Resources for the Academic Track

This section is for postdocs who want a faculty career , including getting started, organizing your search, considering small colleges, prepping your application,preparing to interview, dealing with search committees, offers and negotiating, and when to move on.

If you are already on the academic track, whether an experienced professor or just starting out, there is lots of more specialized information on the Academic careers page. Information for grad students and postdocs is on the education page.

Getting Started

• The best place to start is The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Chronicle requires a subscription for full online access, but daily news summaries are available for free, and they have a free site sampler of recent articles. Worth exploring, as there is lots of information here about all aspects of academic life from job prospects to benefits to intellectual trends. Your university library probably has a hard copy.
• Most helpful from the Chronicle: the Career Network site. The valuable articles here are free, and updated every Friday. These cover many aspects of job hunting and career strategies, ranging from meeting with headhunters, to getting partner benefits, to dealing with senior searches. I recommend the series of regular advice columns with much practial information, amongst them Catalyst, a column specifically for scientists, Career talk, practical advice on job hunts in and out of academe, Beyond the Ivory Tower for those leaving the academy, Balancing Act, on work/family issues, and my personal favorite, Ms. Mentor, who archly answers academic career questions (she has also written a book for women academics). The site provides an index to recent articles by topic.
• Also check out a new competing magazine, Inside Higher Education for a less establishment view.
• lists of academic-related sites
  • Science magazine's Next Wave site has a free Career development center for postdocs and junior faculty, aimed towards the academic, and with lots of relevant articles. Updated frequently.
  • Staying ahead of the competition: acquiring the skills for the next position before you get it.
  • In Praise of the Research University, a commencement address.
  • Another point of view: Academe's Angry Generation, a column from The Chronicle of Higher Education
  • Minority and Women Doctoral Directory sends CVs of recent doctorates to interested universities.
  • Archive of the Tomorrow's Professor Listserver: Preparing for Academic Careers in Science and Engineering
  • Preparing future faculty is "a collaborative effort of 108 colleges and universities... to give doctoral students a fuller sense of what the academic profession is like and to prepare them for what it is likely to become in the years ahead."
• What you need to know before you work abroad

Organizing your job search

• Indecision: what kind of job do you want?
• If you are juggling a search with a child, check out our section on having your career and a baby
• Is this a good year? How one student tries to look for a job.
• Five reasons to start your job search this year, and also Five reasons to wait.
• What to do the summer before you start the job hunt
• Along those lines: Use your summer wisely; much academic hiring is seasonal and starts in the fall. Be prepared.
• Dr Dilettante Is it a problem to be TOO diverse on your CV?
• Recommended summer reading for the job hunt
• Getting psyched up to get on the market
• Mistakes to avoid in your job search.
• How to do a massive (two-body) job search, written for computer scientists but appropriate to biologists.
• Applying for an academic position
• Landing an academic job: the process and the pitfalls.
• A bill of rights for job candidates, or ways to civilize the process. Also a warning of what to expect. From The Chronicle. From the same place, a job applicant's manifesto: why do we put up with this? Also, Job searching for dummies
• Using the internet to check out the institution, or, how to know to whom you are applying. From The Chronicle.
• Your own worst enemy on the faculty job hunt, and bad answers to good questions from The Chronicle
• Getting great recommendations for jobs and fellowships. From The Chronicle.
• When to admit you're looking for a new job, from The Chronicle of Higher Ed.
• Advice on getting an academic job: one biologist's experience. I don't agree with all his opinions, but he has a lot of good suggestions.
• Teaching versus research, or in what sort of institution will you be happy?
• The British System: interviews and applications work differently in the UK.
• Perfect job in imperfect place or vice versa??
• Should I give up my research? a postdoc laments after a disappoint round in the job hunt. The answer is, no. But be realistic, adaptable, and work on your CV and job hunting skills (try some of our links for hints.)
• Coordinating two searches

Small colleges

• This may be a particularly good option if you like teaching, and like the idea of incorporating your science particularly in teaching. Great students, too.
• Going the small college route: Thinking smaller.
• Check out more on small colleges on the academic career issues page

Community colleges

or private secondary schools. Also see community college section on the academic page (e.g., what it's like once you have the job )

• Do you belong at a community college?
• Community college job search
• The application packet for a community college job.
• Preparing for your interview at a 2-year school
• Interviewing for a community college job
• What not to do at a community college interview
• PhDs teaching at a private secondary school, which may be more academic than a university.

