Febuary 19, 2026 (Updated March 31, 2026)
Let me start with an acknowledgement. Yesterday a student stopped by my office hours and spoke with me for about 20 minutes about applications to grad school and jobs. So thank you for that. I always enjoy it when students come by and talk to me. Office hours are lonely (I'm teaching a grad class this semester; NO ONE from the class ever comes by).
OK, one of the things that we talked about was advice about jobs. She was concerned that she had applied to a number of jobs, but even though she had some interviews (the first one today, I believe), she didn't know if she was missing her chances - that all of the jobs were already taken.
First of all, *sometimes* jobs get posted, but the person in charge of hiring already has a person in mind. It happens. Typically, jobs still have to be posted and advertised, even with a preselect. And in some cases (although this is rare), people hire twice - or keep the files in case they have a reason to hire a second person later on in the cycle.
But mostly, job ads are just that - they are advertisements for job opportunities. At this point in the year, the market is graduating seniors who are not going to graduate school, who are looking to gain further experience in research or clinical practice in the psychological sciences. Just to remind you, I maintain a list of all the job announcements I receive here. But also, please note that there are others that i'm not privy to. (I get my ads from two listservs, but the main one is a developmental listserv, which is why my list tends to lean towards that area of psychological science).
Here's the main point of this blog entry: THE JOB CYCLE IS NOT THE SAME AS THE GRADUATE ADMISSIONS CYCLE. Right now, we are in the height of graduate school season. A lot of places have made decisions and have told students. We, here at Brown, have not yet, but we have done our interviews (stay tuned if you are a candidate here - it's like any day now).
What I've noticed is that job ads start to pick up in February, but hit their height in March and they begin to wan in April (hence, if you start in April, you're a little late). My guess is that over the next month, I'll be updating that entry daily (or most days). And this makes sense. Currently, I have a lab manager, but she is applying to graduate school. She hasn't heard yet (she hasn't even interviewed yet - one is this weekend and another is next weekend - clinical interviews can be a little later, especially if the due date for the application was Jan 1). Although I assume she will move on to a graduate program, I don't know for certain. I can't try to hire a new person until I know for certain that she will be leaving (Side note: I'm not actually going to hire a new person, but that's another story that is more about Brown and how we fund graduate students. That's another entry). So, it would make sense that the height of postbac hiring is AFTER the height of the graduate admissions cycle.
So, please take heart - it is not too late. I have a strong suspicion that more job ads are coming.
(Updated March 31): So, if you haven't looked at the job list entry, there have been a lot of jobs posted in March. I suspect that they are still coming, so there will be more in April, particularly given the fact that many grants at NSF and NIH were delayed because of the government shutdown last Fall)