The job market
( This is a break from the instanton-phobia sequence. That will resume soon.) Since we are getting into the academic job market season, it maybe seemed appropriate to have a quick post about this before I move to MSRI for the fall. Some of this is more for people going on the market in a future cycle. I would like to have some more posts on this as well. @Mentors: Hopefully, at the beginning of working with your mentee, you asked them what type of position they want, and geared your mentorship towards helping them achieve that. That's great! Now's a good chance to ask if you haven't. Don't forget to check in with them every year or so if this has changed. Sometimes students come to love research more than they thought, some develop despise for academia, find a calling for teaching, or have a personal reason suddenly necessitate a geographic constraint. These things change, it's ok, and it's helpful for everyone if you know this earlier rather than later