Updated
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What
the Department Does for You
Job-Market
Visits and Seminars
Advice from
Previous Job Market Candidates
NEW: Job Openings and Links from
Recruiters
(Back to Economics Department Home Page)
Students who
are on the market or thinking about going on the market should check this site
frequently. It will give you a developing compendium of information about the
process. Check on this first page for the most recent additions.
Your
placement team this year is Bob Hall, placement officer (REH) and Susie Madsen,
placement administrator (SRM).
Send REH an email
immediately if you plan to be on the job market this season. Indicate the probability that you will
actually see the process through.
If you have any
questions, click here: mailto:hall@hoover.Stanford.edu
or mailto:srmadsen@Leland.Stanford.edu.
We will post answers to questions on the site if they are of any likely general
interest. (Back to top.)
October 8.
Informational meeting for job market candidates,
October 10: Mailing
of job market packet
November 5: Faculty
placement meeting,
You start by
preparing a job-market paper, which is ready for circulation by early fall. The
department distributes its list of job candidates in October. In early
November, you mail out packages applying for posted jobs or in response to
requests from employers. During December, you schedule interviews at the January meetings. On January
4, you fly to
By far the most
important of the materials and information that will be considered by
prospective employers is your job-market paper. You should focus all of your
research efforts on your paper. It is much more important to have one finished
job-market paper containing important original research results than it is to
have a number of papers at earlier stages. Employers will make their screening
decisions on the basis of a single paper you designate.
The job-market paper
should look as much as possible like a paper in the JPE or the AER.
That is, it should be written at the highest professional level for a wide
audience of highly trained economists. You need to give special attention to
making your paper understandable to this kind of an audience. You should not
presume that your readers are immersed in the particular literature you are
working within. You should assume a strong general knowledge of economics and
high technical level in your audience. One of the most important things to do
in your paper is to be completely clear about what you have contributed. Don’t
write up existing results as if you created them. But go out of your way to
describe what is new in your work.
You will need to
prepare a CV early in the placement process. You may see several samples at Stanford University
Economics Ph.D. Candidates Available for Position in Summer/Fall 2000. One
of the most important choices you need to make is the fields you list for
teaching and research. Generally, it is better to be broad in identifying
fields. “International trade and finance” is a good choice, for example. Don’t
try to invent a field to describe some special interest of yours. (Back to top.)
Prospective
employers will ask you to provide letters of recommendation. Generally, these
will come from the three members of your committee. You will need to be in
close touch with them during the fall quarter. First, bring each up to date on
your research and show them the current version of your job-market paper. Be
sure that they believe that you have reached the point that you have a good
paper and are ready to be on the market. Only then, ask for the letter. Once
you have received the support of your committee, give each member a package of
information that you think should be in the letter. A standard letter has the
following elements: (1) How well and how long the faculty member has known and
worked with you. (2) Several paragraphs about your research and how it advances
the field. (3) Your success as a teacher. (4) How you will relate to others as
a colleague. If you were not born in an English-speaking country, the letter
should contain a candid statement about how well you express yourself in
English.
You will need to
work out the logistics of preparing and mailing letters with your committee
members, as there is not a uniform system for this. Most letters will go out in
November. (Back to top.)
We maintain a
mailing list of departments and organizations who hire economics PhDs. We
prepare a package that describes all of our candidates and distribute it to the
list. We also post the package on our website. The mailing encourages the
employers to call REH to get more information.
The department holds
a meeting at the beginning of November to aggregate information about each
candidate. This information is used by REH and the rest of the faculty to guide
discussions with prospective employers about good matches.
During November and
December, REH talks to prospective employers seeking to find good matches.
There is relatively
little the department or your advisor can do after December. It is not
generally possible to get employers interested in candidates not interviewed at
the meetings, or interviewed and not scheduled for flyouts. (Back
to top.)
Most jobs in the
An application
package comprises an appropriate letter from you, your CV, your job-market
paper, and possibly your letters of recommendation. Alternatively, your
advisors may mail the letters separately.
