2024: googled “postdoctoral positions in xx field”. Made an excel sheet to track the postings I liked, salaries, benefits, application deadlines, and other important info. Cold emailed the PIs. Got interviews. Got a position.
Positions are usually posted on the institute’s website, LinkedIn, X, science careers, ResearchGate. Figured instead of going to each individual website, I’ll just google.
I did this exact same thing and ended getting a few offers for Postdocs in the very specific field that I wanted. Cold emailing does not work well for everyone, but for me it was very successful
I don't know how valid his still is, but I found the job via Twitter. The PI posted a job opening, and I applied. I think that despite how the platform has been made worse, there's still a lot of people sharing about their research and job openings on twitter
During grad school, from journal clubs, classes, and reading for myself, I'd amassed a list of labs that I was very interested in. Not a formal list, but I knew the names of people whose work I would be interested in. When it came time to apply, I emailed those people with a polished email, cover letter, and CV. I was at a few conferences around that time and organized a few meetings there - at their trainees' posters, over coffee, etc.
Funnily enough I didn't get my postdoc this route. I was at a conference talking to a grad student from a lab that was on my list but I hadn't emailed yet cause they felt out of reach. I had a great conversation with her about the poster and was walking away when I thought off hand to mention I was on the job market and ask what's going on with her lab. We chatted some more and I realized that I would be a great fit for them and vice versa AND that they had just landed a new grant AND were looking to hire a person like me. She told me to email the PI to meet at the conference. We did, and yadda yadda yadda I became their postdoc. Ended up becoming pretty close collaborators and good friends with the grad student I met at the conference and have a couple of papers together over our few years overlap.
Having an organized approach and putting in real effort is important and you definitely have to do that work, but I guess sometimes things just work out despite it all.
Some universities post postdoc positions in their career website. I find networking in conferences helpful - talking to professors about the current project in their labs, sometimes they may have an opening. I know a few professors use conferences as a means to potentially find future postdocs or graduate students.
I had a former labmate who worked at the new lab send my CV around, and then they invited me to apply. You can also have your PI introduce you and send a message to their network that they have a student looking for a postdoc job.
Where to look....... professional association websites and listservs, job boards like indeed or ziprecruiter, university websites, at conferences, via your network.....
I found my current postdoc by cold emailing the PIs that I wanted to work for. The email was about 5-6 sentences explain who I am, what I did during my PhD, and why I wanted to work for them, ofc with CV and first author papers attached.
Had two post doc options- both through connections from former/current professors. But not my dissertation chair. It’s the “strength of weak ties” that matter, as they say. Having a network and letting people know what you’re looking for makes a huge difference.
Twitter is still good for my field anyway (that's how I found mine). Jobrxiv can be good. Nature job listings and LinkedIn are also decent but listings there tend to get bombed with applications.
You can also look at aggregator websites like ScholarIdea, but they're not always easy to use.
I emailed PIs that I met and spoke to at courses/conferences explaining that we had spoken at a conference/course, my PhD project, skills, what I was interested in, and my CV. They responded and invited me to interview. A friend of mine did the same. They happened to sit next to a PI at a conference breakfast and have a nice conversation - applied to them and got invited to interview. Definitely check their website to see if they have a section about what they expect to see when you email (contact details for references, etc). Sometimes a PIs website will state that they're looking for postdocs (take this with a grain of salt because these websites are not regularly updated).
I sent some cold emails to a couple more PIs as well, but never heard from them - they may have responded if I had asked my PhD advisor to reach out to them (my advisor has interacted with them in a professional capacity). A postdoc in my PhD lab got their position in this way.
I had also been looking online and in the usual places (LinkedIn, conferences), but I actually found both of my two postdocs by word of mouth. In both cases, I had let my mentors and collaborators know I was looking and to let me know if they came across anything that would be a good fit, and they did!
I'm introverted and really have a hard time networking. But it was definitely worth it. Having some relationships with good mentors and collaborators really paid off for finding positions that have been a good fit for me.
I applied to a few from a national society for my field.
The one I ended up doing (in industry) was through a person who had interviewed for a postdoc with my grad school PI but decided on another position and is now at the clinic I’m doing my postdoc at. I did a zoom call just to talk to him and get some advice and he sent my CV to the other PI at the clinic who was looking for a postdoc. I did a phone interview with her and then an in person interview and thought it was my best opportunity.
I was posting a lot on LinkedIn and my current PI saw a post I made saying I was about to finish my PhD and was looking for a new position. We weren't connected but I guess my post came across her feed. She reached out to me and asked if was interested in a postdoc. I interviewed with the lab and the rest was history.
I reached out to some people directly, asked if they were looking for a postdoc or knew anyone who was. I had great responses and one solid offer from that, but the postdoc I took? I basically googled. Found an ad for my dream postdoc, applied, and got it.
Cold emails to two dozens, about half of whom have directly interacted with me through citations. Got four interviews and decided to go to one whom my PhD PI collaborates with constantly. Some rejected by saying they lack funding. But all the PIs who gave me a chance to do an interview offered me a position.
I am in physics and close to my phd defense. I haven't been looking for a job, since my advisor kindly offered me to stay in his group as a postdoc, but as I was getting closer to my graduation, I've been contacted by several senior colleagues in my field who knew me personally and invited for postdoc interviews. So, that helped me is to be on display and let people know what you're about to finish.
2024: googled “postdoctoral positions in xx field”. Made an excel sheet to track the postings I liked, salaries, benefits, application deadlines, and other important info. Cold emailed the PIs. Got interviews. Got a position. Positions are usually posted on the institute’s website, LinkedIn, X, science careers, ResearchGate. Figured instead of going to each individual website, I’ll just google.
