Maybe academia isn't where you want to be
Principal investigators hoping to help their postdocs to find suitable positions should consider these tips.
Box 2: Advice for postdocs: Going it alone
- Set aside five minutes a few times a year to check in on your postdocs' career plans and progress.
- Know your limits. If your postdocs are interested in careers that you know nothing about, such as patent law, introduce them to someone who can help: someone in the institution's faculty-affairs or postdoctoral office, for example.
- Give them experience with peer review: tell journals that you want your postdocs to review papers with you.
- Don't rely on job ads alone. If a postdoc is exceptional, try calling colleagues and collaborators to ask about positions soon to open up that haven't yet been advertised.
- Sell their strengths when employers call. If your postdoc does well in presentations, don't just say that. Better to say he or she is a good communicator — a talent that may help to get grants.
- Don't help too much; let postdocs manage some of the process alone. Lucy Shapiro, a developmental biologist at Stanford University in California, says that she won't help a postdoc to write the talk that maps out his or her research plan. “To me, that's a very important do-it-on-your-own measure, so people know what they're dealing with when they decide to offer someone a job,” she says. A.M.
If your principal investigator is unwilling or unable to help with your job search, try these steps to make progress on your own.
- Craft a plan of your goals and timelines. Even if you don't show it to anyone, it is a good way to analyse your strengths and weaknesses, and to give yourself direction.
- Plan ahead. Try to pick an adviser whose postdocs are typically successful, says Jodi Lubetsky, a manager of science policy at the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington DC.
- If you've already joined a lab and your adviser is “missing in action”, schedule a time to talk, she says. If that isn't working and you still want to get your principal investigator involved, find a neutral person to whom you feel safe talking.
- Publish, but don't obsess. Some employers want several papers per year; some are fine with fewer in top-tier journals. Don't worry too much about quantity, says Ron Vale, a cell biologist at the University of California, San Francisco. One strong paper is often good enough, he says.
- Get outside funding or fellowships to show employers that you can compete successfully for money. Awards can come from sources such as local governments, foundations or professional societies.
- Multiply your mentors. Even if your principal investigator is helpful, it is a good idea to establish relationships with 2–4 experienced scientists, who will then be able to answer personalized questions during a phone call from employers, and contribute more than just generic recommendation letters. A.M.
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