Discuss with
your advisor and other committee members what places would be good matches, and
see if they can help get in the door.
Respond immediately
when SRM informs you that an employer wants your package. (Back
to top.)
Proper dress for the
interview is east-coast lower-level business attire. For men, this means a
jacket and tie. For women, a suit is the safest choice. Avoid anything
distracting in your costume. Try to look academic, not flashy or overdressed.
Wear leather dress shoes that are a little scuffed and not too shiny. Avoid the
MBA look unless you are interviewing business schools.
Most of your
interviewers will be Americans, and you will do well to observe American
customs during the introductions. Practice a really firm handshake. Really
firm. (See “A
Gripping Start” in Scientific American, September 2000.) Look the person in
the eye and try hard to keep the person’s name in mind. You do not need to give
your name. Say “How do you do” or “I’m very glad to meet you.”
Be careful of your
posture during the interview. Lean forward and look attentive; don’t lounge or sprawl.
Keep your hands at your side, not in contact with each other.
To the extent
practical, know the research of your interviewers and consider it in your
responses. It is successful flattery to acknowledge the contribution of an
interviewer, but be careful not to overdo it.
You will almost
certainly be asked to describe your job-market research. Have a 4-minute
presentation ready in your head. Stress what is new. Demonstrate your knowledge
of the related literature, but spend most of your time on what you have done.
Don’t go on longer than 4 minutes.
In most cases, you
will be interrupted with questions during this initial presentation. Some may
seem hostile. Give calm answers. Whenever possible, answer the question
directly and don’t run on too much on topics that come to mind (though a bit of
that is OK, if it comes out naturally). Questions are often about related
research. You may be asked about work that you don’t know about. Do the best
you can without making anything up.
Toward the end of
the interview, you will probably be asked about your teaching interests. Show
an interest in a broad variety of teaching. Remember that at most places, the
bulk of teaching is undergraduate. If you feel it at all, express your
enthusiasm for teaching undergraduates, especially intermediate micro and
macro. With respect to graduate teaching, be sure not to treat it as an
entitlement. “I’d also be interested in helping out in graduate public finance,
if something comes up” would be the right tone.
Also, be completely
ready to give a coherent answer to the question “What research do you plan to
do after your thesis?” Show that you have thought about other research topics
and that you are the kind of person who will build an interesting portfolio of
related research projects. One future project is enough.
Ask your advisor to
give you a mock interview. Often this is done in groups, so all of you can
benefit from advice given to each of you. (Back to top.)
During a
flyout visit, you will typically spend a full day. Dress for a flyout is the
same as for an interview. Most of the time, you will meet potential colleagues
individually. These meetings will be similar to interviews; follow the rules
above. You will also go to lunch and possibly dinner. Use your judgment about
whether these are social occasions or just more interviews. At dinner, one clue
is whether the others are drinking wine or beer. If so, it is a sign that heavy
research is not the right topic. Show that you are an interesting person more
broadly in that setting.
Your seminar is key
to getting a job. Not only are you selling the ideas in your research, you are
showing that you are good on your feet and will do well in the classroom and
other places where presentation skills matter.
Start your
presentation with the projector off. Spend a few minutes with the attention
strictly on yourself, explaining the question you are working on and giving a
general description of what you have added. Be careful to do this in a way that
does not invite distracting questions that you will be answering later. One of
the main reasons not to use slides at this point is that the concreteness of a
bullet on a slide often results in chaotic questioning.
Your slides should
show graphs, math, and simple tables of numbers. Don’t use any slides that just
have text bullets. These just distract from your presentation. Your first slide
should start a mathematical derivation, show a diagram, demonstrate an anomaly
in the data, or something like that.
Don’t try to rush
through dozens of slides. A good presentation for a 90-minute seminar will
usually have about 20 slides.
Use at least
24-point fonts for your slides. In graphs, use heavy colored lines. Tables
should be limited to 20 numbers at the very most. Tables must be reformatted
from your paper—usually they have to be broken into several slides.
