EconSpark - Recent questions in Job Market - Candidate Questions

Career Questions for Consulting or Research

Wed, 17 Jan 2024 16:56:20 +0000

Hello everyone! I recently joined AEA to network and improve my prospects for a career in Economics. Currently, I am working on an M.S. in Applied Economics, but working in retail. I am looking for a job that can bridge the gap between retail and consulting or research. In the mean time, I will be working on certifications and projects in Tableau and Python. My questions are as follows: 1.) What additional skills would you recommend acquiring and what would be the best resource for it? 2.) What type of events would you recommend attending for networking for jobs? Thank you.

From where i can download economic software such as SATA,SAS and other fre

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 17:05:20 +0000

My recommendation have been facing problems to provide recommendations on line please let know can I provide recommendations letter directly to Federal Reserve USA or other in recruiter ID. From where I can download SATA,SAS, and other economic and Financial Software .

Can I change the mailing address of a reference for the Job Market?

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 11:50:51 +0000

Hello, one of my references for the Job Market has asked me to change the email into one of their staff, which will take care of uploading his/her letter to all the applications. Is there a way to do this when the applications are directly on the AEA website? Thanks a lot for the reply.

What would be the best strategy to get a remote internship as engineer looking studying economics?

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 08:50:48 +0000

I am a software engineer with close to 20 years of experience, a few years ago I was accepted in Harvard where I have been working in a degree in Economics. Now I am a contractor and I depend on that for my income but still I want to get my feet wet, so I am thinking in doing an internship/apprenticeship. What should be my approach? Is my specific skill set something desirable for any company or institution looking for economist interns? If so, which kind? Any advice?

What's with the market this year?

Fri, 13 Dec 2019 01:53:42 +0000

Both from anecdotal information from my peers at my school and others, my committee members, and from what I see on EJMR, this year's market seems to be moving really slowly. Can anyone on the demand side comment on (1) if this is true and (2) why?

What do employers think if a candidate request a Skype interview?

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:47:42 +0000

This is a question for employers---how would you interpret the request to do a Skype interview (rather than in San Diego) if a candidate has legitimate reasons for missing the conference? Would this request negatively impact the candidate's chances?

Beating Job Market Burnout

Thu, 31 Oct 2019 22:20:13 +0000

What are some things you've been doing to keep your spirits up during the job market? I've been doing all the usual self-care stuff (exercise, eating lots of veggies and avoiding sweets, sleeping at least 7 hours ,etc), but I'm curious if there's anything idiosyncratic to economics that's useful for us!

Outside Options for Non-empirical people

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 13:05:31 +0000

It seems that, as long as your job market paper involved some reasonably serious empirical work, you have a whole second market of private/government employers to turn to if you decide that the academic market isn't for you. But what if you work on consumer theory, firm theory, game theory, etc? What kinds of jobs are open aside from academia for someone who did not write empirical papers in graduate school?

Recommendation letters for lateral market?

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 14:51:26 +0000

I wonder is there any rules of thumbs re: recommendation letters for assistant professors going to the market a few years in. For instance, is it important to have committee members writing a letter? Is it ok if co-authors write letters, too?

Does use of a non-institutional email address raise eyebrows?

Tue, 03 Sep 2019 14:12:33 +0000

My institution's email service has some issues with (1) completely safe emails being flagged as dangerous and placed into quarantine and (2) archived/saved emails disappearing after some time with no explanation (there's no auto-delete, it just loses them without a pattern). I'd really like to use a personal gmail address to ensure I don't miss any important communications. But, I'm worried that it will raise eyebrows, either appearing unprofessional or creating doubt about my institutional affiliation. Is this something search committees care about?

What if the job market paper still work in progress in November

Wed, 24 Jul 2019 18:00:08 +0000

My research is a field research ( which was very difficult to implement) for which data collection process just ended. My goal is to finish the analysis and come up with a draft by November. The thoughts of getting ready for the conference and the timeline for that adds lot of pressure and I worry immensely about the quality of output. Any advise on timelines, specifically addressing what if the job market paper not ready by November would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much

What to be doing the summer before the market?

