[job hunt] burnout

[astra_nomer]

I've reached that point in the job application writing process where I've worked really hard on the first few that are due, and now I have no further desire to work on things, and care so little that I'm willing just to copy and paste the rest of them. Not the right strategy, but it sure is tempting.

Also, I have a stack of these due today. Son the Younger decided to spike a fever last night, just in time.

Comments

[mathhobbit.livejournal.com]

Speaking as chair of a hiring committee, I urge you to consider sending out fewer applications rather than sending out lots of sloppy ones. It's really hard to find the best candidates in a pool of 200.

[astra-nomer.livejournal.com]

Given the number of years I've been applying for jobs and the lack of success I've had so far, I can't be too sympathetic. Maybe someday, I'll see things from your point of view. But they way things are looking, I may never get there....

[mathhobbit.livejournal.com]

That's fine; I'm not asking for sympathy. But if I can save some other fool of a professor from wading through dozens of cut-n-paste applications in search of someone who cares, I'll take the chance!

[vfish.livejournal.com]

This is a real problem in the profession now. Due to the sheer size of the job seeker pool, one's probability of getting any particular offer is only epsilon. To be reasonably confident of landing a job, one must apply to O(1/epsilon) positions. In the limit as epsilon --> 0, it becomes impractical to spend much time on most of the applications. (Unfortunately, that also makes epsilon smaller, causing more of a time/effort crunch!)

The current system is very inefficient, as it basically wastes a lot of productive-astronomer time every two or three years as applicants have to jump through all these hoops for various hiring committees. While I understand that it's not easy to look through 200 applications, far less time is wasted reading applications than writing them. I don't claim to have an immediate answer as to how the entire job application system could be more efficiently reformed, but the current system is only barely tenable (and not scalable).

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't want it to be too easy or you would get bored :)