#PhD student: Makes $30k a year. Works on weekends as well. Zero life-work balance. "Do you think I have a chance to become a professor?" Prof: "Yes, of course! Finish this project and we will publish excellent papers. I am sure you will easily find a faculty position." ▫️ 2 years later: Student finishes the project. Professor writes a report. Papers are published. Student: "Do you think my CV is strong enough?" Prof: "Yes, you are the best!" ▫️ Next 4 months: Student submits 50 well-tailored applications for faculty positions. Zero interviews. A lot of broken dreams. ▫️ Key takeaways: 1. Make sure you distinguish encouragement from reality. - By encouraging you, your advisor may unintentionally give you too much hope. Keep a cool head. 2. Always ask other faculties for external opinion on your case. - Your advisor’s opinion is always biased. Look for more input outside your group. 3. Don’t expect fairness during candidate selection. - Hiring process is subjective by definition. It is done by people with very different views on who is the best. You may put tons of efforts into a research statement only to find out later that no one really reads it. 4. The reality is brutal. - Departments can receive 300-500 candidates per opening. Many have excellent CVs and cool ideas. At top- and mid-rank universities, selection criteria can become extremely questionable (like, who exactly was your PhD advisor? Is your recomm. letter 3 pages long? etc). And there is no need to say “You don’t know anything about it. It’s not like this”. I went through this myself. Many times. Along with many colleagues. Do not expect fairness. See luck as a big factor. Apply broadly but have a backdoor ready. #AcademicTwitter