This is the data on the job search that resulted in my postdoc at Mississippi State University from 2017-2019.

For this position I applied very broadly, to most anything I thought could work for me, in and outside of academia, including a mixture of permanent and term positions. This search was limited to the US and Canada.

Image Description Bar Chart, showing that I applied for 40 jobs, and was not interviewed for 36 of them. Of the 4 I was interviewed for (2 non-academic jobs, 2 postdocs), I received 2 offers (the 2 postdocs).

This is the data for the job search that resulted in my position at the Illinois Natural History Survey.

I will preface these graphs by saying, this job search was for me very different then when I was looking for my first post doc. I balanced applying for jobs, with applying for grants that would have extended my postdoc position. If I hadn’t been trying to extend my postdoc, I likely would have applied for more jobs. I limited by job search to places in the US and Canada which were within a 1 hour drive of at least one place my husband could potentially find a job. This eliminated many interesting sounding positions, but was in line with the values that my husband and I put on our future together, as I was hoping for a permanent position.

Image Description - Bar Chart, showing I applied for 17 jobs total. 9 of which I did not get an interview for. 4 of which I never heard back from at all. 4 of which I was interviewed for. I received 2 offers from those interviews, and I accepted the job at INHS before hearing back from the other two (so I do not know if I would have received an offer).

I applied for a variety of kinds of jobs as well.

Image description - four types. 1 instructor position, 5 permanent non-academic positions. 3 permament non-TT positions. and 8 postdoc positions.

Permanent non-TT positions are permanent jobs at a university that are not Tenure Track (including the one I ultimately accepted)

Permament non-academic, includes permament jobs that were not at universities, including non-profit, federal and state agency jobs.

Image Description - the lower 48 US states, with Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan colored in purple.

I applied for jobs across a wide geographic area, again constrained by being within one hour of a place my husband could possibly find a job. The clustering in the midwest and south was not intentional.