What happens to postdoc applications when they've been received? (US) [closed]

Question

On the internet I found that some universities list their committees. For instance, the postdoc hiring committee might have two faculty members. What is their role? Are they the only people who read the applications? Is everyone in the department involved in postdoc hiring or is it just a few faculty members? I'm mainly referring to positions in the United States. Who is involved in postdoc hiring and how are the applications processed?

Also, a lot of job applications say that they prefer to pick somebody whose research interests align with those in the department. How much does that matter? I also am thinking that maybe I should cold e-mail potential postdoc mentors in the department to let them know I exist and to express interest in their department. How do I demonstrate in my application that I belong in their department?

My understanding is that they have to narrow down the list of applicants to a "short list," and I'm wondering how that is done. Then they have to rank the applicants and then go down the list until they get enough applicants to accept their offer. How do they make the short list?

Answer 1

There are several models of postdoc hiring (in the US, assuming the hiring is by the department rather than by individual PIs). In all of this, random factors play major role. My examples and suggestions are in math (which is what you are interested in, I think.)

Model 1. There is a postdoc hiring committee of, say, 3 people. The committee solicits names for making a "long list" from the rest of the departmental members. If nobody volunteers to mentor an applicant X, then X will not make it to the "long list," no matter how many "Annals" papers they published. Then the committee meets in order to make a short list. Suppose that this year the department has two postdoctoral positions to fill and members A and B of the committee are both interested in mentoring a postdoc. They meet somewhere over a coffee and propose that the offers go to Y and Z (top of the lists of A and B respectively). The third member of the committee, C, is outvoted, and Y and Z are hired. Mission accomplished!

Model 2. Say, there are 5 members of the hiring committee and there are 3 postdoctoral positions to be filled. After getting a feedback from the faculty, the committee meets to make their "short list." There are quite a few arguments based on parameters such as gender, ethnicity, who had a postdoc recently, whose CV is most impressive... The arguments last for, oh well, 5 hours since applicants in PDEs are compared to applicants in Number Theory. In the end, after making increasingly narrow lists, the committee comes up with a ranked list of 6 applicants: 3 will get offers, 3 more are alternates in case some offers are declined.

Lastly, to your question: "How do I demonstrate in my application that I belong in their department?" My only suggestion is to ensure that your research interacts with the research of some faculty at the department, otherwise you will not make it to a "long list." In particular, go to conferences, give seminar talks, meet people in your area of math, talk to them, etc. Make your research statement potentially "interesting," including a list of open problems you would like to pursue.