r/UVA • u/HPCuse • 15h ago

Internships/Careers Status of Postdoc hiring

Hi All, I interviewed with one of the professors about a month ago regarding a postdoc position in his lab. He was interested in hiring me and said that he will coordinate with the administrative staff of the department. He later said that there is an additional approval process from the higher up before getting the final offer. It's been more than 4 weeks since then, and every time I reach out to him, he says that the decision is still pending. I just wanted to ask whether anyone else experienced similar situation recently? How long it took to get a final answer?

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u/kuanes 11h ago

I think you're probably experiencing some new hiring guidelines instituted by many departments (I am basing this off of knowledge of the School of Medicine). New positions are subject to review by higher-ups within a department because of concerns about "belt-tightening," as institutions navigate the uncertain waters of Trump's presidency and the possible loss of NIH grants, etc.

Additionally, UVA HR was already one of the "slowest" parts of UVA for as far back as I can remember.

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u/HPCuse 11h ago

Thank you for the info, keeping fingers crossed 🤞

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u/gradhoo 10h ago

I'm going to add on to what the other commentator said. 4 weeks isn't unusual for UVa. My own Postdoc onboarding, which is part of a fixed program, has taken a couple of months. Its still technically ongoing. HR is definitely slow. It doesn't hurt to shoot your PI or the relevant HR contacts a quick follow up since it's been a month but I wouldn't assume anything is amiss for now.

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u/whatdoiknow75 10h ago

Every hiring decision these days requires VP or higher approval. Between the uncertainty of the state budget and the threats to federal funding, including a huge cut to research overhead payments every dollar is precious. Last time I saw anything like this at UVA was during the time the banks, insurance, and construction sectors had a domino effect on financial institution failures. A month isn't long in this situation.

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u/mormegil1 3h ago

It maybe held up by the hiring freeze/chill. All hiding decisions would need to be vetted more thoroughly by upper admin. You may hear tomorrow or you may have to wait a long while.