In this solo episode, I explain some reasons why people choose to pursue postdoc positions, how you can figure out if a postdoc is a good fit for you, and what kinds of experiences and responsibilities you can have during a postdoc. I also discuss some reasons why I decided to pursue a postdoc position and some of the experiences I’ve had in this role.
Episode Transcript
Today’s episode is about postdoctoral fellowships. To be honest, I had very little knowledge about what people do in postdoc positions before I started mine.
Postdocs are additional training periods after you receive your PhD. You have to have a PhD in hand before you can start a postdoc, hence the name, post-doc. In some fields it is expected, or even required, that you have postdoctoral training before starting an academic faculty position. CSD is not one of those fields. However, there are plenty of postdoc positions available in CSD and related fields that CSD PhDs could consider.
Postdoc positions in CSD typically last 1-2 years. Although some can be longer than that, like mine that will end up being over 3 years. These are paid positions, often with benefits as well. Salaries vary, but are typically more than PhD stipends but less than faculty member salaries. During this time, you typically are assigned to a postdoc advisor and work in that person’s lab with their research studies and data. I think of postdocs like an optional residency for MDs. A postdoc is additional time to refine and develop your research skills. For most postdocs, 100% of their time is dedicated to research. It’s a time to write manuscripts, write grants proposals, get experience in different research methodologies, learn new research skills, and/or establish new collaborations. It can be a great opportunity to learn from a senior primary investigator in a large lab before starting your own research lab. Some people choose to pursue a postdoc position to gain experience in a new or complimentary area of expertise from what they focused on for their dissertation. For example, my postdoc is in an autism center, but my dissertation was on interprofessional practice and emergent literacy. I’ve continued to do emergent literacy work in my postdoc but also collaborated on many papers exploring evaluation and treatment for children with ASD. So you can either choose to pursue a postdoc in the same area of expertise as your dissertation or expand your skills in another area. Some postdoc opportunities may include teaching or offer optional teaching experiences. But it’s not usually an expectation of a postdoc position.
Today I’ll explain some reasons why people pursue postdoc positions, how you can figure out if a postdoc is a good fit for you, and what you can do in a postdoc position.
In episode 12, I mentioned that I learned about postdoc positions at an ASHA round table discussion. This is an event that is usually held during ASHA conventions where there are several different tables that you can join to discuss various different topics, led by group facilitators. I joined the table discussing postdoc positions and learned from two faculty members that had done postdocs. They were very enthusiastic about doing a postdoc and all the opportunities that came from doing them. This made me want to do more research and figure out if a postdoc was right for me.
There are several different factors to consider when deciding if a postdoc is right for you.
- Feasibility-depending on your family situation and amount of debt, delaying the start of a “real” job, such as a faculty position, may not be feasible for you personally. A postdoc position is temporary and it often requires relocation which may not be possible for you or your family situation.
- The second thing to consider is your career goals. Is it your goal to be a TT faculty member at a R1 institution? Or a teaching institution? Or work outside of academia? If you’re considering a TT position at a R1 institution, then a postdoc may be a good fit for you because it gives you additional time to get out some publications and develop grant ideas. These things will make you more competitive for R1 faculty positions. If you’re set on working at a teaching institution, you may not enjoy a postdoc because often times teaching is not part of the job. I was undecided about whether or not I wanted to work in a R1 institution, so that’s one of the factors that played into my decision to pursue a postdoc. Most postdoc positions are in R1 institutions, so you can get a feel for the culture and climate of a R1 workplace during a postdoc.
- A third thing to consider is what you feel like you are missing from your doctorate training to be successful as an early career faculty member (assuming you’ve decided to go into academia.) Is there a methodology or technology that you feel like would really strengthen your ability to conduct your research? Maybe you haven’t published any manuscripts yet and could use some extra time to write and get your work published. For me, I knew I wanted to do intervention research but only had experience with one small intervention study. So I wanted to seek out working in a lab that had larger community-based intervention studies to gain additional experience in designing and implementing larger studies.
When I was thinking about whether or not I wanted to do a postdoc, one of my professors recommended doing some informational interviews. An informational interview is really just a chance for you to ask someone some questions about their experiences. I set up a few of these with faculty members in my department-some that did postdocs and some that didn’t. I wanted to know what kinds of experiences they had, if they felt like it was worth the time, and what advice they had for looking for positions. I did find that to be helpful!
So now you may be wondering, what do you even do as a postdoc?
