Guidelines for professor job ads include smart, smooth phrases

“We offer a competitive start-up package in a young, dynamic and international environment”.

You have may have seen this formulation on a job advertisement before.

Now – the chances are – you will see it on a job advertisement from the University of Copenhagen.

Focus on softer qualities

It is one of the sentences recommended in a just-released guideline addressed to the University’s heads of department for the new tenure track system.

The tenure-track system gives six-year contracts to assistant professors on their way to an associate professor or professor level, and in which they can achieve tenure – a permanent contract with high job security. The scheme has been officially implemented at the University of Copenhagen as of 1 January 2014.

Softer qualities pertaining to the Danish lifestyle can be highlighted as an ‘attractive’ feature when trying to get international scientists to make their career at the University of Copenhagen, according to the guidelines.

Must ‘convince’ candidates that UCPH is best choice

Phrase examples include: “The position is sited in Copenhagen, where childcare opportunities make it possible to combine a challenging career with a healthy family life”.

Departments should remember that candidates may often not have the University of Copenhagen as their first choice, and that there are many other university options, the guidelines write. Candidates will have likely applied to other positions as well. So it is all about convincing the best candidates that UCPH is the best choice. This includes specifying how they will fit into the department as a team.

Job advertisements for the new tenure track positions “should provide a clear sense not only of the expectations for the candidate but also of the possibilities and career opportunities that the department is offering, such as being part of the department team of scientists,” the guidelines state.

miy@adm.ku.dk

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