Dr. T.J. Jankun-Kelly

You applied for a #PhD / postdoc position, but the professor does not reply to you. Why? As many students are concerned about the lack of response, let me try to explain this phenomenon point by point: ▫️ 1. In industry, recruiters and HR take care of the selection process. They are hired specifically for this. BUT in academia, it is the professor’s job to find and hire the right person (and find time for that). ▫️ 2. A typical faculty is HEAVILY overloaded by duties. It’s like being a CEO of a small company + HR + recruiting + R&D lead at the same time. As a result, faculties are often struggling with finding time to reply to each candidate. ▫️ 3. Many candidates ask for a response (and feedback) and expect engagement from the faculty. Now, imagine you are a professor. You’re getting 5-15 emails per HOUR from colleagues, collaborators, funding agency, admins, students, etc. But you can dedicate only 1-2 hours per day for ALL your emails. You will barely have time to scroll through your mailbox! ▫️ 4. The number of candidates can exceed 300-400 per position, with many emails from candidates who expect replies. So, as a result, professors often reply IF the candidate is of interest to them. Of course there are those who find time to send a short message to everyone, but such people are statistically rare. ▫️ So, my advice: 1️⃣ Apply and don’t wait for a reply. Submit your application to the groups that you would like to join. If you don’t get a reply, you can send a follow-up email but don’t do it many times. 2️⃣ Tailor your cover letter to the position, make it stand out. When competition is so high, you want your application to be memorable. 3️⃣ See the absence of reply as “no position”. And don’t stress over it. Finding the right fit takes time for all of us. 4️⃣ IF you are ready to invest into traveling: - You can say that you will in their city/town, and if they are interested, you can visit their group and give a research talk (without any obligations from their side). If they agree, it may be your chance to present yourself in person. ▫️ Unfortunately, the academic system is constantly overloading faculties. This causes a lot of misunderstanding. Many faculties wish they had that time to respond to everyone. I do my best to find this time. But it doesn’t always work out smoothly. #AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter