The academic job search process


This page contains links to a variety of sources of information about getting an academic job in the U.S., and most are specific to computer scientists.  Students should check with their advisors, other faculty, and other students for advice, help in deciding where to apply, and support.

There is an SWS group for last-year students who are going on the job market.  For 2008-2009, the coordinator for this group is Alan Mislove.

General job search information
Finding jobs
Networking
Job search writing: CVs, cover letters, research and teaching statements
Interviewing
Elevator pitches
Advising resources

Academic Careers in Europe and Beyond put together by the Max Weber Postdoctoral Programme.
General information about CS academic jobs in Germany & Switzerland, Portugal, the UK, Spain, and other European countries.

General sources of information:

These provide an overview of the academic job search process as well as links to a lot of resources.

University of Washington Computer Science Careers Page is for undergraduates, but has some relevant links.

Article on getting an academic job from CRA 

Michael Ernst's page about getting an academic job

Where to find academic jobs in computer science:

In the US: The Chronicle of Higher Education
University Jobs (includes post-docs)
IEEE computer society's Jobs Page
Computing Research Association page for students has job announcements and program ranking information

In Europe,  Eurosys has a job offers  in Systems page. The goal of the page is to be a central resource like the CRA page in the U.S., but not everyone is in the habit of posting there.

Resources for Networking:

See some of the general pages listed above.

Phil Agre's Networking on the Network has a well-detailed plan for meeting and building relationships with people in your field.  This could also be a helpful read for early-stage grad students as you think about building your "professional identity."

The ACM is the general professional association for computer scientists.  The back of "Communications of the ACM" has job announcements.

Job search writing:

Purdue writing center section about Academic, Professional, and Job Search Writing 
has information about CVs, good action verbs to use in the CV, and academic cover letters .

Here are some sample on-line CVs.
Michael Ernst's CV.
Derek Dryer's CV.

Sample Research and Teaching Statements:

General information on preparing a research and teaching statement 
Sample Computer Science  research statement  
Sample Computer Science teaching statement
Michael Ernst's combined research and teaching statement
Derek Dryer's research and teaching statements

Interviewing skills:

Jeanette Wing's slides on Interviewing from CMU Emigration course

Elevator speech skills:

General interest web site on elevator pitches 

Resources for schools, advisors and staff on helping students find academic jobs:

Stanford's Graduate School and CMU's Department of Computer Science both have regular classes or seminars to prepare Ph.D. students for life as academics or in  research.  

Stanford's Future Faculty Seminar
CMU's Emigration course

Preparing Future Faculty in the Sciences and Mathematics (pdf of the book)