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Rumo[u]r Mills Job Search

By overconvergent
Posted Mon Sep 13, 2004 at 11:30:02 AM PDT
The internet provides a certain amount of anonymity; one group of beneficiaries of this are "rumour mill" websites, such as the following site for theoretical particle physics.

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These sites provide details of job offers made by academic institutions, often giving shortlists with lists of names, and sometimes also the names of people who were offered jobs and declined them. This information can be very useful to those in the academic community, but it also raises ethical questions, as the shortlists were presumably confidential.

The right to free speech conflicts here with the right of a search committee to make decisions in confidence.

Long ago, the YMN considered hosting such a website. Would we be willing (and able) to do such a thing?

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Rumo[u]r Mills | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)
[new] setting up/managing a rumor mill (none / 0) (#1)
by dkung on Thu Sep 16, 2004 at 07:32:31 AM PDT

This was discussed at one of the YMN/NExT panels at MathFest, and the grad students who attended were very supportive of this idea. My suggestion is to not use people's names, just note what stage each school is at (e.g. State U. - on campus interviews scheuled).



[new] I agree YMN should give this a try... (none / 0) (#2)
by jvano on Fri Sep 17, 2004 at 01:18:51 PM PDT

Although, since I'm on the job market this year maybe my opinion is a bit biased...

What would be the easiest way, make a new section entitled "rumor-mill" or is this something that should just go under the existing Job Search catagory? Or maybe something else entirely...



[new] Not so jazzed about the idea... (none / 0) (#3)
by chawne on Sun Sep 19, 2004 at 01:26:27 PM PDT

I suppose that I'm turned off by the seediness.  Is this really what YMN is about?  Can this somehow be run without reference to YMN?  

What does YMN stand to gain from this endeavor?  Is it more than we stand to lose--specifically, in terms of what modicum of respect we have now?

Last year I was on the market and not particularly interested in too many people knowing about this.  However, I inevitably knew my competition for all the positions and we had informal discussions about the interviews, offers, and negotiations.  But this was done by us with consent and all kept confidential among ourselves.  

Please convince me that YMN-as-National Enquirer is a good idea.



Rumo[u]r Mills | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)
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