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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE ACADEMIC MARKET FOR FINANCE Ph.D. STUDENTS
Here is some information about the academic market. This information comes from various faculty members. The comments here are generalizations, and will not necessarily apply to every situation.
SETTING A GOAL
Students who pursue a Ph.D. must consider whether the Ph.D. will satisfy their career goal. The typical goal of finance Ph.D. students at FAU is to become a faculty member at a university that has a reasonable balance of teaching and research. The program is designed to provide the background and skills for this purpose. People who want a much heavier weight on academic research (such as being a researcher at Stanford) should select a Ph.D. program (such as University of Chicago or MIT) that trains them for that purpose. People who want to work on Wall Street or in various businesses should first determine whether they need a Ph.D. for that purpose. In many cases, spending 4 years beyond a master’s degree to pursue a Ph.D. might not be necessary to achieve those goals. There are some Wall Street jobs that require a Ph.D. but many of these jobs are weighted heavily toward quantitative research (such as designing new derivatives products), and FAU’s Ph.D. program is not focused on this type of training.
FAU’s finance Ph.D. program is full-time and should be considered only by people who would be able to commit four years full-time to the program. FAU does not have a shortcut finance program for people who are seeking a quick Ph.D. There are many programs that advertise online “get your Ph.D. within 1 year or less” or “credit for lifetime experience” etc. that may be more appropriate for people who want to obtain a Ph.D. quickly and without adjusting their work schedule or life style. However, anyone pursuing degrees from those programs is advised to obtain information about whether that degree will enable them to achieve their career goals. In general, it is more difficult for people with a Ph.D. from shortcut programs to obtain a faculty position at an accredited university.
Some people consider pursuing a Ph.D. even though they have no plans to pursue a career once they attain the degree. For example, they may have already been successful in the business world, and want a Ph.D. just because they have an interest in finance. However, the Ph.D. program trains students to do academic research. People who have a natural curiosity about finance but do not plan to use the degree for university teaching may be better off learning finance on their own. Academic research is quite different from practical finance literature, because it is more technical and involves lengthy processes for conducting research. People who think they want to pursue a Ph.D. just for fun should read some articles in academic finance journals such as Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Finance, and Journal of Financial Research and should ask themselves whether they would have a consistent interest in learning and doing this type of research over a four-year period in which they would be in a Ph.D. program.
GENERAL JOB MARKET CONDITIONS
The academic job market in finance represents the interaction between the finance departments at universities that have open positions, and the finance Ph.D. candidates that are working on their dissertation and are seeking a position. In general, the academic job market has been very good. The demand and supply conditions have been more favorable for finance Ph.D. candidates than for Ph.D. students in most other areas of concentration throughout the university. In most years, the number of jobs available for finance faculty members exceeds the number of Ph.D. students who are in the job market.
However, this does not mean that you can expect to land a faculty position at the university of your choice or even in the state of your choice. Many finance departments do not have an open position in a given year. When a finance department has an opening for a faculty position, it may receive more than 100 resumes. If there are 100 job openings and 100 candidates, all the candidates may ultimately find a position, but not necessarily in their most desired state or the region of the U.S. Even though you may have some preferences about a region of the U.S. where you might be hired as a faculty member, keep an open mind so that you reduce your chances of being disappointed.
SALARIES
The salaries offered for faculty positions in finance are high. They are generally higher than salaries offered for faculty positions in most other areas of concentration in a university. The mean salary level for new faculty positions in finance can increase or decrease from one year to the next, depending on changes in the open positions and the supply of candidates in the job market.
It is natural to be curious about salary levels in the job market. However, be careful when interpreting the information that you receive. There is substantial variation among salaries offered by finance departments, and news about the unusually high salary offers tend to receive more attention than the other salary offers, which creates a general upward bias in the perception of salaries. For example, a person who takes a faculty position at Stanford or MIT in finance may earn an unusually high salary, but that salary is not representative of the market. At the other extreme, a person who takes a faculty position at a very small college that is completely focused on teaching may earn a lower salary than the norm in the job market. Most students who complete their Ph.D. in finance at FAU are hired for faculty positions at regional universities (numerous examples are listed on the course web site), which offer salaries in between these two extreme examples described above.
Do not overestimate the general market salary, so that you will not be disappointed. In fact, if you maintain conservative expectations, you may be pleasantly surprised at the salary offer you receive once you are in the job market. You may hear some general information about existing salary offers from other finance Ph.D. students at FAU who are presently in the job market. Keep in mind that the salaries offered to FAU finance Ph.D. candidates have varied substantially in a given year, as some FAU finance Ph.D. candidates have been more marketable than others. Hopefully, the information provided here will help you to be more marketable. You have control over some of the factors that affect your marketability.
FINANCE DEPARTMENT HIRING PROCESS
The hiring process by a finance department is often more involved than the process used in industry, as explained here. If you understand how a finance department screens its applicants, you may be able to build a resume that will make you more marketable when you enter the job market.
First, it is important to realize that most graduates of Ph.D. programs take jobs at other universities. This normally means that they will need to relocate. Some graduates attempt to attain faculty positions at universities in the south Florida area. This happens occasionally. However, these universities do not have job openings every year. In addition, they prefer to hire faculty members with diverse backgrounds in terms of their training, so they may avoid loading up on FAU faculty.
POSTING A JOB POSITION OPENING
A department may pursue a candidate who is just completing the Ph.D. for an assistant professor position, or an experienced candidate who is at the associate professor or professor level. Some departments may consider candidates who are at any one of those three levels.
Job Description
The department specifies the general duties required such as the particular courses that the person hired would teach. The job description may also specify that research is required. A research-oriented university may specify that the job requires substantial research and publication of research. Conversely, a university that has very little research requirements may specify a high teaching load within the job description. Some universities fall in between these two extremes, and may specify a balanced blend of teaching, research, and service. The job description is a means by which the department can indicate it is pursuing a candidate to serve as a major researcher, or to primarily teach courses.
SCREENING PROCESS
When a university receives resumes for its open position, it will attempt to screen the applicant pool down to about 10 or 20 applicants. It screens the resumes based on the job description of the open position. Some of the more common criteria are identified here for finance departments. In general, a finance department would like to hire a candidate that will do an excellent job in teaching, research, and service, without the need to be pushed in order to do their job.
Teaching Background or Preferences
The teaching ability of candidates may be measured by their educational background and teaching experience. Thus, a finance department may assess a resume to determine whether the candidate has had special course work or performed research on the main topics covered by the course. Some candidates may also have real-world experience that can be useful in the classroom, especially when there is a need to apply theory to practice.
Candidates with teaching experience are desirable because they already have invested the time to create course preparations. In addition, they have teaching evaluations by their students, and grades that they assigned to their students. This information indicates their performance (from the perspective of students) along with their grading standards and level of rigor.
Another important characteristic is a candidate’s willingness to teach a variety of courses. Some finance departments may need a faculty member who can teach two or three different courses in a given semester.
Research Potential
A candidate’s pedigree serves as an indicator of their research potential. In the field of finance, graduates of high-powered research universities are perceived to have more research potential than graduates of other universities, and rightfully so. They likely had more exposure to research than most other candidates, and may be the best qualified for faculty positions that have a very heavy weight toward research. However, in most years, less than 10 percent of the open finance faculty positions available are at universities that require a very heavy weight toward research. If a person wants to pursue a high powered research job in finance at a university such as Stanford or University of Chicago, they would need to (1) have the credentials to get in a graduate program at a top tier research university, (2) get through that PhD program.
Most finance departments (even those that emphasize teaching) seek candidates who are capable of doing some research. Important indicators of research potential include any papers that you had published or accepted for publication in journals, or working papers. In addition, your participation at conferences on research papers (such as presentation of papers, discussion of papers) may serve as an indicator. One of the most important indicators is the candidate’s discipline. Some candidates tend to achieve their work goals in a timely manner, while others are more talk than action. Finance departments attempt to pursue candidates who have the discipline to complete their research ideas and do not have to be pushed to perform their research obligations. When PhD students submit working papers to journals while they are in their PhD program, this may signal that they are organized and disciplined and will be able to meet research obligations when they take a faculty position (as they will have more time to focus on research then). Candidates who are less organized and disciplined may be less likely to complete their research obligations, regardless of their intelligence.
Collegiality
Departments hope to hire someone who demonstrates collegiality. The term collegiality is defined here as a willingness to work with others within a department, or throughout the university. Here are some examples of collegiality:
*working on research with others,
*being willing to offer research advice to colleagues even when you are not a co-author,
*sharing your teaching ideas with other colleagues who have an interest, and
*volunteering for committee assignments, even when you are not assigned to do them.
In general, collegiality means that you are a team player, and serve the department or university, even when your efforts are not directly beneficial to yourself. Some faculty members do their assigned tasks and volunteer to cover some other services (such as advising) when needed.
While some people are very collegial and make great team players, there are other people who can cause friction within a department. First, they do not cover their share of responsibilities within the department. Second, they take credit for work performed by others. Third, they attempt to turn one or more colleagues against others. Fourth, they complain constantly that they have been given less resources and compensation than everyone else. Fifth, rather than attempt to boost their own productivity, they criticize the productivity of others. That is, they attempt to reach the top by pulling everyone else below them. A single non-collegial person can destroy the morale of a department. Thus, departments attempt to avoid hiring candidates who lack collegiality. During the time you are in a PhD program, you will have many opportunities to demonstrate your collegiality. In general, your treatment of fellow PhD students during your PhD program may serve as an indicator of how you would treat fellow faculty members once you are a faculty member.
