In this edition of “Landing a Faculty Position,” Carolyn West of the Early Career Scientist Career Development Subcommittee interviews Jazlyn Mooney, assistant professor at the University of Southern California (USC).
On job applications
Caroline: What is your current role?
Jazlyn: I am currently an assistant professor at the University of Southern California. I started my lab here in January 2022. Before being at USC, I was at Stanford for my postdoc, and I graduated from USC in September 2020 with a PhD in human genetics. I did undergrad at the University of New Mexico with a double major in biology and anthropology. I do computational biology, mostly focusing on human genetics and evolution with some conservation genomics. This was the first job I applied for.
Caroline: How long did it take you to begin preparing application materials for an academic faculty position?
Jazleen: Two weeks, but formally a month. I sent the content of my application to people to look at and then revised from there. I think the key was that after I started the process I told people that I would deliver the material to them by x date, and asked them to get back to me on a certain date. If you do that, people are very receptive. Also, I saw the interview process as a learning situation: trying to figure out how the process works rather than a high-pressure situation. It helped bring my stress levels down, but it’s not always possible for everyone to take it that way.
Caroline: Were there any resources that were particularly helpful in preparing your content?
Jazlyn: I asked people who recently got hired and people who are really good at their jobs to review their application materials.
Caroline: Are there any specific organizations, listings, or websites you would recommend for finding job opportunities?
Jazlyn: I actually didn’t find out about this job online. A former student in my postdoc advisor’s lab was at USC and said I should apply because I was a good fit. There are job boards out there, but they can be depressing. They are good for finding positions, but bad for psychology.
Caroline: What advice would you give applicants about first-round (remote) interviews?
Jazlyn: Prepare in that you have an idea of what your interviewer does. But also find out if that thing is relevant to your work, and let the conversation develop naturally. A lot of people who interviewed me didn’t just care about my research, but also who I was as a person, and how I fit in with the department. Know what your interviewers are doing, but don’t feel like you have to read all their papers. They are interviewing you, but you are also interviewing them, and you can ask them questions about their work.
Caroline: What helped you prepare for your job talk and chalk talk?
Jazlyn: Practice. I practiced and prepared for a few weeks. I gave three practice talks, revised, and gave a final one to my postdoc advisor. You need to have a clear narrative – clear enough in your head that you can be derailed by questions and still get your point across. Explain your goals and how they’re tied together in enough detail that people understand what’s going on, but not so much that you can’t finish the story. You should have three goals that are basically the components of your first grant, and a general idea of all the grants you will apply for after starting your lab.
Caroline: Were there any common questions during interviews that you wish you had prepared for differently?
Jazlyn: Not really. You should have a clear vision of what your lab’s goals are. This becomes obvious when you haven’t thought about publishing some paper. Find out what makes you different from your advisor. How will you make your research unique and novel? Also highlight how your work fits in with the department. Being a faculty means you need to be a team player.
Caroline: Have you been asked about your personal life (especially as a woman)? If yes, how did you deal with this question?
Jazlyn: No, in fact, my department was going out of its way to tell me that they supported family and work-life balance, without directly asking if I had a family.
Caroline: What does a “day in your life” look like in your current role?
Jazlyn: A typical day for me is this: I get up at 6:00 am, work out, and am in the lab from 8:00 or 9:00 am until 5:00 pm, I usually prepare for teaching, read papers, and write if I can find the time, or meet with my students. The best mornings are when I am reading, writing and helping students. In the afternoon I try to check on people in the lab and see how they are doing. If they are working, I leave them alone. Then I work on all the administrative tasks I need to complete.
Sometimes, it is difficult to balance all teaching responsibilities. It’s hard to read papers, mentor, and do research that you were trained to do. Often, I don’t have time to read unless I’m working outside of the nine-to-five. But it’s also important to remember that it’s my job, it’s not me, and it’s not my personality. I limit myself to nine to five as a faculty because my work is on the computer, and I can work whenever I want.
Caroline: What has been the most surprising thing about starting your faculty position?
Jazlyn: I am surprised that I am not as active a researcher as I thought. In other words, it’s hard for me not to work. It also means coming to terms with a different timeline. I can suggest an analysis that I can do quickly, but my students likely won’t be able to turn things around that quickly. And that’s okay. It may take them a few weeks or a month, but you have to let them learn. Then, they become faster. It’s a good reminder to me that I need to give them the space and encouragement that I’ve had myself, to learn and improve.
Caroline: What skills do you wish you had developed earlier that would have made the transition smoother?
Jazlyn: Grant writing. I wrote for classic National Science Foundation grants, grads, and postdocs, and I was very happy with them—they were successful. Those were the only times I really tried to write a grant. During my postdoc, my advisor let me help him. I got my first grant this year, after four attempts on the same project, and it was really hard.
Caroline: How long did it take you to hire your lab members, and what is your hiring strategy? How did you find the right fit?
Jazlyn: For postdocs, I advise almost immediately. After that we met by email. An amazing postdoc just cold emailed me. I have not tried to adopt a strategy for recruiting graduate students, as our program is rotational. For my first grader, I was his TA when I was a grad student. In contrast, my new grad student did undergrad with me.
Caroline: Any additional suggestions?
Jazlyn: Don’t despair when there are no jobs. It is not a reflection of you as a scientist. There are many good scientists who struggle to get jobs. Even with the best of them all, sometimes it’s a matter of luck how you fit into the department, and when that job ad goes up.
