How to find a job: from committee

Chris Wylie Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical center

Molecular and Developmental Biology Graduate Program Scrutiny of cv The conventional timescale of a job invitation to search interview

Consultation with referees

Second visit Fall - Spring

negotiation But, maximizing your position in market starts much earlier (which is why you're here) • Choice of mentors • Planning what would be the best type of job for you • Being in the right training environment • Publications • Gaining independent funding for graduate/postdoc research • Practice interviews/research presentations • Generating a fundable research proposal Your primary objective is to convince a search committee to hire you

"The Search Committee"

So, you need to know as much as possible about them The Search Committee

• Does not necessarily contain the person(s) who will offer you a job! • Is usually selected by the Dept. Chair(s) concerned, or Head(s) of Center(s) = "Hiring Authority". • Will contain a cross-sectional representation of the departments' personnel and activities. • Can be complex. This is particularly true of dev biol, which is a naturally interdepartmental discipline. • Don't be put off by complex-looking ads. Call the contact person and ask about the position Reasons given by search committees for inviting candidates for interview:

• academic track record • publication record • independent financial support • well-written research statement • fundable research plan • outstanding letters • "fit" with the original plan •or, "so good that we should take a look anyway" Reasons given by search committees for not inviting candidates for interview:

• outside the area we want to recruit into • poorly presented cv • poorly written research proposal • not sufficient quality/quantity of publications • not stellar letters of recommendation Reasons, given by search committee members, for not short-listing candidates after interview.

•“He/she didn’t give a great talk, interesting subject though, and well-respected mentor”

•“He/She didn't indicate what they are going to do next” (There are many variations on this comment: “not clear enough future plan”, “couldn’t see a grant application in this work”, etc etc)

•“I wasn’t clear how independent this person was. Were they his/her own ideas, or those of the mentor”

•"It's obvious that he/she can't bring this project with them"

•“I couldn’t get a word out of this candidate in our one-on-one meeting. She/He seemed bored by my research” absolutely fatal this one

•“He wore jeans to the interview!!”

•“His/her research looked good on paper, but when he/she described it, I couldn’t get very excited about it”

•“There were flaws in his/her research, which I hadn’t spotted when I read the cv”

•“Didn’t think much of his/her performance at the lunch meeting” The second visit

• Is hosted by the hiring authority • You will be dealing with different people • Is very different. In the first visit, they were looking at you, in the second visit, you are definitely looking at them. • but don't let your guard down, they still haven't made a final decision about you. • make sure you see housing, lifestyle, other potential colleagues, postdocs and students, core facilities you will need, schools, and anything else that will help you make a decision if and when a final offer arrives. The offer • Is usually negotiable • But there may be some items they can't change (space is an example) • Will usually consist of a 3-year start up package, including to initiate staffing of your lab, consumables and equipment • Salaries?? http://www.aaup.org = American Union of University Professors http://www.aamc.org = Association of American Medical Colleges •How much do you trust the offer/institution? Get everything you care about in the offer letter. Where to get more help: • This book, and references therein • Your mentor • Your colleagues •Us

http://www.hhmi.org/labmanagement