Finding Success as a Postdoc
Transitioning to a Postdoc Position
The content below will guide you in exploring how to transition into a postdoc position and how to set yourself up for success as you build professional relationships. Not only can expectations differ between a postdoc and a mentor, but the communities that you interact with might also be different than your previous experiences. This content will help you successfully parachute into a postdoc position and hit the ground running.
Course Module Introduction
Reframing Introduction
Learning Objectives
- Develop an awareness of how multiple identities impact personal and professional interactions and acknowledge a variety of common misconceptions for the roles of postdocs.
- Explore your community of practice, articulate your role in this community, and consider how to successfully transition into the community through building cultural capital.
- Identify and prioritize the expectations for your postdoctoral training, align your expectations to those of your mentor, and reflect on how these expectations might evolve over time.
Activities
- The Postdoc Academy has begun!Read more about the creation of the Postdoc Academy here.
- A New Podcast Featuring the Postdoc AcademyListen to an episode of the podcast, “When Science Speaks”, and hear Multi-PI Sarah Hokanson talk about the Postdoc Academy and her advice for postdocs.
- Follow the Postdoc Academy on Social Media
- Join the Postdoc Academy Feedback Sessions!Are you a postdoc looking for an opportunity to be involved with the Postdoc Academy before it launches? We want to hear from you and would like to postdocs of all stages and disciplines to join our online feedback group. We have three sessions scheduled over the next month! Each feedback session will be held on Zoom, and postdocs will review content of the first course. You will provide feedback in response to a few short prompts. You’ll receive swag and a gift card for participating! Sign Up: www.tinyurl.com/PostdocAcademyApril
- NIH BEST Blog featuring the Postdoc AcademyAdriana Bankston highlighted our project, why it’s needed, and the ways for postdocs to get involved. Check it out: http://www.nihbest.org/news/the-postdoc-academy-a-national-project-for-postdocs/
Wrap-Up
Course Module References
- Bourdeau, Pierre. “The Forms of Capital.” Handbook of Theory of Research for the Sociology of Education. Westport, CT, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1986.
- Hokanson, Sarah Chobot and Bennett Goldberg. “Proactive Postdoc Mentoring.” The Postdoc Landscape, edited by Audrey Jaeger and Alessandra Dinin. Academic Press, 2018. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-813169-5.00005-7.
- Lave, Jean and Etienne Wenger. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991.
- “What is a Postdoc?” National Postdoctoral Association.
Additional Resources
National Postdoctoral Association Mentoring Plans
- Resources include how to develop a postdoctoral mentoring plan, how to be proactive in your mentoring relationships, NSF mentoring requirements, and more.
- Note: You must be an NPA member to access these resources. Check with your local postdoc office to see if your institution is a member!
AAMC Compact between Postdoc Appointees and their Mentors
- This compact can help align the expectations in the postdoctoral mentor-mentee relationship.
- Offers a set of guiding principles to initiate discussions around postdoctoral mentoring.
Finding Alignment on Expectations
- Table 5.1 in Proactive Postdoc Mentoring provides a checklist for postdocs and their faculty mentor/research group.
- These reflection questions could guide conversations about finding alignment on expectations between a postdoc and a mentor.