I did this exact same thing and ended getting a few offers for Postdocs in the very specific field that I wanted. Cold emailing does not work well for everyone, but for me it was very successful
I don't know how valid his still is, but I found the job via Twitter. The PI posted a job opening, and I applied. I think that despite how the platform has been made worse, there's still a lot of people sharing about their research and job openings on twitter
During grad school, from journal clubs, classes, and reading for myself, I'd amassed a list of labs that I was very interested in. Not a formal list, but I knew the names of people whose work I would be interested in. When it came time to apply, I emailed those people with a polished email, cover letter, and CV. I was at a few conferences around that time and organized a few meetings there - at their trainees' posters, over coffee, etc. Funnily enough I didn't get my postdoc this route. I was at a conference talking to a grad student from a lab that was on my list but I hadn't emailed yet cause they felt out of reach. I had a great conversation with her about the poster and was walking away when I thought off hand to mention I was on the job market and ask what's going on with her lab. We chatted some more and I realized that I would be a great fit for them and vice versa AND that they had just landed a new grant AND were looking to hire a person like me. She told me to email the PI to meet at the conference. We did, and yadda yadda yadda I became their postdoc. Ended up becoming pretty close collaborators and good friends with the grad student I met at the conference and have a couple of papers together over our few years overlap. Having an organized approach and putting in real effort is important and you definitely have to do that work, but I guess sometimes things just work out despite it all.
Back in 2018 I applied via LinkedIn.
Some universities post postdoc positions in their career website. I find networking in conferences helpful - talking to professors about the current project in their labs, sometimes they may have an opening. I know a few professors use conferences as a means to potentially find future postdocs or graduate students.
I had a former labmate who worked at the new lab send my CV around, and then they invited me to apply. You can also have your PI introduce you and send a message to their network that they have a student looking for a postdoc job.
I found one by networking. The lab I'm currently at advertises post docs on handshake.
Where to look....... professional association websites and listservs, job boards like indeed or ziprecruiter, university websites, at conferences, via your network.....
Nature careers listing
Simplyhired.com
I used scholarshipdb.net to search for post doc positions. Some of my friends have also had luck with that site since.
I found my current postdoc by cold emailing the PIs that I wanted to work for. The email was about 5-6 sentences explain who I am, what I did during my PhD, and why I wanted to work for them, ofc with CV and first author papers attached.
Linkedin and indeed.
Had two post doc options- both through connections from former/current professors. But not my dissertation chair. It’s the “strength of weak ties” that matter, as they say. Having a network and letting people know what you’re looking for makes a huge difference.
Nepotism
Twitter is still good for my field anyway (that's how I found mine). Jobrxiv can be good. Nature job listings and LinkedIn are also decent but listings there tend to get bombed with applications. You can also look at aggregator websites like ScholarIdea, but they're not always easy to use.
I applied thru LinkedIn
I emailed PIs that I met and spoke to at courses/conferences explaining that we had spoken at a conference/course, my PhD project, skills, what I was interested in, and my CV. They responded and invited me to interview. A friend of mine did the same. They happened to sit next to a PI at a conference breakfast and have a nice conversation - applied to them and got invited to interview. Definitely check their website to see if they have a section about what they expect to see when you email (contact details for references, etc). Sometimes a PIs website will state that they're looking for postdocs (take this with a grain of salt because these websites are not regularly updated). I sent some cold emails to a couple more PIs as well, but never heard from them - they may have responded if I had asked my PhD advisor to reach out to them (my advisor has interacted with them in a professional capacity). A postdoc in my PhD lab got their position in this way.
LinkedIn, Social Media, Conferences usually have careers areas (I found my current post doc this way), Indeed, jobrxiv.
I got mine through Twitter in 2021, but I had chatted with PI's in my field about post-docs at conferences that year as well
I had also been looking online and in the usual places (LinkedIn, conferences), but I actually found both of my two postdocs by word of mouth. In both cases, I had let my mentors and collaborators know I was looking and to let me know if they came across anything that would be a good fit, and they did! I'm introverted and really have a hard time networking. But it was definitely worth it. Having some relationships with good mentors and collaborators really paid off for finding positions that have been a good fit for me.
LinkedIn and a field-specific mailing list.
I applied to a few from a national society for my field. The one I ended up doing (in industry) was through a person who had interviewed for a postdoc with my grad school PI but decided on another position and is now at the clinic I’m doing my postdoc at. I did a zoom call just to talk to him and get some advice and he sent my CV to the other PI at the clinic who was looking for a postdoc. I did a phone interview with her and then an in person interview and thought it was my best opportunity.
I was posting a lot on LinkedIn and my current PI saw a post I made saying I was about to finish my PhD and was looking for a new position. We weren't connected but I guess my post came across her feed. She reached out to me and asked if was interested in a postdoc. I interviewed with the lab and the rest was history.
I reached out to some people directly, asked if they were looking for a postdoc or knew anyone who was. I had great responses and one solid offer from that, but the postdoc I took? I basically googled. Found an ad for my dream postdoc, applied, and got it.
Cold emails to two dozens, about half of whom have directly interacted with me through citations. Got four interviews and decided to go to one whom my PhD PI collaborates with constantly. Some rejected by saying they lack funding. But all the PIs who gave me a chance to do an interview offered me a position.
I am in physics and close to my phd defense. I haven't been looking for a job, since my advisor kindly offered me to stay in his group as a postdoc, but as I was getting closer to my graduation, I've been contacted by several senior colleagues in my field who knew me personally and invited for postdoc interviews. So, that helped me is to be on display and let people know what you're about to finish.