Job Placement Information

Job Placement Committee 2011-2012

Johannes Binswanger 
Office: K414  
Email: j.binswanger@uvt.nl  
Phone: +31-13-466 2920  
Job Placement Office Hours: By appointment

Otilia Boldea (currently visiting the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia) 
Office: K629  
Email: o.boldea@uvt.nl  
Phone: +31-13-466 3219  
Job Placement Office Hours: N/A (available via email)

Katie Carman 
Office: K435  
Email: K.G.Carman@uvt.nl  
Phone: +31-13-466 8758  
Job Placement Office Hours: By appointment

Meltem Daysal 
Office: K625  
Email: meltem.daysal@uvt.nl  
Phone: +31-13-466 2064  
Job Placement Office Hours: Selected Wednesdays between 3:00pm 4:00pm and by appointment  
Office Hour Dates: September 21, October 5, November 2, November 16, November 30

 

Should You Be on the Market This Year?

Ideally, most students will be on the job market during the last year of their PhD studies (typically 5th year in North America and 3rd year in Europe). Some may wait until the year after finishing the PhD. In principle, you should be on the market if: 
 
(1) you will have a job market paper ready by November 2011 and you will have presented it in a UvT workshop by that date 
(2) you will be able to deliver a presentation on your dissertation by January 2012. 
 
However, you will need to have three or four (including your advisor) recommendation letters. For that reason, the ultimate decision to go on the market should be jointly made with your dissertation advisor. This requires you to be in close contact with him/her, keeping him/her informed about both your progress and your job preferences. It also shows the importance of keeping in touch with other faculty members to be able to secure the necessary number of recommendation letters.

 

What's the Job Market Timeline?

The slides from the Job Placement Information Meeting (September 13, 2011) can be found here.

Summer before your last year

  • Work on your job market paper -- this should be your top priority
  • Keep your advisor informed about your progress
  • Plan to present your paper in a UvT workshop by November 2011 (if you have not yet signed up to present at a UvT workshop, sign ups for Job Market Seminars will open shortly after the September 13 Job Placement Information Meeting)
  • Form a group of friends and colleagues who are willing to give you feedback on your job market paper -- I cannot stress the importance of this point. Try to explain your paper to colleagues from both related and unrelated fields (chances are you will need to explain it to people who are not in your field). Try practicing your job market seminars before and after your official UvT talk.
  • Check out job-market opportunities that have early deadlines, e.g. the Spanish Job Market
  • Sign up to receive an e-mail notification when new issues of Job Openings for Economists (JOE) are published

September

  • If interested, register for the Spanish Job Market: deadline is September 14, 2011
  • Make final changes to your job market paper -- this should be your priority
  • Send your paper to your advisor (and others) for feedback
  • Attend the Job Placement Information Meeting: Date: September 13, 2011, Time: 15:00-17:00, Location: K834
  • If interested, register for the AEA Annual Meetings, arrange your transportation, and book a room: registrations begin on September 13, 2011
  • Sign up to present at a UvT workshop (the available slots will be announced shortly after the Job Placement Information Meeting)
  • If you are in the Department of Econometrics and Operations Research, fill out the Mock Interview Form and email it to Meltem Daysal (the deadline to email it will be announced shortly after the Job Placement Information Meeting)
  • Start preparing your CV and your website -- see below for CV examples
  • Start searching for positions (e.g. in JOE, inomics, SSRN, www.jobs.ac.uk,  Intermediair, NAKE/JOEN)
  • Check out the registration date for the London Job Market

October

  • If interested, register for the London Job Market: deadline is November 15, 2011
  • Revise your job market paper based on the feedback you got
  • Finalize your cover letters, CV and website: The deadline to submit your cover letters and CV to the Job Placement Committee is October 14, 2011. The Job Placement Committee and selected senior faculty members will review your CV and webpages and give you feedback within a week. The deadline to make changes and submit the final version is October 28, 2011
    • Please use the following CV template when preparing your CV: CV Template. All CVs should use this template (you can type over the existing text). Please convert your documents to PDF and email us the PDF versions.
    • General formatting guidelines for CVs can be found here
  • Email your first job application list to Cecile de Bruijn so that she can send your recommendation letters. Cecile should receive the contact information of the jobs by October 14, 2011. This list should only include the contact information of jobs that have an early deadline (October and 1-14 November).
    • Please use the following template when preparing the contact information of the jobs you are applying to: Label Template. You should only use this template.
  • Prepare your job market seminar for the upcoming UvT workshop
  • The October issue of the Job Openings for Economists usually has the largest number of ads so make time to go through it
  • Make a list of all the places you want to apply and get your advisor's thoughts on your suitability for these jobs. This is the time when you need to sketch out your job application strategy with your advisor -- ask them how many types of recommendation letters they would be willing to write for you (the typical case is 1 but in some situations they may be willing to write stronger letters for certain types of jobs and less supportive ones for others)

November

  • Prepare a cover letter, teaching statement and research statement (see below for examples)
  • All your applications should be out in early November (and some may have even earlier deadlines)
  • Email your final job application list to Cecile de Bruijn so that she can send your recommendation letters. Cecile should receive the contact information of the jobs by November 3, 2011. This list should include the contact information of jobs that have late November and December deadlines.
    • Please use the following template when preparing the contact information of the jobs you are applying to: Label Template. You should only use this template.
  • Present your job market paper at a UvT workshop (if you have not done so until then)
  • Revise your job market presentation after the seminar

December

  • Deadline for Job Market Signaling is on December 1, 2011
  • Attend the Spanish Job Market (December 15-17, 2011)
  • Potential employers will start contacting you to schedule job interviews. If you will travel for holidays, make sure that you can be reached at the email address and the phone number you provided on your CV at all times
  • Continue looking and applying for European jobs outside the formal job market
  • Prepare your spiel (i.e. mock interview speech)
  • Attend compulsory mock interview to help improve your interviewing skills (we will send more information about this during the semester)
  • Revise and practice your spiel and job market seminar until you are perfectly comfortable with them
  • Keep us informed about your job market prospects

January

  • Attend the AEA Meetings (January 6-8, 2012)
  • Attend the London Job Market (January 21-22, 2012)
  • Potential employers will start contacting you to schedule campus-visits
  • Keep us informed about your job market prospects

February-April

  • Attend fly-outs, review offers
  • If you don't have a fly-out or a job offer yet, keep sending out applications and don't be discouraged! Participate in the AEA Job Market Scramble.

 

Helpful Placement Information and Links

Several universities have job placement websites with lots of useful information

Useful Job Listings

Useful reading materials

Sample Materials for Job Application Packages

Interview and Fly-Out Preparation Materials

 

Disclaimer

Most of this information was acquired while I was a PhD candidate at the University of Maryland and also from past documents prepared by the Job Placement Committee of Tilburg University. Many of the materials are provided on the Job Placement Websites at Harvard University and the University of Maryland.