Why am I doing this again?

It has been 14 months since I defended my thesis. While still being very junior, I have started testing the waters for faculty positions (all in Merica). I have also started keeping stats on who gets shortlisted. For fun, here is the first rejection letter I received:

This is a rejection letter to a friend here, who coincidentally just got a faculty job. Note the date of posting, number of applicants, and date of rejection:

On average, there seem to be >150 applicants but less than 500 for each posting. Of the stats I have been keeping, most notably, but unscientifically:

1. Time matters. All the shortlisted graduated <2010.
2. (Unfortunately) Nature and Science on CVs keep popping up - and it is not their subsidiaries.
3. Postings are never what they seem, i.e., they advertise for a generic evolutionary biology position, but only interview plant people.

As of now it is still fun to apply and think of living in these places. I suspect this will change.