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 16:26:37 +0000

Looking back to the summer before you went on the market, what do you wish you had done or hadn't done? This could be anything from major (I wish I had presented at more conferences, for example) to minor (I wish I had bought my plane tickets sooner so I wouldn't have landed at 3am).

Present JMP at conferences before the job market?

Sat, 06 Apr 2019 18:53:35 +0000

I have heard some say that it's not a good idea to present your job market paper at conferences before you go on the job market, presumably because your paper is still "in the works" and is changing, and that you may not want people to see a "weaker" version of you job market paper as you are improving on it. However, it seems to me that one of the best ways to improve your work is to present it to others, discuss it, and receive feedback.
So is presenting your JMP at conferences before going on the job market widely seen as a bad idea or not at all?

Is there a procedure for reporting illegal/unethical ASSA interview questions?

Mon, 25 Mar 2019 22:58:10 +0000

Based on experience from this year. Not interested in pursuing legal action, but I'm most concerned about this behavior continuing in the future.

Transition from teaching school to research school

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 14:23:08 +0000

I am a 2013 PhD graduate in Economics from the US. I got an Assistant Professor position in academia but with high teaching and service load which impede my research progress. I have only 2 publications in C journal and 3 working papers in the pipeline. Since I Iike research, my long term goal is to teach in a PhD research institution. I know it will be challenging but any advice? I am willing to take a postdoc in a PhD school or even go back to school.

If I want to complete my MA in Economics/ Humanities in another country, will it transfer to US?

Thu, 21 Feb 2019 02:20:17 +0000

I would like to complete my MA in Suriname my grandmother country. Is it possible completing an MA in economics/dutch humanities transferable here in the US? Thanks.

Why the lack of communication post-ASSA meetings?

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 16:19:09 +0000

Why do most schools not get back with the candidates who were interviewed at the meetings but not selected for flyouts? It seems like it would require minimal effort on behalf of the schools and be much appreciated by the candidates.

Do non-published papers aside from the JMP matter?

Mon, 28 Jan 2019 20:01:15 +0000

I know that there is certainly some benefit to having a publication on your CV, as long as the journal is respectable. But is there any benefit at all to having other polished, complete papers on your personal site? I ask because I have been working intensively to polish up a 3rd year paper for publication, but there's little chance of getting any feedback from a journal by October, even if I submitted today. One the one hand, I think it shows some degree of productivity and the ability to get things done and out the door. On the other, they aren't publications, and so they haven't really been vetted. Any thoughts?

Is it illegal for employers to ask about family-related location preferences on the job market?

Sun, 27 Jan 2019 00:21:14 +0000

Or, is it just merely impolite?

Advice for JMC from recent junior faculty

Sat, 26 Jan 2019 21:26:46 +0000

How did you choose your department? What kind of things should I be paying attention to when I am on a flyout?

What is the ideal length of a job market paper?

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:01:36 +0000

I am a 4th year PhD student, and I am substantially done with a paper (area: Political Economy, Theory) that my advisor thinks is very interesting and would be worthy of publication in a good journal if appropriately extended and revised. However, realistically, the paper would be about 25-30 pages including proofs. My advisor's input is that a really long JMP is not really "journal ready", and my advisor personally prefers shorter, cleaner papers.

On the other hand , it seems like virtually every job market paper is in the 45+ page category. I think a short paper might be good because it might be read more carefully. On the other, I'm worried that the page length itself is a signal, but I'm not really sure of what.

Should you participate in EconMatch?

Sat, 05 Jan 2019 04:33:04 +0000

I was recently asked by a friend whether or not her student should participate in EconMatch. My colleague, Umut Dur, and I thought about this for a bit, and we'd like to share our initial thoughts. To be clear, this is not a complete analysis and we welcome criticism. Also, this is not meant to criticize the creators of EconMatch who we believe had good intentions. But as said by Roth " Market design involves a responsibility for detail, a need to deal with all of a market’s complications, not just its principle features. " We believe that any system proposed for job market matching needs to be carefully analyzed in every detail.

