Monday, March 1, 2010

Recruiting and Job Openings

I sometimes feel that another one of my jobs is that of a "recruiter." As Coordinator of the Doctoral Program in Management Science program at the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst, I coordinate the evaluation and recruitment of students into our doctoral program every year.

At the same time, I have served on 4 search committees in the past 3 years, and as chair for 3 of these search committees, with the most recent one resulting in the successful search for the Dean of the Isenberg School, with the hiring of Dr. Mark Fuller this past year. Now I am chairing the search for a faculty hire in my department.

Interestingly, I also regularly get contacted by faculty, administrators, as well as search firms, asking whether I would be interested in a "move," as well as whether I have appropriate students to fill certain key positions. I get such requests globally -- most recently for positions in Stockholm and in Vienna.

In addition, my undergraduate students are in the process of looking for jobs. Some of our Operations Management majors have already secured excellent positions in industry, whereas others should be hearing shortly, and some are still on the lookout.

I told some of my undergraduates that they should also be checking the openings for employment that are posted in ORMS Today, since there are some very exciting opportunities (and they agreed)! The positions are in industries from transportation, logistics, and supply chains to consulting. They also reflect the interesting jobs that are available if one has an education in operations research and management science.

Of course, for academic positions, which are also advertised on that site, advanced degrees, and, typically, a PhD are necessary.