Message-Id: <9201072029.AA06964@pebbles.pa.dec.com>
To: bovik+@cs.cmu.edu
Subject: "Getting a Job After the PhD"
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 92 12:29:52 -0800
From: heydon@Pa.dec.com

Getting a Job After the PhD
Notes taken by Allan Heydon, 5/7/90

These are notes I took a year and a half ago at an informal lunch
sponsored by Career Services at CMU for all graduate students. I just
came across them, and I thought they might be of interest to some of
you (either now, or sometime in the near future). The advice in these
notes is geared more toward getting an *academic* job, but I think they
may also be of interest to someone interviewing in industry.

At the lunch, there was a general presentation by someone in Career
Services, and then various faculty members that had recently been hired
at CMU spoke about their experiences, so the notes may seem somewhat
jumbled. I have transposed them almost exactly as I wrote them; I have
added comments from my own experience on the job market last year in
square brackets. Even though they maybe somewhat dated, I believe that
most of this advice still applies.

Please let me know of any comments or questions you have about these
notes; I will do my best to address any I receive.

- - Allan

I. AHEAD OF TIME

Match between you and institution is important.

Know *yourself*:
- - what do you want in your academic career?
- - what's most important is what *you* want
- - what appeals to you about an academic career?
  - teaching?   - working with people?
  - research?   - working with students?
- - where do you want to be 1 year from now? 10 years?
  - what do you want to teach?
  - what do you want to work on? projects?

Know the *institutions* you'll be visiting.
- - talk with people!
- - find out about their strengths and weaknesses
- - try to do this before finishing your thesis

The job market looks different depending on your field.

The Career Center is in 19 Warner Hall (see Karen?)
- - they have two placement people
- - you can make an appointment for counseling, opinions, etc.
- - they can send out packets (e.g. CV, letters of recommendation, etc.) for you

II. THE INTERVIEW

You need letters of recommendation. [Most institutions request 3 or 4 letters.]

Every discipline has a different calendar. [CS interviews started in January
and ended for me as late as April. You have to get started long before then.
You should mail your packets in December if you can. Check the CACM for
advertisements and deadlines. The most common deadline was January 15th.]

Lists of job openings may be available -- send off CV and letters to them, and
they will hopefully invite you for an interview. [You can also find addresses
in the Peterson's Guide to graduate programs in the E&S library, although
writing blindly to an institution that did not advertise in CACM has a much
lower probability of paying off. As a last resort, you can find university
addresses in most dictionaries.]

Don't rely too heavily on your advisor -- do it yourself.

Be sensitive to the political dimension.

Do you homework before the interview.
- - research the institution [See Peterson's Guide and ask around.]
- - they are looking for someone that will fit into their environment

Questions to ask:
- - tenure?
- - teaching responsibilities?

The whole process is quite stressful; know what you can handle, and space your
interviews out if necessary.

Get a feel for the culture of the department! You can learn a lot by paying
attention on the interview visit.

Legally, they have no right to question you about marital status, how easy it
would be for your "significant other" to move, etc.. Play down the role of
your S.O. (if you have one) --- once they make you an offer, you have more
power to negotiate the issue of the two-body problem.

III. THE OFFER

Be enthusiastic on *any* call back. Do not commit to anything right away.

Once they make you an offer, *you* are in power --- they will do a lot to get
you to come there. They have put a great amount of effort into interviewing
candidates, and they have chosen you, so they don't want you to get away.

The general structure is that they call once to tell they are making you an
offer. Then the Dean calls back in a few days to finalize details of the
offer. Issues to consider discussing during the Dean's call:

- - Salary (Don't ask about this before the Dean's call! Generally, this is
*not* negotiable, unless you have another higher offer in your hand to bargain
with.)

- - Travel money? Money for books, etc.?

- - Length of appointment?

- - Tenure clock? How can you stop the clock (leaves, etc.)?

- - Summer support? This is often negotiable. Sometimes, you can even get them
to push that up to the summer before you start. [You will need summer support
for at least your first summer since you will not be able to earn any grants
by that time.]

- - Research support (lab equipment, etc.)?

- - Moving expenses?

- - Teaching load? (Often, you can get a reduction for the first year.)

- - Hardware/Software?

- - Graduate students?

Think about your own field, and make sure they will be giving you the
resources you need to do the research you want to do! Talk with people at CMU
to find out what sorts of things are appropriate to discuss.

Don't feel uncomfortable literally bargaining over these issues. [For example,
it's not unreasonable to bargain on the workstation they give you and how much
disk and memory it will have!]

What you want may not cost them much. Evaluate what *you* need the most, and
ask them for the most important things. "If you want me to do well, here is
what I will need at your school..."

Take notes about your phone call. There may be discrepencies. Make sure to get
the agreements you reach in writing.

Don't *commit* until you have everything to evaluate.

If you decide to reject an offer, don't just send them a letter. Give them the
common courtesy of a phone call. Give them your reasons for rejecting their
offer.

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RANDOM NOTES

Many conferences have doctoral consortiums. Network as much as possible. Your
advisor can help a lot with this.

The interview gives you a great opportunity to find out about the institution
in general.

Finish your dissertation *before* you start your job. Many schools will take
you ABD, but it makes it much more difficult for *you*.

Once you have more than one offer, you have greater bargaining power.