Computer Science Faculty Job Search Resources

Required Reading

• CRA Jobs for postings of faculty positions
  This website and mailing list is the central place to find all open faculty positions. Subscribe to the list in the Fall to find job announcements for positions available for the next year.
• CRA Taulbee survey
  Every year, CRA compiles information about the hiring process. Look here for information such as current salaries and number of Ph.D's produced per year. It also has a basic ranking of CS programs from a 1995 survey. However, if you care about that sort of thing, you should compare it to the U.S. News and World Report's ranking from 2002. If you don't want to pay their fee to see the entire list, let me know and I'll email it to you until I get a cease and desist letter. 
• Tomorrow's Professor: Preparing for Academic Careers in Science and Engineering, by Richard M. Reis
  This book is absolutely essential. Buy it. I found the section on questions to ask during an interview to be the most important, although the entire book is worthwhile.

Additional Resources

• On the Academic Interview Circuit: An End-to-End Discussion
• Job Search details from Caltech
• How to find an Academic/Research Job, Margo Seltzer
• Some thoughts from the "other" side: "Is work hell? Life in industrial research" a talk by John Wilkes of HP Labs
• Tips for a massive academic job search by the Sexiest Geek Alive, Ellen Spertus
• Mailing Lists for academics and future academics
• Tomorrow's Professor mailing list
• Systers mailing list for women in CS

Non-Computer Science Academic Job Resources

• Chronicle of Higher Education 
  • Landing your first job
  • General links about academic jobs  
  • Ms. Mentor - often has etiquette advice about the job search process
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab - Models for all sorts of letters that you will need to write.
• Mathematics
• English

Tips from my own experience

My husband, Steve Zdancewic and I recently completed a two-body job search, luckily with much success. We will both be starting at the University of Pennsylvania in Fall 2002. We were both solely interested in tenure-track faculty positions at research universities, and our research areas had quite a bit of overlap. 

Here are some of our observations to get the most out of the entire process:

• Have fun! You will meet interesting and friendly people, travel to many new places, and eat well.
• Remember to thank your host and anyone else who is particularly helpful. 
• Realize at the beginning that there is a lot of randomness involved. You will spend a lot of time trying to figure out a better algorithm for this process. Let me know if you come up with something.
• For couples, there are a number of options for when to reveal the two-body problem.
  • In the cover letter.
  • On the phone when one of you is invited to an interview. 
    We did it this way. It's pretty awkward, and if I did it all over again, I would put it in the cover letter. However, it is reassuring to hear, "Oh, we had no idea you were married, but we were going to invite your spouse for interview too." 
  • Later, during the interview or after you have received an offer.
    Only if you are not applying to the same department. It might be a good idea to do so during the interview if your spouse is also an academic. Afterwards is fine if your spouse is not looking for a faculty position. 
• Myths about two body problems. 
  • No school will hire two people in the same area.
    If a school is weak in your area, hiring two people is a good way to build it up quickly. 
  • Your best bet is two schools in the same place.
    We were very lucky and a lot of schools wanted to hire multiple people. Therefore we didn't have to worry about one of us "settling" for a less good school. If you look at a map, there aren't very many top schools geographically close to one another. Those that are may not be hiring in your area. 
  • Schools won't be able to make separate assessments of you. 
    Be prepared for a school to be dramatically more enthusiastic about one of you than the other. While it is encouraging to know that you are being judged independently, it can be emotionally trying. 
• Go to the top conference in your area right before interviewing. Talk to people.
• Talk to people at your school (including your advisor) about where you should apply. 
• Go ahead and talk to the "competition" -- other people who are also interviewing.
  • It's good to talk to people who are doing the same thing as you are.
  • You might learn something important that you missed on your interview.
  • The schools gossip about you too.
• Don't dismiss a school just because you haven't heard much about it. Places without people in your area are some of your best opportunities.
• While in grad school, go to as many hiring talks as you can. Some of the people you'll meet again on your interview. You'll also learn how to give a job talk.  
• Find out about the research going on at your own school, even if it is not in your area.
• If you are excited by a school LET THEM KNOW. 
• Realize at the beginning that an interview is also a personality test.
• For couples interviewing in the same department, there are a number of scheduling options:
  • Two separate interviews that may be up to two months apart
    The advantage is timing: you won't have to worry about getting an early offer and being forced to make a decision before you have heard from other places. You also get a better chance to compare notes before the second person's interview. The disadvantages: it's hard on the school and it is easy for your spouse to completely color your experience.
  • Two separate back-to-back interviews
    If the two of you go together, one can scope out the town while the other interviews. I found this type to be the most fun -- you have your spouse there for support in the evening. However, it does take the most time as you may spend up to 5 days in a single place.
  • Two concurrent interviews
    This usually takes place over two days. One person gives a talk the first day, and the other the second. During both days you cross paths, as you meet with faculty one-on-one. The disadvantage is that one person may not get a standard seminar slot, so the talk will be sparsely attended. Also, the second person will have to talk to many people before the seminar, which is less ideal.
• Top five questions you will be asked on an interview. Don't leave home without answers to these. Luckily three of the answers are in your application materials.
  • Do you have any questions? (See Tomorrow's Professor for a good supply of these.)
  • What are you going to do next? (Even before asking about current work.)
  • Describe your research to me in 5 minutes. (If you haven't given your talk yet.)
  • How will you make your decision about where to go?
  • What would you like to teach? 
• Go ahead and answer questions such as "Where else do you have interviews?" "Do you have any offers?"
  • If they really want to know they can easily find out. 
  • It's not a game to get the most offers you can, the goal is to get the one offer you want. 
• Questions that threw me off guard:
  • Where do you get your inspiration? How do you do research?
  • What will be the first thesis that you supervise?
  • How do you evaluate research in your area? 
  • Isn't programming languages a dead field that hasn't produced anything worthwhile in the past 20 years?
• If you have an interview at MIT, practice the Great Cork Escape. 
• Take this opportunity to ask people about being a professor. You'll be talking to a lot of people who do what you want to do. This is particularly useful if you want to find out how people balance work and family, deal with two bodies in the same department (it's actually quite common), or if there is some other specific concern you may have. 
• You will get better at interviewing as the season progresses. Don't put the school you most care about first on your schedule. 
• You will also get worn out during the interviews. If you are lucky enough to get many interviews you may consider not accepting or even canceling some of them. If you can stand it, it's good for you to go on as many as possible. (You meet more people that way.) Perhaps next year when I see the other side of faculty hiring, I'll find out whether schools want you to cancel right away if you think you wouldn't accept their offer, or want to have the chance to convince you to come.
• Ask for more time if you need it to make a decision. Take your time, and don't feel guilty if you do. Although it seems like everyone around wants you to decide as quickly as possible, it is your life. Second visits are a good idea.
• Practicalities
  • Buy a cell phone with a national plan.
  • Hotels usually have dry cleaning service available. (Avoid desserts covered in powdered sugar.)
  • If you have food preferences, tell your host or the administrative assistant that helps you with your travel plans. It's less awkward to tell them ahead of time than at the restaurant.
  • Interview schedules vary. Some are 1 full day, some two days with the possibility of leaving in the afternoon of the second day, some are two full days. Make sure you ask.
  • It's probably not worth it to volunteer your seat to get a free ticket, even if you are flying home. 
• Have fun! You will meet interesting and friendly people, travel to many new places, and eat well. I know I started with this one, but it bears repetition.

This page contains information from the  Research, Careers, and Computer Science: A Maryland Symposium, as well as resources forwarded to me by symposium participants, and some found by web searching. Please let me know about any others that are available.

Stephanie Weirich
Last update: July 19, 2004