EconMatch addresses a clear problem. There are only a limited number of fly-outs and so departments often do not fly out candidates deemed unattainable and similarly sometimes fly out candidates that are unattainable and end up not hiring anyone. This clearly has the potential for inefficiency, and EconMatch aims to address this through a recommendation process based on matching theory.

EconMatch makes recommendations for fly-outs, not an actual match. But we will point out a couple of problems with the match that the recommendation is based on. We consider two cases - case 1 there is pressure for you to accept the recommendation from the match and so the assignment is "binding - and case 2, the assignment is just a suggestion.

Case 1 - the assignment is binding - here we are imagining a system where if you participate in EconMatch and are assigned to a school, then there is an expectation that you accept the job offer. In this case, you cannot know which preferences to submit to EconMatch if not all schools participate. For example, if you rank schools A, B, and C, and B does not participate in the match, then until you know whether or not B offers you a job, you cannot know whether you should tell EconMatch that A is your only acceptable school or whether you prefer A to C but both are acceptable. If you tell the "truth: (submit A,C) then this would obviously be a big mistake if you are not matched with A and B does end up making you an offer. For any matching theorists, the problem here is that you don't actually know what your true preferences are because you don't know your outside option. If it's B, then your true preferences are just A. If it's not B, then the true preferences are A,C.

Case 2 - the assignment is not binding. In this case, it's hard to even know what an assignment is. It is more of a suggestion that this school should make an offer to this candidate. But it is not at all clear that this is a good suggestion. Again, the problem is partial participation. Suppose there are three schools, A, B, and C, and three students, i, j, and k. All students rank the schools A>B>C. School A either wants to hire i or no one but only they know which one. Schools B and C both rank i>j>k. School A does not participate in the match. Since A does not participate, the match will assign i to B and j to C. Should i accept? No, i should wait to see if she gets an offer from A. Should j accept? No. j should also wait to see if i gets an offer. If she does, then j will get an offer from B. An analogous situation would occur for the schools if not all of their candidates participate. Also notice that, if j accepts without waiting for i's decision it is possible for B to end up unassigned, i.e. this situation is also problematic for the colleges.

Finally, we would like to point out that not participating in the match can be beneficial for schools (and candidates). Suppose there are two schools, A and B, and two students, i and j. A ranks i > j, B ranks j > i, i ranks B > A, and j ranks A > B. If everyone participates, then i is matched with A while j is matched with B. Suppose A chooses not to participate. Now the match assigns j to B. i is left unassigned and now A is able to hire i. Therefore, A gets her favorite candidate by opting out of the match.

There are other reasons why we think EconMatch would be problematic (timing!). But our main concern is that if we were a school (or a candidate), we wouldn't know the best way to rank our options or whether to follow the systems recommendation. For these reasons, we would not recommend that people participate. The key point is that full participation cannot be guaranteed, and without full participation, Econmatch might hurt some of the participants.

Again, these are preliminary thoughts, and we would love to hear what other people think.

Good luck to all the job candidates,

Thayer Morrill and Umut Dur

PS. We believe the recent (and growing!) literature on sequential/parallel matching systems is very relevant to this problem. There are great papers by Andersson, Dogan, Ekmekci, Ertemel, Kesten, Manjunanth, Turhan, Yenmez, Westkamp..... and Umut on this.

Good luck to all in Atlanta! Observations about interviewing?

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 23:01:51 +0000

First, best wishes for the new year. What better way to start it than to find a job?

If you have helpful logistical information, or complaints or praise for the organization of the jobmarket, please feel free to share.
(E.g. logistical note: there are sky bridges connecting the Marriott to the Hyatt (on level AL of the Marriott) and the Marriott to the Hilton (on level ML), so you can pass dry between them...)
Look around when you arrive, so you can find where you need to go.

And if you hear any great talks, or if your interviews yield new insights, feel free to share that too--this will be a chance to talk about your work, and hear others talk about theirs, for an intense few days.

It can be stressful, but I hope you'll have some fun too.

Standby interviews

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 03:01:29 +0000

Do standby interviews exist? Is there any formal location where candidates are able to drop their CV for certain employers?

