A survey-based analysis of the academic job market

The majority of postdocs in the areas of STEM apply for academic jobs in the UK with a clear idea of the methods and expectations. These people normally do not have any other way to measure their education as opposed to the other candidates present there.

One must explain the method since there isn’t much data present about it in public. In this blog, we have added information related to the procedure of searching for academic jobs in the UK. This is possible by collecting information to create background metrics for mainly the ability of job candidates. It also shows the results of these job searches. There were 317 responses examined to a nameless survey for the talent of job candidates during the months of May to March. 

Through these surveys, we find that there is never a proper path towards a faculty job chance. However, the few missing criteria of the survey might also affect a faculty role above a particular level of qualification. In addition, the candidates describe the application to these faculty jobs as time taking, stressful, and missing reviews despite a great result. 

Study Scope

The missing reviews and clearness on the job market make it tough to fight for academic roles. The candidates in the year 2018 to 2019 application period mostly belonged to the sector of life sciences. Besides, half of them were from North America. Over 54% of the candidates successfully passed their applications. Most of them were at the beginning phases of their professions. 

Main Conclusions

There are many points that one can find through these surveys. Some of these points are as follows:

· The applicants never get back any feedbacks throughout the entire procedure. Neither the institution nor the direct teachers offer them any feedbacks. 

· One specific metric can never confirm a job chance or offer, but a mixture of metrics can be useful for the candidates, like obtaining a greater number of citations or getting postdoctoral, and so on since the companies seem to hire the applicants with better experience or education.

· As opposed to a famous belief, most of the candidates did not obtain any first author Science, Nature, or Cell paper. That did not affect the success rate of their applications. This shows a complete conflict of expectations. Thus, it also shows the problem of missing communication and information. 

· People that concentrate only on academic job applications instead of going for any non-academic jobs had better preparation and a higher rate of success as well. 

· Interdisciplinary research is normally seen as a weakness by the search committees. 

· Women managed better in obtaining fellowships, but men outdid them in other citation matrixes and all publications. However, prejudice against gender affects these publications. 

Final Word

The problems seen through these surveys, like the missing feedbacks and wrong assumptions, seem to take up the top place. However, even with the growing times, there hasn’t been a proper change in such academic processes. Giving out students email alerts notifying their results can save a great amount of time and worries for the candidates. Thus, this study gives out a path to the people wishing to follow an academic career.