of being found acceptable at the places on List 1, was well out of my depth, and, given the effort I’d
then you have failed an important test of a scholar devoted to getting there, it seemed unlikely I could
in my view. Forming an accurate assessment of do much about it (in that field). This experience had
your position in the greater scheme is as impor- a major impact on my imaginary List 1, indeed on
tant for job-hunting scholars as it is for musicians, the desirability of my aspiring to do research in that
tennis players, or chess players. I understand it field. Of course, if I would have had an advisor or
can be hard, even impossible, for you to do this mentor in this work, this experience would not have
well on your own, but your advisor, referees, and been necessary.
fellow students will have opinions worth listening Now, let’s say you think List 1 is reasonable.
to. You should ask and take note of the answers. How do you go about ensuring that List 2 over-
You also can do some research into the mat- laps it and that this is all based in reality—not
ter, thinking hard about it and experimenting. For just in your mind? The second condition is that
example, you can write and submit papers to the some places on List 1 make it onto List 2 from
journals in which people at those places on List 1 the employers’ views. This means your suitabil-
publish. You can arrange to visit or meet faculty ity, indeed the desirability of their taking you
from your List 1 possibilities. Prospective PhD on, must become apparent to them. Ideally, this
graduates in the biomedical sciences routinely should be on the basis of hard evidence such as
make post-doc visits, where they go to a group of published papers, programs, technical reports, or
carefully selected institutions (their List 1 places) a completed thesis. But, barring this, letters from
and arrange a mutual checking out. This way, they your advisor and other referees may suffice. This
can find out if there is any overlap. If after doing can be done during the usual round of job adver-
something along these lines, it turns out you are tisements, but not necessarily. If you have done a
not suited to any of the places on List 1, isn’t it good job of getting calibrated in this sense, those
time to rethink your answer to Q1? places on List 1 and List 2 should be happy to
At one point when I was doing my PhD (in hear from you and know of your interest in work-
math), I conjectured and then proved a little ing with them.
theorem. It took a bit of work, so I was mildly If all has gone well so far, you have List L and
pleased with myself, and it appeared to be new in are ready to go. What next? For a start, the larger
the sense that I could not find it in the literature it is, the better your chances of success, for the
where I thought it would be. Not long afterward, fact that L ≠ ∅ is not enough to land you a job.
a senior person in that field—the editor of a major The problem with knowing where you would
journal—passed through my town. I showed my like to go—and knowing they would gladly take
work to him and asked whether I should submit it you—is that this may be true of several people
for publication. He said in a very kind way, “No, and you may lose out in the ranking. No one can
don’t bother, it’s not new. You haven’t found it in ensure against third parties entering the picture
the literature because everyone knows it. It’s just and spoiling great plans. So, where do you go
that no one has bothered to next? Ensuring that List 1 has at least one fall-
write it out.” I took back place essentially guaranteed to be on List 2
from this experi- would be wise.
ence the mes- Here’s how it is now, with almost all people
sage that I adopting the market strategy. People who look
highly desirable get lots of interviews—and get run
off their feet giving their job talk. In discussions
and during dinner, they have to show genuine
interest in joining each place they visit. They
know this is fake and hope they won’t be reduced
to accepting a job there. Their hosts know their
interest is fake, too, but hope that when the music
stops, their chair will be the one in which this
applicant is left sitting. Only when the offers start
rolling in—which is naturally only after everyone
has talked—do the desirable applicants begin the
process of deciding where they would really like
to be, typically aiming for the ‘best’ place or deal.
People who don’t seem quite as desirable get fewer
invitations and must wait until the more highly
ranked people have made up their minds before
36 AMSTAT NEwS SEPTEMbER 2009
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