Academic Jobs in a NutshellBorrows heavily from

Tom Wenisch’s “Job Talk” Talk

Nate Derbinsky10 January 2012

Outline

1. Factors for Consideration2. Types of Institutions3. Types of Jobs4. Application Materials

1. Factors

• Autonomy• Salary• Resources• Responsibilities• Performance Evaluation• Timeline/Process• Prospects• Comparison to Industry/Gov’t

Autonomy

• Degree of supervision– Do you have a boss?

• Tenure– Freedom to pursue your curiosities (subject to

grants/centers, departmental initiatives, …)

Salary

• Sponsored/Soft money– Ongoing: you need to secure moneys to pay your salary

• Non-Sponsored/General fund– Your salary is “reliable” and guaranteed through some

process/fund external to your fund-raising efforts

• Absolute amount + potential for growth

• 9-month vs. 12-month

Resources

• Graduate students– Think about your life right now: these are the folks who do all the

work • Collaborators

– Intra/Inter-departmental• Administrative staff

– Everyday, special projects (e.g. conferences), admissions, budgeting, etc.

• Teaching assistance– Lecturers, GSI/IA, feedback (e.g. CRLT)

• Institutional funding opportunities• Computational/equipment (e.g. cluster computing)

Responsibilities

• Teaching– Comfort zone vs. not, new vs. old, service

• Research– Grad vs. undergrad, self-promotion, raising $$

• Service– Committees, advising, research community (e.g. run a

conference, review), leadership• Mentoring

– Grad vs. undergrad, placement• Workload

– Does the work ever end?

Performance Evaluation

• Research– Publications (venues), “impact” (e.g. h-index),

student progress/placement, letters (student, research community), bringing in $$, career award

• Teaching– Student evaluations, student letters,

innovation/publications• Service– “Take one for the team,” outreach, balancing T/R

Timeline/Process

• Typical– 3 + 3 (+1)– Startup package

• various colors of $$ (equipment, students, summer salary)• teaching

• Variables/Issues– Retention rate– Clarity of expectations

• Who is deciding (esp. relevant for co-appointment)• What are the baselines

Prospects

• Basics– Title: assistant, associate, full, endowed chair– Base-salary increase– Tenure (usually with associate)– Sabbatical (4/7 years, ½ + ½ pay)

• Tech transfer/spinoff

• Administration

• Program manager

Comparison to Industry/Gov’t

• Autonomy: > (e.g. 6.1 vs. 6.2-3)• Salary: <• Resources: <> (e.g. students, equipment/data)• Responsibilities: <> (e.g. teaching, funding)– Hours: worse (e.g. >80 hours/week), never-ending• But you are in “control”

2. Types of Institutions

• Teaching/Liberal Arts (T1)– Oberlin, Harvey Mudd, Swarthmore

• Comprehensive– Eastern/Western *

• Research (R1)– Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, CMU– Brown, Yale, Princeton, Harvard

Institutional Factors

• Degree offerings (BS, MS, PhD)– Location of program (e.g. Math, Engineering,

Business), own department?• Student population– Balance of undergrad vs. grad

• School location• Professional schools (e.g. Med)• Teaching load

Rough Categorization

T1• BS (maybe MS)• Small student pop. (1000’s)• More rural• No professional degrees• 3-4 courses per semester

R1• BS, MS, PhD• Large student pop. (10k’s)• More urban• Mix of professional degrees• 0-2 courses per semester

– Buyout!

3. Types of Jobs

• Post Doc• Research Scientist/Professor• Lecturer/Teaching-Professor• Tenure-Track Professor

Post Doc

• Temporary employment (1-3 years)– Usually research, maybe teaching

• Typically working for a faculty member– Possibly independent funding (e.g. fellowship)– Common to get position via “who you know”

• Sources: academic, gov’t labs (e.g. AFRL, NRL)

• Goals– Avoid the real world (travel!)– Better preparation for the job search

• Letters, experience/CV, job-market conditions• Make progress, distinguish from thesis/advisor

Research Scientist/Professor

• Research only, soft money• Variable autonomy• Rarely tenure track

Lecturer/Teaching Professor

• Teaching only (renewable appointments)– Some intermittent hires ~ enrollment

• Evaluated on teaching– High loads, lots of intro/service courses

• Rarely tenure-track

Tenure-Track Professor

• Autonomous from day-1– Must become a…• R1: World-class researcher & competent teacher

– Bring in $$, produce high-impact research, and place students

• T1: Innovative teacher & competent researcher– Teach lots of courses very well, and place students

Transitions

• Post Doc -> *• Academia -> Industry– Harder in reverse

• R1 -> T1 (not easy)– Harder in reverse

• Industry -> T1 (not easy)– Maybe via Community College

4. Application Materials

• Cover Letter• CV• Teaching Statement• Research Statement• Letters (3-5)

Cover Letter (~1 day, 1 page)

• Intended position• Summary of packet, relative to position• Opportunity to specialize to post

CV (~1 day)

• Arbitrarily long– Honors/awards– Publications– Service– Teaching

• Should be maintained incrementally– Have an easy-to-navigate website with links to

your papers and presentations

Teaching Stmt. (~1-2 wks, 1-2 pgs)

• Experience• Philosophy• Interests/Qualifications– Research seminar– T1: show flexibility, more detail

Research Stmt (~1-4 wks, 1-4 pgs)

• Broad vision• Dissertation work– Cite own papers

• Plan (5-years)– Build on strengths, expand, take some risk– T1: incorporation of undergrads

Letters

• In-depth, extensive, “coded”• From…

– Committee– Better: internal collaborators– Better: external collaborators (academia > industry)– Best: academic leaders in the field

• How…– Collaborate– Visibility: good work, good talks, good questions

• Conferences, invited talks, service

• Provide application materials at least– Keep up with deadlines, coordinate with writers

Process

• Read posts (do not be dissuaded by fields)– Fall ‘X for Fall ‘X+1

• Submit materials (web, e-mail, snail)– Provide letter info (usually immediate request)

• Make sure recommenders submit letters

• Wait…– Possibly phone interview (T1?)– Onsite: 1-hour job talk, many 30-60-minute individual

meetings, student meetings, dinner– Offer scheduling

Misc

• Apply widely– But not where you wouldn’t want to take the job

• The goal of the application packet is to get an interview

• Two-body problems (& solutions)