The faculty job market is going to be really bad this year due to the fallout from Covid-19. My heart goes out to anyone on the market this year. But still, there are some jobs out there, and so I’m sure folks on the ecology faculty job market would like good information about the market. I spent three years compiling a lot of data on the US and Canadian ecology faculty job market, summarized and linked to here. But few folks seem to click those links. So over the next few days I’m going to re-post some of the links that remain relevant and useful.
Today, data from polls of tenure-track ecology faculty job seekers, and from people who’ve recently sat on search committees for tenure-track ecology faculty positions, on customization of individual applications. How do job seekers customize each application to the hiring institution, in what ways, and how long does it take them to do so? In what ways do search committee members want to see applications customized? And how do the answers vary between more and less research-intensive institutions? Click through for the answers.
If you’re on the ecology faculty job market, I hope you found this information useful. Best of luck in your search.
Dynamic Ecology 
Huh, I would have thought that naming specific courses you can/want to teach is a really risky approach. A lot of potential to step on toes, or come across as inflexible, or whatnot. And without a lot of room for upside, since I’d think it’s likely to be obvious. If ads specifically request it I do, but that’s exceedingly rare in my experience.
Well, that’s one reason why it’s useful to have survey data: to reveal when your own thinking is out of step with that of others.
I’ve sometimes hedged by saying something like “I can teach X and Y in my speciality, or W and Z on an as-needed (e.g. sabbatical) basis” if I am worried about stepping on toes.