Wednesday, 25 April 2018

job - Academic Hiring Process and Practices for Junior Professors in Germany


I am being considered for a job in Germany (W1 junior-professorship) and I was hoping to get some insights regarding the process as I come from the US system and am unfamiliar with how things work in Germany.





  1. I notice that the application packages do not require inclusion of recommendation letters. In the US, the typical requirement is that the application package includes at least 3 letters. Will the schools require recommendation letters once selected for an interview or the job? Do letters or references play any significant role at all?




  2. Selection: I know this should vary by case, but how many people do they tend to put on their short list?




  3. Interviews: I get a feeling that the interview process is brief and a lot less tiring than the American system (for a R1: Typically a 3-day campus visit, job talk, endless meetings with professors, deans, grad students, teaching demonstration, etc, etc). What do they focus on in Germany? (I am asking this as I was invited for an interview, but I was not even asked to do a job talk or teaching demonstration) Are there typically multiple rounds of interviews?




  4. Selection committee: That some European departments practically have a one-person decision making body came as a surprise when I first came to Europe. How is the case in Germany? How many people in the department are typically involved in the decision making process?





  5. Final decision: How fast do they move with their final decisions? For example, the job I am considering only has about a four month gap between application deadline and position start date. This is significantly shorter than a typical US-Search where many schools begin examining applications a year before the position start date, and tells me that they should be moving fairly fast with the decision. Any inputs?




I know these might be a lot of questions. As someone unfamiliar with the system, I am hoping to gain as much insight as possible.




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