René Stulz holds a seminar for Ph.D. in their third-or-higher year of studies, in which students present their research to one another and give/receive feedback.  In our first meeting of the 2016-17 year, he gave the following counsel:

• By November of year 5, you should have several papers ready to share, with one of them polished to a very high level.  But never write bad papers just to increase your count.
• When you go on the job market, people want to see:
  • skills
  • enthusiasm for your paper and for the profession – show that your interest goes beyond your job market paper
  • at least two solo-authored papers
  • at least one co-authored paper
• Counsel for third-year students:
  • You don’t need a perfect idea to start a paper, otherwise you’d never do anything.
  • Start with an idea, and improve the idea as you work.
  • That being said, read a lot. “The worst thing you can do is to go and start writing a paper tomorrow.” You need to know how your idea fits into the literature and makes a meaningful contribution.
  • Stay up to speed on material from your previous classes, especially the finance classes.