Initiative
Finance departments also seek candidates who have initiative. For example, they may want to hire a person who takes the initiative to do some tasks (such as advising students) that may be part of the job even if these tasks are not officially listed in their job description. In addition, they may want to hire a person who takes the initiative to do their job (and do it well) without being monitored. This is a very important factor, perhaps more important than many Ph.D. students realize. From the department’s perspective, it pays faculty members a decent salary, and expects that its faculty members will perform their duties without being constantly monitored. By the time Ph.D. students are in the job market, they would have had many chances to demonstrate their initiative (or lack of it), including their willingness or ability to:
*attend all classes (and on time),
*complete assignments on time,
*initiate their research ideas,
*learn unusual computer or other skills on their own,
*cover all of their responsibilities without having to be prompted.
Dissertation Topic and Status
A finance department commonly screens resumes in the fall and spring semesters for a position that will begin in the following fall semester. Thus, many candidates who expect to complete their Ph.D. by the following fall semester have not yet completed their dissertation when they submit their resumes. The status of the dissertation is critical. The status should indicate whether the candidate has officially completed the dissertation, and if not, how much work still needs to be done. Your dissertation progress will likely influence the number of interviews you have at finance conferences or on campuses.
There are cases in which the candidates are not finished with their dissertation when they take a job. They often have difficulty in doing their job duties while trying to complete their dissertation. Departments want to hire someone who has completed their dissertation and can focus completely on the job that they were hired to do. Consequently, departments may screen out candidates who appear to have much work remaining on their dissertation.
EXAMPLE OF THE SCREENING PROCESS
Consider the following example in which a Finance Department of a university wants to hire a faculty member starting in the fall semester. It will start the screening process about one year before the time at which the faculty member will be employed.
Position Approval
Tom Barkley, the chair of the Finance Department, notices in July that the recent enrollment for finance courses has increased, and that most of the classes were completely full last semester. He writes a memo to the university administration about why he needs funding to hire an additional faculty member. While he wishes he could hire someone immediately, he realizes that the screening process will likely take about a year. So he requests a new faculty member position for the following September (14 months from now) when that fall semester begins.
Tom specifies the job description (types of courses that the new faculty member would teach) and the salary that he would need to pay to attract a qualified candidate. He also explains why he needs to hire a new faculty member. A common argument is the need to offer additional courses to satisfy the increasing enrollment, or to replace a faculty member who retired or left the department for other reasons.
University administrators receive more requests from department chairs to hire faculty members than they can accommodate, because the university has a limited budget. In some cases, a position will be tentatively approved, and then eliminated several months later because the budget was worse than expected.
Placing an Ad
Once Tom receives approval for the position, he creates a job description for a new faculty member, which specifies the typical courses that would be taught, and mentions that there are research expectations. He mentions in the ad that he and other faculty members in the department will be attending the upcoming Financial Management conference in October and that he would like to interview candidates there. He provides his email and regular mail addresses. He places the ad in August, about two months before he goes to the conference, and about 12 months before a new faculty member would be employed.
First Screen of Applications
During the next month, Tom receives 100 applications for the position by Ph.D. students who are presently at the A.B.D. (all but dissertation) stage and are hoping to complete their dissertation in about one year. He plans to interview about 14 candidates at the upcoming Financial Management conference. He will first screen the stack of 100 applications down to 14 candidates, and will then call the candidates to schedule a one-hour interview period for each of the 14 candidates at the meeting. He recognizes that each of these candidates is attempting to get interviews at other universities as well, so he wants to complete his initial screening of the 100 applications quickly. He asks four of his faculty members to review the resumes of the candidates, and provide a list of the candidates that he should interview. Tom invites this input because a new faculty member will likely be working on research and on service committee assignments with the existing faculty members in the department. It is important to hire a candidate who will work well with existing faculty members.
Tom receives the list of the top candidates from each faculty member. Tom identifies 8 candidates that are named on each list, but it is more difficult to determine which of the other candidates should be interviewed. Tom organizes a meeting with the faculty members to come to a consensus on an additional 6 candidates to be interviewed. He then contacts the 14 candidates and schedules a one-hour interview with each candidate.
Interviews at Conference
In October, Tom goes to the Financial Management conference. He prepares a summary of his department’s goals and the backgrounds of his faculty members, which he provides to each candidate. He also prepares the following list of questions that he asks each candidate:
*Would you be comfortable teaching the specific courses that need to be taught?
*What is the status of your dissertation?
*When do you expect to have your dissertation completed?
*What type of research do you intend to do?
*What is your teaching philosophy?
After each interview, Tom fills out a report about each candidate. Some candidates received favorable comments such as:
*enjoys teaching the types of courses that need to be taught,
*is very interested in a job at our university, and
*should finish with the dissertation within 5 months.
Some other candidates received unfavorable comments, such as:
*seems disinterested in teaching,
*does not have social skills,
*views our university as a last resort if he does not get a job elsewhere,
*has not even started on the dissertation, and
*lacks the intellectual curiosity to do research.
After Tom returns from the meeting, he provides his comments about each candidate to his faculty members. The unfavorable comments allowed Tom and his faculty members to eliminate some of the candidates from the list. Based on his interviews and the input of faculty members, the list of 14 candidates is reduced to 8 candidates.
Second Screening
Tom then asked his faculty for recommendations on the top three candidates to invite for a campus interview. He used a limit of three for a campus visit because it is too expensive and time-consuming to bring in all 8 remaining candidates. He and his faculty members narrow the list to 3 finalist candidates that should be invited for a campus visit. They also identify 2 other candidates that should be considered if none of the first 3 candidates work out.
Based on this screening process, 9 of the 14 candidates that were interviewed are eliminated from further consideration. Tom writes a letter to the 9 candidates who have been eliminated and tells them that they are no longer being considered. He then contacts the top three candidates and arranges a separate 2-day period for each of the 3 finalist candidates to visit his department and campus. Finally, he contacts the 2 candidates who should also be considered if none of the first three candidates work out, and informs them that they are still being considered, and that he will be back in touch with them in a few months.
Conducting Interviews on Campus
During the month of November, each of the 3 finalist candidates is invited to campus for a 2-day interview. For each campus visit, Tom sets up a schedule so that the candidate can meet separately for one hour with each faculty member in the department, along with a few university administrators. In addition, a one-hour period is scheduled for the candidate to present his or her dissertation topic. This enables the department to assess the communication and research skills of the candidate. In addition, the department can judge the candidate’s progress on the dissertation, and the likelihood that the dissertation will be completed by next fall. After the presentation, Tom also takes the candidate to dinner, and invites a few faculty members to come along. The dinner allows for a more relaxed atmosphere in which the faculty can further assess the candidate, and the candidate can assess the department. The campus visit allows the department to learn more about the candidate and the candidate to learn more about the department to determine if there is a “fit.”
Making an Offer
By the end of November, all three finalist candidates had their campus visit, and Tom asks the faculty for their opinions about each candidate. Tom and the faculty members rank the candidates. They conclude from their collective opinions that two of the three candidates would be acceptable. The third candidate would not be given further consideration, because his presentation showed some deficiencies in his research skills and his communication skills. In January, Tom extends an offer to Karen Wilson, their “top choice” candidate who was rated the highest by the department. Karen responds that she will be going on campus visits to two other universities in February, and asks Tom if he can defer his decision until the end of February. Tom is concerned about waiting so long, but agrees to the request because he believes that Karen will likely accept the offer.
At the end of February, Karen informs Tom that she has accepted another university. Tom then calls Mike Martin, the “second choice” candidate who he and his department rated highly, and extends an offer to him. Mike responds that he recently accepted a job offer from another university, and that he probably would have accepted Tom’s offer had he called her a month ago. In this case, Tom’s gamble of waiting on the top candidate did not pay off, and suddenly Tom and his department are scrambling to hire someone for the position before every qualified candidate takes a job elsewhere.
Recall that Tom and his department identified two candidates that deserved consideration if none of their top 3 candidates worked out. Tom calls each of these two candidates to invite them for a campus visit in March. Both of the candidates have their campus visit. At the end of March, Tom extends a job offer to one of these candidates, who accepts Tom’s offer in mid-April.
Summary of Process
The process described here is typical for many universities. Given the different schedules of Ph.D. students and departments, and the time needed to schedule long distance trips, the campus interviews stretch over several months. Even if a university is very organized, it may have to wait until a specific candidate has completed his or her campus visits. Of course, it can impose a short deadline for an answer to its job offer, but may then lose out on the ideal candidate. Because it takes so long for the job market to clear, it is understandable why the screening process may begin 12 to 14 months before the position is filled. A key lesson is that the hiring process is slow, and it helps to keep your options open. Do not automatically assume that you will be hired by a specific university, because there are many factors and people involved in the hiring decision. Control what you can control to maximize your marketability, but do not let the anxiety of the job market absorb most of your time. Some candidates do not complete their dissertation before taking a job because they lose focus while in the job market.
MAKING YOURSELF MARKETABLE
Now that you understand how the interviewing process works for a university, you can understand how you can use the interviewing process to make yourself more marketable. By increasing your marketability, you may be able to increase your number of interviews at a conference, your number of campus interviews, and your number of job offers. Thus, you are more likely to achieve a job at a university that you desire and at a salary that is acceptable to you.
The suggestions here are general and do not cover everything. Your dissertation chair or other faculty members may have other suggestions for you.
TIMING YOUR ENTRANCE INTO THE JOB MARKET
To be seriously considered for a full-time tenure track position, you need to be at the A.B.D. (all but dissertation) stage by the time you submit your resume to the Financial Management job market web site. In addition, you should have a dissertation idea by this time, and a dissertation proposal that is accepted by the time of the Financial Management conference. Some Ph.D. students enter the job market too early. Universities attempt to screen out candidates who are not likely to complete their Ph.D. by the time the job begins.
