I recently had the opportunity to hear Dr. Simon Sharpe give a talk on preparing for an academic career at a University of Toronto Postdoctoral Association town hall meeting. Not too many years ago, Dr. Sharpe landed a PI job as a Scientist in Molecular Structure and Function at The Hospital for Sick Children and an Assistant Professor in Biochemistry at the University of Toronto. I found his advice on applying for your first job in academia to be quite valuable. I summarize his talk here so that it can be shared with a larger postdoc community.

Before The Application

Make the most out of your years as a postdoc. Attend national and international conferences. Meet people. Converse with colleagues during poster sessions and social events. If someone gives an interesting talk, introduce yourself afterward. If you have the opportunity, give a talk instead of presenting a poster at conferences; this will not only provide speaking experience but also increase your visibility to people in your field.  

Publish as early and often as you can. Your ability to publish is a critical indicator of your future success.

Collaborate with other researchers. Not only can this result in more publications, your collaborators may also be able to help you find jobs.

Establish a good relationship with your postdoc supervisor. He/she is a key resource for advice and letters of recommendation. Your supervisor (and his/her colleagues) may also know about available positions or institutions that are hiring.

If possible, apply for transitional awards, which would provide you with funding that you can take with you to your first PI position. Imagine how much more of an appealing job candidate you’d be if you’ve already secured funding for your first couple years as a PI. (Read more about transitional awards here  and here )

How do you know when you are ready to start applying for an academic job? You should have a couple of solid publications out from your postdoctoral work, and you should feel you have gained transferrable skills to use in your future lab. You should have several ideas for future research projects. You may be ready to apply for a job when you have more ideas for experiments than you can carry out all by yourself. If you are in doubt about whether you are ready to take the next step, seek advice from your supervisor or other mentors. Don’t wait too long to start applying for jobs. The ideal time to start looking for a job is within the first 5 years after receiving your PhD.

When you decide you are ready to apply for a job, let your supervisor know. Discuss with him/her whether your plans for future research are feasible and sufficiently distinct from your postdoctoral research. Ask your supervisor if he/she thinks you are ready to leave the lab, and establish with him/her a reasonable timeline for finishing your postdoctoral work. In particular, ask your supervisor two questions: (1) Can you take any of your current projects with you?, and (2) Can you obtain any preliminary data (i.e. for future grant applications) while you are still in the lab?

Besides following leads from your supervisor or colleagues, there are several other ways to find job openings. Look for job listings in hard copies of journals in your field and newsletters from professional societies of which you are a member. Look on the internet. Science  posts job listings online, and so does Nature  and Cell and The Scientist . Look for job listings using traditional search engines (i.e. type “tenure track biochemistry” into Google).  Also, you can contact department chairs at institutions you are interested in and ask them if they will have any job openings in the near future. Some institutions may have positions that are open but not advertised (e.g. after a failed job search), and positions can sometimes be created for someone who is a perfect fit.

The Application

A typical job application is made up of at least four parts: a cover letter, a CV, a statement of research interests, and letters of reference. Depending on the institution and the type of job you are applying for, you may also be asked to submit a statement of teaching interests and/or philosophy and an estimate of start-up funding requirements. You should send everything that is asked for in the job listing. It might not be a good idea to send things that are not explicitly requested.

Cover letter . Introduce yourself, and state the position you are applying for. Describe your research accomplishments and why they are noteworthy. Briefly describe the research you plan to conduct as a PI. If applicable, describe your teaching, clinical, or other professional experience. Keep it short—one page or less.

CV . Include the usual components. Provide the names and contact information of your references.

Research statement .  Describe your 5-year research plan, which should be comprised of 2 or 3 different projects. These projects should build and expand upon your postdoctoral research but also incorporate new ideas. Perhaps propose one project that follows directly out of your postdoctoral work and two new projects. Make sure your proposed research is sufficiently different from your postdoc supervisor’s work. Show capacity for creativity and independent thought. Propose projects that can transition into a long-term research program (i.e. beyond your first 5 years). Provide some background for your projects and tie them to your previous experience and publications. When describing your methodology, be brief but explicit. Include color figures, but make sure they are legible and professional-looking. Consider several things when drafting your research statement. (1) Cost/fundability. Are at least some of the projects going to be relatively easy to get funded through grants? Are you going to have enough money to carry out your research plan using start-up funds if you have difficulty getting grants during the first few years? (2) Manpower. Will you be able to complete your research plan if you only have a small number of graduate or undergraduate students during the first few years? (3) Time to publication. Will you be able to get your first publications out relatively quickly? (4) Competition. Is your proposed research in fiercely competitive areas? It may be best to propose some projects that are less competitive to ensure quick publication. You should write your research statement as if it were a small grant proposal aimed at non-experts. Unless specified in the job listing, the research statement should be approximately 4-5 pages long, and you can include a brief (~1 page) abstract.

