Say JOE, Whatcha Know?

So, the October JOE (Job Openings for Economists) has been out for almost two weeks. The total is 432, down from 500+ last year. Still, a lot of those from last year's October listing were pulled in November and December, so it's hard to compare apples to apples. There are 190 full-time U.S. academic listings. Some are for more senior positions, but some of the junior listings are for two positions.

Looking through it, I've found plenty of jobs I'd love to have. I think there are about 75 I'll apply to and I'd be (fairly) happy at all of them. I've looked at the econ departments of a number of liberal acts colleges to see who they've hired recently. It's surprising how many of them have assistant professors from Yale, Princeton, Berkeley, even MIT and Harvard. My chances at those schools may be fairly low, but it still seems worth applying, especially if they want a good teacher.

There are also a number of Canadian schools hiring. I don't know much about the relative rankings of these schools so it's hard to gauge to whom I should apply and what my chances will be. Still, there are another 10-15 schools I think I'll apply to there. There are also 25-30 non-academic jobs I'd like working at and to which I'll apply, mainly in the federal governmnet. Putting it all together, that's a lot of cover letters to write. I guess you can't say "...I'd love working at [insert school]...I think I'd be a great fit at [school]'s department of [economics/business/public policy]...[city,state] is where I've always dreamed of living!" Probably wouldn't look too good.