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[snooks]

As a person living outside the US can I ask if "open rank" is code for 'we'll go with the cheapest we can find' or does it mean that the dept. isn't sure what it's looking for, but would consider a senior appointment?  Any help anyone can give me would be gratefully accepted - especially from anyone whose been on a committee that decided to advertise a post as open rank.  THANKS!

[%sig%]

[Zarkov]

I'd say that open rank ads give the committee more flexibility, say in the case of attracting someone to an associate prof position.  It's not (mostly) about being cheap.

[Dr. D.]

My department is currently conducting a couple of searches. One is "open rank". It means that we will hire at a more senior level (tenured) if we can. But, with more senior level hires, they may get a counter-offer from their home institution, they may not like the lab space we offer, they may want to bring with them more doctoral students than we can afford, their spouse may not like the area, etc. In other words, it's more tricky to hire a senior level person. So, if we can't or it doesn't work out, we will hire at the assistant level-- usually an "easier" hire.

[history anon]

In my experience, open rank means that the committee wants to hire at the senior level, but also wants to keep open the option to hire at the junior level if they don't find a "star."

[anon]

Second comments above -- it's a senior search with the flecibility to hire an advanced assistant if we can't get the right senior person (senior people are much harder to find)

[snooks]

THANKS to everyone - you've really helped me!!!!