Economics job, UCD - Closing Date 7-7-2011

Slippers

In case anyone is looking for an academic job or is just curious what the job spec is like. Job Spec

later12

I wonder if it would be more helpful to economics students and to prospective postgraduate students if universities and corporations were more specific in some of their requirements - most specifically in this case in relation to from which university a student has been conferred with his PhD.

In this case, I would not fancy my chances if my education thus far had been outside of the UCD/TCD or a strongly performing European or North American university. You might say that this should be taken for granted, and perhaps it should, but it would not hurt to make that explicitly clear to candidates and indeed those who are about to engage with a postgraduate education?

I know first hand of cases where CVs have come in and those from the University of Basket Weaving or the Royal College of Hatmaking (I am being slightly facetious, they were quantitative finance qualifications but not of the more prestigious variety) and were immediately discarded. Even worse are situations where candidates turn up for interviews and someone remarks you do know they only ever take Oxbridge alumni?

I think it would make life easier for everyone if recruiters were a bit more realistic and upfront about what exactly they will be looking out for. I can imagine some poor optimist from one of the aforementioned Basket Weaving universities who reads job specs like the UCD one above and believes that his qualification is going to get him a lecturing role therein.

graduate

Anything to do with UCD personnel is unlikely to be done properly and you are correct that criteria used should be clear. But even if more was to be done then how exactly would this information be presented. What list exists of "serious" universities? Any serious prospect for the job will be aware of the relative value of different universities and different publication outlets.

later12

Certainly you are correct that it would be unrealistic for the university to suggest ”educated in one of the top 20/30 economics departments only”. This is both changeable and subjective. I just think it might benefit students or those in the earlier stages of their economics careers for recruiters, generally, to be more explicit.

A statement like ”evidence of attainment in a prominent institution with a high research output is desirable”, or some variation of that could be helpful. I think that might concentrate the minds of undergraduates particularly in what to be aiming for in their approaching academic careers.

I recall, in my own case, friends who would seriously look at spending STG£20,000 on a ”mathematical trading” qualification at CASS business school instead of somewhere like LSE or Cambridge, simply because it had the word ”trading” in the course title and they were of the opinion that that this might be more likely to secure a job in trading. That was unrealistic.

So I think that recruiters (in general) have a responsibility of clarity to current students. If you are going to select your staff from specific institutions, be upfront about it!

graduate

For specialised jobs of all sorts there is tremendous ignorance among undergraduates of the detail of the possibilities and how to reach them.

graduate

So I think that recruiters (in general) have a responsibility of clarity to current students.

The British government appear to attempting to clarify things
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/universities-to-list-job-prospects-16016867.html