I am very happy to share with you the news that I have recently been offered and have accepted a position at another "N" institute, and will be moving next semester.
Inspired by a comment left by an anonymous commenter long ago, my future institute will be henceforth referred to as New1[1]. My primary motivation to move to New1 is the tremendous opportunity that it provides for my academic growth.
Working at N1 has been a wonderful experience and I have always been very happy here. But, I have had to take this difficult decision purely from the point of view of furthering my academic goals. N1 and New1 share very similar philosophies and objectives and that is an added advantage.
I am feeling a lot of things right now. I feel excited about a new opportunity and I also feel sad at the prospect of moving away from some very close friends and dear colleagues. [This has been my plight since childhood - move from a place as soon as I begin to build personal connections there- sigh! In the last six months at N1, I have made some really good friends here!]
But, what I feel the most right now is gratitude. I am grateful to New1 for expressing an interest in my application and processing it in a very timely manner, grateful to N1 for understanding my professional needs and granting the necessary approvals [2] very smoothly, grateful to all my referees for sending in their letters at very short notice and for always supporting me in all my endeavours. My initial plan was to apply a few months later and to more than one place so that I could give my referees sufficient time to write. However, once my former advisor and second postdoc mentor assured me that they will write for me as soon as needed, I decided to avail this very good opportunity presented by New1. After this, I contacted two other referees who also promptly sent in their letters.
I am also very grateful for the professional courtesy and the positive vibes that I encountered during my interaction with the chairperson, members of the selection committee and other faculty members during the visit to New1 for my job talk and interview.
Coincidentally, this week, I am at New1 for a conference. I have met many future colleagues and they have been very friendly, warm and welcoming, this making me look forward to the move.
Finally, I am so grateful to be in India at a time when there are so many opportunities to build a science career at new places which want you and also the opportunity to contribute towards building these places.
[1] The other possible names could be N2, NN1 etc. But, I like New1 the most.
[2] Applications to move from one government institute in India to another have to go through proper channels. Thus, I had to take approval from the director at N1 to apply to New1. I truly appreciate his cooperation in this matter.
Inspired by a comment left by an anonymous commenter long ago, my future institute will be henceforth referred to as New1[1]. My primary motivation to move to New1 is the tremendous opportunity that it provides for my academic growth.
Working at N1 has been a wonderful experience and I have always been very happy here. But, I have had to take this difficult decision purely from the point of view of furthering my academic goals. N1 and New1 share very similar philosophies and objectives and that is an added advantage.
I am feeling a lot of things right now. I feel excited about a new opportunity and I also feel sad at the prospect of moving away from some very close friends and dear colleagues. [This has been my plight since childhood - move from a place as soon as I begin to build personal connections there- sigh! In the last six months at N1, I have made some really good friends here!]
But, what I feel the most right now is gratitude. I am grateful to New1 for expressing an interest in my application and processing it in a very timely manner, grateful to N1 for understanding my professional needs and granting the necessary approvals [2] very smoothly, grateful to all my referees for sending in their letters at very short notice and for always supporting me in all my endeavours. My initial plan was to apply a few months later and to more than one place so that I could give my referees sufficient time to write. However, once my former advisor and second postdoc mentor assured me that they will write for me as soon as needed, I decided to avail this very good opportunity presented by New1. After this, I contacted two other referees who also promptly sent in their letters.
I am also very grateful for the professional courtesy and the positive vibes that I encountered during my interaction with the chairperson, members of the selection committee and other faculty members during the visit to New1 for my job talk and interview.
Coincidentally, this week, I am at New1 for a conference. I have met many future colleagues and they have been very friendly, warm and welcoming, this making me look forward to the move.
Finally, I am so grateful to be in India at a time when there are so many opportunities to build a science career at new places which want you and also the opportunity to contribute towards building these places.
[1] The other possible names could be N2, NN1 etc. But, I like New1 the most.
