More on the econ job market

[Elliephant]

There's always lots of talk about the job market and how people get hired, so I thought I'd start a thread to share links and other tidbits. I won't put up the papers on pedigree effects (a.k.a. the Cambridge dominance) because that's not what this thread is meant to be about.

Let's start with what jobs are actually out there and where to find them. The biggie, of course, is the AEA's Jobs for Economists (JOE). It's basically a listing of openings. Then there's Econ Job Rumors, which, rumour has it, is also a classic. There's also Econ Job Market, which I can't vouch for but might be worth checking out. Finally, there's Economist Jobs, which looks like it is mostly tier-X private-sector stuff. Might be good for those without academic ambitions.

So what about the mechanics of the job market and the decision-making process? Have a look at the following:

The AEA has a resource page with a bunch of links. So does the Canadian Women Economists Network (CWEN).

Speaking of women economists, McDowell et al. have a look at gender outcomes among professionals of the dismal science in this paper (link to JSTOR).

Cawley offers advice to junior economists on the job market, as well as a very comprehensive, step-by-step description of the job search process.

Colander has a paper that surveys the mechanisms of the academic job market for economists. He writes from the hiring perspective of a liberal arts college, but I found the paper instructive in general.

Carson and Navarro probably wrote the first paper to deal with this subject. Perhaps a little outdated (I wouldn't know since I haven't gone through the process yet) but interesting.

Slightly tangential to the whole discussion but definitely of interest to those of us not yet looking for jobs is the Report of the Commission on Graduate Education in Economics (on JSTOR).

If you have any other good resources, go ahead and share! Maybe we can accumulate enough good stuff to make this go sticky

[charlesr]

Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE) is another good job source. A lot of lower or unranked schools don't advertise on JOE.

[asquare]

Here's what I wrote about the job market (Job market stuff) process a couple of years ago:

This BB has rumors and discussion of the job market process by field, and this Wiki has information on flyouts and offers as it becomes available.

Both sites shed some information on what happens at the other end of the process, and I think it's useful for students and applicants to have a sense of the process.

For those who are unfamiliar with the job market for econ PhDs looking for academic positions, it goes something like this: junior positions (for recent PhDs or those with a couple of years of experience -- not tenured positions) are posted throughout the fall. The jobs are mostly posted through a system called "JOE," which stands for "Job Openings for Economists." Academic institutions in the US and abroad, NGOs such as the WB, Feds, and IMF, and some private companies like RAND or even Google post jobs there. Job market candidates send out "packets" in early/mid November. These "packets" contain the job market paper, recommendation letters, CV, cover letter, and any other required information (such as a statement of teaching philosophy). Candidates looking for academic positions may send out 80-100 of these packets; it's a major production.

First round interviews mostly take place at the AEA/ASSA meetings, in early January. These are 15 or 30 minute interviews that are often scheduled back-to-back, in hotel rooms at the conference hotels. They are very short sessions that usually cover the basics of the job market paper and applicant's other research. These interviews are scheduled by phone calls that start coming in early/mid December. Some people will have up to 20 interviews; I believe the average for someone from a top-20 school was around 12 last year. The process of scheduling, rearranging, and canceling interviews (as better offers come in) is non trivial! The meetings take place in early January, and "fly-out" offers come in starting shortly after the meetings. (Well, some schools will skip the preliminary interviews, and some star candidates are offered fly outs without preliminary interviews). "Fly-outs" are usually 1.5-2 day long job interviews that include a job-talk seminar, meetings with many different faculty members, and dinner. It's an odd combination of job interview/get-to-know-you/sell you on the school. These take place from mid-January to early March. Offers start coming in at any time after fly-outs begin; as candidates turn down offers, second-round fly-outs will be offered to other job candidates. Usually everything is settled by the middle or end of March.

Sorry, that was longer than I intended and is probably redundant for a lot of people here. But the job market is sometimes this big mystery and I really had no clue when I applied or as a first year student, so I thought some others might be confused too. At any rate, I always think it's good to know what you are getting yourself into and besides, misery loves company, so those of you waiting to hear on your PhD applications can go and read about what folks 5 or 6 years ahead of you are going through now!

[_nanashi]

That The GRE Big Book frightens me and is great for a good laugh from time to time.

[AREStudentHopeful]

I'll also add that for ARE (ag and resource economics) departments, they also do some interviews at the AAEA meetings; you can find their website here: Meetings | Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) .