Some Ph.D. students may feel that they have nothing to lose by entering the job market early. However, there are some reasons why interviewing early can adversely affect you. First, the interviewing process takes time and money, and you may have used the time better by making more progress on completing your degree. Second, if you enter the job market early, some universities that interview you at that time will remember you when you are back in the market the next year. They may conclude (whether correctly or not) that you thought you were going to complete your degree last year, and apparently did not (since you are still looking for a job). So they question your view that you really will complete your degree this year. It is well known that many A.B.D.s never finish their dissertation, and Ph.D. students who are in the market repeatedly may be branded as a potentially “permanent A.B.D.”
Even if you obtain a job when entering the job market too early, you will have to finish your dissertation at the university where you take a job. That university did not hire you to work on your dissertation, as it is paying you to do teaching, research, and service assignments. Consequently, you would have to juggle the dissertation work with your other assignments. The university may reduce the salary paid to you until you have completed your dissertation. In addition, it may impose a deadline date in which you must complete your dissertation, or your contract may be terminated. You have less time to do what you were paid to do, and your performance could be weak as a result. If you receive weak ratings on your performance in the first year, it may be difficult to overcome in order to achieve promotion or tenure in the future. Ph.D. students who enter the job market too early will likely be adversely affected in the long run, even if they do everything else right.
ATTEND THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Some universities only consider candidates who attend the national conference and are interviewed there. But since their interview schedule fills up, you need to send them a resume before the conference. If you do not get an interview at the annual conference, you might not be considered by the university. Therefore, attempt to go to the national conference in the year in which you are in the job market.
Some Ph.D. students do not go to the national conference because they are busy working on their dissertation or because the travel expenses are too high. Yet, they may give up job opportunities as a result of missing the conference. While there are many distractions during a Ph.D. program that should be avoided, this is one distraction that is worthwhile. It may affect your career path.
It may be to your advantage to participate in the conference by presenting a paper or serving in some other capacity. However, only consider such participation if it will not slow your progress on your dissertation. If possible, plan in advance to submit a paper that you have developed in some depth, which can demonstrate to attendees (which may include prospective employers) your research and presentation skills.
DEVELOPING YOUR RESUME
Make sure that your resume is organized and has no typos. A resume that is disorganized and contains typos may reflect on the person. While the format of the resume varies across candidates, the typical components are listed here:
Your Career Objective
Most candidates write something like this “Tenure-track position with balanced teaching and research”. This should be brief.
Educational Achievements
List the degrees you hold, institutions granting the degrees, and the year in which each degree was conferred, beginning with your doctorate, and ending with your bachelor’s degree. Under your doctorate, include the title of your dissertation and date of defense or expected date of defense (if scheduled).
Some students who perform very well in their courses list their grade point average next to their degree.
Work Experience
If you have held a teaching position, state your place of employment, dates of employment, and teaching assignments, ending with your most recent semester. Include course titles and perhaps a brief summary of the course content for courses you taught. If you are recently out of a doctoral program, summarize your experiences as a teaching and/or research assistant. Include information on technological skills developed as a graduate assistant.
Publications or Papers Under Review
Include the title, names of coauthors, the journal where the paper is under review, and status (first submission, revise and resubmit, under second review, under third review, etc.).
Working Papers
Include the title of a few of your working papers and a short abstract of your research idea and/or results. If you are working on your dissertation, then a description of your dissertation research will suffice here. Do not list research that you have not yet done. You might be asked to discuss your research idea and working paper in an interview or a campus visit and you should be able to describe it in detail. Do not list too many working papers; it may look as though you do not know how to focus and actually get a paper towards completion. The objective is to show that you have a research pipeline, and are able to generate research ideas without getting overwhelmed. A few good-quality and developed papers that you can discuss comfortably will convey this.
Conference Proceedings and Presentations
List, in order of first to most recent, the titles of all papers presented at conferences, as well as the name of the conference, the date, and the location of the conference. If your presentation was invited, this is a signal that your work is well known and/or respected, and you should document this as well.
Professional Affiliations
If you have participated in a national or regional conference in your field, state your membership in the organization sponsoring the event. You may have industry organization affiliations as well, which should be listed.
Honors and Awards
If you received any doctoral dissertation awards, fellowships, competitive research grants, teaching or research awards, state the kind of award, a brief description, and the date.
References
The number of references one should submit varies by field. However, provide the names, positions, and contact information for at least three professional references, including your dissertation chair. Ideally, you want to select references who can verify whatever attributes you wish to make known, such as excellent performance in courses, or as a research assistant, or when teaching. Your dissertation chair can summarize your progress on your dissertation as of the time that the reference letter is written.
SUBMITTING YOUR RESUME
You need to submit your resumes to universities before the annual conference where interviews are conducted. Some universities make their decisions on who to interview a few weeks before the conference, based on the resumes they have received. Thus, your resume needs to be received by the university by the time that the respective department screens the resumes. Even if you submitted your resume to the Financial Management resume, you can still benefit from sending your resume to every university that has an open position for which you want to be considered. When you submit your resume to a university, you are confirming your interest to that university. Finance departments do not want to waste their time interviewing candidates who may not be interested in working there. Thus, they may develop their interview list directly from the resumes that they received, rather than screen from the Financial Management web site. However, some other universities may screen from the Financial Management web site, so you should also have your resume posted there.
Consolidate Your Resume and Related Information
Some universities may require samples of research papers that you have written and letters of recommendation, and student evaluations of courses you taught while you were in the Ph.D. program. Consolidate all this information in one package, and send the entire package along with your resume (unless you are requested by the university to follow a different procedure). This ensures that all information about you is together.
Consider what happens when an applicant sends in a resume, and that is followed up with three separate letters of recommendation, and a research paper. That results in 5 pieces of mail. Now consider that the department may receive 100 or more applications. If all pieces of the mail are sent separately, the department may have 500 pieces that it needs to organize by applicant. You can reduce the chance that the university will misplace some of your information if you submit one complete package. This means that you would obtain the letters of recommendation, and make copies to include in your package.
Another advantage of this process is that you do not have to ask your professors to send out numerous letters for you. In addition, you have full control to ensure that the letters are sent to the universities where you want to apply for a position. This process may seem expensive, but it can affect your career path.
Include Extra Information
Universities are often very concerned with student satisfaction and your ability and willingness to work with the students. Provide information about your familiarity with online pedagogical tools such as Blackboard, and your strengths in terms of presentation. On a separate sheet, you may summarize your student evaluations and grade distribution for each course that you have taught. An example is shown in the following table. If you have the departmental summary of ratings for the course you taught (which is based on the ratings of all instructors who taught the same course in that semester), you could include that as well for comparison purposes.
Sample of a Summary Evaluation Sheet
Summary of my student evaluations of my teaching in Finance 3403 over the last three semesters; scale is 1 to 5, with 1 being the best rating.
| |Finance 3403, fall semester |Finance 3403, spring semester |Finance 3403, summer semester |
|Organization skills |2.4 |2.1 |1.9 |
|Willingness to assist students |2.6 |2.4 |2.1 |
|Ability to communicate concepts |2.2 |2.3 |2.0 |
|Fairness in grading |1.5 |1.4 |1.4 |
|Availability outside of class |2.7 |2.4 |2.3 |
|Overall rating of instructor |2.4 |2.2 |1.9 |
| | | | |
|Number of students who provided |23 |29 |18 |
|an evaluation | | | |
|Average grade assigned to |2.4 |2.6 |2.7 |
|students by the instructor based| | | |
|on 4-point scale (A=1, B=2, C=3,| | | |
|D=4) | | | |
This single summary sheet provides a substantial amount of useful information about teaching performance.
You may consider providing the FAU link to student evaluations (if it is not password protected), because that would allow the universities to more closely assess your evaluations in comparison to others.
ATTEND REGIONAL CONFERENCES
Some universities may attend some regional conferences so that they can interview some desirable candidates who were not at the national conference, or with whom they would like to have a second interview. When you submit your resume to a university, you may mention which conferences you will be at, and can inquire whether the university will conduct interviews at any other conferences besides the national conference.
PROMPT THE UNIVERSITIES IN WHICH YOU ARE INTERESTED
From the earlier example that describes how a university screens its applicants, recognize that universities sometimes spend too much time on the wrong candidates. Many universities may try to choose from a small set of candidates who have the best qualifications. If there are 50 universities that are focused on hiring the top 10 candidates, 40 of those universities will come up short. Once they realize that they will not be able to hire from that small set of candidates, they may be more willing to consider other applicants who have expressed an interest in them. For this reason, it may be worthwhile to periodically prompt a university in which you are interested. You may have been “put on hold” for months before they realize that they will not be able to hire their top candidate or even their top five candidates. Even if they started their search process in August, they may not realize this until February or later.
Some universities are embarrassed to acknowledge that you are placed on hold, so they may send a vague letter that simply says they will get back to you later. This is frustrating to applicants, who often conclude after several months that the university must have hired someone else. Since it is possible that you are being considered several months later, prompt the university to determine your status. A simple way to prompt the university without being overly aggressive is to email the chair of the department or whoever is conducting the search, and mention that you are still interested in the position and would like to know if the position is still open. You may also take this opportunity to attach your resume to the message, especially if you have anything new added to it since you first applied to that university. You may also include an update on how you are progressing on your dissertation within this message.
Because of the screening process described above, the recruiting process can take several months. You can not speed up the process. But you do have control over your progress on your dissertation by the time that you are interviewed. You also have control over completing working papers and doing a good job in the classroom (which affect teaching evaluations, and therefore your marketability). Try to focus on making progress on the things you can control. We have had some graduates receive an offer in November and others receive an offer in June (or even July for a visiting professor position).
PREPARING FOR INTERVIEWS AT A CONFERENCE
Prior to the conference, finance departments contact candidates to set up interviews. Keep an hourly schedule for the days of the conference that you can use to record interview times. Have this schedule available when you receive calls so that you know what times you have open.