I will say this varies from lab to lab, but should be discussed during your interviews. Postdoc positions are typically funded by grants so there is usually a specific project or projects that the lab PI is hiring you to work on. It’s important that the projects are interesting to you, because that’s what you’ll spend a majority of your time on. It should also be some thing or things that will help you work towards your own professional goals. As you think about your professional narrative of the experiences you’ve had and where you hope to go, what you hope to achieve, this experience should help you get from point A to point B. You shouldn’t do a postdoc just to add it to your CV-it’s not just another box to check off on your journey in academia-there should be a clear reason why you’re taking the particular position that you take.
There are a variety of tasks that you may be asked to do when you’re in a postdoc position. I think all postdocs spend a significant amount of time writing. For me, that has been writing up my dissertation manuscripts, as well as lab papers with several collaborators in the institute, and manuscripts with just one or two people. I also have had the opportunity to get some great grant writing experience with the PI in the lab, as well as working on my own grant proposal. In addition to writing, you may be asked to lead or coordinate a grant project. That is a huge part of my postdoc. I coordinate a community-based professional development program for teachers. If you’re asked to coordinate a project, this can include things like working on the project’s IRB documents, recruiting and consenting participants, designing intervention materials, teaching and training, mentoring lab staff, analyzing data, and disseminating your findings. Instead of coordinating, some postdoc positions may include a clinical component where you’re asked to evaluate or treat clients as part of a research study. Sometimes postdocs will build in auditing or taking classes to their postdoc experiences to help learn an additional statistical method or research design. You may also have the opportunity to pursue your own project during a postdoc, especially if you apply for a grant and receive funding for it.
In my experience, the biggest difference from being ABD and working on my dissertation to becoming a postdoc was the leadership role I took on as a postdoc. I had one research assistant that I mentored who helped me with my dissertation. When I started as a postdoc and study coordinator, I became responsible for leading a team of several research assistants, working closely with a data team, lab manager, and other study staff. I was asked to apply all of my research training during my PhD program immediately such as training staff members, developing protocols, leading lab meetings, and making a lot of important decisions. I don’t think I was very prepared for this transition and remember spending time reading leadership books and listening to leadership podcasts during my commute to try to learn how to be the best leader I could be. I felt a lot of responsibility to do a good job. There was probably a 3 or 4 month period of time where I was just trying to learn the job. So I was glad that I didn’t do a 1-year postdoc because I don’t think I would have been able to be very productive. But after that initial period, I felt more settled and was able to balance things a little more. I have had weekly meetings with my advisor during my postdoc, but they’re very different than my weekly meetings I used to have with my PhD advisor. My weekly meetings during my PhD were often filled with me asking questions and getting advice of how to do things. My weekly meetings as a postdoc are me reporting how the study is going and are more of me brainstorming ideas together with my advisor, more as a colleague than a student.
There are also other experiences that you can pursue as a postdoc. Some of the things I’ve done during this time is started reviewing articles for journals, I completed a teaching certificate program, took additional research trainings through my university, gave talks to several different audiences, led workshops and trainings, and applied for and participated in ASHA Pathways. You may also decide to take on roles in professional organizations or pursue additional courses or training. It can sometimes feel like you’re in a weird in-between phase as a postdoc, since you’re not a student but also not a faculty member. But one of the main purposes of a postdoc is to have some extra professional development time, so that really is a perk. Not to say that you can’t do these things while starting a new faculty position, but you will have many other tasks on your plate as a new faculty member, such as prepping for your courses and getting your lab up and running, so you may not be able to devote as much time to these professional development types of things at first because of those competing demands.
I think postdoc positions prepare you for faculty positions by helping you further develop your academic writing skills, your ability to design and conduct research studies, mentor students and staff in a lab environment, and also develop a career trajectory for yourself. With the extra training experiences you gain, it becomes easier to figure out the kinds of projects you enjoy and what you really value in a career.
In summary, a postdoc is truly not for everyone, because it isn’t feasible/doesn’t make sense for everyone. However, I am very glad that I did choose to do one. I feel like it would have taken me many additional years to learn the skills that I have learned during my postdoc if I had gone straight into a faculty position and had to figure them out on my own. I have also built collaborations with people that I would have never met otherwise. And I’ve had the opportunity to work on several different projects that I never would have been exposed to. It’s also given me some extra time to really reflect on what kind of career I want to have and what kind of position I want to be in next. I feel like it has prepared me well to take on a faculty position, mentor students, and start my own lab.
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