How to Interview At a Non-Research 1 School

This is the second installment in my advice to job market candidates. For background information I got my PhD from Wisconsin in the Ag & Applied Economics department. I was on the job market twice. The first year I landed a visiting position at Beloit College and now I have a tenure track job at Towson. I think non-research school interviews are a bit different. Some helpful hints that are not in the Cawley piece or need to be emphasized

1. The interviewers are probably tired of being stuck in a room and traveling. Imagine they are your students who are little tired, because last night was pub night. Be enthusiastic and excited. But not manic or your students or interviewers will not take you seriously. You will also get bored with talking about your dissertation. Pretend you are the guy from the movie Memento, erase your memory each time and think instead “have I told you about my condition” --- “have I told you about my dissertation”
2. Open with some small talk. Do not be afraid to talk about the weather, the conference, your travel. Try to keep it positive so you put people in a good mood.
3. Practice explaining your research to other grad students particularly outside your field. As my father who has been at a small liberal arts school for nearly 30 years, points out smaller departments might not have someone in your area and that is why they are hiring you.
4. Talk about what classes you can teach. Make an argument if you have not TA’d or taught them you could do either intermediate micro/macro or econometrics. Give some thoughts to what might be a good text book or key concepts. This is particularly key in the class you would teach your field.
5. Try to convince them you love to teach, particularly if you are worried they might think you are not interested in a non R1 job.
6. At small liberal art schools creating your own class is encouraged. I thought up a couple of ideas like the Economics of Ebay and the Economics of Immigration. I tried to show how it would be interesting for an interdisciplinary audience.
7. The set up of the room will be weird no matter what. Try to make sure you talk to everyone even if there are 5 people. Make sure to take a quick glance at CVs of the people who are interviewing you, this also helps create better small talk.
8. Small liberal arts and other non-R1 do care about research. They might also worry about you making the transition away from grad school, discuss projects with co-authors other than your advisor or potential collaborators you may know if you are moving across the country.

Good luck in New Orleans job market candidates. If you are interviewing with Towson, I’m sure you’ll have a good time.

Economist Job Market

Yesterday our department met and sent out invitations for interviews for two tenure track positions. For those of you have not had the pleasure of being on the economics job market. Here is how it works.

1. By December 1st applications are received, this year we received about 200 for 2 positions.
2. In early December the department selects its top 25 to interview at the Econ national meetings just after new years.

Now a bit about how this selection goes. Personally to pick my votes, I looked at publications and research potential based on letters of rec. Teaching awards or high evaluations went a long way. I was surprised to see how few people had done anything other than change a name to their cover letter to distinguish there letter to Towson from another letter. This may be because many econ PhD’s apply to 75-100 schools (I applied to about 30 both times I was on the market).

To sort out the noise of 200 applications the American Economics Association also lets candidates send out two signals to jobs they want. These signals are sent to the search chair. Since candidates only have two signals not receiving one does not really provide information. Receiving one tells you they are seriously considering your job, but feel their application might need another look to stand out among 200. For what is worth I and few other people signaled Towson last year. Signals did make me give candidates a second look, but only in one case did I recommend a person to interview who I would not.

After my colleagues interview 25 people, we will select a handful of candidates to fly out sometime in February. All I can say is it is much more fun to be on the other side of the market.

To Those Applying for a Job at Towson

First, let me say I have only been at Towson for 3 months. So far I have found the department to be extremely collegial, there is a good mix of pre-tenure and older faculty. People seem really willing to help me. I also already have begun collaborating on a research project with one other faculty member.

In terms of the college. There is a 3/3 teaching load, but classes are generally 30-35 for intro (you will have two sections) and 25 for upper level classes. Teaching schedule is flexible you can even teaching an evening or two. With the smaller class sizes and one night class I have had reasonable amount of time for research. Also given our proximity to DC, I have also been able to continue some work at the World Bank.

I’m really happy here so far and would highly recommend Towson to any job candidate. As the process goes on if you are a candidate feel free to e-mail me with your questions.