Working on your CV and cover letter, and research plan:

It is the cover letter that gets the committee to look at the rest of your package, so spend time on it!

• From The Chronicle: two columns on cover letters. The first offers general guidance. The second discusses science cover letters.
• The Basics of Science CVs
• The CV doctor
• Fixing your CV for a teaching position
• Writing your research plan for your faculty job applications.

Teaching Portfolio: generally, this is a rare requirement for research science jobs. Most medical schools and research institutes will not request teaching information, beyond a list of your experience on your CV. Large universities may want a "teaching statement". Colleges and smaller schools that are oriented more towards teaching than research may want a detailed description, called a portfolio.

• How to write the teaching statement from The Chronicle of Higher Ed.
• Assembling a teaching portfolio, from Brown Univ.
• How to write a teaching portfolio from U. Texas.
• Developing a portfolio, from Ohio State.

Interviews

• Academic Interview Preparation Guide, although not specifically for scientists, has excellent general advice. Also on the same site: Job Hunt Tips.
• Etiquette: being civilized at the table. More important than you might think in the interview process. And along those lines,
• Protocol matters from the Chronicle. Rules and etiquette exist. It behooves you to learn and follow them.
• Landing a tenure-track position at a small college, including a discussion of phone interviews.
• Staying cool in the hot seat: a guide to interviewing
• The art of interviewing
• Interviewing Strategies from The Network of Emerging Scientists.
• The interview
• PhD interview prep guide for jobs in academia
• Interview questions in the academic job search Inappropriate questions: the necessity of hiding who you are.
• How much should you say?
  • How much should you reveal on your CV?
  • What should I say? How a faculty candidate should disclose (or not) sensitive information about tenure, politics, etc. Also see The ins and outs of job searches, for more about mixing public and private matters.
  • Hiding the baby on the job hunt, or why having a real life is a liability.
  • Pregnant on the job market

Search Committees: dealing with them, being on them

• Search committee slip-ups
• A tale of a successful search from the search committee's perspective ... and then a later update when it all went wrong. Not only did our top choice have a fantastic research record, he also expressed a strong commitment to teaching at a liberal-arts college like ours, making him our dream hire and us, he said, his dream employer. We were ecstatic .....Several months later, we were awakened from the dream when he suddenly informed us that he did not want to be at a liberal-arts college after all and would instead be seeking a job at a research university.
• Recruiting vs. searching: how to get the best candidates.
• It's about fit, or how even the best candidate on paper can be a disaster. From The Chronicle
• When the search committee doesn't call
• When good searches go bad. It's your perfect job. But there's just one thing....

Offers and negotiating

• Assessing an academic job offer
• Negotiating your first job offer
• After the offer, before the deal: Negotiating a first academic job
• Negotiating teaching responsibilities
• What to do if you have several offers
• How to negotiate a faculty job offer. From (of course!) The Chronicle
• How to negotiate
• Negotiating salary
• The right startup package for beginning science professors
• The Salary calculator, or what's the cost of living where the job offer is? Also see What's it worth? from R&D magazine, to see ballpark figures that account for experience, discipline, and location
• Should I take this job?
• Reading the fine print on an academic job offer
• Negotiating a better offer
• Negotiating that first offer

What do do when it doesn't work

When is it time to give up on finding an academic position?

Dealing with rejection when you didn't get the job.