2. Applying for jobs
Finding job postings
Surpringly, this is almost as time consuming as other parts of the process. There are a few good web sites I used: sciencejobs.com and naturejobs.com, but there tend to be a lot of job postings out there. Because I never fit into any one category on a site, I had to check many of them and always had to search through a whole lot of stuff that wasn't right for me. In addition to these I was told personally about two job openings from friends, and I went searching specific schools and departments for postings if I knew I liked the school. There did not seem to be any set time as to when schools posted there job searches, so you have to keep searching and applying for months on end. In fact, one job I was interested in didn't even post until I had already done 5 of my first interviews.
What jobs to apply for
In talking with friends I was told to apply for any job whose description was even remotely close to me, even if I didn't think I fit the posting particularly well. I think this works, but not to a large extent. Honestly, I applied to many jobs, including a bunch that didn't fit me. However, I really only got interviews for jobs where I fit the description with only one exception, and was not considered for those jobs where I was a bad match.
How many jobs to apply for
I applied for almost 20 jobs (I lost count after a while). However, because nearly all of the job applications are either submitted online or via email this is actually not a large number. I did have to print extra envelopes for my recommendation letters, but that's not too hard. One of my advisers complained a bit about the large number, but the others did not. Also, some schools seem to have requirements about the format of your application (past research description, future goals, teaching etc). By and large I ignored these requests and just submitted the same packet to each school. I didn't carefully look for a correlation between whether I followed the guidelines and if I got an interview but I don't think it was significant.
All in all, I don't think it hurts to apply for a large number of jobs. Its hard to know ahead of time what the market will be like and it costs you very little in terms of effort. The one drawback is that if you get too many interview offers you have to be careful about where you go and when. I made mistakes in that area (more on that in a later article).
Surpringly, this is almost as time consuming as other parts of the process. There are a few good web sites I used: sciencejobs.com and naturejobs.com, but there tend to be a lot of job postings out there. Because I never fit into any one category on a site, I had to check many of them and always had to search through a whole lot of stuff that wasn't right for me. In addition to these I was told personally about two job openings from friends, and I went searching specific schools and departments for postings if I knew I liked the school. There did not seem to be any set time as to when schools posted there job searches, so you have to keep searching and applying for months on end. In fact, one job I was interested in didn't even post until I had already done 5 of my first interviews.
What jobs to apply for
In talking with friends I was told to apply for any job whose description was even remotely close to me, even if I didn't think I fit the posting particularly well. I think this works, but not to a large extent. Honestly, I applied to many jobs, including a bunch that didn't fit me. However, I really only got interviews for jobs where I fit the description with only one exception, and was not considered for those jobs where I was a bad match.
How many jobs to apply for
I applied for almost 20 jobs (I lost count after a while). However, because nearly all of the job applications are either submitted online or via email this is actually not a large number. I did have to print extra envelopes for my recommendation letters, but that's not too hard. One of my advisers complained a bit about the large number, but the others did not. Also, some schools seem to have requirements about the format of your application (past research description, future goals, teaching etc). By and large I ignored these requests and just submitted the same packet to each school. I didn't carefully look for a correlation between whether I followed the guidelines and if I got an interview but I don't think it was significant.
All in all, I don't think it hurts to apply for a large number of jobs. Its hard to know ahead of time what the market will be like and it costs you very little in terms of effort. The one drawback is that if you get too many interview offers you have to be careful about where you go and when. I made mistakes in that area (more on that in a later article).
posted by Joshua Shaevitz at 10:28 PM
3 Comments:
Thanks for sharing your wonderful experiences.
I am an interested student and I have two questions:
1,you have applied for some jobs not in your research field, could you give an example of these irrelevant ones?
Did you do any special things to connect them with your past work to convice the employer that you are qualified?
2, It seems that a faculty job is your only consideration. Why don't you take account of a research job in a commercial company, or in other words, what is the probability of finding such a job?
Hi. To answer your two questions:
1. I am a physicist who does research in the cross-discipline area of biophysics. Some of the jobs I applied for out of my area were for bioengineering and biochemistry. While these may not seem so different from my area, the job postings specifically mentioned areas and topics that I do not research.
2. My goal was getting a faculty job. Its true that there are many other research opportunities out there, but I enjoy the atmosphere found in working at a University and teaching.
well, I see.
In addition to this series, I hope you could write some essays about your previous life, such as research, learning and having fun etc.
Since you have been a successful doctor and now is a new faculty, you may perceive those things from two relative but different perspectives. That might be interesting and attractive.
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