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Amazing that we can't fill a job since last May.

Analog

Analog

Lifer
I work in academics and it is amazing that we can't find anyone to fill a tenure track faculty position. Its not that we even require a PhD, less will do. And yes, you get a month off around the Christmas holidays and the summer off if you want it. Great benefits and tons of freedom to teach the way you want, with small classes in a college town that has one of the lowest costs of living in the USA.

Have we received a bunch of resumes? Yes, mostly of PhD candidates that don't have a lick of work experience and mostly foreign nationals here in the USA. Perhaps we're being picky, but there must be some people out there with some work experience in Computer Networking and Systems that would be interested in a career where there are no layoffs or high pressure bosses. You're not gonna get rich, but what is life really worth?

I hope that we continue to post the job opening, before the University yanks it for not being filled!
 
Academia is a tough job especially in universities where they are trying to increase their rankings for research output. Perhaps at your university there are no layoffs or high pressure bosses, but at mine there is. We have lost a couple excellent professors because they couldn't get the number of publications needed to get tenure. These professors were excellent teachers, but they bummed out and got phD students who were not serious about getting their phD. They had 5 years to get their 10 publications, but 4 years in, their phD students left with masters and got jobs without yielding any publications. The department head and the dean were hard asses and held weekly meetings where they discuss their decisions for the department whether the faculty agree or not.

Academia isn't necessarily cake walk, and from what I have seen, it is far from it.
 
You may be too picky and/or your description doesn't make much sense. You want an academic, but then you complain when you get "mostly of PhD candidates that don't have a lick of work experience and mostly foreign nationals here in the USA".
 
I can bs my way through anything and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night, I'll take the job.
 
Originally posted by: ViRGE
You may be too picky and/or your description doesn't make much sense. You want an academic, but then you complain when you get "mostly of PhD candidates that don't have a lick of work experience and mostly foreign nationals here in the USA".
Click to expand...

i think they are looking to pull someone from the private sector into academia, not necessarily pull an academic.
 
I'd take every afternoon off, not bother giving out tests or homework and would give everyone an A. I'd be the most popular teacher on campus. Those kind of easy A's should bring in plenty of extra student applications and would help all the jocks stay eligible. Give me the job.
 
Originally posted by: randomlinh
Originally posted by: ViRGE
You may be too picky and/or your description doesn't make much sense. You want an academic, but then you complain when you get "mostly of PhD candidates that don't have a lick of work experience and mostly foreign nationals here in the USA".
Click to expand...

i think they are looking to pull someone from the private sector into academia, not necessarily pull an academic.
Click to expand...
That would be the problem then.
 
Originally posted by: ViRGE
You may be too picky and/or your description doesn't make much sense. You want an academic, but then you complain when you get "mostly of PhD candidates that don't have a lick of work experience and mostly foreign nationals here in the USA".
Click to expand...

I understood exactly what he was referring to. I went to a similar school for my undergrad. While some of the teachers worked hard at getting things published, education of their students was first and foremost. Professors who the students had trouble learning from didn't last long, regardless of how intelligent they were, how cutting edge their research was, or how many times they were published. No offense to foreign nationals, but among the many schools/classes I've taken (7 different universities), one thing I noticed was that the ranks of professors often were filled with quite a few foreign nationals, many of whom had a hard time communicating with a decent percentage of their students.

Smart + lots of papers published has no correlation to the ability to teach students in that subject area.

My undergrad degree came from an institution where they didn't have PhD programs. However, the undergrad program was top-notch (in my opinion.) The professors were still quite accomplished in their fields, many had quite a bit of research published, and many succeeded in getting research conducted by even college freshmen and sophomores published in peer reviewed journals.
 
Originally posted by: ViRGE
Originally posted by: randomlinh
Originally posted by: ViRGE
You may be too picky and/or your description doesn't make much sense. You want an academic, but then you complain when you get "mostly of PhD candidates that don't have a lick of work experience and mostly foreign nationals here in the USA".
Click to expand...

i think they are looking to pull someone from the private sector into academia, not necessarily pull an academic.
Click to expand...
That would be the problem then.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Academia doesn't pay very well at all unless you get into administration.
 
Originally posted by: Analog
Perhaps we're being picky, but there must be some people out there with some work experience in Computer Networking and Systems that would be interested in a career where there are no layoffs or high pressure bosses. You're not gonna get rich, but what is life really worth?
Click to expand...

As others have already alluded to, my impression was that academia can be a very high-pressure environment. Your boss is the university, and the pressure is on you to publish papers, give talks, write books, etc. and ultimately bring in research grants for the university.

 
Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
I can bs my way through anything and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night, I'll take the job.
Click to expand...

I can vouch for this. Olds stole my virginity and then never got that promised futon for his basement. 🙁

 
Sounds like your hr sucks and isn't advertising it correctly. You should probably put some ads in trade journals and on non-academic sites, like monster.com etc.

 
A PhD in EE or Comp Engineering with 10 yr+ industry experiences will run you at 150-200k/year. Is that within the budget of what you are offering?
 
Originally posted by: DrPizza
Originally posted by: ViRGE
You may be too picky and/or your description doesn't make much sense. You want an academic, but then you complain when you get "mostly of PhD candidates that don't have a lick of work experience and mostly foreign nationals here in the USA".
Click to expand...

