Thoughts on applying for jobs early

[ExpertHoopJumper]

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I began a 50/50 neuropsych postdoc in September 2019 and will finish July/August of 2021. I'm preparing for a career in either 1) academic medicine with a similar breakdown of percent effort or 2) an academic clinical psychology department. Whether they come across the various listservs or are forwarded on by my various mentors and training directors, I regularly see new job postings that look like excellent opportunities and that I may be competitive for. However, I'm one hiring cycle from being ready to apply. It's frustrating. I have discussed this with a couple of mentors at my postdoc and have received conflicting advice. A couple of faculty recommended that I apply anyway because the fit may be so good that it is worth it to the institution to delay the new hire start date a year or it can take so long to go through the hiring process that I may be almost done with postdoc before all is finalized. A second contingent of faculty disagreed with this advice, suggesting they could 1) envision the hiring folks becoming annoyed with receiving a technically ineligible application and/or 2) worry that the first impression I give to the new institution is weaker (e.g., fewer number of pubs, grants, etc.) than it would be if I waited to apply in the hopes that the position remains vacant.

I would love to get the opinions of the forum on this. Thanks in advance.

 

[deleted343839]

I'm not sure what kind of job announcements you're seeing, but I'm surprised because the deadlines to apply for most college and uni faculty jobs are in the fall. AMC job postings follow less of a standard timeline, but I would discourage applying for a job you're not ready to start within 4-6 months. It would be pretty unusual for an AMC to defer a start date for an entire year.

It's not unheard of to leave a postdoc early, but consider the consequences of doing so in your specific situation. Will this burn bridges? Are there any contractual obligations you'd be responsible for? Also, don't underestimate the amount of time it takes to get an application packet together (CV, teaching/research statements, letters of recommendation, etc.). Unless you are willing and able to start sooner, for now just focus on being as competitive as possible for a job starting in 2021.

 

[WisNeuro]

I'm not sure what kind of job announcements you're seeing, but I'm surprised because the deadlines to apply for most college and uni faculty jobs are in the fall. AMC job postings follow less of a standard timeline, but I would discourage applying for a job you're not ready to start within 4-6 months. It would be pretty unusual for an AMC to defer a start date for an entire year.

It's not unheard of to leave a postdoc early, but consider the consequences of doing so in your specific situation. Will this burn bridges? Are there any contractual obligations you'd be responsible for? Also, don't underestimate the amount of time it takes to get an application packet together (CV, teaching/research statements, letters of recommendation, etc.). Unless you are willing and able to start sooner, for now just focus on being as competitive as possible for a job starting in 2021.

For neuro, it would make it MUCH harder to get boarded down the line if you left early, particularly with a 50/50 clinical/research split. Likely would not pass the credential review at that point.

 

[foreverbull]

Speaking very generally, I can’t imagine an organization seeing an application in which someone is ineligible to start for over a year and thinking that the person is a good fit (academia being the exception if you apply in fall and are eligible the next fall, but you aren’t eligible until fall 2021, which is still too early for the typical application cycle). I’d imagine they’d have plenty of applicants who are already licensed and have completed postdoc unless there are extremely unusual circumstances.

At worst, employers might interpret this as you as trying to jump ship and end your contractual obligations. At best, they might think you’re applying too far in advance if you apply now. Either way, I wonder if you’d be wasting your time and/or if employers would feel like you were wasting theirs as well. There will be plenty of opportunities for you closer to completing the fellowship, so I’d wait and feel reassured that the job postings you see are a good indication that you’ll have plenty of places to apply to closer to finishing.

 

[WisNeuro]

Speaking very generally, I can’t imagine an organization seeing an application in which someone is ineligible to start for over a year and thinking that the person is a good fit (academia being the exception if you apply in fall and are eligible the next fall, but you aren’t eligible until fall 2021, which is still too early for the typical application cycle). I’d imagine they’d have plenty of applicants who are already licensed and have completed postdoc unless there are extremely unusual circumstances.

At worst, employers might interpret this as you as trying to jump ship and end your contractual obligations. At best, they might think you’re applying too far in advance if you apply now. Either way, I wonder if you’d be wasting your time and/or if employers would feel like you were wasting theirs as well. There will be plenty of opportunities for you closer to completing the fellowship, so I’d wait and feel reassured that the job postings you see are a good indication that you’ll have plenty of places to apply to closer to finishing.

Eh, it's possible, the VA will do it for some people.

 

[ExpertHoopJumper]

I'm not sure what kind of job announcements you're seeing, but I'm surprised because the deadlines to apply for most college and uni faculty jobs are in the fall. AMC job postings follow less of a standard timeline, but I would discourage applying for a job you're not ready to start within 4-6 months. It would be pretty unusual for an AMC to defer a start date for an entire year.

It's not unheard of to leave a postdoc early, but consider the consequences of doing so in your specific situation. Will this burn bridges? Are there any contractual obligations you'd be responsible for? Also, don't underestimate the amount of time it takes to get an application packet together (CV, teaching/research statements, letters of recommendation, etc.). Unless you are willing and able to start sooner, for now just focus on being as competitive as possible for a job starting in 2021.

I appreciate your response. I should have been more clear in my writing of the original post. I meant to communicate that I've been seeing seemingly great job opportunities generally when I'm not ready to apply (last six months and internship year), not necessarily recently. Because as you said, the academic job announcements are not coming up this time of year. I'm definitely engaging in some cognitive distortions when I think about the job market. The annoyance I feel about not being able to apply is really unwarranted concern that similar jobs won't be available when I can apply.

Also, I would never consider leaving postdoc early. I've come so far to get this specialty training in neuro that I'm not going to jump ship now.

 

[ExpertHoopJumper]

For neuro, it would make it MUCH harder to get boarded down the line if you left early, particularly with a 50/50 clinical/research split. Likely would not pass the credential review at that point.

Yeah, I would never leave postdoc early.

 

[cara susanna]

I left my post doc early (2 year research, not neuro) and it was fine. But I was in a VA fellowship and left for a VA job. I ended up hating that job and I loved my post doc so I kinda wish I'd stayed now, haha.

Also, the VA where I currently work will wait for people to finish post doc. We are in a less competitive area, though, so we're willing to wait for a strong applicant.

 

[deleted343839]

I left my post doc early (2 year research, not neuro) and it was fine.

I left my postdoc early (also a research postdoc). It was OK in my case and I didn't burn any bridges. My mentors knew I wanted to go on the job market, and the end date was kind of flexible. I wouldn't end a postdoc early if I planned to board in neuro, but that's not my specialty.