I was talking this morning to some of our more advanced (in some cases quite advanced) PhD students here about publishing and other job market-related stuff. Two points I made on which it might be interesting to hear what other faculty think were these:
1. For 99% of jobs out there having a good publication in a reputable journal is always a positive. This doesn't have to be in Philosophical Review or Ethics. An article in Philosophical Quarterly or Journal of Political Philosophy is a definite plus for an application.
2. Having conference presentations on your CV does little or nothing for your application. One should go to conferences because it would be intellectually fruitful for your work or professionally useful to meet other younger and/or more senior philosophers in your areas, but not to be able to put a line on your CV.
I should add that I also discouraged students from even thinking about publications before finishing coursework and beginning dissertation work, and I also discouraged working on publications if it would derail one's dissertation work.
What do faculty think?