Introduction:

The theoretical High Energy Physics (HEP) community has adopted an accord, which can be found here, that states that the earliest deadline for postdoc acceptance is January 7. This accord has changed our field for the better, giving applicants a chance to see all their options and make the best decisions for themselves and their families deciding their next position. However, we found that the date itself might be a little less ideal, due to conflicts with the holiday season in quite a few countries, as well as the Astronomy deadline on February 15 and the growing number of people appling to jobs in HEP and Astro. From there, we wanted to check with the community and see whether they thought another date would be ideal. The results of the survey are published on arXiv here. The results from this survey indicates broad support within the community for reconsidering the Jan 7th deadline in favor of a later date. The remainder of this webpage is meant to coordinate the effort to reach a new, community-wide consensus.

**If you did not get to respond to the initial community survey, have changed your mind, or would like to have your voice heard in any way, you can always email us at het.postdoc.deadline@gmail.com.

Djuna Croon (Durham U.), Patrick Fox (Fermilab), Roni Harnik (Fermilab), Simon Knapen (LBNL), Mariangela Lisanti (Princeton/Flatiron), Lina Necib (MIT), Tien-Tien Yu (U. Oregon)

New Accord:

The new accord can be found here. Institutions/Research groups will sign on the accord by emailing het.postdoc.deadline@gmail.com and adding the name of a representative of the research group.

Results:

The detailed results can be found in the arXiv here. However, we summarize the results as of June 2023 (which we will update if results change qualitatively). Anonymized survey data can be found here.

Frequently Asked Questions:

A few issues have come up from feedback of the original survey. We try to address these below and update them as we go. The results as of June 2023 are included in the arXiv.

1. What is the history behind the January 7 response deadline in HET? The agreement on a common acceptance deadline for postdoc offers in theoretical high energy physics was reached in 2007. The open letter to the community, original signatories, and FAQs (including the rationale for selecting January 7) are provided here. The original motivation for the deadline continues to remain valid today: it is imperative that junior researchers are offered enough time in which to make important job decisions. It also ensures that candidates have a full set of options to choose from (not being limited to an early offer with a short deadline). The purpose of this survey was to gauge the community interest in extending this deadline to later in January or early February, not to abolish it.

2. Would moving the common deadline later lead to logistical challenges? In the astronomy community, most postdoc offers are made in January and the response deadline is not earlier than Feb 15. The American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) policy, adopted in 1988 and later reaffirmed in 2003 and 2006, can be found here. Similarly, the mathematics community reached a similar agreemend with a deadline of Feb 6, which can be found here. It is important to be cognizant of how a later response deadline can affect applicants who need to navigate extra-ordinary visa complications, prepare for a long-distance move, arrange child-care, and/or coordinate dual careers. These very real concerns are to be weighted together with the very broad preference in the community for a later deadline. The write-in comments in the survey indicated that this preference is at least in part driven by family-related considerations, such work-life balance issues and elevated stress-levels during the winter holidays. Any concrete date will always be a compromise, as a 100% satisfactory solution to this problem does not exist. Were the acceptance deadline to change, institutions can help offset these challenges by being as flexible as with contract starting and ending dates.

3. Would a later deadline mean that applicants hold onto offers for longer? It is not clear that this will necessarily be the case, as a later response deadline may mean that individual institutions decide to make their offers later as well. The data from the rumor mill (kindly provided by Felix Yu, and shown below as Figure 2 of this arXiv submission that we produced), averaged over the last 6 years, indicates that candidates who currently receive an offer before Jan 7 on average accept within 12 days of receiving their preferred offer. In general, applicants should be aware that the “best practice” is to not hold onto multiple offers longer than is needed to make their decision.
4. Would extending the response deadline unreasonably extend second and third-round offers for many weeks/months? Data from the postdoc rumor mill sheds some light on this question. Over the last six hiring seasons, 90% of all offers in a given year were accepted within two weeks of the Jan 7 deadline, and 95% within three weeks. There are two important caveats to keep in mind when interpreting this data. First, there may be a delay between when an applicant accepts an offer and when they post it to the rumor mill (although this just makes the conclusions conservative). Second, applicants who receive offers more than one week beyond the Jan 7 deadline may be less likely to report it to the rumor mill. This was addressed as Figure 1 of the arXiv submission.
5. What about CERN which generally has its offers quite early? The following statement was offered by Gian Giudice on behalf of CERN.

   CERN has an early application deadline for theory postdocs because the selection process requires a first stage done at the individual national level. For this reason, CERN has been making postdoc offers as early as November. However, CERN has always respected the January 7th response deadline, and intends to respect any new deadline that will be agreed upon by the physics community. CERN welcomes the proposal to shift the January 7th deadline to a later date. In order to adapt better to such changes, CERN is considering to move its current application deadline to a later date, closer to those of other institutions.

6. What are the timelines for the multidisciplinary postdoctoral fellowships?

Berkeley Miller Fellowship: Acceptance deadline is typically the third week of January

Harvard Society of Junior Fellows: Acceptance deadline is the end of January

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: Offers made ~mid-late February

MIT Pappalardo Fellowship: Acceptance deadline is currently Jan 7 to be in-line with the current HET deadline

NASA Hubble Fellowship: Offers typically made at the end of Jan/beginning of Feb, with an acceptance deadline of Feb 15

Princeton Center for Theoretical Science (PCTS) Fellowship: No official acceptance deadline; informal encouragement to respond by early January

UC Presidential and Chancellor Fellowships: Offers made at the end of February