you can do it …

My #macromom post today has two purposes: first, to encourage candidates on the job market and second, to alert you to many funding opportunities for doctoral, post-doctoral, and early-career scholars. We all need support and it comes in many forms.

Job Market Zen

Everyone’s experience on the job market. I had a friend who got an offer right away from his dream school. The rest of his flyouts were super low stress. Mine was not. I didn’t get an offer from the one school in Ohio that would have allowed me not to move my family (again). The academic offered I wanted to accept was in a place with too few options for my non-economist husband at the time. So to DC we went. It was not all sunshine and roses. It worked out and I love being an economist. Looking back I realize how blessed I was with an excellent adviser and support all around me. I want to share some of those wise words with you.

“The quality of your research is orthogonal to the quality of your person.” John DiNardo #RIP. You will have to work at both. We all do, and no one is perfect.
Economists have many options. You may not get offer you are aiming for. The job you accept may not be the best. You need one job and it’s not a lifetime contract. See Danielle Sandler’s reflection on her journey.
The job you are offered is the best job, until you get a second offer. Then you can pick apart the pluses and minuses of those offers. What other get is irrelevant.
You MUST take care of yourself. The job market exhausting both physically and mentally. You have worked years on your paper. It’s hard to have it critiqued, especially by people who have remedial social skills.
You’re the cutting edge of the economics profession. Do NOT let anyone tell you otherwise. Best not to tell them to eff off (out loud) but know you’re AMAZING.
You new colleagues are lucky to have you join them. Colleagues here extends well beyond those individuals who will sit down the hall from you.
Be KIND to yourself and everyone around you. It helps.

Funding and Fellowships

Believe it or not your job search will end. Your research career has only begun. Moving the frontier of our knowledge takes time and money. Here some opportunities to get more financial resources. My list is not exhaustive. Contact the sources, if you have any questions. Many of the deadlines are in FEBRUARY so do not delay.

If you are interested and you meet the minimum criteria, you should apply. You cannot get it, if you do not apply. Casting a wide net is good strategy. You can do it.

Several Host Institutions

Deadline: February 1, 2020.

AEA Summer Economic Research Fellows

Sponsored by American Economics Association and National Science Foundation

Paid-in-residence in summer at participating institution.

Eligible: senior graduate students and early-career faculty.

Mercatus Center

Deadline: February 1, 2020.

Dissertation Fellowship

One-year, renewable fellowship

Eligible: advanced doctoral students, targeted for George Mason students but others welcome to apply. Fields other than economics.

Washington Center for Equitable Growth