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Friends have been asking me about job searches. To clarify this very opaque process, I'll Tweet everyday this week about my search.
Disclaimer: any advice is based on my own experience so please take w. grain of salt
Today's topic: Should I apply this year? How many jobs?
Disclaimer: any advice is based on my own experience so please take w. grain of salt
Today's topic: Should I apply this year? How many jobs?
The stats:
I applied for 2 years. All US places (1 Canadian).
Yr1: 42 applications, 3 in-person interviews, no offers.
Yr2: 69 job applications, 18 in-person interviews at diff. institutions (some w. multiple depts.), 2-4 (5?) offers (# ambiguous due to COVID... stay tuned!)
I applied for 2 years. All US places (1 Canadian).
Yr1: 42 applications, 3 in-person interviews, no offers.
Yr2: 69 job applications, 18 in-person interviews at diff. institutions (some w. multiple depts.), 2-4 (5?) offers (# ambiguous due to COVID... stay tuned!)
Yr1: co-first PNAS paper, paper in revision at Cell
Yr2: paper published in Cell
No career transition award. I applied for a K99 and K01, but scored very poorly on training environment type scores (after my primary advisor died). Also rejected by NMSS.
Yr2: paper published in Cell
No career transition award. I applied for a K99 and K01, but scored very poorly on training environment type scores (after my primary advisor died). Also rejected by NMSS.
In retrospect, I don't think applying in Yr1 was smart, but we thought our lab was going to close so it wasn't really a choice.
It takes several months to search, apply, make sure your app is complete, video then in-person interview. I could have used the time for experiments.
It takes several months to search, apply, make sure your app is complete, video then in-person interview. I could have used the time for experiments.
In Yr1, I was very close to an offer and when it did not work out, I was very depressed and seriously thought about quitting academic science. Job searches are like dating (speed dating?) so I felt like I fell in love then was rejected.
Also the nadir of several tough yrs.
Also the nadir of several tough yrs.
How many jobs should I apply for?
Some of my Stanford peers thought I applied to too few jobs in Yr1 so I expanded my Yr2 search. My primary fields are cell bio and neuro, but I applied to biochem, biophys, bioeng, dev bio and pharm/med depts too (1 interview out of 13 apps).
Some of my Stanford peers thought I applied to too few jobs in Yr1 so I expanded my Yr2 search. My primary fields are cell bio and neuro, but I applied to biochem, biophys, bioeng, dev bio and pharm/med depts too (1 interview out of 13 apps).
So to summarize:
1) I would have benefited from applying when my application package was the strongest.
2) Applying to more jobs (that are not good fits) did not yield more returns.
Tomorrow's topic: Dissecting job listings and different types of jobs/institutions
1) I would have benefited from applying when my application package was the strongest.
2) Applying to more jobs (that are not good fits) did not yield more returns.
Tomorrow's topic: Dissecting job listings and different types of jobs/institutions
