| The Chicago Guide to Landing a Job in Academic Biology (Chicago Guides to Academic Life) | 
 enlarge | Authors: C. Ray Chandler, Lorne M. Wolfe, Daniel E. L. Promislow
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $9.37
You Save: $4.63 (33%)
New (12) Used (2) from $9.37
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 397070
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 150
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.5
ISBN: 0226101304
Dewey Decimal Number: 570.711
EAN: 9780226101309
ASIN: 0226101304
Publication Date: May 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
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| Customer Reviews:
 Most info found on free forums, not for Ph.D. plus level October 27, 2008
I am going to buck the trend here and say that this book would be good for graduate students but certainly not postdocs and beyond.
There are a couple reasons why:
1) information on graduate program selection (cursory, not in depth)
2) assumes you have no idea what the basic elements of an application are (e.g. teaching statement)
3) assumes you have no idea how to behave yourself appropriately in public (what, I shouldn't drink 3 alcoholic beverages during my interview?)
What I was looking for:
1) more in depth discussion of what goes on in a search from the committee's perspective
2) what elements are most important in a research/teaching statement and caveats (SLAC v. R1)
3) assistance in fine-tuning for particular institutions
4) Discussion on determining appropriate start-up funds and negotiating the package
What I got:
very general information widely available at many other sites - I read it front to back and learned nothing new. There are very few examples and no in depth examination of what worked in them and did not work like the Chronicle of Higher Education's C.V. Doctor does.
Lip service to negotiating - your major professor may give bad advice if he/she is at R1 and you are headed to SLAC, if you're a chick, better toughen up! The gist of the advice: ask around.
What I recommend:
a subscription to the Chronicle of Higher Education or an in depth reading of their forums (free)
For the price, it may be worth having for the basic information combined. I do not regret the purchase, as I will keep it as a reference for students.
 Does a great job of laying out what its title suggests March 13, 2008
This book is a short but fairly in-depth and honest attempt at describing the ins and outs of successfully becoming an assistant professor of biology. I recently used this book to fine-tune my own job application, and found the result to be a resounding success. Topics covered include writing up cover letters, CVs, and teaching and research statements, and etiquette and important people skills for the interview. I found the book to be very helpful in detailing these issues, and was impressed that the book caters to applicants looking for jobs not just in traditional research universities, but also in smaller, teaching-oriented schools. The biggest strengths are: 1) full examples illustrating the main points of the text (e.g., an actual cover letter is included in the section dealing with writing a successful cover letter), and 2) a clear presentation of how search committees think through the job search process. The former is important because, regardless of how much advice a job seeker might receive, nothing beats seeing a successful application package. The latter is important in that it brings home the importance of basic people skills. After all, the people interviewing the job seeker are looking for both a colleague and someone to chat in the halls with on a daily basis. The only real negative to the book as I can see is the chapter dealing with negotiations once an offer is made - I found this chapter to be completely useless in my own job negotiations, and I would go so far as to say the language is quite wishy-washy and indefinite.
Fantastic Resource! February 5, 2008
This book is well-written, clearly laid out, and actually really fun to read. As someone just beginning the job hunt in academic biology, I'm not sure I would be well equipped to put together an application packet without this tool. I strongly recommend it to all young biologists.
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