The academic job market is rough & unpredictable and one of the principal reasons, which I had not fully appreciated, is the role of 'fit' in hiring decisions. What the hell is fit? A THREAD.

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@AcademicChatter #AcademicTwitter

As folks have been discussing, conventional wisdom for getting a faculty position (esp at a research-focused institution) is to publish a lot & get grants. Individual faculty also tend to give more individualized advice that ultimately sounds a lot like: "just do what I did."

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Grant success and good pubs (often assessed generically based on impact, though this is diff from quality) obviously strengthen one's profile (even though they both depend heavily on luck!) and probably help for long and short-listing...

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but with dozens (or hundreds) of people competing for a single opening, there’s a ton of random variation. A big part of that is also luck, which others have discussed (see a great thread below). And then there’s luck’s cousin, fit. So what is fit?

4/ https://twitter.com/RIBernhard/status/1257385363703824396?s=20

Fit is roughly an approximation of gaps you can fill in the dept and how you connect intellectually and interpersonally with other members of the faculty. But it's super amorphous and will mean something different for every single search.

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Sometimes depts wear their fit on their sleeves: a search may specify hiring priorities or a particular area of expertise. But reliably some parts of the equation are less clear. Are they looking to expand into new directions (specific ones?) or reinforce existing strengths?

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Is a particular gap especially salient to a dept because they recently lost someone in that area? Do many faculty feel like they might collaborate with you, or benefit from fruitful discussion with you? Does it seem like you’ll fit with the department’s ‘vibe’?

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Do all faculty have an equal say or is the decision essentially being made by a few individuals whose preferences are not necessarily reflective of the job advertisement or the department’s overall profile?

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Fit is especially frustrating because it’s completely subjective and it’s impossible to know which among myriad factors will guide a department’s hiring decisions.

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Do your best to anticipate fit & accentuate links to the advert and to members of the faculty, while also highlighting new expertise you can offer. But at the end of the day, it’s a crap shoot. Many depts don’t even know, at the outset, exactly what they’re looking for.

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In my own experience, I applied for 75 research-intensive TT psychology/anthropology jobs over four application cycles.

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I only ever got virtual (3) or campus interviews (6) for the jobs where some degree of fit was obvious, but there were also numerous instances where I thought I was a good fit and still never heard anything.

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In the end, I was super lucky to land a job this year. The strangest part is that, as much as I desperately wanted some of those past positions, I’m now so happy that I didn’t get them. Because the fit with the department that did hire me feels so much more perfect.

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Which probably explains why I got this job and not others but at many points in the past it felt rough. It’s obviously an extremely privileged position to be able to look back and evaluate the process, but I think there are important take-aways that hopefully can help others

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1. Fit is super nebulous. Most searches are pretty opaque and it's usually impossible to predict what will make the key difference in each case. You should never feel bad if you don’t progress in a search. It’s not an evaluation of you as an academic.

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2. But fit does matter, so pay attention to the bits of it you can identify. Focus your energy on openings in your area of expertise or that are open area. Explicitly make as many connections as possible while also highlighting the new directions you can offer.

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3. Make sure you're pitching a vision for a unified, long-term research program that extends beyond your dissertation & could get you tenure (diff for each type of institution). To progress in the search, the vision needs to align with (fit!) the dept's (un)stated priorities

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4. If you’re interdisciplinary, make sure it’s clear that you are an ingroup member of the discipline you are applying to (who has extra outside expertise). Otherwise you risk being read as outgroup by both disciplines. Have folks in the discipline review statements & talks!

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5. There are no guarantees with the job market and everyone has to decide how much they are willing to invest, but if it does work out, the fit will probably be super palpable to both parties, even more than you had imagined or experienced before.

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6. Even researchers who check all the boxes may have to be patient for years for the right fit to roll around. At each stage, I made sure to enjoy life & to stay in academia only if it made me happy NOW, because I didn't want to regret my choices if I never landed a TT job.

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7. The first point is worth reiterating. Fit is nebulous & luck plays such a big role. As best you can, try not to let your self-worth and identity as an academic get tied up in such an unpredictable process. Do what you love and make sure it's actually making you happy

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It would be great to hear from others, especially more senior academics or in other disciplines, about the role of fit in hiring decisions!

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