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SO has a Careers site* for finding a programming-related job. Would a Careers site be feasible on MO?

$^*$ When you are on StackOverflow, the top menu looks like this...

SO

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    $\begingroup$ Your question is only about feasibility, but we should not overlook discussing need. How would such a service benefit mathematicians and those who hire them? There are existing services (like MathJobs), but there may well be room for more. $\endgroup$
    – Joonas Ilmavirta
    Commented Dec 12, 2015 at 23:30
  • $\begingroup$ I'm not sure what's meant by "a site on MO". MO is a site. It doesn't have other sites on it. Maybe you're asking whether a mathcareers site would be feasible within the stackexchange system? $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    Commented Dec 13, 2015 at 3:36
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    $\begingroup$ @GerryMyerson I think somebody might reasonably say there is a meta-site on MO, while early on there was no meta-site on MO. In this vein there is a careers site on SO while there is none on MO. $\endgroup$
    – user9072
    Commented Dec 13, 2015 at 12:16

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EDIT: As quid noted in the comments, the details of the academic hiring process below describe the US market. The European one is somewhat different (especially as regards to dates; their deadlines seem to me to be all over the place), and mathjobs is used less often there. I know nothing about the Asian market.

I don't think such a site would be useful. The target audience for MathOverflow is academic mathematicians, and hiring in academia differs from corporations in many ways:

  1. There is basically one hiring season every year with almost all interviews happening Dec-Feb.

  2. The application materials for academic jobs are much more extensive than those for non-academic jobs, including confidential letters of recommendation that have to be handled in such a way that the writers feel confident that they will remain confidential.

  3. There are not all that many jobs (or applicants, at least compared to computer programming jobs).

Moreover, there already exists a website (mathjobs.org) that is designed by academics for their unique needs, is run/hosted by a university (Duke), and is almost universally used for academic jobs (though there are a few holdouts among smaller departments that don't hire very often). I see no reason to try to create a competing website; the market is really too small for multiple websites, and I personally would be opposed to ceding control of yet another part of academia to a for-profit corporation.

mathjobs image mathjobs

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    $\begingroup$ I basically agree, but I think you should state that the details you give are for the US market. (At least I assume this is then intent.) $\endgroup$
    – user9072
    Commented Dec 13, 2015 at 19:31
  • $\begingroup$ Added picture showing mathjobs.org is not US only... $\endgroup$
    – Gerald Edgar
    Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 13:40
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    $\begingroup$ @GeraldEdgar certainly it is not US only. But I feel that image could be pretty misleading. It seems as if Europe is full of usage. Yet zooming in one sees it is hardly used in continental Europe: five in France (four of which in Paris), six in Germany, none in Italy, none in Poland and a unique use in Spain. Except for Denmark, no other country has more than two usages and plenty have none at all. What's more I suspect that even for those that use it, mainly the use of mathjobs is tangential and intended to inform US or more generally international candidates. $\endgroup$
    – user9072
    Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 14:01
  • $\begingroup$ And only five in all of Australia! Jobs in Australia advertised on MathJobs generally say: "you must apply through the university website, and cannot do so through MathJobs". My experience with UK jobs is similar. $\endgroup$
    – David Roberts Mod
    Commented Dec 18, 2015 at 20:35

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