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I have been offered and have accepted a position at a university. The position is not advertised yet, but they will advertise it because they are required to. Is this something common in academia? To be more clear on what happened, prior to the offer I sent my CV as a respond to another similar position which they advertised, but it was to be filled immediately and so I was ruled out. I guess after looking at my CV and having further conversations with me they were keen for me to join them and so they offered me this new position. But because they are required to, they have to go through another round of formalities.

I did ask the head of department how he could be sure that I would be the most suitable person for the job and told him that others might be better candidates, to which he said something to the effect that he saw me as suited for the group. But since I have not signed any contracts yet, how can I guarantee that I will eventually get the job? From the time I accepted the offer, I have stopped looking for other jobs, and have withdrawn my other applications, but since there are no contracts signed yet, I am a bit worried.

Perhaps another question I should ask is why are universities required to put up advertisements and to go trough all the formalities if they already decided on someone?

adipro
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    Given that this is illegal (by the employers) in many countries (including the UK), and that it's fairly easy to get from your username to your real-world identity, you might want to consider whether posting this question in this form is wise – 410 gone Jan 19 '16 at 11:51
  • I have been offered Verbal or written? – Nobody Jan 19 '16 at 11:51
  • @scaaahu both verbal and written. The acceptance was written. – adipro Jan 19 '16 at 12:01
  • @EnergyNumbers why is it illegal? – adipro Jan 19 '16 at 12:02
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    @adipro What do you mean, "why"? If there is a formal requirement to publicly post a position, then this requirement is not fullfilled if they promised you the position beforehand. Depending on where the requirement comes from (government law, organizational rule, ...), it may be actually illegal or merely a violation of organisational policy. – xLeitix Jan 19 '16 at 12:07
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    What kind of a position is it? In Germany, this seems to be routinely done for doctoral candidates. On the one hand, institutes often have a "standing invitation" that anyone interested in doing research in is encouraged to contact the institute (whereas concrete openings are mostly only presented or agreed upon in personal conversation), and on the other hand, quite some doctoral candidate positions are only created on-demand, e.g. by combining several sources of money to assemble enough to fund a person who the institute is interested in. ... – O. R. Mapper Jan 19 '16 at 12:11
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    @adipro because it breaches discrimination laws – 410 gone Jan 19 '16 at 12:12
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    ... With that said, the question describes some other details than what the title focuses on. While this might differ per country again, I would actually be quite worried that you did not sign any kind of a contract for the position you are holding. – O. R. Mapper Jan 19 '16 at 12:15
  • @xLeitix what should I do in this case, then? – adipro Jan 19 '16 at 12:23
  • Oh dear. This sounds like a rather unfortunate situation. @adipro any chance you'll tell us which country (or group of somewhat similar countries) this position is in? I have some thoughts about this I could consider writing as an answer, but much would depend on the country. – Dan Romik Jan 19 '16 at 21:10
  • @DanRomik the position is in a Scandinavian country. – adipro Jan 20 '16 at 08:48
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    I see, thanks. I'm very unfamiliar with those countries so wouldn't have too much insight to offer, other than that I agree with the other commenters that there are some serious ethical, and quite possibly legal, problems with the way the department head is behaving. You are very right to be concerned (both as a general rule since you don't yet have a contract, and much more so because of the specific situation). In the U.S., I would recommend consulting a lawyer and also maybe looking into whistleblower protection laws, but not sure if this advice is applicable to Scandinavia. – Dan Romik Jan 20 '16 at 09:16
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    The fact that you have withdrawn your other applications based on the sketchy promise is also very troubling of course. Hopefully things will work out, but the bottom line is that this is a really nasty and unpleasant way to treat a new faculty member, and I hope it's not representative of how things will generally work at your new university. – Dan Romik Jan 20 '16 at 09:19

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Offering a position informally is illegal, but unfortunately still common practice in academia in the UK and some other countries. By offering you this position, the University violated good business practice and possibly breached several laws (although I am not a lawyer and can not speak in confidence here).

From purely human perspective, consider other candidates, who will find this post advertised online, will spend hours and days preparing and polishing their applications, put their time and effort in this work. Some of them will eventually be shortlisted, and will come to the interview, some of them travelling from other countries in hope to get a better job. And their desires and hopes will be for nothing, because this position is already promised to you, and all the process is in fact fake.

You describe your sense of insecurity. But for other candidates it could also be a very frustrating experience to be selected for an interview and then turned down for no obvious reason, often without a decent feedback or even a polite letter of rejection.

Finding a job in academia is increasingly difficult, but this is exactly why fair hiring practice is now greatly important to ensure that the best candidates have the positions of the base of their merit. Although you may have no better options than to join the University which offers you the position, it is important to realise that their current practice is toxic and should be improved.