I understood exactly what he was referring to. I went to a similar school for my undergrad. While some of the teachers worked hard at getting things published, education of their students was first and foremost. Professors who the students had trouble learning from didn't last long, regardless of how intelligent they were, how cutting edge their research was, or how many times they were published. No offense to foreign nationals, but among the many schools/classes I've taken (7 different universities), one thing I noticed was that the ranks of professors often were filled with quite a few foreign nationals, many of whom had a hard time communicating with a decent percentage of their students.

Smart + lots of papers published has no correlation to the ability to teach students in that subject area.

My undergrad degree came from an institution where they didn't have PhD programs. However, the undergrad program was top-notch (in my opinion.) The professors were still quite accomplished in their fields, many had quite a bit of research published, and many succeeded in getting research conducted by even college freshmen and sophomores published in peer reviewed journals.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Plus we are a teaching institution, not a research institution. Therefore tons of research and little practical experience is not helpful to us. The last person in this position was a foreign national with a PhD - super smart, but had poor teaching and communication skills. That's why an MS is good enough for us.

I've posted our position a couple of times in our networking for the unemployed thread for those of you that asked.

 
Originally posted by: Analog
Originally posted by: DrPizza
Originally posted by: ViRGE
You may be too picky and/or your description doesn't make much sense. You want an academic, but then you complain when you get "mostly of PhD candidates that don't have a lick of work experience and mostly foreign nationals here in the USA".
Click to expand...

I understood exactly what he was referring to. I went to a similar school for my undergrad. While some of the teachers worked hard at getting things published, education of their students was first and foremost. Professors who the students had trouble learning from didn't last long, regardless of how intelligent they were, how cutting edge their research was, or how many times they were published. No offense to foreign nationals, but among the many schools/classes I've taken (7 different universities), one thing I noticed was that the ranks of professors often were filled with quite a few foreign nationals, many of whom had a hard time communicating with a decent percentage of their students.

Smart + lots of papers published has no correlation to the ability to teach students in that subject area.

My undergrad degree came from an institution where they didn't have PhD programs. However, the undergrad program was top-notch (in my opinion.) The professors were still quite accomplished in their fields, many had quite a bit of research published, and many succeeded in getting research conducted by even college freshmen and sophomores published in peer reviewed journals.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Plus we are a teaching institution, not a research institution. Therefore tons of research and little practical experience is not helpful to us. The last person in this position was a foreign national with a PhD - super smart, but had poor teaching and communication skills. That's why an MS is good enough for us.

I've posted our position a couple of times in our networking for the unemployed thread for those of you that asked.
Click to expand...
None the less, you want someone to teach and get paid little for it, what you want is an academic. The reason you haven't filled it is because you're turning away academics and looking for an industry guy, when most of the industry guys are in industry because they get paid more and don't have to teach. You're looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack.

What you want is perfectly understandable, but it shouldn't surprise you that a job like that is going unfilled.
 
Originally posted by: ViRGE
Originally posted by: Analog
Originally posted by: DrPizza
Originally posted by: ViRGE
You may be too picky and/or your description doesn't make much sense. You want an academic, but then you complain when you get "mostly of PhD candidates that don't have a lick of work experience and mostly foreign nationals here in the USA".
Click to expand...

I understood exactly what he was referring to. I went to a similar school for my undergrad. While some of the teachers worked hard at getting things published, education of their students was first and foremost. Professors who the students had trouble learning from didn't last long, regardless of how intelligent they were, how cutting edge their research was, or how many times they were published. No offense to foreign nationals, but among the many schools/classes I've taken (7 different universities), one thing I noticed was that the ranks of professors often were filled with quite a few foreign nationals, many of whom had a hard time communicating with a decent percentage of their students.

Smart + lots of papers published has no correlation to the ability to teach students in that subject area.

My undergrad degree came from an institution where they didn't have PhD programs. However, the undergrad program was top-notch (in my opinion.) The professors were still quite accomplished in their fields, many had quite a bit of research published, and many succeeded in getting research conducted by even college freshmen and sophomores published in peer reviewed journals.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Plus we are a teaching institution, not a research institution. Therefore tons of research and little practical experience is not helpful to us. The last person in this position was a foreign national with a PhD - super smart, but had poor teaching and communication skills. That's why an MS is good enough for us.

I've posted our position a couple of times in our networking for the unemployed thread for those of you that asked.
Click to expand...
None the less, you want someone to teach and get paid little for it, what you want is an academic. The reason you haven't filled it is because you're turning away academics and looking for an industry guy, when most of the industry guys are in industry because they get paid more and don't have to teach. You're looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack.

What you want is perfectly understandable, but it shouldn't surprise you that a job like that is going unfilled.
Click to expand...

I think you are right, it would take someone who is more interested in teaching than making money. Several of us are 2nd career types, that have been in industry long enough to yearn for something different. One of our best faculty is a relatively young retiree who was the VP of an engineering firm.
 
We put up an ad for a technical support position. We got 60+ resumes in a week, maybe 4 were worthwhile. One guy put that at his last job at a restaurant he was "wading tables".

Seriously. It was THAT bad. And these are the people whining on the Craigslist forums and local blogs about the economy being bad and there being no jobs. Damn right, there's no jobs for idiots and unqualified loser.
 
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