You will get lots of
questions, and your skill in handling them is central to your success. Always
give friendly answers even if the questions seem hostile. A smile is a good
response to hostility. Remember that the other people in the audience will be
embarrassed by a hostile question and will be on your side. Try to answer
questions on the spot, but defer them if you can’t make progress. Don’t try to
do too much new theory on your feet—be ready to say “I’ll have to think about
that—maybe we could discuss it later.”
As in an interview,
you should try to be aware of who in the audience has contributed to the area of
your research.
You must schedule a
session of your seminar to present your finished job-market paper during the
fall quarter. Try to arrange another rehearsal just before you go on the road
in January. (Back to top.)
Q. After I send
out a packet to the JOE address of a school, sometimes I receive a separate
solicitation from a particular person at the school. Should I tell him that my
packet already has been sent to the school? Or is it to my benefit to send him
another?
A. Definitely send a packet directly to any
individual requesting it.
Q. How many packets should I send out?
A. The average seems to be around 75.
Q. Who pays for the packets?
A. The department will provide supplies such as
9x12 envelopes, letterhead envelopes, labels, and bond paper. These
supplies are available in the academic office on the shelf above the
typewriter; help yourselves. You are responsible for sending out your own job
market packets and providing postage.
Q. What do I need to prepare when sending
unsolicited packages?
A. If you are sending out unsolicited packets,
you should provide the secretaries with a complete list of accurate addresses
(preferably on disk) so that they can merge the addresses with the recommendation
letters. They would also like you to provide them with pre-printed
mailing labels for envelopes.
Q. Should I ask faculty for teaching
references as well as general employment references, or do I only need to send
teaching references if specifically requested?
A. The preferred solution is for faculty
references to cover both research and teaching. In some cases, it might be
appropriate for a candidate to have a separate letter covering teaching.
Q. Is a cover
letter essential if my package is specifically requested?
A. Yes, for sure.
Q. What happens if I drop out of the
market?
A. You will impose costs on the department if
you drop out. Thus we ask you not to go on the market unless you are quite sure
you are ready, and have the support of your advisors. You also lose the benefit
of the efforts you put in, which would have to be repeated next year. You would
not lose much in terms of reputation with employers if you dropped out before
the meetings. After that, you are likely to be remembered as a dropout if you
interview. It would be quite costly in reputation if you dropped out after you
start receiving flyouts or offers. (Back to top.)
q
Never
use express mail, no matter what the deadlines say. It costs a fortune.
q
Best to
have two interview suits since you’ll have little time for dry cleaning. If you only have one suit, use hotel dry
cleaning.
q
Some
universities may invite candidates to a campus visit even in March. As some people say, this is because such
schools wait for the market to clear, or in some cases many offers are rejected
so that they have to look at the second part of the short list. So please tell student on the market this
year to be persistent and not to be disappointed too much even if they don’t
get any response to AEA interviews within a month or so.
q
My paper
was not finished until mid November. It
made me very nervous seeing that many people had sent out their packages, while
my introduction was not even finished.
However, I think it had the big advantage that I was very much inside of
my paper during the flyouts.
q
Tom
Sargent gave me the advice to just say “I don’t know” instead of saying
something possibly wrong. I think this
advice helped me a great deal.
q
At my
interviews, some schools gave me the impression that they would fly me out if I
wanted, but did not say so directly. I
phoned one school and they were interested even though they hadn’t contacted
me. If a job market candidate were to
ask me for informal advice, I would strongly recommend that he or she not be
shy about phoning up schools and asking about flyouts. (Back
to top.)
The following are job
announcements we have received. The institutions involved are responsible for
their content. These openings are also posted in the department.
Indiana University, Kelley
School of Business
Inter-American
Development Bank
Office of
Management and Budget
Rochester,
Simon School of Business
Singapore Management
University
Other Leads
from Recruiter Email
Very helpful link per
Hanno: http://www.ssrn.com