Faculty Market Portfolio
So you’re thinking about going on the academic job market. This year is a bad year for the academic job market. Fortunately, every year is a bad year for the academic job market, so maybe you’re ok.
I applied during 2025, which was an exceptionally bad year. Many universities had downscaled or canceled their faculty searches. For many of the remaining positions, the search was delayed, meaning that “exploding offers” were even higher pressure than usual because several universities didn’t send out interview invitations until late Spring. I took an offer from Boston University without hesitation and without regrets.
My goal here is not to provide general advice but to offer my own application materials help others writing theirs. Note that most universities no longer accept diversity statements, but “diversity” statements were always really service statements—the goal is to show that you have a sense of responsibility and would be a good prosocial colleague, not to enumerate your axes of marginalization. If the job applications allows for a service statement, you can still use mine as an example.
I do have one piece of advice. If you’re lucky enough to get an offer, take negotiation seriously. You will never be able to spend so little time to get so much money for your research. Compile an argument for what resources you need and how much they will cost and be specific, e.g., what can you do with 16 H200 cores that you can’t do with 8? I found Never Split the Difference to be a helpful resource.
