Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- PART I The first couple of years
- PART II The end of the beginning
- PART III The transition to post-doctoral research
- 10 From graduate student to post-doc
- 11 Collaboration and visiting other labs
- 12 Supervising students in the lab
- 13 Teaching
- 14 Writing grant proposals and fellowship applications
- PART IV Making it in science
- Epilogue
- Web-links
- Index
10 - From graduate student to post-doc
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- PART I The first couple of years
- PART II The end of the beginning
- PART III The transition to post-doctoral research
- 10 From graduate student to post-doc
- 11 Collaboration and visiting other labs
- 12 Supervising students in the lab
- 13 Teaching
- 14 Writing grant proposals and fellowship applications
- PART IV Making it in science
- Epilogue
- Web-links
- Index
Summary
How I found my first post-doc job
At the end of the second year of my Ph.D., I began thinking about my first proper research job. I started by ‘cold-mailing’ a few project leaders to see what funding they might have in the pipeline. I just sent them a one-paragraph e-mail, selling, but not overselling, myself. This approach resulted in a range of responses: ‘Contact me again in a few months' time’; ‘Can you send me your resumé?’; ‘You might like to apply for this job I'm advertising in September’; and, best of all, ‘Perhaps you'd like to come and visit my lab’. OK, so they were far from offers of formal interviews, but what did I expect at this stage? Only time would tell whether these first contacts might lead to something more concrete later on. At least I'd got in early and hopefully made a positive impression. But, as it turned out, my first post-doc job didn't result from any of these tentative approaches, nor from any of the job advertisements in the scientific press. I was fortunate enough to secure my first job without ever having an interview. I created it myself. If this strikes you as unlikely, let me explain how I did it, and try to convince you that you too can have a crack at controlling your own fate.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Building a Successful Career in Scientific ResearchA Guide for PhD Students and Postdocs, pp. 67 - 74Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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