*Concerns of Young Mathematicians* Volume 2 Issue 8 March 3, 1994 An electronically distributed digest for discussions of the issues of concern to mathematicians at the beginning of their careers. PLEASE FORWARD TO ANY POTENTIALLY INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS Please, direct submissions and questions to Matthew Hudelson hudelson@math.washington.edu , editor for the month of March. Next issue: March 9 To subscribe: Send mail to Charles Yeomans at cyeomans@s.ms.uky.edu Back issues and other information are available via anonymous FTP to ftp.ms.uky.edu, in pub3/mailing.lists/ymn-list. Table of Contents Item # Title ------ ----- 1 Editor's notes 2 Perspectives of a Successful Job Hunt 3 Points to Ponder 4 Closing Credits _______________________________________________________________ Item #1 Editor's notes: Greetings from the March editor for the *Concerns of Young Mathematicians*. According to the latest figures, there are now 863 subscribers to the CoYM. While this is an impressive total, the Young Mathematicians Network can not stress enough the importance of trying to increase that number. The more we communicate among ourselves, the better we can confront as a group the difficulties we all face as individuals starting our mathematical careers. On the same theme, I need to sound the call for more submissions to the CoYM. Also, while the job crunch is of paramount interest, I would like to request submissions on other topics such as successful strategies in the classroom, suggestions to the young researcher, how to get that amazing new result published, and any other topics of interest. Please feel free to send your submissions to me; my email box is feeling way too empty. Many thanks, Matthew Hudelson, March Editor for CoYM hudelson@math.washington.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #2 Perspectives of a Successful Job Hunt by Leonard VanWyk I realize that there have been a multitude of articles lately about how to get a job in a tight market -- and I have read most of them -- but this isn't quite the same thing. I have no idea on how to land a job; too much seems like plain dumb luck. However, I DO know what I did, and that is what this article is about. I have just landed a job at a small, selective liberal arts college. This has been my third consecutive adventure through the job market, and my only successful one. I did some things differently this time around, and I'm not sure what affect any of these tactics had on my eventually landing a job, but I thought it might be beneficial to some of you to see them. At any rate, here are some of the things I did: =============== 1. I had my degree in hand (a benefit of not getting a job for two years). 2. I wrote 2 papers. One had been accepted, the other only submitted. 3. To each school I submitted a cover letter, vita, statement of teaching philosophy, and summary of research. Each of these was written in TeX (one page each), copied onto nice paper, and sent in a large manilla envelope ($0.52 postage), together with copies of transcripts, if required. If a school wanted *official* transcripts, I sent unofficial transcripts, figuring that if they were interested in me, they'd tell me to send the official ones at a later time. (Requiring official transcripts from everyone before the first cut pisses me off for a number of reasons.) 4. I made sure my "letter-writers" understood the type of school to which I was applying. I had 4 letters sent: 3 from graduate school and 1 from the Chair of the place I was working part-time. 5. I used the AMS e-math service (rather than wait for the "EIMS" booklets) and "The Chronicle of Higher Education" listings through gopher to apply as soon as the announcements were posted. These two resources listed most jobs; there were a few others in "Focus" and "Notices", but not many. 6. In spite of the numerous articles telling me not to, I DID use (more or less) a single cover letter. I just didn't have the time to customize each and every one. However, I basically applied to a specific type of school; I know for a fact that this backfires if you try to use a single letter for the entire spectrum of jobs. 7. I went to the joint meetings in Cincinnati. While I found the "official" interview schedule somewhat disappointing, I managed to hustle an additional eight interviews either beforehand -- a concrete benefit of applying early -- or on the first morning of interviews: at about 8 am, when ALL school representatives were picking up their schedules, I grabbed those people representing schools in which I was interested (before they were loopy from interviewing scores of candidates) and tried to arrange a meeting time with them. Prior to meeting with each representative, I read up on the school and directed my questions and answers accordingly. I also had a list of questions which I asked each representative (tenure requirements, number of majors, which courses I would teach, computer facilities, etc.); in fact, I had a "question sheet" which I filled out during my interviews. 8. Before the job hunt began, I asked every mathematician working in academics that I knew or met about his/her job. I learned a good deal this way about the variety of positions available, and what to look out for (both good and bad). I found that most people were more than willing to talk about their jobs. =================== Well, that's about it. As someone who has spent the last two years wallowing in the world of part-time faculty, I understand how those of you who have been unable to get a "real" job feel. I can truthfully say that in my own case, the wait was worth it, since the job I eventually landed is an extremely good match, and no such job was available to me in the past. I hope some of you can benefit from my experience. Len VanWyk _______________________________________________________________ Item #3 Points to Ponder by Michael Prophet Here are two points of discussion: 1. I didn't attend the annual meeting this year in Cincinnati and thus was unable to participate in the Employment Register. I don't remember the numbers from '93, but maybe it was something like 60 employers to 500 participants...was this year's register comparable? 2. I'll be reentering the job market next fall...I want to send better cover letters than I did in '93...February's FOCUS had some good advice from the employer's point of view...advice from some successful cover letter writers would also be helpful. Thanks, Michael Prophet prophetm@howland.isu.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #3 Closing Credits The Young Mathematicians' Network is administered by: Charles Yeomans cyeomans@s.ms.uky.edu Mark Winstead winstead@euclid.ucsd.edu Vic Perera vperera@silver.ucs.indiana.edu Franklin Mendivil mendivil@math.gatech.edu Stephen Kennedy kennedy@stolaf.edu Kalin Godev kalin@math.psu.edu Neil Calkin calkin@math.gatech.edu Curtis Bennett cbennet@andy.bgsu.edu Jeff Adams adams@bright.uoregon.edu Edward Aboufadel aboufade@scus1.ctstateu.edu Frank Arlinghaus frank@math.ysu.edu Matt Hudelson hudelson@math.washington.edu ____________________________________________________________________________ End of Journal