per aspera ad astra

Around this time last year, I was desperately seeking a postdoctoral position. My thesis committee had approved a December defense in mid-August, and although I was overjoyed at the prospect of graduating, I was also scared about how to go about getting that next level job. Fast forward to a year later, and I find myself in one of my dream postdocs. I’ve seen a lot of postdoc job hunt on twitter, so I figured I’d share some of the tips that I thought might help.

Before I even begin, I just wanted to say that since my defense date sorta came up as a surprise, I started looking for a postdoc around 5-6 months before my defense. This is not ideal. I was incredibly lucky to find a great fit in such a short amount of time. My advice is to start looking at least 6 months to a year before you are ready to defend. Maybe even more if you want to go to one of those megalabs with +8 postdocs. In my experience, I even contacted someone who told me that if I wanted to join I needed to give a heads up of 2 years!

1. Figure out what kind of training environment/opportunity you are looking for (be honest with yourself). For this step you need to identify your weaknesses as a scientist, but also your strengths and your passion, which is what you will bring to the lab. What is your expertise? What areas do you excel in? What do you want to learn?  Most importantly, what do you lack and what do you need to get in order to be where you want to be? When I started looking, I knew that I wanted to find a place where I could continue to do behavioral neuroscience, but also learn and develop additional technical skills (i.e. electrophysiology) and approaches (i.e. systems neuroscience). However, this was not an isolated decision. Since I joined my PhD lab, I have been continuously talking to my advisor about my career development and my transition into a postdoctoral position. If you and your PI (or any other kind of academic mentor) are not having these kinds of conversations, you should consider starting NOW. Time moves quicker than you think. 

2. Talk to your advisor, their collaborators, program manager, colleagues, friends, etc. about potential opportunities. People need to know that you are starting to look for your next job! Most of the time they are also willing to give you valuable information too. Talk to your PI and your committee members about potential postdoc mentors. They travel to conferences/study sections/workshops, they usually know who is looking for what kind of postdoc BEFORE a job is posted. Often times, they can also attest to someone’s reputation and find out some extra scoop for you (i.e. if you should avoid going to a lab because it is not a great training environment or such things). Importantly, they’ve also witnessed your scientific growth and can provide insight into your academic and career development. Finally, they can also help you spread the word that you are looking, promote you and even serve as a link  between you and potential future PIs. Do not underestimate the power of word of mouth; I know 2 PhDs who have gotten postdocs in great labs because someone they knew somebody that knew a PI who was looking for a postdoc that would be great fit for the lab (aka they were recommended for a job). Also, talk to your conference buddies/neuro cohort about where they are interviewing or trying to go. You’d be surprised at how much you guys can help each other. While I was looking, I actually got together with a classmate, with whom I share overlapping interests, to brainstorm about future PIs to make sure we were not “competing” for the same type of position in the same lab at the same time. You can also ask friends at other institutions to help you find out if there are any current openings or if a new faculty hire is looking for postdocs! 

3. Search for job postings. Scour the internet for postdoctoral job opportunities. Some helpful sites include: 

Neurojobs

Science Careers

ResearchGate

Other places you can look include Twitter (no I am not kidding!), departmental websites, lab websites, and chain e-mails from academic/professional societies. Note, however, that many labs DO NOT ADVERTISE OPENINGS.  My PD lab doesn’t, and one of the reasons I even got an interview was because I was bold and took the initiative of contacting the PI and explaining why I thought I would be a great PD candidate for his lab. I sent this e-mail on a Saturday and he replied on the next Monday morning with an interview offer :D 

4. NIH Reporter is your friend. Given the funding situation, I didn’t want to waste valuable time contacting PIs with no money, or money that would run out soon. NIH Reporter allows you to search for PI funding using many criteria. You can search by name, city, state, institution, funding agency, funding mechanism, etc.  For example, I used NIH Reporter to look for PIs in states I would actually move to and had new RO1s funded by NIDA or NIMH. This is how I discovered that current PI had just gotten an RO1 for a project that seemed like the perfect marriage between my expertise and my research interests. I then used the project summary (also included in NIH reporter) to write that perfect e-mail ;) It was a calculated approach, I know. One last thing, NIH Reporter does not include grants that have received a JIT notice, meaning that some PIs may be getting an RO1, but it may not be up in NIH Reporter just yet. Therefore, if you are really set on a lab that doesn’t appear to have a lot of funding, contact the PI directly. Maybe they know something you don’t ;) 