Letters of reference . Usually three reference letters will be requested. These should be sent directly from your referees to the hiring institution. Make sure your letters will be good. It’s okay to ask your referees if they will be able to write strong letters of support. If they can’t guarantee this, find new referees. Discuss your research plan and career goals with your referees; they will be able to write better letters if they are well informed. The letter from your postdoc supervisor is the most important. If there is some problem that prevents a letter from your postdoc supervisor from being obtained, let the hiring committee know in an honest, but not vindictive, manner.

What is the hiring committee looking for? They want someone with a good pedigree (coming from respectable institutions, connected to respected researchers), a high level of performance (many publications, high-impact journals), and fundable ideas (good research plan, history of independent funding).

The Interview

Most institutions interview 3-5 candidates for a particular job opening, and all the interviews take place over the course of a few weeks or months. If you are invited for an interview, the interview process will last approximately 2 days and will probably consist of a job talk, individual interviews with departmental faculty, and an informal meeting with students. All your meals will likely be in the company of people from the department. There might also be a “chalk talk” with departmental faculty on your proposed research. You will get no peace or solitude, and it will be mentally and physically exhausting. It’s probably best to stay on your own (so you can get at least a little rest in your hotel room) and not with friends and family.

Don’t interview somewhere that you would never consider working (i.e. a “practice interview”). It’s a waste of your time and theirs. Furthermore, it might be obvious to the hiring committee that this is what you are doing, and you risk upsetting your future colleagues in the field.

A key element of the interview is your job talk, which may possibly be the most important talk of your life. The talk will usually be 45-50 minutes and will be followed by 10-15 minutes of questions. Keep your talk clear and concise. Lead your audience through the background and rationale and then into your research findings. Describe why your findings are significant to the broader field. At the end of your talk, give a brief outline of your future research plans. Spend plenty of time making the best presentation possible, with clean, organized slides and good graphics. Practice a lot. Practice in front of your current lab, if possible. Get feedback. Finally, store your presentation in multiple data formats (USB drive, CD, email it to yourself, etc.) in case of disaster. (Recommended reading on how to give a great presentation: Communicating Science: Giving Talks ).

Prepare in advance for your meetings with departmental faculty. Become familiar with their research. Read some of their most recent papers. Prepare some specific questions about their research. Think about how your research ideas might complement theirs, and consider possible collaborations. Apart from their specific research, ask them many general questions: Do they like their jobs? Do they like the department? Do they like the institution? What are the students like? How many students are there? What are the teaching requirements? What is the infrastructure like? Is the infrastructure sufficient for doing good research? Don’t gossip too much, if at all. You don’t always know who is connected to who. Also, if you gossip or complain about other people, how will your new colleagues know if they can trust you?

While you are touring the department, take notice of the common equipment and space that is available. Also, it’s not uncommon to pick up hints about how much start-up funding you might expect to receive. However, don’t negotiate during your first interview. There will be time for that later, if all goes well.

Immediately after the interview, take notes while everything is fresh in your mind. Make a record of common equipment and space available, possible collaborations, hints about start-up funds, and your general impressions about the department. You won’t remember all these details later, especially after doing interviews at a few different places.

Follow up with the hiring committee. Thank them for the interview, and express your continued interest in the job. If you have any questions that arise after the interview, ask them.

After the Interview

If your first interview went well, you will probably be asked back for a second one. During this time, the hiring committee will investigate you further, and they will begin to sell you the position more intensely. They might also invite your partner to come along and tour the city.

When an offer is made, you will begin to negotiate. This is a critical time during which you and your hiring institution will need to work out all the details regarding your space, equipment, and salary before a contract is signed.

Find out where your lab and office will be. Will they be big enough? If renovations are in order, what will your temporary accommodations? You might be in these temporary accommodations for a long time, so will they suffice? Consider whether you will have space for sensitive and/or large equipment and a reasonable way to deal with biohazards.

Make list of equipment that you will need. Find out what can and cannot be shared with other faculty in your department (centrifuges, freezers, etc.). Make sure you will be able to have everything that you need for the next several years. (If you are in Canada, look into the possibility of receiving infrastructure funding for your hiring institution through the Canada Foundation for Innovation ).

Consider not only the cost of equipment, but also the cost of consumable items (chemicals, etc.) and salaries for lab technicians, postdocs, and graduate students. Budget accordingly.

Seek advice from your colleagues and mentors during your negotiations. Talk to other young PIs at your hiring institution and other institutions about what they asked for and what they received. You should be on the phone a lot during this time.  

And don’t expect to get anything you don’t ask for, at least until you get tenure. You might not get grants right away, so make sure you will have enough start-up funds to get by for the first few years. Get everything in writing. There is no guarantee that you will get anything that is not contained in a written, signed contract.

Negotiate your salary, which will be paid through either “hard money” or “soft money”. Hard money comes directly from the hiring institution. Soft money is salary support from grants that you receive. It is not uncommon for salaries to be comprised of some combination of hard and soft money.

After an offer is made, your answer is typically expected within a week or two, although this can be stalled for a month if you are considering other institutions. If you receive more than one offer, let each of the institutions know. This may provide you with leverage to argue for more start-up funds, more space, or a higher salary. Finally, make your decision carefully. (Recommended reading for new PIs: Making the Right Moves , At the Helm: A Laboratory Navigator )