Academic Superheroes: Is PhD Over Supply a Symptom?

[Choppy]

I saw this article: Academic Superheroes over at Science Daily today and thought people might be interested. It talks about a study of academic job want adds and how the criteria are so specific it's nearly impossible to meet them all.

Is this just a symptom of an oversupply of PhDs?

From the article:

The study's authors, Inger Mewburn and Rachael Pitt, highlight how some overly specific descriptions could become contradictory and confusing. One sentence in a lengthy job description stated that the candidate was "expected to exercise independence and creativity while being a part of the team, and to be prepared to learn new skills and adapt to new problems."

 

[mfb]

"expected to exercise independence and creativity while being a part of the team, and to be prepared to learn new skills and adapt to new problems."

Oh well. Everyone has those qualities to some extent, just make sure you mention them. More interesting are harder criteria. The ideal candidate has a PhD, 5 years of job-relevant working experience in 3 different countries, speaks all those languages fluently, and is 22.

 

[Hornbein]

Feynman = Spiderman
Pauli = Dr Strange
Fermi = Dr Doom
Heisenberg = The Watcher

 

[JorisL]

Heisenberg = The Watcher

Schrödinger might be another option as he "watches his cat" to see if it's alive or dead.