Considerations when Seeking Faculty

Teaching Positionsin Economics

AAEA Annual MeetingsAugust 3, 2004

Eric E. Houk

California State University-Stanislaus, Department of Economics

My Experiences Completed my PhD, Summer ’03. (CSU,

Dept. Agricultural & Resource Economics)

Was looking for an academic job that would start in the Fall of 2003.

Went to the AAEA meetings in ’02 and began to look at the job market.

During 02/03 year I began applying for teaching positions and attended the Allied Social Science Association (ASSA) Meetings.

In Spring 2003 I accepted a tenure track teaching position in an Economics department.

AAEA Annual Meetings(Employment Center)

Occur at the end of July/beginning of August. For many academic positions, it is too early

for next years positions and too late for positions starting that Fall.

Applications: October - December

Campus Visits: January - March

Offers: February - March

According to Carson and Navarro (1988), the ….primary market for academic jobs in ….Economics occurs as follows:

AAEA Employment Center ‘04

As of July 23, 2004 there where a total of 44 jobs listed in the Employment Center.

Only 8 of these positions had any teaching component. (~18%)

Some used the term “anticipate” position.

*It is not only an issue of timing*There are more teaching positions within

general economics programs than in agricultural economics programs

Ag. Economics vs General Economics

Departments If you search four year U.S. colleges by major

at www.petersons.com you get:

# of schools

Agricultural Economics 62

General Economics 920

Almost 15 times as many colleges are found with general economics programs.

If you want to teach, you will probably need to consider the general economics job market.

General Economics Job Market

Job Openings for Economists (JOE, www.aeaweb.org) was found to be the most effective job search method for Economists (Siegfried and Stock 2000).

October and November have the most academic job announcements each year in JOE, averaging 457 and 311 respectively (Cawley 2003)

This is consistent with Carson and Navarro (1988), who indicate October-December as the primary time period for submitting applications.

Many of these announcements indicate that preliminary interviews will be conducted in January at the ASSA Meetings.

Applying for Positions in JOE

Economics job candidates sent out an average of 76 applications in 1995-96 (Stock et al. 2000).

Indicate any teaching experiences you may have. If you haven’t taught any courses, see if someone would let you be a guest lecturer. (try and get evaluation or feedback that you can use in application)

Most PhD students in general economics programs have taught courses.

Make sure you indicate that you are available to meet with the employer at the ASSA meetings.

Allied Social Science Association (ASSA) Meetings (Jan. 7-9, 2005 Philadelphia, PA)

Job seekers at the 1997 ASSA meetings had an average of 5.99 academic interviews (List 2000).

If you are asked for an interview make sure you clearly get the day, time, location, and length of the interview. (You may need a disclosure code in order to get their room number from the hotel)

Few interviews are scheduled last minute at the meetings, however you may want to look at the job announcement boards and give it a try.

Interviews are typically held in either a hotel suite or at a table in a crowded ballroom.

Have a well rehearsed 5-10 minute description of your research prepared.

Be prepared for questions about the courses that you would be expected to teach.

I do not recommend discussing compensation unless they bring it up.

Allied Social Science Association (ASSA) Meetings (Jan. 7-9, 2005 Philadelphia, PA)

Campus Visits

You may be asked for a campus visit within days of the meetings or not until the end of February.

Approx. 68% of those who had interviews at the ASSA meetings received campus visits (Stock et al. 2000).

In addition to your research presentation, be prepared to give a lecture to a real class or to the search committee as if they were students.

I do not recommend discussing compensation at this point unless they bring it up.

Job Offers You may receive an offer immediately following

a campus visit or it may take awhile.

This is the time to discuss compensation.

Compensation may include your salary, start up funds, summer funds, course reductions, travel expenses, etc.

Many of these may be negotiable, don’t be afraid to try and negotiate. (Try and be polite and educated about it, you do not want to insult anyone)

Once an offer has been made, try and get it in writing as soon as possible. (mail or fax)

Thank You & Good Luck

Recent survey’s indicate that only 3% of new PhD’s in Economics were unemployed shortly after the job search season. (Siegfried

& Stock 1999, Stock et al. 2000)

References:

Carson & Navarro. 1988. “A Seller’s (& Buyer’s) Guide to the Job Market for Beginning Academic Economists.” Journal of Economic Perspectives. 2: 2, pp. 137-148.

Siegfried & Stock. 1999. “The Labor Market for New Ph.D. Economists.” Journal of Economic Perspectives. 13:3, pp. 115-134.

Cawley. 2003. “A Guide (and Advice) for Economists on the U.S. Junior Academic Job Market.” Job Openings for Economists. www.aeaweb.org.

Stock, Alston, Milkman. 2000. “The Academic Labor Market for Economists: 1995-96.” Atlantic Economic Journal, 28, pp. 164-185.

List, John A. 2000. “Interview Scheduling Strategies of New Ph.D. Economists.” Journal of Economic Education. 31:2, pp. 191-201.