Greetings, While there is no doubt that the job market in ecology and evolutionary biology is tough, this has been true since at least the early 1980s. This year seemed like a very good year for job postings. One postdoctoral associate I know in plant ecology applied for nearly 50 university positions and he now has several excellent job offers.
For some historical perspective from 1985 see: The Academic Job Market for Ecologists: Observations from Four Search Committees. Robert K. Peet, David C. Glenn-Lewin, Forest Stearns and Patrick C. Kangas. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. Vol. 66, No. 1 (Mar., 1985) (pp. 2-5). These authors were each on a search committee at four different universities. They concluded: The results of our searches indicate that (1) there are many applicants for relatively few academic positions; (2) a majority are male; (3) most have substantial publications records; and (4) most have several years of postdoctoral experience, most often in temporary positions. We were impressed with the talent and breadth of experience displayed by the applicants, and by their diversity. Clearly, in any reasonable job market, a majority would already have permanent academic positions. However, even with an improvement in the job market, the accumulated pool of postdoctoral applicants will likely remain, and finishing Ph.D.'s will need to expect several years of temporary positions while they build their credentials. I think this suggests that for most of the last 4 decades, the job market has been highly competitive. My undergraduate adviser warned me that jobs were scarce in 1981. This suggests to me that if you are not deeply committed and passionate about becoming a professor in the field of ecology, you might want to look elsewhere. Walter Carson University of Pittsburgh