How is the government shutdown likely to affect the ASSA interviews

Sat, 22 Dec 2018 06:07:05 +0000

As someone on the job market this year, naturally I'm worried about how the government shutdown will affect my interviews!

Does anyone have any idea which places might or might not have to cancel? I already received an email from the FDA saying they won't even be able to communicate with us if they have to cancel interviews. Should I be worried that other places may not even be able to tell me that they have to cancel? Is it worth reaching out to them to ask if they are still coming, and if so, when?

Thanks for the advice!

How could you possibly schedule 25 interviews at the annual meetings?

Wed, 12 Dec 2018 16:16:31 +0000

I have a very fortunate problem. I am running out of interview slots. The barrier (for me, at least) appears to be that the majority of employers don't interview in the afternoon on Sunday. Should I request skype interviews for employers with whom I can't make the time work? Does that disadvantage me?

Related: would it not make the process smoother to have fixed start times and intervals?

EconTrack seems less accurate than ejmr-wiki

Fri, 07 Dec 2018 08:49:35 +0000

Seems to beat the purpose, isn't it?

How do I find the JOE ID of an ad that was taken off JOE?

Sun, 25 Nov 2018 23:32:38 +0000

I was about to signal to a place to which I applied before the deadline. Now that the deadline has passed, they took the ad off JOE. Now I can't find the JOE ID anywhere. I know that I can use the other option "Check Box for Non-JOE Signal/Uncheck for JOE Signal" but I would prefer not to, given that the position was indeed posted on JOE.

Any ideas?

Is this a slow year for econ jobs?

Mon, 12 Nov 2018 05:07:57 +0000

I have some geographic constraints so I am perhaps being a little more choosy than some past colleagues but I have applied for about 70 jobs so far and don’t have a whole lot more that make much sense to bother with. I’m in applied micro. Re: applying to 200 jobs as I have heard others do fairly often: It feels like i couldn’t do that this year without applying to patently inappropriate jobs (i.e. macro, finance).

How does this job season look to knowledgeable veterans?

Thanks.

Why do schools don't update non-offered candidates after flyouts?

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 23:25:05 +0000

The obvious answer is that if someone is a second/third/maybe choice and might be getting an offer later, no-notice is better from the school's perspective. Completely unclear to me though is why not to say "no" to a definite no. A second reason might be that it is uncomfortable to say no to someone (though I expect editors and seniors to be accustomed to that).

I want to make three points in support of (detailed) notices, and I am curious to hear other perspectives and comments:

1. Is the first point even true?
Candidates hear a lot of rumors and most likely know they weren't the first choice anyway. And I believe there is in general understanding of a match component, so I don't think people are offended if not first in line.

2. Information is helpful, from instrumental and mental perspectives:
From the candidates perspective, uncertainty is one of the most brutal things to deal with (see the recent mental health of candidates survey). If it's a no, rejection will have to be dealt with anyway. Providing information on objective chances can help in making peace with a rejection, or make an offer even more sweet. For departments this is one hire or another, but for us candidates is our foreseeable future. In many instances candidates have nothing else to do at the time, but sometimes there is -- and in these cases, think of us and the instrumental effects of information when we need to make decisions on other prospects.

3. Substantive feedback is extremely helpful:
Avoiding rejection notices, or updates, also takes away a candidate's opportunity to improve (and this is true also for AEA interviews). You, hiring departments, have a lot of power to provide valuable feedback that will be helpful -- in presenting one's research, interviewing in the future, framing agendas, etc.

What to do?
------------------
Think of it as editors -- you send a letter explaining why you made your decision, and you try to make it clear it is about the paper and not the researchers, right? You wouldn't imagine "never notify a rejected paper" as a good mechanism, would you? This case is not too different.
After making decisions, provide all invited candidates with information about the process. Send messages to these few people making it clear that this is not a rejection of the candidate as a person, and not even as a researcher, but is due to other reasons -- and say what these are. Say, for example, "we are in higher need of someone who can teach econometrics, but we might call you if these candidates will not accept our offer", or "your presentation was clear, but we were not sure you addressed external validity concerns in your research and some members of faculty found it to be disqualifying".