If you are contacted for an interview, prepare for it. You can demonstrate your interest in the university by searching online for information about the university. Also attempt to identify other faculty members in the department and determine if you share similar teaching or research interests with them. Department chairs may serve as the key contact person at a university, but other faculty members within the department may have just as much influence on the hiring decision. Some department members may be involved in an interview at a conference. All of them will likely be involved in a campus interview.
When you arrive at the conference, call each of the people who you are supposed to meet for interviews and ask what room they are in at the hotel. It is better to do this for all people all at once so that you are not scrambling to do this in between interviews. Consider that there may be more than 100 candidates who finish their interviews at about 10 minutes before the hour and then go to the lobby phones to find the room for their next interview. There may not be enough phones to satisfy everyone at that time. You may be on the 10th floor for one interview that ends, rush down to the lobby, wait for a phone, and then find out that your next interview is on the 11th floor. You could make your 10 minute break between interviews more relaxing if you already know where all of your interviews are.
The Interview
Make sure you wear a suit to your interviews. At the FMA meeting, most people wear a suit during the day. Also, bring a folder that contains your interview schedule, copies of your resume, your teaching evaluations, or anything that you want to interviewer to have. You may have already sent this information to each school that is interviewing you, but some interviewers may not be so organized.
The interviewer may be a department chair or a faculty member. In some cases, there is a department chair with other faculty members. The interviewer attempts to determine whether you would be a good fit at their university. If you come across as self-centered, you are less likely to appease the department’s faculty members than a candidate who appears willing to be involved in helping the department perform well. It is natural to be curious about what the university can provide to you, and if you fail to ask questions about the university’s resources, you may be perceived as disinterested or using the campus visit as a trial run. But if your questions during the interview show no interest in the backgrounds of the department’s faculty members, it may suggest that you will not be a good team player. After all, you are normally expected to show your better side during an interview that could help you get the job you want. Common questions by candidates include:
*what data bases does the university have available? (such as CRSP or Compustat)
*what is the teaching load per semester?
*what is the number of course preps per semester?
If you do not show an interest in other potential future colleagues at the interview, you probably will not show an interest in others after getting the job offer. If you come across as arrogant, or “too good” for the position you are interviewing for, you may develop a reputation in the field.
One way to demonstrate your interest in your potential colleagues is to do some online searches of the research that they had published. You may find that you have some research interests in common with them, and indicate that to them. Thus, they may recognize that having you as a colleague may enhance their own research productivity. The department might feel that you will bring new resources to the department. That is, you would not only contribute your own research but would make others more productive through collaborative research. An interest in the institution is also viewed favorably. Your online search will indicate what kinds of programs the university has (masters degrees, Ph.D.s, specialized programs).
After you leave the interview and before you start your next interview, write down any notes about the university (such as its teaching load, and its computer facilities). You might even prepare a spreadsheet before you go to the conference so that you can fill in info such as the teaching load and data bases available for every university. If you have many interviews, it is difficult to keep track of which interviewer said what, so a brief written summary is very important.
PREPARING FOR YOUR PRESENTATION DURING A CAMPUS INTERVIEW
If the interview on campus requires a presentation of your dissertation, be prepared for the presentation. While most candidates prepare, they may not display some of the characteristics that the department with the open position desires. Specifically, here are some of the more common mistakes that are made in a presentation:
1. The presenter is not organized. It leads the department to question whether the candidate would prepare properly when teaching a class.
2. The presenter is unwilling to consider alternative views. A department’s faculty members will often ask questions or even offer criticism during a presentation. The criticism is normally constructive, and intended to offer ways in which the presenter may refine his dissertation. He does not have to agree with every viewpoint, but should at least be willing to consider alternative views. If he shows a narrow-minded view at this presentation, he may exhibit that same trait later on if hired, which limits his ability to work on research or on committees with other colleagues.
3. The presenter demonstrates by his limited presentation that the dissertation is far from completion. A presenter cannot really do anything during the presentation if his dissertation is far from completion. But he needs to recognize that his likelihood of finishing his dissertation by the time he would be employed might be the most important single characteristic during the campus interview that is used by the department when they make a hiring decision.
4. The presentation takes much longer than expected. A presenter should be skilled at keeping a presentation within the time allotted for it. If he is allotted 1 hour and if the audience questions normally take about 20 minutes, he should prepare a 40-minute presentation and should practice it to ensure that it can be done within the proper time. An excessively long presentation might suggest that the candidate is unable to organize a set of thoughts within a given time period. This might suggest that the presenter would not be able to complete class lectures within the designated time periods.
RECOGNIZE THE POTENTIAL INFLUENCE OF FACULTY
While a department chair may officially communicate a job offer, the faculty members within the department normally have much influence on the hiring decision. Any candidate who is hired will be working closely with other faculty members who share common teaching or research interests. Thus, it is natural that faculty members participate heavily in the hiring process. Some candidates tend to take a political slant when they pursue a job, in which they attempt to assess the organizational chart so that they can appease those at a university who have all the power. But they may not realize that a department chair is a representative for faculty members, and normally attempts to make hiring decisions that will satisfy faculty members while meeting the job description goals. In general, faculty members will sense the political slant of a candidate who seems more interested in meeting the high-ranking administrators and less interested in them. Faculty members hope that they can hire someone who is willing to work with them, not someone who views them as irrelevant.
CONSIDERING A JOB OFFER
If you are fortunate enough to be able to choose between job offers, then consider the characteristics of the job offers, such as base salary, benefits, the retirement plan, summer research support, funding for travel to conferences, the availability of research or teaching assistants, institutional assistance for grantwriting, class size, available data or software, and cost of living. Evaluate the entire compensation package, and then make a decision on that basis. In order to find the answers to these questions, ask the department chair about where you can look for more information.
It is also important to look for indicators of the institutional culture while on your campus visit. Do you detect factions in the department or people badmouthing one another? Do teaching loads appear to be tied to research productivity or are decisions made on a completely political basis? Is the department a “revolving door” where all of the faculty leave as soon as they can find another position? If there are new faculty members, what kinds of research records do they have?
While you do not want to appear too aggressive or demanding, it is important to get the information you need while you are on campus so that you can make an informed decision. Below is a checklist of potential considerations and questions you may want to investigate when you are on campus. Not all considerations are equally important to every job applicant, and the relative weightings will differ based on each individual’s priorities. Keep in mind that you will most likely have to make tradeoffs when you make your final job decision; no job is going to meet every one of your considerations perfectly.
Factors to Assess When Considering a Prospective University Employer
|Consideration |Suggested questions |Your Weighting and Score |
|Salary |Is the salary competitive? | |
| |Is the salary consistent with the work load? | |
| |How are salary adjustment decisions made? | |
| |What determines who gets merit pay increases? | |
| |What is the process for obtaining a market adjustment? | |
|Cost of Living |Will you be able to support the kind of lifestyle you want given | |
| |the cost of living in the area? | |
| |How far are you willing to commute to be able to afford acceptable| |
| |housing? [Perhaps you can meet with a real estate agent to learn | |
| |more about the housing situation.] | |
| |What is the median home price? | |
| |How much are property taxes? | |
| |What is the average car insurance premium? | |
| |What is the average homeowners’ insurance premium? | |
|Pension - Vesting |What is the employer’s contribution towards a retirement plan? | |
| |How long do you need to be employed before the employer | |
| |contributes? | |
|Healthcare Benefits |What plans are offered to employees? | |
| |What is covered under your plan? | |
| |How much will your monthly premium be? | |
|Tenure Requirements | | |
|Childcare |How much does childcare cost in the area? | |
| |Does the university provide any day care centers on site or | |
| |through partnerships with local day care centers? | |
|Quality of Administration |What are the university’s long-term goals? | |
| |If it is a private university, is it fiscally solvent? | |
| |Does it have a large endowment? | |
| |Does the administration seek financial external support? | |
|Politics |Are there any noticeable open hostilities between faculty members?| |
| |Is there a tremendous amount of faculty turnover? | |
| |Is the faculty productive? | |
|Face Time Expectations |Do faculty come in to the department to work 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. | |
| |every day? | |
| |Do they expect that you will work from home or on site? | |
|Research vs. Teaching Orientation |Does the university have a balance of research and teaching | |
| |components of faculty job description, or is it primarily a | |
| |research or teaching university? | |
| |Does the department encourage pedagogical research and innovation?| |
| |What are the requirements for office hours? | |
|Moving Expenses |What is the dollar amount the university will pay for your moving | |
| |expenses? | |
|Bureaucracy |Does the department appear to operate efficiently? | |
|Research Support |Does the university have the equipment/data/technical resources | |
| |you need for your research? | |
| |Are summer research grants available? | |
| |If research grants are competitive, what are the criteria to | |
| |apply? | |
| |Does the university have technical, network, and/or mechanical | |
| |support for faculty? | |
| |Does the university pay journal submission fees? | |
| |What is the process for obtaining data or equipment for research? | |
|Availability of Graduate Assistants |Does the department have graduate assistants? | |
| |How are graduate assistants allocated? | |
|Travel Funding |Does the department or university pay for conference registration | |
| |and attendance? | |
|Teaching Load |Is the teaching load competitive? | |
| |Is the teaching load manageable? | |
| |How is course scheduling conducted? | |
| |Is faculty input on what they will teach requested? | |
| |Can teaching load be reduced with demonstrated research | |
| |productivity? | |
| |Is summer teaching available? | |
|Course Preps |How many new preps per year are you expected to do? | |
| |Will your course preps be in a specialized area, or across the | |
| |curriculum? | |
|Opportunities for developing new courses |Will you be expected or allowed to develop new courses? | |
| |Will you be expected to help develop new minor or major areas | |
| |within the college? | |
|Teaching level – undergraduate/graduate/both|Will you be expected to teach undergraduate, graduate, and/or | |
| |doctoral courses? | |
|Class Size |How many students will be in a section? | |
| |If you are teaching a large section, will a teaching assistant be | |
| |made available? | |
|Research Requirements |What are the research expectations of a new faculty member? | |
| |Does the department have a preference for quality, quantity, or | |
| |both? | |
| |Are the research expectations consistent with the compensation? | |
| |Are the research expectations consistent with level of research | |
| |support? | |
|Service Requirements |How many committees are you expected to serve on? | |
| |What internal service activities will you participate in? | |
| |Is advising part of your job? | |
|University Reputation |Does the university have a favorable reputation in the community | |
| |and profession? | |
|Sabbatical |When can you take a sabbatical? | |
| |Is a sabbatical generally one semester or one year? | |
| |How often can you take a sabbatical? | |
| |What is the compensation during sabbatical? | |
|Collegiality |What is your comfort level with your potential colleagues? | |
| |Do you share any research interests with others in the department?| |
| |Can you discuss ideas with colleagues? | |
|Orientation towards Consulting |What is the view of the college/department on outside work? | |
|Location |Is the university in a location you and your family will be able | |
| |to live in? | |
|Social Life |Does the local environment support the kind of cultural and social| |
| |activities you enjoy? | |
|Rural vs. Urban Environment |Is the university in an urban area? | |
| |Is the university in a high-crime area? | |
| |How far is the commute to the university and how long does it take| |
| |to commute? | |
|Opportunities for Family |Will your spouse be able to find a job, if he or she desires? | |
| |Will your spouse be able to continue his or her education, if they| |
| |so desire? | |
| |Are there tuition waivers for spouses and children of faculty? | |
| |What is the quality of area grade and high schools? | |
ATTEMPT TO MEET WITH A REAL ESTATE AGENT
Since you will most likely only accept campus visits at universities at which you would seriously consider accepting a job offer, take a little time to meet with a local real estate agent or look at the community surrounding the campus. This allows you to get a feel for the cost of living and kind of community you may find yourself living in for a number of years. You may want to include your spouse and/or children on this trip, so that you can factor in their thoughts on the location aspects of the schools you visit.
