Monday, January 30, 2012

Academic job search question

How long does it usually take for hiring committees to get back to candidates to schedule phone interviews?

I'm getting a little scared because I haven't heard back from anyone. I'm still sending applications out, but the surge has past and I'm worried I missed the boat....

I'd love to hear any feedback from anyone in a position to know. I'm starting to feel desperate, and I'm thinking of activating plan B. And C. 'Cause I'm gonna need a job come Fall.

25 comments:

  1. We are doing two searches that closed Dec. 1. We are going to be doing phone interviews this week.

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    1. You have no idea how good that makes me feel! The majority of my applications closed in December, so it looks like I still have a chance :)

      As an aside, is it a good thing when you can tell that recruiters/faculty have been sniffing around your LinkedIn profile? I happened to notice the "see who's looked at your profile" feature....

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  3. Oops... still figuring out threading in blogger....

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  4. I guess it depends on the discipline, type of position, etc... But we are doing a search that closed in mid-January and we'll be calling in mid- February. I'm in the humanities. It also depends when does the semester/quarter start in each school (committees probably won't get together until the second week of classes).

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    1. You raised some good points, so let me clarify. I am a biomedical researcher. Most schools are on a semester system and start in Aug/Sept.

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    2. You raised some good points, so let me clarify. I am a biomedical researcher. Most schools are on a semester system and start in Aug/Sept.

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  5. I meant the Spring Semester. My school starts the first week of January, but some do nit start until the third week of January. That can cause delays.

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    1. Ahh, I hadn't thought about the holiday break. So I suppose I'm jumping the gun a bit and shouldn't be too worried yet. <<>>

      And thank you for not mentioning how horrible I am at using my new phone.... :-P

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    2. As long as you don't send job applications from it, I think you are safe.

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    3. Hahaha! I only used it for the super special applications so they could be impressed with the "sent from my Iphone" stamp at the bottom of the message.

      I hear review committees love that sort of thing.

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  6. is there a job wiki for your field? that sadly can lead to wikijection but at least you know where you sand academicjobs.wikia.com

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    1. @feMOMhist-Great link! I had never heard of job wiki, so I just had fun poring over the site for 2o+ minutes....

      I was able to surmise that 2 positions have started scheduling seminars (and that those ships have proverbially sailed past me), but that most are still open.

      Thanks again for the link. Now I have something to pour over at lunch. :)

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    2. yes I only sent it because I know you are a grown up with life exp. Poor grad stus straight out of school get way obsessive I believe. I ended up reading a ton or the unis to fear and blogged about that today!

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    3. Well, I'm not sure exactly how "grown up" I am, but I certainly am older.....

      I'll check out your post :)

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  7. When I was involved in hireing it could take a lot of time. Deadline for applying say Dec 13, would mean looking into the applications after the Xmas break in Jan... then mull a little over the candidates, have meeting, talk about it and make a decision about who to call or rather who to send out their CVs for assements, wait a little for that and then ask for interviews. In short, that would take a good month or two. That said, it wasn't in the US so it might be very different?!

    Sorry. But in my book 4 weeks for a faculty application isn't much at all. Maybe give a call to the Faculty search commitee chair and ask for a time table? Good luck in any event! Hope it is worth something(my thoughts that is).

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    1. I have.... ummm... more than a handful of applications out. I kinda went the carpet-bomb approach and applied to anything that I was remotely qualified for.

      What got me worried is that I also have quite a few that closed in Oct/Dec and I haven't heard nary a peep out of them, either.

      I'll just take some more deep breaths and start shopping my manuscript around (should be done at the end of the week)...

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  8. Shortest time--the next day. Longest time: three months. One to two months seemed pretty average (this is from over two years of applying to a lot of places). Timing matters--if the application was due during a busy period of the semester, then it gets put on back burner. And with a few places that took a very long time to get back to me, they apologized when they finally did call. Some had unusual circumstances, some just couldn't agree, some just took longer than they thought. It's HARD but keep reminding yourself it doesn't mean much if you haven't heard. A few places I had nearly forgotten about in the haze of applying, and when they called it was like "wait, who?" Hang in there!

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    1. I'm still hoping for the "wait, who?" response... lol

      But at least now I have a little more perspective on the situation.... :)

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  9. In my field, when I applied for my job, I also took the carpet-bomb approach. A LOT I never heard anything back from (e-mail or otherwise). Several I got an e-mail reply back within a month saying "thanks but no thanks." A couple I got e-mails/phone calls to set up a phone interview a little over a month after the deadline. So hopefully, you will start getting some interest soon!

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    1. Thanks for the info, Josh. I'm still waiting for phone interviews, but we'll see how it goes....

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    2. Hello Dr Dad,
      Could you update us your outcomes? How long did you wait for the first contact from seach commitee?
      Thanks

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  10. Hello Dr Dad,
    Could you update us your outcomes? How long did you wait for the first contact from seach commitee?
    Thanks

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    1. Bush - Sadly, I don't have much of an update from my last post on the topic. I'll try and come up with a more detailed response in another post, but on average I got rejections 2-3 months after the application deadline. Some took as long as 4 months, and I have yet to hear back from others. Ultimately, it seems that if you don't hear back from them within 2 months asking for a phone interview you're outta luck.

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    2. Thanks, and congrats on your new job.

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