Start the pursuit of an academic career

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Start the pursuit of an academic career

• Yixin Chen
• Washington University in St. Louis

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outline

• Should I be a professor?
• Overview of the job search process
• How should I prepare for it

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The job called professor

• Several jobs rolled into one
• Teacher
• Researcher
• Advisor
• Citizen of department, school, university
• Contractor
• Manager
• Citizen of scientific world
• Consultant
• Textbook writer
• How much time left for kids or movies?
• But, what a colorful life!

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Pros of being a professor

• Excitement of exploring the unknown world
• Rewarding work
• Useful work
• Interacting with students
• A flexible schedule
• Travel
• Meeting wonderful people
• Job security (hopefully)
• Long vacations, sabbatical
• Really the best job in the world!

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CONs of being a (untenured) professor

• Difficulty to land a position
• The years of schooling
• Long working hours (a 24/7 job)
• The stress
• The ivory tower
• The scrutiny
• The pay
• May not have the fun of doing research

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It is not easy though!

• Once you leave school, the clock is ticking!
• Teach
• Equip the lab
• Select research topics
• Finish projects
• Publish papers
• Get research funding
• Do service
• Find students
• Mentor students
• You need to do well on all of them

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Academia vs. Industry

• Academia
• Likes to study problems in depth
• Find out why it works
• Value job security
• Industry
• Likes to solve problems
• Find out if it works well
• Value financial security
• The gap seems narrowing
• Relatively easier from A to I than I to A

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Should I be a professor?

• Knowing others is intelligence
• Knowing yourself is wisdom

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• The application process

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Hiring from the institutions point of view

• Defining and advertising a position
• Takes effort to get approval to hire for a
  position
• Screening candidates
• Narrow down to a small pool of candidates
• Interviewing
• A campus visit with a job talk and other
  meetings
• Decision making
• A result that balances competing priorities
• May decide to leave the position vacant
• Negotiation and acceptance
• May face tough decisions

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Timeline

• Suppose a job begins on 2020/09/01
• Way before the job search
• See the big picture
• Creative thinking
• Give talks
• Publish papers
• Communication
• Make your work known
• Networking
• Make yourself known
• Dont be shy

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Define your PhD topic

• Technician vs. scientist
• Do not just do technical work
• Do not publish seven papers in seven (sub)areas
• Have a vision, have a theme, have a storyline
• Something important, something you want to know
• Work for enough long on one important, carefully
  selected problem
• A Ph.D. dissertation could be your most important
  work

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Choose your thesis adviser

• A prominent adviser can offer
• Begin part of the old-boy network
• Not competing with you
• Being more tolerant of your failures
• A more junior adviser can offer
• Begin more aggressive on publications
• Less risky projects
• Questions to ask
• Does the professor give real guidance?
• Does his group have a sense of purpose?
• Does each of his student see the whole elephant?

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Writing papers

• Publish or perish
• Timing
• Plan a series of relatively short, complete,
  publishable projects
• Advantages timely dissemination,
  self-advertisement, please your advisor, nicer
  resume, organization of thoughts, reduce risk,
  easier to write
• Write short, snappy papers
• Convey ideas, not just results
• Avoid repetitive papers

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Work on your PhD topic

• Dont just do busy work
• You need to do (lots of) creative thinking
• Publish
• Know the best conferences in your area
• Keep publishing in a steady pace
• Do not publish in junky places
• Do not romanticize with spending five years on a
  single Turing-award-winning paper
• Let it come naturally

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Your Timeline

• Suppose a job begins on 2020/09/01
• 2018/09/01-2019/06/01
• Select committee members
• Timing of degree date
• learn hot topics
• start sitting on candidates talks
• Submit papers to premier places produce your
  representative papers

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Timeline

• Suppose a job begins on 2020/09/01
• 2019/06/01-2019/09/01
• Contacts faculties
• prepare vita and other materials
• keep submitting papers
• Take a long and good vacation

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Timeline

• Suppose a job begins on 2020/09/01
• 2019/09/01-2020/02/01
• Finish the package
• arrange recommendation letters (keep track of
  them)
• find openings
• submit packages
• start applying for non-academic jobs
• start preparing for the job talk
• Simplify. Present the big picture.
• Practice. Videotape it.

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Where to find openings

• http//www.cra.org/ads/
• http//chronicle.com/jobs/
• Go directly to departmental homepages
• Try different departments CS, CE, CSE, ECE, BE,
  IT, OR, IE, business school, etc
• Talk to people
• Apply broadly dont be too picky

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The package

• Cover letter
• Short and simple
• CV
• Up to date
• Research Statement
• Short and simple
• Background
• Achievements
• Short-term and long-term goals
• Teaching Statement
• Not too short

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Timeline

• Suppose a job begins on 2020/09/01
• 2020/02/01-2020/05/01
• Interviews
• Attend conferences
• Send thank-you notes
• Continue to look and apply
• Keep communications with schools and friends
• Go to candidates talks, talk to them

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interviews

• Schedule the interviews
• Your first interview will not be the best one
• Your first job talk will not be the best one
• Often the worst one
• Plan to take some mini-breaks
• 1-min, 5-min, 10-min versions to the questions
  whats your research about?

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Interview

• Stay sharp and charismatic!
• The talk
• relax, be confident
• One on ones
• Get an idea of each faculty members field
• Ask big picture questions
• Be enthusiastic
• Show that you could be a good collaborator
• Meeting with students
• You should meet with the candidates
• Lunch, dinner
• Have a drink or two

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Timeline

• Suppose a job begins on 2020/09/01
• 2020/04/01-2020/07/01
• Offers
• Negotiating
• Keep as many options open as possible

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References- also Recommended readings

• A Ph.D. is Not Enough, Peter J. Feibelman
• The Academic Job Search Handbook, Heiberger and
  Vick
• Tomorrows Professor, Rickard M. Reis
• Painless Writing, Jeffery Strausser
• Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a
  Day, Joan Bolker
• Transitioning Between Industry and Academia, Joe
  Schmitt