Page 42 - Through the gate of the neoliberal academy • Herschberg

40 CHAPTER 2
the recruitment and selection of postdocs. This resulted in codes that capture key concepts such as open/closed recruitment, selection, committee, networks, criteria, qualifications, candidates, procedure, policy, and scouting. At the same time we made notes of our “first impressions, thoughts, and initial analysis” (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005, p. 1279). At this step of the analysis we found the recruitment process and the selection process of postdocs to be distinct (in line with Orlitzky (2008) who argued that recruitment and selection are two different processes). At all times the research reports from the four countries were compared. The codes related to recruitment and the codes related to selection were then “sorted into categories based on how different codes are related” (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005, p. 1279). This led to two categories associated with the recruitment process (in charge of postdoc recruitment and the role of networks) and four categories associated with the selection process (criteria of expert knowledge, availability, commitment and motivation, and autonomy). The analysis revealed what the ideal postdoc looks like to our respondents. Repeatedly, we went back to the original research reports as well as the interview summaries to get additional information needed for our analysis. Our findings are illustrated with quotes from the interviews. Quotes were translated into English by the respective research teams who conducted the interviews. In the quotes we use country abbreviations (Belgium (BE), Italy (IT), Switzerland (CH), and the Netherlands (NL)), department abbreviations (STEM or SSH) and abbreviations of the sex of the respondents (M for male and F for female).
In the remaining part of the chapter we will use country names instead of the names of the participating institutions to facilitate reading. For example, when we refer to Switzerland, we refer to the participating institution in Switzerland. Also, we will use the terminology ‘SSH department’ and ‘STEM department’ when corresponding to the various departments in the four universities.
Research context
Precarious early-career researchers in all countries in this study experience high job insecurity, a constant need to search for a new position and repeated short-term contracts. None of the universities have the obligation to prolong contracts or make them permanent at the end of their terms. However, the way postdocs are hired and the level of precarity of the position differ across the countries.
In the Italian university postdoc positions are funded by external research grants. Such postdoctoral research fellowships are considered student positions, so when a fellowship ends the researcher is not entitled to unemployment benefits. Also, they are excluded from income support measures because they have a student status.