Preparing the Faculty Candidate:
New faculty and recruiter perspectives
November 13, 2007, 10:00-12:00pm
EB2 3211
Organized by Travis Breaux, Sibin Mohan, Harini Ramaprasad
Preparing the Faculty Candidate was a student-organized event that featured two one-hour sessions: the "New Faculty Perspectives" panel with Dr. Tao Xie and Dr. Kemafor Anyanwu; and the "Recruiter Perspectives" panel with Dr. Annie Antón, Dr. Munindar Singh and Dr. Rebecca Rufty (graduate school). The focus of this event was on research universities, which excludes two important alternatives: teaching universities and post-doc positions. Attendance reached 30 students from both CSC and ECE, with about half planning to apply to faculty positions during next Fall 2008. The following notes were combined from three attendants under headings that naturally correspond to the sequence of real events during the student's preparation.
Strategy and Early Preparation
Read the book, "A PhD is not enough" by Peter J. Feibelman, plan early and often and be strategic about where you publish and where you go for internships. Recruiters are looking for candidates with a spark of their own (e.g., highly motivated, very ambitious). Build your professional website; updated it often. Build long-term relationships with research labs and researchers (industry and academic) outside your department, early - these researchers can become your letter writers and mentors. Become a reviewer for a workshop, conference or journal. Assist a faculty member in preparing and writing a research grant. The reputation of your adviser is important during selection.
Selecting Universities and Departments
Apply to your preferred departments that are hiring, even if the job announcement does not mention your specific field or sub-discipline. At preferred departments, befriend a "champion" faculty member who can support your application and give you feedback. Consider departments that are growing and improving, not just departments that have been recognized years ago. Consider working at Canadian universities, if they meet your constraints. You may want to use the Carnegie Foundation's classifications for research extensive universities (now called RU/VH, formerly called Research I) to broaden your search.
Application Preparation
Your curriculum vitae (CV) should market your academic talents. Begin your CV with a four bullet profile that includes your research interests, research impact, etc. Categorize your publications by refereed, journal, conference, non-refereed, etc. - have important publications near the top. Show that you are a "thinker" rather than just a developer. For your research statement, only customize the first and the last paragraph for a particular school; mention how your work can complement the department and the work of specific faculty in the department. For letters of recommendation, choose letter writers from your adviser, members of your committee and two people outside the department, such as internship mentors or other collaborators. Letters should be strongly supportive and at least three pages long. Send your applications early, before winter break. Send your letters early, well before they are needed.
Interviews and Job Talks
Prepare different versions of your talk for different audiences: the "elevator" pitch, the four-bullet summary, the 10-minute summary, etc. Before you arrive, request to meet with specific research groups and request that you have a small, private break scheduled prior to your job talk to rest and refresh yourself. Your job talk should demonstrate that you can conduct research (e.g., you know the scientific method) and teach non-specialists about your work (e.g., avoid using too much jargon). Ask the recruiting chair how much technical detail to include in your talk. Try to lose 80% of the people in the audience for about 3-5 minutes. Leave 5 minutes at the end of your talk to discuss funding issues, your 5-year plan, etc.
Prepare yourself to handle questions, well. Never be dismissive of questions; take questions offline, if necessary. If you're applying your work to another field, make sure you know what you are talking about. Prior to interviews, visit the website of each faculty person you are scheduled to interview with. During interviews, take quick notes but not too often. Remember what each faculty member says and use this information to show you're connecting with their department throughout the day. Interview questions may include:
- who will fund your work (NSF, DOE, DOD, etc.); know the program managers within those agencies;
- what is your future research vision - not incremental steps;
- specifics of your research;
- how much involvement have you had in grant writing;
- with whom and how would you collaborate with others;
- which undergrad courses would you propose; and
- general teaching questions;
For your own questions, you may ask the administrators about start-up funding, course load, travel and equipment support, etc. Ask what is expected for tenure, such as the number of required publications, required funding, etc. Ask how many people went up for tenure in a prior year and how many of those received tenure. Ask how much release time is required to receive a reduction in course load. Don't ask trivial or "stupid" questions, especially if you can find the answer on the school's website. Never appear inflexible or arrogant.
Acceptance
Departments will push you to accept the offer quickly; it is okay to ask for more time (1-2 weeks). Justify any reasonable, additional salary requests by using supporting evidence, such as cost-of-living data. When corresponding, always e-mail and never talk on the phone. Once you've decided to accept an offer, let everyone else know - other schools you applied to, colleagues - everyone.