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Rejection Letters for a faculty position

markchang.tumblr.com

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Re: Rejection Letters for a faculty position

#61

Post by lusr »

planetguy wrote: post #21
reader5000 wrote: post #2

So this guy is an employed PhD (at the job he "wanted most") and writes a blog post about how emotionally traumatic receiving rejection notices at normal (if not below normal) rates was. I don't get it.

I think it's an extremely useful blog post. It's a fantastic perspective check for people who might be going through a similar process. Y'know what? Twenty-nine rejections and one offer is a perfectly normal rate, not just for faculty positions but for many things in life, but it doesn't make each one less painful. When you're stuck in the middle of it and you don't know how the story is going to end, you can lose pe…

I don't even understand how the parent expects people to know what is normal without posts like these to provide (admittedly anecdotal) data.

Re: Rejection Letters for a faculty position

#62

Post by _delirium »

mironathetin wrote: post #58

A faculty position right after finishing the PhD? Isn't it a bit too early to retire so soon? I am in germany, so my experience may not compare. But at my institute we have many international postdocs. As far as I see it, there is NO way to get a faculty position without an international research record. Some of our postdocs get a professorship though, but it may be in Korea or China, never in Europe or in the United…

True w.r.t. international research record, but in computer science and engineering in the US/Canada it's fairly common to build such a record while getting the PhD, and then get an Assistant Professor position directly. North American PhDs typically take 5-8 years, so it's quite possible (and increasingly expected) to publish ~10 conference papers and 1-2 journal articles before you graduate. It's less common in the natural sciences, where 2-3 years postdoc seems quasi-obligatory.

Re: Rejection Letters for a faculty position

#64

Post by throwaway1979 »

jholman wrote: post #47
soyummy wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this surprising. Every professor I've ever had insisted, "I did the work, and as such, you will refer to me as Dr."

I suspect I've taken classes with over 50 professors, and only heard that once. And in that case she'd repeatedly asked the students to use her first name, and someone kept calling her "Mrs", and eventually she corrected the student: "Not Mrs. Either or Dr. ".

Haha ... I've never been referred to as Doctor after the friendly "congrats Dr. X" when I finished my PhD. The funny thing is .. I only cared about it before I got my PhD. After that, it doesn't matter to me one bit.

Well .. it would be nice if I could put Dr. on my passport or drivers license. But that doesn't seem to be an option.

Re: Rejection Letters for a faculty position

#65

Post by zithtar »

jholman wrote: post #47
soyummy wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this surprising. Every professor I've ever had insisted, "I did the work, and as such, you will refer to me as Dr."

I suspect I've taken classes with over 50 professors, and only heard that once. And in that case she'd repeatedly asked the students to use her first name, and someone kept calling her "Mrs", and eventually she corrected the student: "Not Mrs. Either or Dr. ".

I had a couple classmates that would refer to professors as Mr./Mrs./Miss.

I did not go to a very good school.

Re: Rejection Letters for a faculty position

#66

Post by zithtar »

reader5000 wrote: post #2

So this guy is an employed PhD (at the job he "wanted most") and writes a blog post about how emotionally traumatic receiving rejection notices at normal (if not below normal) rates was. I don't get it.

Something tells me that's not the only thing you don't get.

Re: Rejection Letters for a faculty position

#67

Post by exim »

inopinatus wrote: post #35

Having written a few of these in my time I'd like to pick out the best and the worst. The worst is surely from the University of Colorado at Boulder. I find the prose florid and demeaning. Lowlights include implying that many "well qualified individuals" applied, using a sentence structure that clearly suggests you are not counted amongst them. Yale runs a close second worst, for their brutal and brief suggestion tha…

I really liked one from ETH, Zurich. It was a personal letter (i.e. not generated) mentioning that for the particular job they found another person, whose skills were more appropriate at the moment. And the sender asked me to keep an eye for further openings.

Re: Rejection Letters for a faculty position

#68

Post by eitally »

soyummy wrote: post #40
markchang wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all. But then again, I'm not huge into titles. I also didn't defend until June, so it was technically correct.

I find this surprising. Every professor I've ever had insisted, "I did the work, and as such, you will refer to me as Dr."

At UVA it's against the rules to call anyone doctor who isn't an MD.

Re: Rejection Letters for a faculty position

#69

Post by Shenglong »

rudyfink wrote: post #3

As the author got the 1 job he wanted out of 30+ applications, I feel this point is appropriate. The college I went to had a pub with the policy that a rejection letter (for a job, post graduate position, etc) could be traded for one free beer. It was a brilliant policy for encouraging people to try. From one perspective 30+ letters of rejection to get what you want is depressing. From my perspective that would have…

This probably isn't common in tech, but multiple friends in finance have reported sending in over 100 applications for jobs and internships each year.

Make your own luck, right? :)

Re: Rejection Letters for a faculty position

#70

Post by Cyranix »

keithpeter wrote: post #53
inopinatus wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having worn a interviewing & selecting hat for , I can say my objectives for rejection communication were: (1) conveying the fact of it politely and unequivocally, (2) ensuring that the process halts immediately, and (3) leaving an impression such that the candidate's likelihood of thinking & speaking ill of us in future is minimised. The fact is, rejection usually amounts to disappointment and in some people that me…

How about (4) giving the candidate one or two things that they could improve about their performance at interview?

Although many of us would like to get that feedback, there are reasons not to give specific feedback to job candidates: it prevents you from making any statements that could be held against you (esp. legally); it doesn't take time away from other more valuable work; it discourages people from attempting to hone their interview skills to cover for weak fundamentals; it saves you an awkward moment if the no-go decision was based on personality more than technical chops.

If you really want that kind of feedback, do some mock interviews. What you're asking for just isn't a service that prospective employers have much incentive to offer.

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