Dear Malcolm, I appreciate your summarizing to a *large* job board the experience of 136 ecologers. Useful in my opinion to students in a lab where the only role model is researcher in academic setting.
In my experience people committed to a career in ecology take several positions along the way, and usually end up in professional career in ecology. You can never tell where commitment to career in ecology will lead you. As an example among many, a recent MSc student with me (thesis on lobster fecundity) is currently in Maui, employed as Research Analyst at Pacific Whale Foundation. With kind regards, David S. Quoting Malcolm McCallum <[email protected]>: > 136 job seekers were kind enough to fill out my survey on your job > search in 2013-2014. > A more thorough analysis will be hopefully published in consort with > other data about jobs etc I have collected since 2001 or 2002 (can't > recall the start date right now!). I will state up front though that > applicants with the most applications did not necessarily have the > most interviews. I'm not sure if this holds across the board as a > trend, but 100-200 applications is a lot to send out while tailoring > an application for each vacancy. > > So, here it is. Of the 136 respondents > 34.6% applied for 1-5 academic jobs > 20.6% applied for 5-10 academic jobs > 21.3% applied for 11-20 academic jobs > 10.3% applied for 21-30 academic jobs > 6.6% applied for 31-40 academic jobs > 3.7% applied for 41-50 academic jobs > 0.7% applied for 51-60 academic jobs > none applied for 61-91 academic jobs > 2.2% applied for 100-200 academic jobs. > > Then, of the 136 respondents... > (57.4% got at least one phone interview) > > 42.6% had no phone interviews > 25%% had only one phone interview > 13.2% had two phone interviews > 5.9% had three phone interviews > 5.9% had four phone interviews > 3.7% had five phone interviews > 0.7% had seven phone interviews > 0.7% had ten phone interviews > 0.7% had thirteen phone interviews > > Campus interviews > (58.8% got at least one campus interview) > > zero = 41.2% > one = 33.8% > two = 16.9% > three = 4.4% > four = 0 > five = 0.7% > six = 0 > seven = 0 > eight = 0.7% > nine = 0.7% > ten = 0 > eleven = 0 > twelve = 0.7% > > Job offers > (29.4% got at least one offer). > > zero = 67.6% > one = 24.3% > two = 4.4% > three = 0 > four = 0.7% > > > -- > Malcolm L. McCallum > Department of Environmental Studies > University of Illinois at Springfield > > Managing Editor, > Herpetological Conservation and Biology > > "Nothing is more priceless and worthy of preservation than the rich > array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a > many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature > lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share > as Americans." > -President Richard Nixon upon signing the Endangered Species Act of > 1973 into law. > > "Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - > Allan Nation > > 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert > 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, > and pollution. > 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction > MAY help restore populations. > 2022: Soylent Green is People! > > The Seven Blunders of the World (Mohandas Gandhi) > Wealth w/o work > Pleasure w/o conscience > Knowledge w/o character > Commerce w/o morality > Science w/o humanity > Worship w/o sacrifice > Politics w/o principle > > Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any > attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may > contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized > review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not > the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and > destroy all copies of the original message. >