I will be happy to hear the thoughts of senior, junior, recently hired, and my fellow candidates!

Application Deadlines - Open until Filled / Review Begins - What do they mean?

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 04:44:16 +0000

For many job postings, there is not a specific application deadline, they state "Open until Filled". When are they usually reviewing applications till, Thanksgiving, mid-December? Some of them also mention a "Review Begins", is that the actual deadline? Of course, some of them are pretty clear, they state 'For full consideration, apply by', which makes sense.

I know that each department would be different, but if anyone with experience on search committees can shed some light on it, that would be helpful.

Thanks!

Calling Faculty Members

Fri, 19 Oct 2018 14:59:18 +0000

A faculty member in another department told me that she always appreciates when job candidates call her to ask about the position, and I was curious how that advice generalizes.

On the one hand I think it could be a useful signal of interest and helpful to candidates in learning more about the search.

On the other, her field is much smaller than economics and I would hate to bother or upset already taxed search committee members.

Thoughts?

What points are most important to address in a cover letter at the senior level when applying to an advertised position?

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 13:06:02 +0000

I'm thinking specifically about instances when one has not been invited to apply, so the recruiting committee will know relatively little about the candidate.

Is it a good idea to apply for PhD if someone already holds a PhD degree (with 18 good publications, 100+ citations)?

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 23:39:09 +0000

Michigan iSchool Posting

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 19:39:39 +0000

Does anyone have any additional information about the UMichigan Information School posting? (https://www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing.php?JOE_ID=111460750)

The description fits my interests, but also doesn't seem to align with any of the actual faculty openings on the page it links to.

Any insight would be appreciated--thx!

What's advice for defending JMP and contacting school?

Fri, 05 Oct 2018 14:54:49 +0000

I'm a JMC from Australia (far away from everywhere), graduated in July this year, got a few publications including Jour. Dev Stu. and B.E.Macro, three working papers and both research award and teaching award from own uni. Had a few interviews, but found it challenging to defend (or perhaps positively convince the panel?!) the JMP. Greatly need your advice

1. JMP is a draft at the moment (polished, presented a few times, but not yet ready to submit to journals like JDE), when panel asks about technical question (e.g. how do you control for unobservable), what do they really want to know? How should I explain if I am still working on it and have tried many techniques already? (some people use published work as JMP, is it good or bad?)

2. Is it a good idea to email head of school/department/division before you apply for jobs? (to show interest and give a bit of self introduction)

3. Personally like UK, what kind of school should I target? Will I get some chance? (should I go to conference like AEA REA etc? bit too expensive for me)

Much appreciated for your advice.

Can I post slides (but not a paper) on my website for a work in progress?

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 12:57:55 +0000

I've done a significant amount of work on a research project and have results that I'm ready to present. I do not, however, have a paper written yet, and I don't think I will be able to have one written by the time employers start looking at my application materials. Is it reasonable for me to post on my website a completed presentation that I would feel comfortable giving as a seminar?

Going back on academic market. Should I mention that my current job does not allocate research time?

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 12:44:03 +0000

I graduated in 2017 and took a government job. I'm going back on the market this fall. My employer (a regulatory agency) I took doesn't allocate any time for research or allow us to publish work produced in the course of our jobs. Should I mention this, either in my cover letter or during interviews? Most of the people I know in government have at least 1 day per week to spend on their own research. I've managed to get my JMP published in a good journal and have a couple other working papers, but all my research has been on my own time.

What to do/say about a "meh" teaching evaluation if you've only taught one class?

Fri, 28 Sep 2018 00:08:37 +0000

I only ever served as the sole instructor for one course during my PhD, and my reviews were mixed. I have had good experiences in my TA roles, and I think I learned from that one course--I just never had the need to teach a second course funding-wise. Should I explain this shortcoming in my cover letter or teaching statement if a university requests my teaching evaluations as part of the application?

What are the best sources to read for job market advice?

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 06:07:38 +0000

Where to look for jobs apart from JOE, EconJobMarket, HigherEd Jobs?

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 00:38:52 +0000

I was wondering where all people are looking for job openings. I'm looking at JOE, EconJobMarket and HigherEd Jobs. Am I missing any other important source? I'm applying globally, so any leads on non-US sources would also be helpful.

Thanks!

Does is matter if a candidate graduates in 4, 5, 6, 7, ... years?

Tue, 25 Sep 2018 19:18:02 +0000

What is your view on cover letters?

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 14:32:33 +0000

I have received some conflicting advice on cover letters. The distilled version is: you should write a detailed cover letter if the program is a particularly good fit; otherwise, a version addressed to the hiring institution with your program information, expected graduation date, basic information about the job market paper and intention to attend ASSA is fine.

Is this the case? It seems like a form cover letter won't help your application, but it can hurt you.

Any suggestions to fare better in job market if you don't belong to younger cohort?

Fri, 21 Sep 2018 18:51:34 +0000

I would like to know how people fare in academic job search if they don't belong to typical age group ( mid 20s - early 30s). Any suggestions to signal the employers in an efficient way that may mitigate the age effect?

How do you choose a teaching reference letter writer?

Thu, 20 Sep 2018 16:52:35 +0000

Hi everyone, I have a quick question about teaching reference letters. In our program we are encouraged to add a teaching reference letter, even more so when English is not our first language. When I look back at the instructors I have TAed for, I think I could ask for a letter to one of the following: 1) A well-known and experienced lecturer for whom I successfully TAed a couple of times and with whom I have a good relationship, and 2) A younger lecturer that is probably not as well-known as the lecturer in my first option, but for whom I TAed several more times with extremely good outcomes for both of us (and that I'm sure will write a very nice letter in the event I ask her/him). Given I know almost nothing about how these letters are assessed by recruiting committees, I was wondering what are your thoughts regarding this choice. Thank you!

What is a good way to get the attention of employers through JOE if you are not a fresh PhDs?

Thu, 20 Sep 2018 16:03:45 +0000

I am not a fresh PhD and I am looking for tips to change my job. Most of the jobs advertised on the JOE platform are for fresh PhDs, so I was wondering how to select job openings where experienced economists have at least the same chances to be selected as fresh PhDs.

What visa foreign assistant profs get in the US?

Thu, 20 Sep 2018 02:45:38 +0000

Is it H1B, or are there alternatives?
How long does it take to get a green card?
What are the implications on dependents regarding employment eligibility?

Can I get a finance job even if I specialize in something else during my Ph.D. and am not from a top school?

Tue, 18 Sep 2018 04:07:37 +0000

If so, what steps can I take to prepare myself? Should I just study as much finance as I can on the side and learn a bunch of different programming languages used in industry? Should I do an internship over the summer? Any advice would be much appreciated! Thank you!

Criteria for evaluating AP positions

Wed, 12 Sep 2018 02:38:27 +0000

Hi forum!
I am a job market candidate in one of the leading programs. Objectively, it is clear that any academic position has multiple dimensions (e.g., atmosphere among faculty, peers, students culture, teaching load, research budget, administrative burden/service, weather, cost of living, wage, crime, employment opportunities for spouses). Yet, I feel we are encouraged and implicitly hardwired to judge job market success almost entirely by a single attribute -- how highly ranked a school is.
This is to the extent that I feel that if I ask this question non-anonymously, some portions of "the market" will infer that I am not serious about research because I might actually care about my overall happiness.

My questions are --
1. What are the most crucial attributes of a first position?
2. How to learn about these dimensions during the job market process?
3. Any other advice about evaluating positions?

Thank you

How do search committees assess candidates who apply but are not currently in academic jobs

Mon, 10 Sep 2018 18:03:34 +0000

I am currently working in an industry job and have one year of experience there. I am aiming to apply to the academic job market in the coming cycle. Is there a negative stigma attached to people in my situation when applying to academic jobs? How realistic I can be of getting a job this cycle if I have not greatly improved my profile within the one year I have been out of grad school. If people on hiring committees can provide some perspective that would be helpful.