REVIEW THE DETAILS OF THE OFFER LETTER
If you have negotiated for certain conditions, such as lab space, summer salary, extra office space, etc., these should be included in the offer letter. Be careful to read over the offer letter carefully to make sure they are included. If the offer letter contains everything you discussed to your satisfaction, sign it and return it as quickly as possible.
FOLLOW UP AFTER ACCEPTING AN OFFER
Perhaps you had several campus visits. Once an offer is extended, you will typically have two weeks to make a decision. If you have received an offer you decide you will take, and you have other campus visits scheduled, professional courtesy dictates that you cancel the other visits. If you have had campus visits, but have not heard back yet from the universities you visited, and you take another offer, contact the universities that you visited and inform them of your decision. Universities have limited time and funds for recruiting, and it is important that they know as soon as possible if they need to move along to another candidate. You will probably encounter the people with whom you interviewed at some point in the future. A reputation for professional integrity is valuable in academia.
Here is a link about job hunting in the finance academic market that you should read.
GETTING RESEARCH PUBLISHED
You can enhance your marketability by demonstrating the ability to do quality research. The best way to demonstrate quality research is to get your work published in academic journals that are perceived as having a strong reputation. During a Ph.D. program, you will likely write many papers for courses. Your first goal is to write a paper that will be acceptable for the course and that will help you achieve a good grade. However, given the amount of time you must dedicate to the research paper, establish goals beyond just satisfying the course requirements. After the paper has been graded by the professor, ask the professor if the paper has potential to be published. If so, here are some obvious questions you should consider:
a) Does the paper make a significant contribution to the existing literature, or at least a large enough contribution that it could be published?
b) Can it be submitted as is or does it need more work?
c) If it needs more work, can you complete the work before you begin the next semester, perhaps by working during the break?
d) If it needs more work, should you invite the professor or another student to be involved as a co-author?
e) What level journal should be targeted?
WORKING WITH CO-AUTHORS
The benefit of inviting co-authors to join in on the paper is that they have expertise that can improve the paper, so that it has a higher probability of being published in a quality journal. In addition, your time may be limited, and by allowing one or more co-authors to participate, you can focus on your other duties while they are adding to your research paper. The traditional logic behind “comparative advantage” applies – allocate your time in the most efficient capacity, and then involve others where they have comparative advantage. By inviting someone to participate as a co-author, you may be able to improve a paper that would have otherwise been discarded, so that it can be sent to a journal.
One disadvantage is that a given paper may give you more credibility if you are the sole author than if you have one or more co-authors. Second, the goals of co-authors may differ, which results in friction. For example, if your goal is to enhance your marketability when you enter the job market, you should only consider a co-author who is willing to work within your time constraints. Also, if your co-author slows the process, you face the possibility that someone else may publish a similar paper with very similar results before your paper is submitted or accepted.
Another disadvantage of having co-authors is that the research may never be completed. There are many research projects that had potential but were never completed because one or more of the participants in the projects did not do their share of the work. So while working with a co-author can be very beneficial, choose your co-authors carefully. Here is a common example of what happens when you select co-authors who have different goals than your own or are less disciplined than you.
Example of Working with Co-authors
The following example is intended to illustrate why some papers that may have much potential for publication are never published. By understanding the potential breakdowns that occur, you may be able to avoid the breakdowns and get your work published.
Background. Nicole Newman is a Ph.D. student. During her 2 years in the Ph.D. program, Nicole has written five research papers for courses that she took. She decides that 3 of the papers she wrote have some potential to be published, but each needs some work. She will be in the job market in one year and would like to demonstrate much research potential by the time she enters the job market.
In June, Nicole makes the following decisions regarding her three papers. She will send Paper #1 to a journal as is, because she would like to be a sole author on a paper that gets published. Yes, she does not have time to put more work into it. She knows it may need more work, but hopes that the journal will recommend some improvements and that will eventually lead to publication in that journal. For Paper #2, she invites Diane Davis, a friend and fellow Ph.D. student to be a co-author. Diane accepts the offer and says she expects that she can finish her work on the paper in two months. For Paper #3, Nicole invites Professor Carl Carson to be a co-author. Dr. Carson taught the course in which Nicole wrote the paper and Nicole is sure that Dr. Carson would increase the quality of the paper. Dr. Carson said he will get started on the paper when he has free time.
Nicole’s Objectives. Nicole hopes that by October, the two co-authored papers will be completed by her co-authors and submitted to a journal. Ideally, all three papers will be accepted for publication by August, which is when she will be submitting her resumes to universities that advertise a faculty position open in the following year.
Results. In October, Nicole becomes concerned because she has not received a revised draft of either paper from the co-authors. She contacts Diane Davis, who apologizes but says she is busy with course work and hopes to complete the paper within a month. She also e-mails Dr. Carson, who says that he has other priorities, but that he hopes to work on the paper in December after the fall semester. Nicole now revises her goal to have these papers submitted to a journal by January.
In January, Diane Davis provides Nicole with her revisions to her original paper. Unfortunately, the revisions are very limited, especially when considering that she held the paper for six months. Nicole and Diane submit the paper to a journal at that time, despite Nicole’s concerns that the reviewer will see the same weaknesses she had originally hoped Diane was going to correct.
Meanwhile, Dr. Carson tells Nicole that he worked on the paper, but that the paper needs much more work before it can be sent to a quality journal. Dr. Carson wants to target a high-level journal, since a publication in a lower level journal would not be beneficial to him. He suggests that a colleague be added to the paper to boost the quality of the paper where it needs to be in order to be publishable at a high-level journal. He estimates that his colleague can complete her contribution to the paper by April.
In June, Nicole received news about all three of her papers. First, the journal that received Paper #1 informs Nicole that the paper is rejected because it has some major limitations. She knew of the limitations when she submitted it, but had hoped the journal would guide her to improve the paper and allow her to revise it.
Second, the journal to which she and Diane submitted Paper #2 rejects the paper because it was poorly organized and did not provide a cohesive theme.
Third, Dr. Carson’s colleague just decided to pursue a project writing a textbook, and therefore would not be able to work on Paper #3 for several months. Now there are three authors on this paper, and it is no closer to completion than it was a year ago when Nicole was the only author.
Comparison of Nicole’s Results and Objectives. As Nicole developed her resume in June, she reflected on her goals that she set a year ago of having her three papers accepted for publication in journals. It turns out that two of the papers were rejected, and the third may never be completed.
Lessons From This Example
Not all co-authored papers fail. In fact, the majority of published papers in finance are co-authored. However, Nicole’s experience is very common, and most Ph.D. students or faculty members who have worked with co-authors may have experienced something similar. There are some obvious lessons from this example:
1. Conflicting Objectives Among Co-authors. Some co-authors have different objectives than others, such as the quality level journal that should be targeted. In the example, Nicole was hoping for a publication in any reputable journal before she went into the job market, while Dr. Carson had a much higher target level in mind. Had Nicole and Dr. Carson communicated their goals at the initial stage, they would have realized that their goals were not compatible. Thus, either Dr. Carson should have revised his goals, or should not be a co-author of Paper #3. Yet, Nicole may have been able to avoid the situation if she clearly communicated her objective about when she wanted the paper to be completed.
In reality, Ph.D. students are in an awkward situation, because they may not feel that they are in a position to pressure a faculty member to complete the work requested. Therefore, the best solution is to only select co-authors if you feel sure that they would have similar objectives.
2. Lack of Commitment by a Co-author. All co-authors do not work at the same speed or have the same priorities. For this reason, it is important for all parties involved in a research project to offer a rough estimate of when they will complete their portion of the work. It is only fair that all co-authors are informed, so that they understand the length of time before the project is completed. It is difficult to predict how long it will take to complete a paper with perfect accuracy. Yet, one should be able to at least suggest whether their work will be completed in four months versus a year.
