post-doc positions .. where to find?

post-doc positions .. where to find?

soc10 (guest) 24 Nov 2010 11:23

A lot of people on this website are post-docs. How did you nail a post-doc job in the first place?

I can barely find any. Please help! I am in social.

Anon Again (guest) 24 Nov 2010 14:05

Post doc positions often come later in the hiring season. You'll see more in the Spring. Also, you can often land post docs in an unadvertised way by emailing people you may be interested in working with and seeing if they have post doc funding. This is how I ended up with a post doc offer (but I ended up landing a TT job and took that instead). Others fund their own post docs through NRSA grants.

anon (guest) 24 Nov 2010 14:17

I'm clinical, but I agree with soc10. Most post-docs are rather informal. Use contacts that you have and talk to your mentor about ideas for people to contact. Think of people that a) have grant funding and b) you'd like to work with then just talk with them to see whats out there.

There will eventually be post-doc postings, but there is no set time-table and most are not officially posted.

Re: post-doc positions .. where to find?

vd 24 Nov 2010 14:29

I think most post-docs come from contacting people with whom you're interested in working. If they have grant money, then they may be interested in hiring a post-doc even if they haven't advertised for one. Funding your own post-doc through an NRSA or similar means is also a good approach, but usually those are arranged in conjunction with a prospective post-doc advisor, so once again it comes down to contacting people. You might also look for places that have training grants for funding post-docs.

Anon (guest) 24 Nov 2010 16:21

My post-doc is through a training grant (NRSA). This is usually a more formal application process for post-docs because decisions are made at a departmental level from the pool of applicants. But even so, finding the opportunity is kind of by word of mouth, not posted on the same sites that have faculty job listings. Mine was posted on a department web page so I found it by googling. In most cases though, I think the best approach as mentioned above is just to reach out to potential mentors. If your advisor knows some of these people, even better would be for him/her to send a personalized email recommending you and inquiring about potential post-doc opportunities. Good luck!

anon (guest) 24 Nov 2010 16:22

My post-doc came through contacting people I knew I wanted to work with. I contacted early and arranged to meet them at national conferences. Once on my post-doc I secured an individual NRSA.

guest (guest) 24 Nov 2010 17:21

Not to simply reiterate what's been said, but yes-I got to my T32 by emailing everyone I thought may have money for postdocs and then sending a CV w/ a brief interests statement. One phone call later-I had a postdoc. What I will add is that when applying for fellowships and considering options-I LOVE the T32 (or if you have a mentor already identified who supports you in writing an F32). Compared to project grants that pay your salary to conduct specific duties for a funded project (and leaving you do your own stuff for only a small portion of the time), the T and F are completely for you to do your work (as they are training grants). Having an awesome mentor, as I do, really helps, too.

Anon (guest) 24 Nov 2010 19:00

I would just say that what guest said about the T32 or F32 somewhat depends on the mentor. In the ideal situation it can be what guest described. But I have a T32 and the research agenda is mostly based on my mentor's priorities. It just depends on the individual situation, so that's something to ask about as you're considering your options.

dev.anon (guest) 25 Nov 2010 00:28

I am currently on a T32 and my time is very flexible to work on my own research—having a great mentor is definitely a plus. Just a word of advice: if interviewing for a T32 position, find out when the grant is up for renewal!

anon (guest) 25 Nov 2010 23:10

If you are in social, I would highly recommend looking at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Newsletter and the SPSP emailing list.

There are A LOT of post-doc positions out there if you look for them.

Good luck!