Applying to Biology Faculty Positions in India: Lessons from experience

I’m a Post Doc from the National Center for Biological Sciences at Bengaluru in India. I’ve been looking for faculty positions in Biology within India because I sense my talents, motivation and training can make an impact on many students’ lives and research here. Elsewhere, I’d be more replaceable than I am here. Also, the need for committed trainers in India is much greater at this time.

The Covid crisis precipitated in March and we are in August. So to speak, the crisis has disrupted many hiring and funding decisions. However, my peers and I have been applying for positions since July 2019. I’d like to share my experiences first and share inferences after.

In my opinion teaching and research go hand in hand. The thrill of finding things out must be supplemented with the ability to train others to formulate original questions, using methods and techniques, analysis, critical thinking and communication skills. For that reason I chose IITs and IISERs as my first choice as host institutions.

You have probably heard, this is the best time for starting a research program in India. A number of new government and non government institutions with vision and considerable financial support are popping up. Here is a need we can fulfill. There may be mundane challenges to daily life, but if you grew up here, its more rewarding.

Here are some factors to remember when you do apply. As they stand, for every faculty position available in these institutions, there are 400 applicants. That should help you set the first conditions to your probability calculations. Selection committees and directors proclaim they are looking for good people. Having a PostDoc from an Ivy League institution adds ten feet to the pedestal on which you are placed, the remaining made up by the sum of impact factors of your publications. Leaders of these institutions claim that experience abroad is not a factor in hiring, but their hires speak otherwise. Even so, applications with illustrious publication records, do not guarantee invitations for interviews and job offers. Quite a few people I know were not considered at one institution but were welcomed at a comparable or better institution. Hiring in India seems to be a black box from the outside.

Most people apply to 25 Universities and institutes, hear from 3 of them and maybe receive one offer. Some factors adding to these outcomes include

1)    The knowledge and skill gap that the institution needs to fill e.g. a) TIGS and Ashoka University are looking to address human infectious diseases, which are an immense burden on our society. Developmental biologists or ecologists don’t fit that mandate well. IIT Bombay viewed my application and politely said that my research proposal was not the direction wants to go in (which seems to be cancer research). I think this was a fair response. Certain other institutions might be looking for someone like me with Drosophila, stem cells and muscle experience. I just have to find them.

2)    Selection committees deal with a lot of applications. They are also accountable for their choice of selection. This means that if an applicant who didn’t have top impact factor sums gets chosen, the committee may be accused of favoritism and liable for legal action, irrespective of the candidate’s performance. The committee also does not spend time on actually reading the papers and research proposals because impact factor sums, a proxy for yours and my potential, in a way liberates them from that obligation. This is hearsay, but apparently people are sorted on a spreadsheet by the sum of their impact factors and the top twenty are considered further at least in one institution that I know of. One can argue that there is a loss in talent and institution building through this practice, but that would require additional analysis that no institution is prepared to or willing to do. Many of our institutions also lack the courtesy of informing candidates if their application was assessed and rejected. That leaves applicants’ hopes dangling. My assessment is, if you haven’t heard back within three months, chances are your application was examined and rejected. Rolling advertisements not only mean that you can apply at any time, but also that selection committees can choose to meet at any point of their choosing. That too influences turn around time, usually adding delays.

3)    Age: A maximum of 35 years of age is a seemingly arbitrary cutoff MHRD institutes use on hiring fresh faculty. Apparently there is a time bound promotion and pay increase schedule for government employees that can’t be interfered with. Somehow, unsurprisingly, bureaucracy trumps science here. This limit is not adhered to by DAE institutions.

4)    Funding: Institutions are more receptive to faculty applicants who have fellowships and funding in hand. We must note, our fellowships pay for a lot of Institutional expenses that our labs will never directly see. But how do you get your own funding without a job offer from an instruction in hand, you ask? That is a difficult problem, that some current PIs have cracked. Getting guidance from those individuals may help.

Note: If an institution wants you, they’ll bend their guidelines to accommodate you. If we could only be so lucky.

So what can we do about it? I wish I could be sure so that I could secure a position for myself. Having said that, knowing the rules of the game here are a few suggestions.

1. Have a solid research proposal, preferably with preliminary data. Maybe I’m being wishful, but I have faith that for all its shortcomings and human imperfections, our system does not hire duds. This also speaks to the shear supply of great candidates available to our institutions.
2. Target institutions and build a rapport. It helps to give talks (even online) at those institutions and make sure people on selection committees attend. This may get your foot in the door.
3. Apply far and wide because you never know whose requirements you fit. We have the luxury at this time to apply to new and promising institutions. Geographical limitations will limit your chances. That’s something one has to work with. Like a wise colleague once said “Do not decline an offer you don’t have.”
4. Get your own funding. Covid or no Covid, everyone likes a paying party goer. If you can bear some of your own costs, hosts look at you favorably.
5. Identify the requirements of Institutions and adapt your proposal to it. This is like knowing the hush hush minutes of board meetings of big companies. You need a network to elicit this information. Build the network as best you can and as early as you can.

As I have come say to all of my colleagues, Good luck to us all.