Why postdoc

Some seek to apply for transitional grants, while others apply for training positions to learn new techniques, to gain teaching experience or even to change their research focus completely. They may use a second postdoc to retrain in an area that will make them more competitive for jobs.

Most of these decisions were predicated on the knowledge that the academic job market is now more competitive than ever. Generally speaking, if you are contemplating a long-term career as a faculty member at the college level, postdoctoral training is essential to be competitive. According to data acquired through my research project on career options for Ph.

Although this is a relatively small sample size, it does demonstrate that a small number of candidates move directly into tenure-track positions without additional training. Outside of the tenure track, it is much less likely that a particular position will require postdoctoral training, though there certainly are instances where Ph.

If you intend to work in a research setting for a long period of time, a postdoc may help you gain greater autonomy and learn how to manage groups. It may increase your number of peer-reviewed publications. Employers that might find postdoctoral training attractive include government agencies, nonprofit research organizations, research-focused corporations, health care centers and other organizations driven by scientific research.

To determine whether a postdoc is in fact required for your field of interest, contact someone who works in that field and ask them directly whether it is. It is essential that you learn more about various fields now, before entering a postdoc.

I have worked with hundreds of postdocs who found that their training after completing their Ph. That said, if you are currently employed as a postdoc and interested in a field that does not require additional training, do not despair. Chances are you have been amassing additional skills and training through your postdoc work that are valuable to almost all employers, including the ability to work independently.

Still, the more you speak with Ph. If you determine that in the long run it would benefit you and your job search to engage in postdoctoral training, you may wish to learn about different types of postdocs, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of engaging in varied training settings.

They include:. Academic Postdocs. Most postdocs in the United States are employed in the academy -- in , at least 75 percent of them. Their popularity, perhaps, can be attributed to several factors: academic postdocs are easiest to find; they are the most traditional type, dating back to the apprenticeship model in German universities; postdocs in other settings may be less visible to graduate students; and academic postdocs are assumed to leave every future career door open.

There are surely many other reasons for their attraction, and those may include opportunities to publish, to write grants, to teach, to exert a significant degree of autonomy and so on.

The downsides of academic research as a postdoc can include isolation, low salaries and mediocre benefits. Industry Postdocs. The number of industry postdocs, at least according to the National Science Foundation, is still relatively small, with just 14 percent of scientists and engineers across all disciplines engaged in postdoctoral training in an industrial setting in The culture of each particular industrial environment may vary, but generally speaking the focus on teamwork is pervasive and the work largely mission driven.

Some companies habitually hire former postdocs as permanent employees following a postdoc in industry, while others avoid continuing the relationship.

Whether hired by the same employer or not, exposure to a corporate environment can be seen as a plus by most industrial employers interested in hiring Ph. Now, it's true that it's customary to spend time in such a position, and in many academic institutions tenured position candidates are considered to be inadequate if they have not first had a stint or two as non-tenured "post-docs" somewhere - but there's no fundamental principle at work here.

You could rephrase your question this way: "Why not just hire people with Ph. Tenure track does not mean you actually have tenure immediately on employment; and even tenure is not some carte blanche to not do your job, or a guarantee to not be terminated.

It should really be referred to as the "normal track" for employment of academics. The thing is, non-tenure-track researchers are cheaper, and require less commitment. Additionally, universities and high-and-mighty PIs can cast this employment as something inherently temporary, increasing the chance that these employees not expect much to begin with - they'll just shuffle along. Thus in many countries there's a glut of post-doc positions and a dearth of proper academic staff positions.

Of course, this requires academics to have a strong sense of what really benefits research; a memory of the history of their field going back several decades if not a century ; a sense of community or solidarity with their junior colleagues; and organs for collective action independent of university management, namely - academic staff unions.

As the latter are often missing or weak, the former tend to be missing or weak as well. First, you don't need to have a postdoc. The standard for whether or not a postdoc is necessary and indeed how much "postdoc" is enough varies wildly by field. This, incidentally, makes interdisciplinary hiring committees an interesting experience. But it's not a "2nd PhD". What it's meant to accomplish is to be the transition period where you start to view yourself and the field starts to view you as an independent researcher.

While working on your PhD, it's quite likely that one's advisor had a significant hand in formulating the question you were addressing, etc. The idea of a postdoc is that you can begin to mature as an independent scientist, potentially mentoring others, seeking funding, determining the direction of a project, etc. By analogy, if a PhD is learning to ride a bike with training wheels, a postdoc is taking the training wheels off, but still having a parent jogging by your side.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why do you need to do a postdoc after getting your PhD? Ask Question. Asked 3 years, 10 months ago. Active 3 years, 10 months ago. Viewed 21k times. Improve this question. Another study published in the December issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Management investigated the postdoc recruitment and hiring process at four European universities — a process, the authors argue, that undermines long-term employability and job security.

Of the 97 postdocs interviewed in and early for the Research Policy paper, 84 had originally planned to go on to an academic career. To partly remedy that mismatch, Hayter suggests that more universities could offer programmes that teach postdocs entrepreneurial skills.

Respondents also said that the hiring process is often based on informal connections and familiarity. It would help, she says, if funding agencies could give researchers more time to complete their projects, which could translate to longer contracts for postdocs. More-formal recruitment processes that actually found the best candidates for any given position would also be a step in the right direction, she says.

Sibby Anderson-Thompkins, director of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, says that the two studies help to illuminate the precarious employment situation, both present and future, for postdoctoral researchers in the United States and Europe. Career Column 12 NOV To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

The survey, which drew self-selecting responses from 7, postdoctoral researchers representing 93 nations, sought to capture the major concerns facing these scientists. For at least 20 years, postdocs have been identified by the US National Academies, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and others as part of the research precariat — those who work in positions with little job security, poor compensation and an unclear path to a permanent post.

Despite that uncertainty, postdocs continue to show up and put in their work. Six out of ten say that they are satisfied with their positions. They also tend to hold on to their aspirations. Comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity, and, when necessary, translated into English. Postdocs are definitely not rewarded properly and in some cases are treated worse than graduate students.

Postdocs play a critical role in scientific research and are drivers of research in their department. Biomedical researcher, South Africa. Cell biologist, United States. Biomedical researcher, China. Geneticist, Canada. Academia needs to get its act together and stop taking advantage of their early-career PhDs.

Physicist, United States. Biomedical researcher, Canada. I have also had more opportunities for leadership, which builds confidence and extends my network of collaborations. Astrophysicist, Germany. Policies that usually help both of these other groups usually do not apply to postdocs. You are expected to work for less than half the pay of an assistant professor, and usually for only a few thousand dollars more than the graduate students.

Chemist, United States. They are somewhere between PhDs and permanent staff, not belonging anywhere and not having a voice on their own. Archaeologist, Denmark.