Some co-authors do not meet their deadlines. They have good intentions, but their initial commitment is motivated by their desire to be involved in the paper. They do not recognize the reality that other priorities may slow down their progress. This is a major reason why a massive amount of co-authored projects are never completed.
3. Lack of Consideration by a co-author. Even when some co-authors do not do the work that they promised, they do not necessarily relinquish their responsibility. In the example, Nicole may have been able to salvage Paper #2 if her co-author Diane would have simply acknowledged, “I don’t have as much time as I thought, so I can not serve as a co-author. Thanks anyway.” Instead, Diane initially delays the paper and then finally adds some trivial comments in the paper to justify her name on the paper. Nicole did not want to rescind her invitation for Diane to be a co-author, so she lost control of the paper.
4. Lack of Clear Separation of Tasks Among Co-authors. When the allocation of tasks among the co-authors is not spelled out clearly, co-authors forget who is assigned to do what parts. The contribution of each individual co-author should be clear at the beginning. The agreement does not have to take the form of a formal contract, but an email message can at least document the obligations of each co-author. The author inviting someone else to collaborate should spell out deadlines and consequences if deadlines are not met, in as polite a way possible. For example, Nicole could have told Diane that she requires the paper for the job market and that if Diane has not done her part within two months, Nicole will seek an alternative co-author.
In reality, the co-authors cited here may have their own view on why the paper was not completed on time. It would not be unusual for each co-author to blame the other for a research project that is never completed. Rarely will a co-author involved in a research project take full blame for the lack of progress on a research project. This is an unfortunate fact of life. The best solution is to be careful when selecting co-authors, and to ensure proper communication up front so that all parties involved have a clear understanding of their respective obligations.
JOURNAL INFORMATION
When deciding where to submit your paper, consider the reputation of the journal, the submission fee required (if any), the average review time, the acceptance rate, the number of reviewers, whether the journal is peer reviewed, the primary audience, and the maximum page length. Most journals have a web site in which much of this information is available, along with the name of the editor, and the address to which you will send the paper.
You may be able to eliminate journals from consideration just on the basis of an expensive submission fee. Journals often set the submission fee high just to discourage people from sending low quality papers. Other information, such as the average time it takes to review the paper, can also be used as a screening device. If you would like to have a paper accepted, or at least under subsequent review in the near future, avoid outlets that have long average review times.
THE JOURNAL REVIEW PROCESS
A journal’s objective is to disseminate useful information on a particular field or a subset of the field.
Role of the Editor and Reviewers
The editor of a journal relies on a set of reviewers to review the research paper. Such journals are referred to as “peer reviewed.” Each journal has an editorial board, which consists of professors at various universities who have expertise in one or more topic areas in which the journal publishes.
In addition to the editorial board, the editor also relies on other reviewers to review research papers. These reviewers are selected based on their perceived expertise on a particular topic. Reviewers are sometimes chosen because one or more of their articles that were published is referenced in a research paper that the editor needs to have reviewed.
Some journals rely on just one reviewer to review a particular article. Other journals rely on two or three reviewers. When a journal relies on more than one reviewer, the review process may be slower, because the editor waits for all reviewers to provide reviews before responding to the author of the research paper.
Some journals are blind peer reviewed, whereby the reviewer does not know the identity of the author of the paper. The blind peer review process allows a more objective review, rather than a review that is political or corrupted by personal relationships.
Criteria Used to Evaluate Research Papers
Some journals provide a rating sheet to the reviewer and request that the reviewer complete the rating sheet while reviewing the paper. The rating sheet lists the criteria that the reviewer should consider when evaluating a paper. Some journals do not provide a rating sheet, and simply ask the reviewer to make a recommendation about whether the research paper should be accepted, rejected, or revised (based on the reviewer’s suggestions) and resubmitted after the revisions are completed. Even if the journal does not provide a rating sheet, most reviewers probably use the same type of criteria when evaluating a research paper. Some of the more common criteria are listed here:
Motivation. The introduction of a research paper needs to sell the theme of the paper. It needs to make readers buy into the theme. That is, the introduction needs to provide a good response to the question: “Why would anyone want to read this?” It needs to motivate potential readers to read it. Just like most forms of media, journals want to disseminate information that is of interest to the audience that they are targeting. If the research paper lacks motivation, a reviewer may reject the research paper without reading any further. This may seem cruel but it is reality. The logic is that if the paper does not really have a valid purpose, it does not deserve to be published even if all other parts of the paper are well done. If the paper lacks motivation, it will not be read by readers, and will not serve the journal’s objective of disseminating useful information.
Some research papers offer a limited contribution beyond what has already been documented in previous research. Reviewers would likely suggest that the motivation within these papers is limited. Even though the general topic may be of interest, the motivation is limited if the contents are already known by potential readers. It is advisable, before working on a research idea, to do a detailed search to make sure you are not doing research that has already been published.
Review of Related Literature. A research paper should identify existing research that serves as a foundation for the primary topic. It should also explain its contribution above and beyond the foundation of related literature.
Hypotheses. A research paper should clearly explain what it expects from the research that is being conducted. This can be done in the form of formal hypotheses or informally, depending on the field and the typical format of the journal.
Data. Your paper should contain a detailed data section explaining the collection procedure and data screening criteria. Maintain your data in case you perform other research on the same data, or revise the research in response to reviewer comments.
Research Design. The research design specifies the methods used to test hypotheses. If the research does not properly control for other factors, the research paper may be rejected on the grounds that the results are not reliable. That is, any difference in the performance of the two groups may have occurred because the one group of students is in a better elementary school where the teachers have higher standards, and not because of the computerized tutorials. This criticism of the research paper will likely result in a rejection, even if all other parts of the research paper are properly done. If the results are not reliable, the implications are limited.
Conclusions. Authors should summarize to the reader what the main contribution to the literature is, and mention any limitations of the study.
Writing Style. Research papers are expected to communicate to the reader. The writing needs to flow well. It needs to be tight, meaning that the thoughts are focused, and do not wander far from the main theme.
While the editor may provide research paper guidelines explaining the formatting and presentation of tables, the usual rule of thumb that applies to data presentation is that the reader should be able to look at the table and understand the point without having to read the text of the paper. In other words, the tables should be able to “stand-alone.” Hence, notes to tables should be provided to help the reader understand what they are reading.
Editorial Decision
Once the editor receives the reviews of a paper, he or she makes a judgment about whether the paper should be accepted as is, rejected, or offered to revise and resubmit. A high proportion of papers are rejected. Some papers are given a revise/resubmit after the first review and require the author to do more work to improve the paper based on the reviews of the paper.
When there are many favorable reviews, an editor must screen the reviews. That is, many papers may be given a revise/resubmit recommendation by the reviewers. Yet, the editor makes the final decision, and may reject some of the papers for which the author might have been able to satisfy the reviewer. Authors are usually disappointed when the reviewer recommends revise and resubmit, but the editor rejected the paper outright. Yet, the rejection is sometimes a blessing in disguise, because the authors may never be able to satisfy the reviewer’s requests and therefore are better off sending the paper to a different journal. Furthermore, if the editor rejects the paper rather than allowing it to be resubmitted, he or she is usually sending the signal that investing more time at the particular journal is futile, and the author should submit the paper to a different publication outlet with a better “fit” for the paper.
Interpreting a “Revise and Resubmit” Letter
When authors are invited by the journal to revise and resubmit a paper, they assess the reviews and decide whether they could satisfy the reviewer. For example, if a reviewer requests that the analysis within the paper be redone using a different model, the authors will likely attempt to do the revision. Conversely, if the reviewer suggests that the authors need to use different data that are not available, the authors may decide to send the paper to a different journal.
Sometimes it is not clear exactly what the reviewer wants. When there are two or more reviews, there will usually be some amount of overlap between comments provided by the reviewers, so grouping suggestions and criticisms point by point helps to illustrate what needs to be done and if it can be done. Later, when the author revises and resubmits the paper to the journal, the author will send the revised paper to the same reviewer. The author should also enclose a “response to the reviewer” when resubmitting the revised paper, which explains the revisions that were made in response to the reviewer’s request.
Sometimes reviewers use a condescending tone, but it is important to sort through the comments objectively. There is also the temptation to dismiss the reviewer as an idiot because he or she didn’t understand what you were doing in the paper. But if the reviewer did not understand your paper, it is likely that others won’t either, so attempt to rewrite sections the reviewer found confusing.
Once you have compiled your response to the reviewer and done all the revisions you can, you will resubmit your paper to the journal. At this point, the reviewer rereads the paper and decides whether all suggested revisions were made. The reviewer may recommend acceptance, or may identify specific improvements that are still needed. Alternatively, if the reviewer is dissatisfied with the revised version of the paper, he may reject the paper. Many papers that receive a revise/resubmit invitation from the editor are ultimately rejected by the journal.
Example of Efforts to Get Research Published
Here is a common example of the results from attempting to publish a paper. Brad Lake just completed his Ph.D. and was hired as an assistant professor at a university. He wants to have at least one article published in his first year. He completed a research paper within two months of taking the job, and submitted it to a high-quality (A-level) journal. He realizes that it is a long shot, but wanted to set a high objective. If this journal rejects the paper, Brad figures he would be able to get the paper published in a mid-level journal. Five months later, he received a rejection from the A-level journal. The reviewer bases the rejection on the opinion that the paper does not provide a sufficient contribution to the literature and may have some empirical design problems.
He then decides to send the paper to a mid-level (B-level) journal. Four months later, he received a revise/resubmit, but the suggested revisions are difficult. Brad attempts to do some of the suggested revisions, but not all of them, because it would have been too time consuming and difficult. He resubmits the paper to the journal three months after he received the review. Four months later, he receives a response from the journal, rejecting the paper.
