Postdoc Practicalities

Blogger Barefoot Doctoral this week discusses searching for and applying to postdoc positions by addressing questions raised during a department panel discussion she recently attended. For example —though she notes it can be discipline-specific — in general, postdocs should apply to plenty of institutions, Barefoot Doctoral says. "I applied to 88," she adds. However, Barefoot says postdocs should "never apply to a job you wouldn't take. … However, if you would take a job, but only if conditions A, B, and C can be met by the university, apply. You can negotiate for those conditions at the time of hiring." Barefoot also says applicants should do some "soul-searching," to figure out their niche. "Do you love teaching, and want to work closely with undergrads? Are you primarily in the game for the research?" she asks. "Do you want to stay in a city for non-academic life reasons? Is it worth being hired by a lower-tier school to do so?"