The Chicago Guide to Landing a Job in Academic Biology

The Chicago Guide to Landing a Job in Academic Biologyis an indispensable guide for graduate students and post-docs as they enter that domain red in tooth and claw: the job market. An academic career in the biological sciences typically demands well over a decade of technical training. So it's ironic that when a scholar reaches the most critical stage in that careerthe search for a job following graduate workhe or she receives little or no formal preparation. Instead, students are thrown into the job market with only cursory guidance on how to search for and land a position. Now there's help. Carefully, clearly, and with a welcome sense of humor,The Chicago Guide to Landing a Job in Academic Biologyleads graduate students and postdoctoral fellows through the perils and rewards of their first job search. The authorswho collectively have for decades mentored students and served on hiring committeeshave honed their advice in workshops at biology meetings across the country. The resulting guide covers everything from how to pack an overnight bag without wrinkling a suit to selecting the right job to apply for in the first place. The authors have taken care to make their advice useful to all areas of academic biologyfrom cell biology and molecular genetics to evolution and ecologyand they give tips on how applicants can tailor their approaches to different institutions from major research universities to small private colleges. With jobs in the sciences ever more difficult to come by,The Chicago Guide to Landing a Job in Academic Biologyis designed to help students and post-docs navigate the tricky terrain of an academic job searchfrom the first year of a graduate program to the final negotiations of a job offer.

C. Ray Chandler is professor of biology at Georgia Southern University. Lorne M. Wolfe is professor of biology at Georgia Southern University.  Daniel E. L. Promislow is professor of genetics at the University of Georgia.