Once, I went on a job interview for a post-doc position at a large national laboratory. It went very well. When I followed up, however, I was told that they would not have any money for hiring post-docs that year. Was this a white lie to avoid giving me a straight “no” answer? Perhaps, but there is also a good chance it was the truth. There are a variety of reasons the jobs you see advertised, or even interview for, may be more virtual than real:
- Courtesy Interviews:
This is what I think the interview I described above was. My university research group worked closely with the national lab group I interviewed with, so I think they “took a look” at me to be polite. If this sort of thing happens to you, think of it as good practice rather than a waste of your time.
- Leading the Recruiting Target:
Those of you who have studied marksmanship will be familiar with the idea of leading your target. In other words, if you want to hit a moving target you need to aim your bullet or arrow at where the target will be when the projectile arrives. Recruiting, especially at the PhD level, can take a long time. Therefore, to hit the target of staffing a proposed new project when it starts, the recruiting may need to begin before final project approval and funding. In such cases, you might find yourself interviewing for the job analog of Schrödinger’s cat. As a group leader, I have interviewed candidates for this sort of uncertain position many times. Sometimes the project funding comes through and the job become real. Other times it does not. Again, there is value in the interview practice and connections made even if the position never materializes.
- Building the Candidate Bench:
The generalized version of leading the target is maintaining a permanent “bench” of candidates in case new projects come up or people resign. Big organizations are particularly likely to do this. If you see a relatively generic advertisement on an organization’s website that stays up month after month, it is probably aimed at building the bench rather than a particular job. If an organization interests you, then you definitely want to respond to such ads even when you are dubious about the correspondence to real positions. Sending in a resume will get you into their internal database so you have a chance to pop up in searches when they do have a real positions to fill. My post-doc at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory resulted from just such a chain of events.
- Policy Compliance:
Finally, some organizations operate under policies that require them to advertise positions even though the desired candidate has already been identified. This is meant to safeguard the fairness of the hiring process and is most likely to come up in government or academic settings. Of course, if the hiring committee has already identified who they want, the chances of them switching to a random applicant that comes in from the public advertisement are pretty slim.
Running into the above situations is frustrating when your job search is difficult, but it comes with the territory. In order to avoid pinning your hopes on a virtual job, be sure to expand your search beyond public advertisements and use networking and informational interviews to gain inside intelligence. Finally, when you get to a phone or on-site interview, always ask about the funding situation for the position on offer.
Do you have a story about a mirage job? We would love to hear about it in the comments.