Dmitry Savostyanov
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  • Should I point it out to them more bluntly that this practice would be unfair to the other applicants? Can we do something to curb this practice? – adipro Jan 19 '16 at 14:24
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    @adipro, if you want the job, I wouldn't mention it. This is something that's easier fixed from the inside than the outside. Once you're in, you can work with the department to fix what you see as unfairness in the process. Though you might not start rocking the boat too hard until you have tenure. – Bill Barth Jan 19 '16 at 14:51
  • You are making quite a bold assumption with the speculation that other people will apply for the position, get invited to interviews, and even spend considerable time travelling. I agree it is quite deceitful to raise people's hopes like that, but if that is not the case, other than the practice being illegal in some legislations, I can see nothing wrong about offering a position informally. – O. R. Mapper Jan 19 '16 at 15:24
  • @O.R.Mapper this is a very unethical practice, even if no one is invited for an interview. Assume (very conservatively) that each applicant spent 30 minutes drafting a cover letter and applying online. Assume (very realistically) that there are a few hundred applications. You have just wasted several hundred man-hours of highly qualified professionals. See my point? Besides, saying "other than the practice being illegal [...] I can see nothing wrong" is by itself quite an absurd thing to say. – Dan Romik Jan 19 '16 at 17:00
  • @DanRomik: Granted, I am thinking of positions for doctoral candidates, and in that case, the expectation seems to be that there will not be any applications, anyway - or that the job description is so generic that if this one is taken, applicants, if any, will be offered the next free position. Such highly individual posts are rather filled via "unsolicited applications" (i.e. an application to the respective professor that does not refer to a specific job opening, but that highlights skills and interests of the candidate), and come to think of it, I am not even sure the internal ... – O. R. Mapper Jan 19 '16 at 17:11
  • ... filling of a position is clearly different from such an unsolicited application. – O. R. Mapper Jan 19 '16 at 17:13
  • @DanRomik: Also, I now see what you meant by 'saying "other than the practice being illegal [...] I can see nothing wrong" is by itself quite an absurd thing to say' - and I fully disagree. "Legal" does not automatically mean "good", and "illegal" does not automatically mean "bad". Many countries try to shape their legal landscape this way, but neither is it always successful, nor is it possible, given that there are quite some things on which there is no general consensus on whether they are "good" or "bad". – O. R. Mapper Jan 19 '16 at 18:15
  • @O.R.Mapper okay, I agree for some laws the statement you wrote may make sense, but specifically for the case of laws that pertain to fair hiring practices (and possibly fraud or other forms of harmful deception), and under some reasonable assumptions that we are talking about a developed country with low levels of corruption, I still think it's absurd to say that "other than" a behavior being illegal, you see "nothing wrong". The illegality in this case would be a very big deal IMHO. – Dan Romik Jan 19 '16 at 21:15
  • @DanRomik: I said the illegality of the described practice (in legislations where it is legal) is, in my view, the only thing making it wrong to follow this practice. I see it as similar to a company taking over a former apprentice after completing their apprenticeship, or a company taking over a former intern after graduation. – O. R. Mapper Jan 19 '16 at 21:19
  • @O.R.Mapper depends what you mean by "this practice". I think we are talking about two different things. With regards to the examples you describe, indeed there is nothing wrong with them, nor are they illegal. I'm not aware of a general legal requirement to advertise a position and consider all applicants (though there might be such laws in the context of public universities). E.g., AFAIK if I run a business I can hire, say, my brother in law without considering anyone else. What is unethical, and probably illegal in many places, is to advertise a position, ... – Dan Romik Jan 19 '16 at 21:30
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    ... giving the impression that you would consider all applicants (although you have no intention of doing so) and soliciting materials that take effort to produce, and then hiring your brother-in-law/apprentice/etc, to whom you have already made an explicit job offer in writing. To my layman's understanding that sounds like fraud, or maybe something slightly less serious but still very serious. – Dan Romik Jan 19 '16 at 21:30
  • @DanRomik: Certainly, we can agree on that. – O. R. Mapper Jan 19 '16 at 21:35
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    External advertising is desirable because you wish to fill the position you have with the best candidate. It should be in the department's interest to make an as broad advertisement as possible. Of course, particular known candidates should be encouraged to apply. The position, however, should not be promised before the application process is over. Perhaps the dept. is - by focusing on the nearby option - missing out on one of the top candidates? At least, if we want a meritocracy, that's how it should run. The hirers made a mistake and hadn't you noticed it, it would have run its course. – Captain Emacs Jan 20 '16 at 11:28
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    @CaptainEmacs: In many contexts, no candidate can possibly be better than a candidate who is already a part of the team due to their previous work in the department. If the OP has not yet had any contact to the respective future employer, though, that is of course not the case. – O. R. Mapper Jan 20 '16 at 11:36
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    There are standard provisions for keeping people already on the department payroll in continued employment. I do not think that this is the issue here. Rather, the problem seems to be a new employment which is agreed upon before the procedure is initiated. In the past many European institutions used to be quite cavalier about how positions are allocated. Adopting increasingly US-style legislation and requirements, what happens is that institutions seem to adhere to old practice, while only paying lip-service to the new legislation and thus wasting everybody's (including their own) time. – Captain Emacs Jan 20 '16 at 11:49