., George Washington University]
Augustyn, Prisca [Asst. Prof., Florida Atlantic University]
Baackmann, Susanne [Assoc. Prof., University of New Mexico]
Byram, Katra [Senior Lecturer, Ohio State]
Clarke, Robert [Teaching Fellow, UC Berkeley]
Cleek, John [Lecturer, UC Berkeley]
Coffey, Michael [Lecturer, UC Berkeley]
Collier Sy-Quia, Hilary [Visiting Asst. Prof., Stanford University]
Cowan, Michael [Assoc. Prof., McGill University, Montreal]
Cudahy, Mary [Asst. Prof., Southern Illinois Univ. Carbondale IL]
Dewey, Tonya [Asst. Prof., Univ. Bergen, Norway]
Erlin, Matthew [Asst. Prof., Washington Universiy, St. Louis]
Gramling, David [Asst. Prof., Bilkent Univ., Turkey]
Hall, Sara [Assoc. Prof., U. of Illinois, Chicago]
Harjes, Kirsten [Lecturer, UC Davis]
Howell, Tess [Adjunct Prof. Southern Methodist Univ.]
Huffmaster, Michael [Visiting Professor, Marlboro College, Vermont]
Hwang, June [Asst. Prof., Univ. of Rochester]
Kapczynski, Jennifer [Asst. Prof., Washington University]
Kooiker, Jason [Lecturer, UC Berkeley]
Kopp, Kristin [Asst. Prof., Harvard U.]
Koser, Julie [Asst. Prof., Univ. of Maryland]
Layne, Priscilla, [Asst. Prof., Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill]
McFarland, Robert [Assoc. Prof., Brigham Young]
McCormick, Richard [Professor, University of Minnesota]
Price, Timothy [Research Fellow, Univ. Frankfurt, Germany]
Reitter, Paul [Asst. Prof. U. of Ohio]
Roberts, Lee [Asst. Prof., Indiana University/Purdue University]
Sakalauskaite, Aida [Lecturer, UC Berkeley]
Shin, Suin [Lecturer, Indiana Univ. Purdue at Fort Wayne]
Starkey, Kathryn [Assoc. Prof., U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill]
Toth, Gergely [Lecturer, UC Berkeley]
Trop, Gabriel [Assistant Professor, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill]
Warner, Chantelle [Asst. Prof., Univ. of Arizona]
Wellmon, Chad [Asst. Prof., University of Virginia]
Whitt, Jason [Research Fellow, Univ. of Manchester, UK]
Williarty, Kevin [Asst. Prof., Univ. of Connecticut]
Yamini-Hamedani, Azadeh [Asst. Prof., Simon Fraser University, Canada]