Ecology (includes organismal and environmental science)

 Information
=== IMPORTANT: '''Let's propose a date of July 1, 2008 to switch to the new wiki format. If you are opposed to this date or have suggestions about the format, please add your input to the section about the proposed wiki format at the bottom of the page.''' === Click here to jump to the future wiki format section

When you get word, please move the entry to the appropriate section.

 * For correct sorting of tables, please format dates as YYYY/MM/DD (two digits for month and day, e.g., 01 for January) with a single space between the || and the date.
 * If Javascript is enabled, you should be able to sort the tables by school or dates, just click on the arrows in the column header..
 * Please don't erase the |} at the very end of each table.

The wiki markup for the tables.

 * - New line
 * School || Date of News (YYYY/MM/DD) || Comments

 User Polls
There is now a short SurveyMonkey survey that will allow analyses of the results at  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=tOQssDIOh_2bI6unS4DLy0mA_3d_3d
 * You can view a real-time summary of survey results here:
 * http://www.surveymonkey.com/sr.aspx?sm=hBwBzJkrRD8OtxQIxNjXup2pNJOmElUUxnAATiko6HY_3d


 * Updated 2/12/08: Preliminary results organized by the type of position sought (not real-time) are here:
 * http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Biology_Job_Search_Survey_Results

 Preliminary Screening
(short list has been made; references being contacted; interviewing will begin soon)



 Phone Interviews
(this should only be used when the candidates have been contacted)

 Campus Interviews
(this should only be used when the candidates have been contacted)

 Helpful Links and Tips
Please add useful links here, places to look up job salaries, academic advice, and other items related to the academic job search.

 Discussion
Have something to say, leave your comments here... PLEASE DATE YOUR COMMENTS and KEEP NEWEST COMMENTS AT THE TOP

Please add replies as bullet points, start the reply with an asterisk *, and change the date so that the updates are easy to find.

There is now a warning when editing this section that it may be too long for some browsers to handle. I deleted a few comments when the answer is available elsewhere on this wiki, but if you feel that something else can be safely culled, it might be a good idea. Rather than deleting items, we should archive items to the discussion page, perhaps once they are a month old rather than deleting them entirely.

Survey for next year's wiki
Would you prefer a single table rather than the current layout with multiple sections (see example below)
 * Yes, I would prefer a single sortable table: 9
 * No, I like having multiple sections: 1
 * No preference: 0

Would you find it useful to sort by Job Title Specialty (area) or department?
 * Yes: 4
 * No: 3
 * No preference: 1

'''Please add your suggestions here for next year's wiki. Given that a lot of people have not received interviews, there will probably be a number of returnees next year. Voice your gripes now so we can collectively make this site better.'''


 * Dashes between year-month-day are easier to read...


 * I think one list, alphabetical order would be better. Then we could use the bullet points for updates, like we are using in the comments currently.  I'll put an example at the bottom of the page and people can play around with it..


 * I think the current system is great. Let's do the same thing next year but omit the surveys (except perhaps # of interviews).


 * Why not combine the "application deadline" and "latest news" columns? The deadline is really not that important.  It could go into the "latest news" column to be replaced once someone has heard something.  Four columns would be easier to manage than five.
 * I like to sort by application deadline, and considering how many jobs on this board still have no news, perhaps it would be helpful to have an empty column when there is no news?? Maybe?  We could have Date of Most Recent News as the first bullet point in the final column and it should still sort correctly.  I'll try this in the sample table below, we can always change it back.  Checked, it does sort correctly.


 * If sorting by area or department, it might be best to use job title specialty instead. Either way, it will add a new layer of complexity because similar specialties often have a remarkable diversity of names.  For example, if department: Biology vs. Biological Sciences vs. Evolotion, Ecology, and Organismal Biology; Population ecology vs. molecular ecology vs. biologist.  Not sure how to simplify this other than to use the term the search specifies.
 * Agreed, sorting by specialty as listed in the job call might be better, perhaps that column could include both specialty and department.
 * I answered no about specialty sorting in the survey above, but I'm but not strongly opposed... it doesn't hurt anything


 * I think that if there is only one table, the date for the most recent information needs to be first so that it can be sorted that way. In the example below, the news is first and the date at the end, which will make it impossible to sort by date.
 * The first bullet point in each row IS Date of most recent news: YYYY-MM-DD, it sorts correctly on my browser as long as the first bullet point in the row has the same text description (i.e., Date of most recent news, try clicking the sort arrow on your browser to see if it works..
 * It works as long as everyone uses the formula, but if we have learned anything this year, its that only most people do. Some people can't even bother to put the 0 before a single digit as in the "final" job right now in the no news section - from January. I am just suggesting that it is overly optomistic, or time consuming for the person policing the site, to hope that everyone will keep the same description for the first bullet.
 * I see your point... We could either have a separate column with just the date of most recent news, or put the dates first in the final column, any preference?
 * I think the easiest thing to do is have a separate column for "most recent news", leaving little room for template changes. Like I said, most people will get it right no matter how it is done, but the few that don't take the time to look at the template will make a mess of things. The seperate column makes it as straight-forward as possible.
 * Too many columns make it harder to read the comments in the final column unless you have a wide screen. Let's try and decide on a 4 column format that we think most people could easily use.  People want to sort by 4 things, university, specialty, deadline, date of most recent news, so one of these items will have to be the first row in the final column.  Using the template as noted below, I think that it should be easier for people to add new entires to the table.
 * Why not make "date of latest news" its own column, and put "application deadline" as the first entry in the "updates and comments" column. It seems more likely that someone will neglect/overlook/screw up the latest-news date as is, because it's just one part of a more complicated column.  On the other hand, once application deadline is entered, it doesn't need to be changed.  Either way, we have two columns that sort the way we want them to, but this way might be easier to manage.
 * With only one table, we can easily make an example template entry for people to copy for new entries. See example below table, this should make it more consistent with less correction issues..


 * The DISCUSSION section has three groups of posts - those related to specific jobs, those related to this wiki, and those relating more general advice. Since all of these things are worthwhile aspects of the discussion section, I propose breaking up the Discussion to reflect these three topics in the interest of making things easier to find. Each section might have different archiving procedures as well, since (at least in theory) advice might be useful over longer time scales than news about the wiki or a particular job.
 * This would be nice, but given that most people prefer one table for the jobs next year, I think one table for the discussion also would keep the site simple. Perhaps we can use the second column with categories and then topic, that might make the table a little more sortable.  I've started an example below, perhaps people could add to the categories...

Example jobs table for 2008/09 wiki search

 * Feel free to edit and make suggestions to the table below, but let's keep the format to a max of 5 columns, anything larger gets too difficult to maintain...
 * The final column for text updates allows for lots of flexibility and a variety of entries, please add your examples here...

For new entries, copy these 3 lines before entering edit mode.. Note that the date in the first row is the application deadline.

All news updates are bullet points on a new line using an asterisk * 

|- valign="top"

| University || Job Title Specialty, Department || 2008-MM-DD ||

* 2008-MM-DD: Date of most recent news

(This date of most recent news bullet should always be first and start with the date so we can sort this column)