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In a similar vein.... Why doesn't industry recruit postdocs more aggressively? It's a large pool of smart, hardworking people, most of whom don't have stable o

In a similar vein.... Why doesn't industry recruit postdocs more aggressively? It's a large pool of smart, hardworking people, most of whom don't have stable or well-paying jobs. I work in a reasonably hot area (neuro/ML), have relevant skills (Python, C++), and a decent pedigree, but I think I've talked to ~3 recruiters ever—and two of them were introduced to me by a mutual friend.

borroka 7y ago
I tried many unsuccessful times to convince recruiters at different companies to recruit postdocs, especially those coming from the more quantitative sciences that were not computer science or adjacent to computer science. The main reasons are inertia (they never recruited postdocs before), aversion to risk (postdocs did not work in industry before), and a sprinkle of laziness here and there. They were much more open to interviewing postdocs that had spent a few weeks getting up to speed (or so recruiters and hiring managers thought) on industry practices in boot camps (such as Insight DS for my field). Some forward-looking companies could organize one-month boot camps specifically for hired postdocs, but the interviews should also change (e.g., you cannot ask a postdoc on how to put a certain model in production, since they never did that before). And there is nothing more solidly written in stone than the way of interviewing for tech positions, apparently.
oefrha 7y ago
Not sure about recruiters specifically reaching out to individual postdocs, but in my experience quant trading firms seem to send recruiting emails all the time.
kkwteh 7y ago
My guess is that it's mainly because postdocs are an unknown quantity without legible, interpretable experience, which greatly increases the risk of hiring them. One of the main achievements of the Insight Data Science program (which I have participated in), is that it makes you produce output (a web app) that is legible to employers. People are very risk-averse when making hiring decisions, and tend to hire people who know what they know.

borroka 7y ago

I tried many unsuccessful times to convince recruiters at different companies to recruit postdocs, especially those coming from the more quantitative sciences that were not computer science or adjacent to computer science. The main reasons are inertia (they never recruited postdocs before), aversion to risk (postdocs did not work in industry before), and a sprinkle of laziness here and there. They were much more open to interviewing postdocs that had spent a few weeks getting up to speed (or so recruiters and hiring managers thought) on industry practices in boot camps (such as Insight DS for my field). Some forward-looking companies could organize one-month boot camps specifically for hired postdocs, but the interviews should also change (e.g., you cannot ask a postdoc on how to put a certain model in production, since they never did that before). And there is nothing more solidly written in stone than the way of interviewing for tech positions, apparently.

oefrha 7y ago

Not sure about recruiters specifically reaching out to individual postdocs, but in my experience quant trading firms seem to send recruiting emails all the time.

kkwteh 7y ago

My guess is that it's mainly because postdocs are an unknown quantity without legible, interpretable experience, which greatly increases the risk of hiring them. One of the main achievements of the Insight Data Science program (which I have participated in), is that it makes you produce output (a web app) that is legible to employers. People are very risk-averse when making hiring decisions, and tend to hire people who know what they know.