Meanwhile, Brad noticed another article that was recently published that overlapped with his idea. He needed to revise his paper to incorporate this article. It took Brad five months to differentiate his paper from that of the related paper that was recently published, but he was aware that his paper’s results were now largely redundant. Then he submitted the paper to a lower level (C-level) journal. Three months later he received a revise/resubmit. He worked on the revisions for two months, and resubmitted the paper. Three months later, he received a letter from the editor, stating that his paper would be accepted for publication, contingent on his having the paper copy edited. He hired a copy editor, who provided the work a month later. He then resubmitted the paper, and it was officially accepted by the editor in one month. Because the journal had a backlog of accepted papers, (as do most journals), the paper is scheduled for publication in one year.
Brad’s university officially recognized his research as published at the time it was accepted, so the delay in publication did not affect him. From the time Brad started the paper, here is a summary of the path of the paper:
|Activity |Number of Months |
|Paper reviewed by first journal |5 |
|Review time at the B-level journal |4 |
|Brad revises paper and resubmits it to the B-level journal. |3 |
|Review time of the revised manuscript at the B-level journal |4 |
|Brad revises paper to distinguish it from another paper that was |5 |
|recently published and then sends the paper to a C-level journal.| |
|Review of paper at the C-level journal. |3 |
|Brad revises paper and resubmits it to the C-level journal. |2 |
|Review of resubmitted paper by the C-level journal. |3 |
|Copy edit process |1 |
|Final review of paper by the C-level journal. |1 |
|Total Time to Formal Acceptance |31 |
Overall, it took 31 months from the time that Brad first submitted the paper until the time at which the paper was accepted for publication. Now compare this result to Brad’s original goals. He had hoped to have a paper published in his first year. His paper was accepted 31 months after he started his position, which is in his third year. Some papers are accepted more quickly, but others take longer or may never be accepted. The main point of this example is to recognize how long the review process takes. One should never anticipate an immediate acceptance of a paper.
Lessons About the Review Process
There are some obvious lessons from the review process. First, there is a tradeoff when targeting the journal. You want to shoot for the highest level journal in which you think the paper can be placed. But if you shoot too high, you lose some time before the paper is ultimately submitted to a journal that is at the appropriate level, and another paper could get published on the same subject. [Some journals post their proportion of papers accepted.]
Second, attempt to submit one or more papers to journals while you are in your Ph.D. program. This allows you a higher probability of having a paper accepted for publication by the time you are in your first year as a faculty member at a university.
Third, the long time involved from the time you submit the paper until its eventual acceptance is due to the time taken to review the paper. Many reviews could probably be completed within a full day or less. Yet, reviewers have other work priorities ahead of reviewing a paper. They may squeeze in a few hours in one week, but then get busy with other work, and are unable to complete the review until several weeks later. Most reviewers are not compensated for their work, so it is difficult to expedite the review from reviewers who are essentially providing a free service. You can not control the slow review process, but you do have control of where you send the paper. Try to target a journal that not only satisfies the level you want to target, but also one that is known to have an efficient review process.
Fourth, you have control to work on other research papers while waiting for the review. Given the very small percentage of papers that are accepted at reputable journals, attempt to continually submit research papers so that you are not relying on one single paper. In the academic world, this is referred to as “filling up the pipeline.” As applied to the previous example, Brad should have been working on other research while the paper was being reviewed by the reviewer. Thus, by the end of his second year, he may have several completed research papers that have been submitted to journals.
Fifth, your university may have requirements on the mix of journal quality and number of publications you have when you apply for promotion and tenure. Many universities distinguish between quality and quantity of research. You will need to meet the requirements for both quality of journals and quantity of publications. It is important to understand the quality and quantity of published research that is required by the university, so that you can conduct research in a manner that would be consistent with the requirements of the university.
LIFE AS A FACULTY MEMBER
What does a professor do all day? Most people do not really understand the duties of a professor, including some Ph.D. students who plan to be a professor. Consequently, some people underestimate the work requirements of a professor, while others overestimate the work requirements. Regardless, any Ph.D. student who is planning to be a professor should understand the typical job description.
BACKGROUND
In general, a professor’s duties can be classified as teaching, research, and service. The allocation of time to each of these three duties will vary among professors within a department, within departments within a university, and among universities. Research-oriented universities tend to allocate more of a professor’s assignment to research, which results in a smaller allocation to teaching or service. Some institutions are more teaching focused.
TEACHING
The teaching loads of professors in universities are usually much lower than that of teaching loads by elementary schools, high schools, or junior colleges. For example, the teaching load at a university that is heavily focused on teaching may be 12 hours a week. That is, the load may be four 3-hour courses during a semester, whereby a professor teaches 2 sections of one type of course, and two sections of a second course. At the other extreme, the typical research assignment at some research-oriented universities may be one or two courses during a week. In this case, a professor may only be teaching 3 or 6 hours during a week. People are typically surprised to hear that a professor teaches between 3 and 12 hours a week. When considering that a professor may not teach at all in the summer, the work load may seem very light. However, the work load is not as light as it seems, as explained next.
First, teaching a total of 12 hours a week may fill out a week if substantial preparation is needed. The first time a professor teaches a course, there is a substantial amount of preparation. Some courses also require much grading and many office hours each week in which students ask questions about the material outside of the course time. The teaching-oriented universities may require exam review sessions to be held and extra lab sections held outside of class hours. Then there are the exams that must be created and graded. In order to stay current in the field, course materials must be updated regularly as well. New assignments should be generated, in order to make sure that students are not merely recycling past semesters’ exams and assignments. Furthermore, most professors must check their email regularly and reply to student questions.
Teaching a load of 3 or 6 hours a week will normally allow for more free time during the week. Yet, when the teaching load is this low, it is usually because the professor has been assigned other duties in addition to teaching. These other duties are discussed next.
RESEARCH
Research is perhaps the most misunderstood part of the professor’s job description. Research may be defined as an activity that allows a professor to gain more knowledge about topics that they teach. However, many universities use a more narrow definition, because they want to benefit from the research that is conducted. This is only fair, as the university is essentially supporting the professor to perform research by reducing the teaching load. Most universities would like professors to use research in a manner that disseminates knowledge and brings in outside funding, rather than just consume knowledge. For example, reading books may be viewed as consuming knowledge. But conducting research, writing up results, and having this work published is a method of producing research. When the research is published, it is spread to a larger audience. Professors are more likely to be viewed as experts in the field when they produce research rather than if they just consume research. In addition, by having their work published, a professor can help to make a name for a university.
The biggest state university may require 6 hours of teaching per week combined with a requirement of high research productivity, while a regional university may have a greater teaching emphasis and require 9 hours of teaching per week combined with a requirement of moderate research productivity. Thus, there tends to be a tradeoff between the research required and the teaching load.
SERVICE
Most professors perform some service obligations, regardless of whether they are employed by a research-oriented or teaching-oriented university. At one extreme, some professors have assumed major service obligations, such as serving as the chair of the department.
Internal Service
Many professors are assigned internal service obligations. For example, they may serve on a committee to select the teacher of the year in their department. They may be asked to develop a syllabus for a new course that will be offered by the department in the future. Professors are also often required to participate in service internal to the college but outside of the department, such as the faculty senate, college-wide forums on academic honesty, committees that determine the allocation of faculty development funds, etc.
External Service
Some professors volunteer for external service obligations by participating at conferences in their related field. For example, they may present their research findings at conferences in their field. Alternatively, they may serve as a discussant at the conference, in which they are asked to provide constructive criticism about the research presented by another professor at the conference. Or they may even organize a session at a conference in which they lead a discussion or provide a tutorial on a particular topic. These forms of external service are encouraged by a university because they may help the professors keep up to date on the latest research in their field, which may indirectly improve the courses they teach. In addition, these forms of external service may provide some name recognition for the university.
Service Role of the Department Chair
The chair normally serves as a manager of the professors in his or her department. One of the key duties is course scheduling. Chair first attempts to offer a set of courses that will satisfy the needs of students. He or she needs to provide a diversified set of courses so that any students who are majors can complete their course work in a timely manner. In addition, the chair must offer the courses that will allow students who are majors to complete their curriculum and graduate. This requires some ability to recognize when students want courses.
After deciding on the courses to be offered, the chair must assign professors to teach the courses. Ideally, the chair considers the preferences of the professors when setting the course schedule. For example, the chair may be able to schedule a professor’s course schedule so that they teach multiple sections of the same course, and teach only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Such an efficient schedule would allow the professor large blocks of time to complete research obligations. In reality, it is difficult for the department chair to create a course schedule that will satisfy all students and all faculty members.
Another important duty of the chair is to evaluate the performance of the faculty within the department. The evaluation would include an assessment of each professor’s teaching, research, and service duties. This is often done for tenure track faulty members with the help of a committee made up of tenured faculty members.
The chair also serves as an intermediary between the faculty within the department and the higher level administrators within the university. Thus, the chair may serve as a lobbyist to fight for higher salaries for the professors within the department. At the same time, the chair may need to serve the administration by ensuring that the faculty in the department do their jobs properly.
FACULTY EVALUATION PROCESS
Faculty members are commonly rated by their department chair and/or by their colleagues. They are evaluated according to how they perform in terms of: (1) teaching, (2) research, and (3) service. The proportion of time that is expected to be allocated to each task varies with the university, the department, and even the years of university experience. The department chair normally sets the assignments, subject to approval by other administrators such as the dean of the college. For example, the weight assigned to teaching may be 80% at a teaching oriented university versus 30% at a research-oriented university. The weight assigned to service is usually small. However, faculty members who pursue a position in university administration may be rated almost exclusively on their service in that administration role.
