Many doctoral students, even after years of graduate study, are unsure what exactly a postdoctoral position or fellowship is. That is because these positions, often simply called “postdocs,” can run the gamut from a longstanding, well-defined, nationally advertised opportunity, to an endeavor that is funded on an ad hoc basis, to a job of undetermined time and structure that is improvised as the project develops. A postdoc title can include different names including Fellow, Scholar, Resident, and Associate. A postdoc can be entirely focused on research, entirely focused on teaching, or somewhere in between. Most important, a postdoc is meant to be a temporary position, a period of additional training that helps you to strengthen your profile as a candidate for tenure-track positions (though certainly not everyone who does a postdoc will move to the tenure track). If you are preparing an application for a postdoc, you should be sure to craft your application carefully, stating clearly how your work fits in with a given research initiative, what steps you will take to move forward in your own research, perhaps even including a timetable, and how you will work to fulfill the terms of the fellowship. As you near the end of your graduate work it is wise to have a sense of whether a postdoc is the natural next step for people in your discipline.
In the biomedical sciences it is difficult if not impossible to obtain a tenure-track position without postdoctoral experience. This is also sometimes true in other fields of science and engineering, depending on the discipline. Conversely, job candidates in the sciences who have a well-developed research profile are taking on “teaching postdocs” to gain the teaching experience they may need to obtain tenure-track positions in teaching-focused institutions. For those in science, engineering, and related fields, many postdoctoral opportunities come through engagement with an individual researcher, usually called a Principal Investigator or “PI,” who may have funds available in his or her research grant to hire a postdoc. For this reason, if you are finishing a Ph.D. in these fields, you should be in close communication with your advisor and dissertation committee in order to develop a network of potential PIs whose work may be a good fit for your current research interests and future goals. There are also national funding organizations, such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, that award postdoctoral funding directly to Ph.D.s. These programs, though very competitive, allow you to come to a chosen lab or project with your own funding, making it easier for you to connect with the research project of your own choosing. For some of them, you will need the support of a future PI to complete the application process.
In the sciences and engineering, PIs and postdocs work long hours and their projects and successes are tied together. Before choosing a lab, it is important to have a sense of how well you will work with a potential PI and whether he or she will support your career goals. Are those currently working in your potential research group happy? Have they moved on in productive directions? Will you be able to publish while in this research group? Will your research interests be supported and will you have a reasonable amount of freedom in determining the direction of your projects? The National Postdoctoral Association (www.nationalpostdoc.org) has developed a strong set of resources around career development for graduate students and postdocs. Those in the sciences and engineering spend a median amount of four years in a postdoc. It is important to do all you can to make sure these years are fruitful ones for you.
In humanities and social sciences, the postdoc has become increasingly prevalent. Many Ph.D.s in these fields are doing postdoctoral fellowships because they were unable to secure tenure-track employment, and are hoping to use the postdoc as means to build their research and teaching in order to become more competitive candidates. Furthermore, the total number of postdocs has increased, as institutions and funding agencies see the creation of postdocs as way to support recent Ph.D. graduates in these fields. Some postdocs can be a way to move your research forward without the heavy teaching responsibilities associated with being a visiting assistant professor or the insecurity of being an adjunct; others have teaching as a primary responsibility; still others make being a part of a scholarly community and participating in meetings and conferences an integral part of the experience. It is important that your application materials explicitly address the stated goals of the postdoctoral opportunity. In most fields in the humanities and social sciences, postdocs are advertised nationally and often are as competitive as tenure-track opportunities themselves. Some opportunities are based on specific campuses, at a center for the humanities, for example. Others are competitions run by various funding agencies such as the Social Science Research Council or the American Council of Learned Societies. Regardless of your exact discipline, it is likely that information about postdoctoral opportunities will come through your department and scholarly association.
Questions to Ask When Deciding to Apply for a Postdoc
• Why are you planning to do a postdoc? Is your field one where postdoc experience is usually required?
• Do you want to use your postdoctoral experience to increase your expertise in your dissertation area or to broaden your skill set?
• Should you do your postdoc in a large research institution or in a smaller school?
• What qualities do you plan to look for in the supervisor who will serve as your mentor? How do you plan to assess those qualities?
• What type of facilities and other resources are required for the type of research you want to do?
• Will this postdoctoral position help you move your research forward in a way that will provide a strong basis for an independent scholarly career?
What to Consider as You Apply for Faculty Positions
It is important to understand that there can be big differences in institutions and departments. The questions listed below should help you as you develop awareness of these differences. Are you most interested in:
Institutional Characteristics
• A public or private institution?
• A large university or a small four-year teaching college or community college?
• A for-profit university?
• A school with a distinctive institutional personality, such as a women’s college, a historically minority-serving institution, an institution with a strong religious affiliation, or a school offering an innovative curriculum?
• An institution that emphasizes research over teaching or one that emphasizes teaching over research? A competitive job market has enabled institutions that formerly emphasized only one of these to require both; however, “teaching” and “research” institutions still may be distinguished from each other.
• A place that demands or offers heavy involvement in the life of the school (usually a teaching college) or one in which your major identification will be with your department?
• A highly selective institution or one that prides itself on offering educational opportunities to a broad section of the community?
• An institution where the faculty is unionized or one where individual salaries are market-driven?
• A U.S. institution or one in another country?
• An institution with a high rate of tenure or an institution without tenure-track positions?
Departmental Characteristics
• Many colleagues in your field of research or an opportunity to be the in-house expert?
• The opportunity to and expectation that you will socialize with others in the department or an atmosphere that encourages solely professional involvement?
• An emphasis on graduate or on undergraduate teaching?
• A department in which you would be the first person of your cultural background ever hired, or one in which you feel most people are like you?
• A department with a specific orientation (“traditional,” “radical,” “applied”) or one whose faculty members take a variety of approaches?
•