5. Make a list of potential postdoc mentors.  Do you want a female mentor or a male mentor? Do you want an MD, a PhD or both? Do you want them to be a “senior person” or a “young person”? Do you want someone hand-on, or would you prefer to work for someone that is largely unseen? What about expertise? Cellular/molecular/behavioral/developmental? If you are an advanced graduate student, you’ve probably started thinking about this already by virtue of what you’ve hoped for or wish were different during your graduate training. If not, you’ve still probably been to many talks/conferences and already have an idea of who seems like a good mentor, who is pursuing interesting research lines. Maybe you even got some suggestions from colleagues and friends and now you have to refine your options. For this step, I made a binder and separated it into cities I would be willing to move to. I ranked 1-3 professors in that city that I would want to work for, with #1 being my first choice. 

6. Contact potential postdoc mentors.  I sent e-mails to all the PIs in the top tier. In my experience, these people responded fast. If the response is positive, keep them on the list. If not, cross them out and move on to the next tier in that city or across cities. You may even ask if they know somebody at the same institution or a collaborator that is looking for someone. They are usually really nice and can provide additional advice/information/links to the other person. If geographical location is really important to you, then I would suggest you e-mail all the PIs on your list from that city. 

7. Meet with potential mentors and visit the lab if you can. So you’ve sparked the interest of a potential postdoc PI. Now what? Schedule an interview/lab visit ASAP (you are likely not the only candidate for the job!). Try to meet at SfN if you can and with as many people currently in the lab. After my initial interview with my current PD mentor, I had a good feeling. However, I still wanted to see how his people felt about lab and him. He kindly suggested I meet again at SfN (which I did) and even invited me to his lab’s cocktail party. Unexpectedly, this helped my decision to join as I was impressed by how many of his former trainees (now directors, PIs, vice-presidents of pharmaceutical companies) of +20 years ago STILL showed up for him and had great things to say about their experience in the lab. This was a REALLY good sign. This opportunity also gave me a sense of what lab personalities were like and how I would fit in with them. After all, you will be spending A LOT of time with the people in the lab…

8. Ask questions. Ask about funding opportunities available to you if you end up joining, current projects, potential projects, salary, conference quota, opportunities to collaborate and learn new techniques, mentoring style, fringe benefits, etc. Make sure you also ask about their expectations for postdocs (i.e. what type of role you will be expected to take on, how many projects, how many trainees). Also ask about whether the contract will be yearly or not and how long they would like you to stay. If something is really important to you, ask about it multiple times. If you really want something, again, ask! As one of my tweeps put it, “you certainly will not get what you don’t ask for.” If you have questions that cannot be answered by the PI, or just want additional sources, contact current lab members or former trainees and ask them. 

9. Make a decision. The moment of truth. By now you should have enough information to help you make an informed decision. Make a pros and cons list if you need to. Once you know, contact the PI and tell them. Do not stall. Many PIs want to know ASAP so that they can get the ball rolling in terms of sending you an official offer letter (read it carefully and get answers, if need be, BEFORE signing), budgeting for your salary/expenses, putting you on payroll, etc. 

10. Remember that you can always make another decision. I know, I know. You’re worried about making the wrong decision. I was worried too. However, if you don’t go, you’ll never know! Transitioning into a postdoctoral position is difficult, especially if you are moving by yourself to a new state and leaving friends and family behind. I get it. I had to do it once for graduate school (PR-NYC) and yet again for postdoc (NYC-PA). Calm yourself down by reminding yourself that this is not a permanent or eternal choice, and you can always make a new choice that better suits your needs. If you do end up finding yourself unhappy in the lab and do not think you can resolve it, I do advice you to look for a new job elsewhere within the first year of your postdoc. If you are sure that the lab is not the place for you (or you just really hate the lab/city), then don’t waste your time and stay there for 2-3 years. Chances are, if things are THAT bad it will only take you a couple of months to figure this out, you will likely stay a for a year and move on. One last thing, if you do opt for transitioning out of current PD lab, be careful so as to not burn any bridges. Keep it cordial and professional, and don’t go into details of why you left. Just stay positive, find a better place and move on. 

Thanks for reading and feel free to contact me with more specific questions if need be. There is a lot to say and this post is already long enough… 

Also available as a print.