Young researchers are often disoriented about what they should do with their expertise and whether they will find a job after their doctorate or postdoc. The good news is that the unemployment rate of PhD holders is surprisingly low. The bad news is that young scientists often do not work in the field they have expected.
Scientists often produce negative results. All experiments were done correctly – but there was no difference between test and control. They get conflicting advice from supervisors and ethicists. Some say that publishing negative results is a waste of resources and ruins their scientific careers. Others say that ‘not publishing negative results is unethical’. What should young scientists do in such a situation?
Being a professor is amazing: a lot of academic freedom to investigate and teach exciting subjects and a secure salary until retirement. However, obtaining this position can be pretty strenuous, and many young scientists do not know the requirements to qualify for such a position. In this article, I give you 10 essential parameters a selection committee will evaluate when selecting a new professor.
A huge body of scientific evidence shows that happy team members produce better results. However, most PhD students and postdocs are stressed by peer pressure, high demands from their supervisors, potentially insufficient supervision, and a high degree of uncertainty about their future careers. Is it better to make them all happy?
For many researchers, science is a passion and, for some, even a calling. However, the status of sciences as “something you do for passion” is often abused by supervisors and institutions to justify bad working conditions. Unveil some myths about ‘science as a job you should do for free’ – you may take them for granted without knowing it.
Are you nervous not to find a job? Does the insecurity nearly kill you? Are you sending out hundreds of applications without success? Stop wasting your time and change your approach. Intelligent job search and application costs time and effort but has a much higher chance of success.
Choosing the right place for a position as a PhD student, postdoc, or professor is always a critical career decision. Spontaneous advice from colleagues mostly tends towards big universities. However, there are good arguments for choosing small universities.
Postdocs are in a sandwich position between the crazy professor and other staff members. They need leadership and management skills to perform well. However, at most universities, there is no specific training to prepare postdocs for their current and future functions.
You see these big science stars who publish in Nature and Science. They have huge grants, a massive machinery of high-class technology, and a big team of highly ambitious postdocs and PhD students who hope to publish in Nature or Science. However, you are not like that. How do you handle feelings of inferiority when you compare yourself to these science stars? And how do you become better anyway?
Making a career in science is the result of careful planning, making many complex decisions, luck, and regular course corrections over a longer period (I presume 5 to 10 years on average). To find your dream job in science, you have to invest quite a lot of thinking and work. Finf here eight tips will bring you much closer to your dream job in science.