A faculty member usually submits a package of information to the department chair on an annual basis, which is called the “annual review” or “annual evaluation.” The package should show evidence of the faculty member’s performance in teaching, research, and service. The department chair can use this package to assess the faculty member’s performance. The department chair might also use other information such as comments received from students throughout the year. The reviews can be used for recommendations by the chair regarding how merit pay increases should be determined.
The performance of faculty members can be viewed like a weighted average. Their performance in the general tasks of teaching, research, and service are measured. The weight (proportion of their assignment allocated to each task) applied to each task is considered along with the performance rating of each task. For example, a rating system could be scaled from 0 to 10, with 0 being the worst and 10 being the best rating.
Example
Consider a faculty member who has the following assignment at the beginning of the year as shown in the second column of the following table. Assume that at the end of the year, the faculty member received the following performance rating as shown in Column 3. The 4th column shows how the overall rating was derived. In this example, the faculty member received an excellent rating in teaching, and lower ratings in research and service. Yet, her overall rating of 9.1 is very high, because she achieved excellent performance in teaching, which was given a very high weight. If she had excellent performance in service, but only adequate performance in teaching, her overall rating would have been weaker.
Example of Performance Evaluation of a Faculty Member
|Responsibilities |Weight Applied to the Task (% of |Performance Rating Achieved |Weight x Rating |
| |the Total Job Assignment) at |During the Year | |
| |Beginning of the Year | | |
|Teaching |60% |10 |6 |
|Research |30% |8 |2.4 |
|Service |10% |7 |.7 |
|Total |100% |---- |Total = 9.1 |
INDICATORS OF PERFORMANCE
Some examples of indicators of a faculty member’s teaching, research, and service are shown in the following list.
Possible Indicators of Teaching Performance
Teaching evaluations by students
Evidence of innovative teaching techniques
Number of different course preparations
New course development
Development of innovative assignments
Publication of pedagogical research
Standards imposed in class
• based on content of exams
• based on grades that were allocated
Teaching awards received
Possible Indicators of Research Performance
Publications in major journals in the appropriate field
Publications in other journals
Written research that has been accepted for publication
Working papers that have been submitted to journals for consideration
Presentations to outside organizations
Grants that have been awarded by sponsors outside the university
Possible Indicators of Service Performance
Service on committees within the university
Service to the local community as a university representative
Involvement in professional meetings that may enhance the image of the university.
Service to the department for recruiting new faculty members
PROMOTION AND TENURE PROCESS
Each university has its own guidelines for a faculty member to pursue promotion or tenure. In general, an assistant professor may pursue promotion to associate professor after five or six years, though some universities allow candidates who meet the requirements prior to that time to go up for tenure early. An associate professor may pursue promotion to professor after 5 to 10 years. A faculty member may pursue tenure after a period of five or six years. Thus, some faculty members pursue promotion to associate professor and tenure in the same year.
What is Promotion?
The term promotion implies that your job title has changed from assistant professor to associate professor or from associate professor to professor. Being promoted from assistant professor to associate professor or from associate professor to full professor does not change your job description. A faculty member who does not take an administrative position may conceivably do the same type of job from the first year as an assistant professor until retirement. In many cases, the promotion is one way in which you can be rewarded for your teaching, research, and service over the years. Many universities have a formula for a percentage increase in salary that is awarded for a promotion. Thus, faculty members benefit financially from being promoted.
What is Tenure?
Today, if you ask professors what tenure means, you may receive different answers. Most professors would agree that if you are granted tenure, the university is less likely to remove your job position. A tenured faculty member still has responsibilities and can be held accountable for those responsibilities. But in general, tenured faculty members who perform at a satisfactory level are able to retain their jobs.
Steps to Evaluate An Application for Promotion or Tenure
For promotion or tenure, faculty members are evaluated with a set of several steps. The steps involve information gathering and organizing by the faculty member, and then a set of evaluations conducted within the university, as explained next.
Composing the Promotion or Tenure Package. A faculty member who pursues promotion from assistant professor to associate professor must compose a portfolio of information (sometimes referred to as a package) that represents their work over the period that is being evaluated. There are usually specific guidelines provided by the university regarding what should be included in the package. The same types of contents that are in the annual package would also be in the promotion package. Thus, the promotion package may represent the accumulation of the packages that were submitted to the department chair in previous years.
The contents can be evaluated by various parties within the university to determine whether the faculty member deserves to be promoted to associate professor. Many universities also have an external review process where the candidate‘s portfolio is sent to an objective reviewer outside of the institution.
Sequence of the Evaluation Process. While the exact process varies among universities, the evaluation of the faculty member usually starts with the faculty member’s department and moves up the organizational chart. An example of the process is provided next.
Example of Deadlines Involved in the Process of Applying for Promotion
September 30 Faculty member must submit promotion package in accordance with university guidelines
October 30 A committee within the finance department of the faculty member must meet and assess the faculty member’s package. They offer a recommendation on whether the faculty member should be promoted. Their written recommendation is included in the package, and submitted to the chair of the finance department. The recommendation does not have to be unanimous, and may specify the number of faculty on the committee who support the promotion versus the number who do not support the promotion.
November 15 The chair of the finance department must write a letter recommending whether the faculty member should be promoted. The letter is placed within the package, and the package is submitted to a College of Business promotion and tenure committee. The college promotion and tenure committee consists of a representative from each department within the college.
December 15 The College of Business committee conducts its assessment, and submits its recommendation along with the package to the dean of the college.
January 15 The dean of the college assesses the package and submits his or her recommendation along with the package to the university promotion and tenure committee. The university promotion and tenure committee contains a representative from each college in the university. For example, there would be a representative from the colleges of arts, sciences, education, and business.
February 15 The university promotion and tenure committee submits their recommendation on whether the faculty member should be promoted along with the package to a high-level administrator, such as the university president. The president assesses the package, reviews the recommendations by the committees, and decides whether the faculty member is to be promoted.
The specific deadlines vary among universities. The schedule shown here illustrates why the process takes several months. For state-supported universities, the process may even continue beyond the president. There may be a board of regents or some other layer at the state level that makes the final decision.
Important Advice
As explained earlier, the process for getting research published in quality journals can be slow. In addition, when you are first starting an academic career, you may need to teach a variety of courses that require an investment of time for preparation. It is important that you are well organized so that you can produce what is expected of you. If you treat the job as if you were working in industry, and create a disciplined schedule for yourself, you can increase your chances of being successful. For example, if you teach from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. and from 3:00 to 4:00 on a specific day, it is important to use your free time effectively, either preparing lecture notes or conducting research.
Even though there is some flexibility regarding when you do your work, the work has to get done. The work is not completely assessed on a daily or even a weekly basis, but the production needs to accumulate over time. There is a large amount of free time that faculty members have to achieve their production, but if they are only effective when deadlines are coming due, they may find it difficult to catch up after falling behind. They may also be rated by some other faculty members within their department, typically the tenured faculty, and often a letter of progress is given to the faculty member by the tenured faculty jointly. The letter informs the tenure track candidate if they are meeting expectations, making superior progress, or not making satisfactory progress for tenure.
RE-ENTERING THE JOB MARKET
Some professors periodically change jobs by moving from one university to industry, government, or another university. The motives and strategies for changing jobs are discussed next.
MOTIVES
You may want to move to a particular location to be closer to your family. Second, you may simply want to leave your present position if you are not satisfied with the work conditions or your responsibilities. Third, you may want to move to catch up with the prevailing market salaries. The first two motives are common for any position but the third motive is somewhat unique to the university environment. In universities, the amount of money available to raise salaries is often limited. The market salary can increase substantially in a field that suddenly has many job openings because of increasing enrollment in that field. Consequently, the universities that try to recruit must bid higher salaries if there are more job openings than there are Ph.D. graduates who are looking for a job.
It is not unusual for a recent Ph.D. graduate in finance to have a higher salary than the existing faculty members who have much more experience. Universities typically cannot afford to raise the salaries of all the existing faculty members up to the prevailing market level. Consequently, some faculty members decide to re-enter the job market so that they can catch up with the market salary.
TRANSACTION COSTS
One problem with moving from one university to another is the transaction cost involved. It may be difficult to obtain a job in your field at another university that is in the city where you live. Therefore, changing jobs may require you to move, which will result in transaction costs. There are explicit transaction costs such as loss of a spouse’s income, moving expenses or commissions paid to a realtor if you must sell your house. There are other costs such as the time and anxiety of having to move children into new schools. In some cases, the transaction cost may exceed the extra income that would be earned over the next several years. If you plan to move to catch up with the market, determine whether the extra income is really worth the cost involved in moving.
MARKETABILITY
One advantage that a faculty member has over Ph.D. candidates in the job market is their experience. They already have course preparations and have had more time to conduct research. However, their experience sometimes works against them if they have not used their time efficiently to complete research projects. This is especially true for job openings at departments that require significant research output. A limited level of research productivity of a new Ph.D. graduate is more acceptable because the new graduate has not had time since graduation to work on the research. Thus, a department might view a new graduate as having more potential for producing research than a faculty member who has not shown much productivity since graduating years ago. Those faculty members who have shown research productivity are generally more marketable, because they have proven that they have the discipline and skills to do research.
MOVING WITH TENURE
When tenured faculty members attempt to move to a different university, they can attempt to negotiate to come in to the new job position with tenure. In some cases, the department will only hire someone without tenure. They may be willing to count some years as credit toward tenure, but may want a period in which the person’s teaching, research, and service performance can be assessed directly within their own department. Tenure standards are not the same at all departments in a given field, so a department that wants to hire a person does not necessarily grant tenure just because the person has tenure elsewhere.
Some faculty members who have tenure at one university do not want to go through the process again at another university. Thus, having tenure may discourage them from pursuing a job at another university. Alternatively, they may only consider job positions in which the department that has a job position would grant tenure.
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