Post-Docs: Insights from OSUN grads.
Michelle Asp
More and more people graduating with PhDs are seeking post-doctoral fellowships before moving into faculty or industry positions. As I near the end of my quest for a PhD in OSUN, I have begun to contemplate the infamous “future” that once seemed so far away and now is looming ever nearer to the present. I recently emailed several of my questions about post-docs to two former OSUN students and current post-doctoral fellows, Aparna Purushotham (National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences) and Angie Wendel (University of North Carolina). I found their advice helpful, so with their permission, I thought I would share some excerpts of what they wrote.
How did you find your current job?
• Aparna: I found my job through sciencecareers.org, but if you are really interested in working with someone, just send them an email along with your CV...many of them don't even reply, but some do...try your luck!
• Angie: I made a list of what I wanted from my post doc experience. I identified people that I thought would satisfy all my criteria. I was able to approach my potential post doc mentors at the Lipid Droplet FASEB [meeting]-- I talked with them, indicating that I was interested in doing a post doc with them, and went from there.
Is there anything you would do differently in your search if you had to do it again?
• Angie: I would have started searching earlier. The whole process from contacting the mentor to interviewing until actually starting took ~5 months.
What experiences of your job have been most valuable to you in helping you advance your career/start your own lab/whatever you hope to ultimately do?
• Aparna: I got a very good publication [in the journal Cell Metabolism].
• Angie: 1.Grant writing. 2. Networking - Network like crazy at meetings. Try to talk to everyone (especially well-established PI's). 4. Thinking about ideas for research that you can take with you (academic track) - keep open communication with your mentor (mine immediately told me that I could take some particular work with me).
What questions do I definitely need to ask in an interview?
• Aparna: Ask about your project and assess if it is a good project - don't waste your time in an unproductive post doc. Talk to [others] and see if they are happy - there are many labs with unhappy postdocs. Assess the productivity of the PI – some will push you very hard, and some will not. See if the PI is a nice person – this is very important. Find out from other people in the lab what the average length of a post doc is and where they are placed afterwards.
• Angie: Ask [about] his/her expectations-- research, productivity, funding, etc. I [also] would have wanted to know a little more about the department and available [lab] equipment.
Any other insights?
• Aparna: Just don't settle for anything - these are important years of your career so don't do something you don't want to do later.
