It seems that I have a very different view from most of those who have posted here. I am currently doing my PhD in IR in the UK, and from what I have read in this forum I might end up being one of those f...ing foreigners that apparently are taking away all the jobs from the locals. Anyway, from what I have seen and experienced in my field, there are two things that really count when looking for a junior position in academia:
1. Teaching experience, publications and all the things we are told about.
2. Which institutions you got your PhD from.
And to be honest, I think that the second element is becoming increasingly important to get your first position. I have worked for British recruitment companies in the private sector and most big corporations will only look at candidates from seven or eight institutions - literally. I have seen dozens of CVs not considered simply because the candidate did not get his/her degree at one of these universities.
This trend has now reached academia. When I have a look at IR departments, it seems that all recent recruits and young academics (under 35-40) have received their PhDs from a handful of institutions: Oxbridge, LSE, UCL, KCL, Aber, Warwick and Essex. I am doing my PhD at one of these and it takes an average of five-six months for us to find an academic job upon completion. Those who do not go into academia because they have not interest in this sector at all, which are around 60% of all grad students in my department, take even less. And given that we have very different methodological and theoretical approaches, let alone academic backgrounds, the only explanation we have come up with is that the university brand matters a lot.
Certainly, as I mentioned 60% of all those who complete do not go into academia, since a PhD in IR transfers well to the private sector. And of the 40% who do go into academia, many leave the UK because of personal or professional issues. Simply put, academics are, in relative terms, much better paid in the US, Canada, Australia, Asia, the ME and a handful of European countries. Still, around eight or ten of those who pass their viva each year find a job at a UK institution within the just-mentioned six-month time limit.
Personally, I got into my current institution by sheer luck. I am not cleverer or more hard-working than research students from other institutions whom I talk to at conferences or seminars. Besides, I only applied to this institution because my MSc dissertation advisor told me to do so, since I did not know anything about UK unis back then. I will never be thankful enough to him for his advise, seeing what difference it will make once I start looking for a job, be it in the private or the public sector.
In short, I am not too worried about the current academic job market, at least in IR. Of course it could be better, but at the end of the day you can always go into the private sector and there is no need to live in poverty for three or four years if an academic job does not come up.