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A Timeline for a Job Search in Mathematics - MAY - AUGUST

Author(s): 
Cameron Sawyer

If you are still (or just starting) in the job market don't despair.  As I mentioned before (see September/October), departments do end up hiring unexpectedly, and this often occurs late in the season.  These are frequently only temporary positions, but many have potential for becoming tenure-track.

  1. Start searching the ads and applying just as if you had started in October, only quicker!  A lot of jobs posted this late will not have a stated application deadline. In this case the schools will likely start reviewing applications as soon as school hiring policies allow. However, they will also continue to review applications as they come in.  (Note: Due to the end of the academic year there is usually a lull in the hiring process during the month of May.)
  2. Make sure that you have submitted your CV to the AMS Electronic Coversheet Service, since schools can browse this and you just might have the qualifications for which they are searching.
  3. Make sure that any connections that you or your advisor have know that you are looking for a job.
  4. Consider attending Mathfest (usually the end of July or the beginning of August).  There is a small amount of job activity that occurs there, and this can be a place for you to get out the word that you are still looking.
  5. Read It's April and I Still Don't Have a Job! The Panicked Scientist's Guide to Accelerated Job Searches by Peter Fiske, March 27, 1998 issue of the Science online publication Next Wave.  To access this article for free either your institution or you must have a subscription to Next Wave.  Otherwise, it costs $5.

Cameron Sawyer, "A Timeline for a Job Search in Mathematics - MAY - AUGUST," Convergence (November 2004)