[2] Applications to move from one government institute in India to another have to go through proper channels. Thus, I had to take approval from the director at N1 to apply to New1. I truly appreciate his cooperation in this matter.
8 comments:
Congratulations on the move! You are, I believe, not a lab scientist and therefore there are fewer constraints on moving (or on doing good work no matter where you are). But it is always nice to be part of an active group working on areas of interest to you.
Congrats on your new position.
Lucky that your N1 Director agreed with your intention to move out (on a second thought, what can he do if you really want to move !). For a Director and the department, it must be painful if one of the selected (and good) faculty decide to move out of the institute. First off all the effort in selecting the candidate got wasted !, then they have to go again through the time consuming selection process and finally a good faculty leaving an institute may send out a wrong message to the public. Definitely not good for a new institute !
It makes me wonder, what ethics one should follow while applying for, selecting and transferring positions in academic institutions in India? Do we have any responsibility to the institute we join?
Thanks a lot, Rahul. I agree with you. I really want to build collaborations within India and New1, apart from having a group in my research area, also offers the opportunity to participate in academic activities in other places close by.
Je, how and why one chooses a job or chooses to move is a very personal decision and each person taking this step has to answer the questions you have asked. In terms of ethics, a person who gives one's best efforts to his/her institute and pursues a career plan matching the objectives of the institute is certainly fulfilling his or her responsibilities to the institute. But, the same person has a right to move to a place which meets his or her professional needs better. At the end of the day, I feel that our primary responsibility to our institute is that we build an excellent research programme and train future scientists as part of it.
But, of course, there are certain ethics one should try to follow: not leave an institute in the middle of the semester at short notice, keep all the people directly concerned with us professionally well informed so that they hear it from us and not gossip and make sure that the interests of one's students should not be compromised in any way. And finally, while one may take certain decisions for the betterment of their professional or personal opportunities, what disturbs me the most is when people leaving an institute speak negatively about it outside and don't appreciate the good things that the previous workplace offered.
Je -- I think the issues you raise ("wasted" selection process, doing it again, "wrong" message) have nothing to do with whether director approval is required or not. That apart, I don't think those are issues as long as it goes both ways. Turnover is good. If one particular institute is losing faculty and not gaining any, that is perhaps a worry, but an individual decision should not be a worry.
I agree with NPNI's comments on how to do it professionally and without disruption.
What about your PhD student : Is he moving with you ?
Yes, my student is moving with me.
Dear maam,
welcome to my institute. It is really gratifying to know that from next semester onwards I will be reading my own institute's news in 'Academic Garden'.
Dear New Prof
All best wishes for your new job. Changes can be rejuvenating and invigorating and it will be a good time for you and your student, I am sure.
Je says: “It makes me wonder, what ethics one should follow while applying for, selecting and transferring positions in academic institutions in India? Do we have any responsibility to the institute we join?”
My two paisa worth comments on the above. I feel its good to move early in one’s career if you think the fit is better elsewhere. Today’s India offers may different opportunities and that is good. In the not so distant past, many who wanted a change moved abroad. That said ( that its good to move early, if you think things can be better elsewhere), there are times when its best to dig in and transform the place where you are for the better. Of new IITs and IISERs many will give such opportunities and others, for a variety of internal and external reasons, will be difficult to build or mould. Finally, from the perspective of one’s personal ‘worth’ I feel its not your h index or your awards or the number of papers that matter: Its, who wants to hire you. If good places want to hire you, you are doing well. If they keep away, you should worry. Few tenured people have the courage to test the waters elsewhere (or even discuss a thought experiment about who are likely to have them), even when all is not cushy for them in their home turf. From the perspective of an institution’s worth, the quality of those it manages to happily retain and of those it can attract are the only true measures of success. If the excellent leave and other excellent cannot be attracted, the institution is in trouble. So, we do have a responsibility to our institutes as they have to us. But, staying or leaving may not be the best or only measure of this.
Cheers
Vijay
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