The "senior" market

Many job market candidates have been out of grad school for a few years, and are looking to move to a new position. Some are looking for a better fit, others have failed tenure or are worried they will. The market functions very similarly, but there are a few wrinkles that prospective movers should keep in mind. I don't have a ton of experience in this area, so anyone who wants to add anything in the comments would be appreciated.

The scrutiny of you will not be based as much on one paper, but will be about your entire record. The flyout talk can be more like a standard seminar talk. You can certainly present coauthored work, and it can be a little more of a work in progress than a job market paper (although probably not quite as much as a normal seminar). At a more teaching oriented job, your teaching record may be scrutinized in more detail too. Syllabi, assignments, evaluations, etc.

The general rule is that, as a non-entry level faculty member, a school will look at you if you would have one of the best publishing records in their department among those with your experience. If you look at a school and you would have an average or below average publishing record if you went there, you are probably a bit of a long shot.

This is probably part of the reason faculty members often stay where they are for a long time, if they get tenured. Moving to another school is a pain. You probably have to pack up your life and move to another city, and you will definitely lose all the school-specific human capital you have developed.  So in general, tie goes to staying put. In order to move, you have to find a place that you strictly prefer to where you are and where you would be a top-end faculty member. Generally, this happens for one of three reasons. Either the candidate has personal reasons for wanting to move to a different geographic area, has specific issues with the department or school they are at, or are enough of a standout where they are that they can move to a better school and still be a bit of a standout. If none of these three applies to you, you might not want to move voluntarily.

If you are on the market, it can create awkwardness at the place you are at. There will be people who, somewhat unfairly, are annoyed with you for trying to leave. I don't think there is a single best way to play it, it depends a lot on the people you work with and your relationship with them. In general, you probably don't want to make a big deal about going on the market. But it isn't always possible to hide. You may be listed on the public seminar schedule of a school, or word may get around that you are on the market. Don't lie about it if you are asked directly about it, that is going to make things worse. And if you think it would help, you may want to give people a quiet private heads up.

Lastly, although reference letters are a little less crucial on the senior market, they are often important, particularly if it is only a few years out of grad school. If you think there is any chance you will be on the market again, it is a good idea to maintain a good relationship with your PhD advisers, as well as thinking about how to develop relationships with other senior researchers.


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