What makes a good post-doc application? Martin Chalfie, Noble Laureate

"99% of people who apply for post-docs do it, I believe, incorrectly.” Nobel Laureate Martin Chalfie explains what makes a good post-doc application and how applicants can increase their chance of success.
Martin Chalfie, who was awarded a Nobel Prize for his work on GFP, visited Brazil from 24-26 September 2014 as part of the Nobel Prize Inspiration Initiative. Through the Initiative, Nobel Laureates give career advice for young scientists, explain their discoveries and give insights into life after the Nobel Prize.
See www.nobelprizeii.org for more advice from Nobel Laureates, or subscribe to the Nobel Prize Inspiration Initiative KZbin channel.

[@faba6292]

Why post docs are competitive baffles me... Only in science do you get a situation where an expert with 5 or more years of applied experience gets paid so little. It is insulting. Professors get away with exploting fully trained scientist and get all the glory too, which in the long run only hurts scientific progress.

[@sashanealand8315]

They actually aren't competitive anymore, though the older professors cant really grasp this concept as their own experiences were competitive. Today industry research is much more exciting and competitive than university postdocs and both industry postdocs and jobs pay about 2x the amount of an academic postdoc.In addition to the pay benefit, if you do discovery research in industry the equipment and resources will be cutting edge and the speed of research blazingly fast. Other industry research advantages, lack of bureaucracy, health and retirement benefits, stock options and this is a big one respect and equality between scientists and a chance to work on ideas that are going from discovery all the way to product instead of just ending in some dusty expensive academic paper.

[@A3racada3ra]

Even though I get his perspective, it is still super risky to apply with a more or less complete project outline. The Professor doesn't have any obligation to answer such an inquiry but still gets valuable conceptual input or even new ideas he/she didn't think about themselves. As sad as it sounds, but stealing ideas is a common theme in academia and it can be quite ugly too. In the worst case you don't get any meaningful reply (if any) and on top gain a new competitor who now looks into your idea (with obviously way more ressources). Especially as a young scientist when you need to proof yourself and get some recognition, you strongly rely on well-thought out projects. Even if you get a position in a lab, your Professor will in most cases be the one who gets most of the recognition for the work you do. So overall the academic system is flawed on so many levels. The only way out is to allow young researchers from an early stage on to conduct (mostly) independent research. But this requires a large amount of additional ressources or some major support from senior scientists who let those young researchers take most of the credit for work they've done in their lab.

[@peterruthemann2718]

Totally agree. Science is a toxic environment and we don't have time to read papers for month. The postdoc offers to do hard work for a professor, so a little bit more gratitude is expected. We are not anymore in the 80ies.

[@sashanealand8315]

I agree because in my experience most professors do not remember how to do research because they mainly focus on teaching and dont keep up with their field. They can do this because they have mainly foreign PhD and postdoc slaves to write their research papers, while the professor maybe works about 15 hours a week reading out ppt slides and collects the fat money. Here in the USA that has been my experience.

[@A3racada3ra]

@@sashanealand8315 I wouldn't go that far. I think many professors still work a lot but most of their time is allocated to administrative tasks, which have not much to do with actual research or teaching. It's also okay that professors don't work in the lab or do the actual research, but I would expect them to supervise and manage a project so that their students and postdocs get decent training/mentoring as well as recognition/appreciation for their work.

[@shaswatachowdhury9032]

Yes, it is better not to disclose every part of ones ideas in an application; but surely one can share something generic yet giving the impression that the person has indeed done some research on the topic of interest to the group and convincing how his expertise will integrate with their team. Never ever share everything!

[@ronron2312]

Once you were cleared for writing your thesis my program strongly advised PhD students to take a month or two off to identify a potential postdoctoral advisor. Then we were essentially given time off to write an individual postdoctoral grant. Turns out my future postdoctoral advisor expected all his US student to get outside funding. Most of my friends , ended up getting into their first choice postdoc lab even if their proposal were not funded.

[@bharatrawat5909]

My first application to post doc and I got selected last week.But It was not from this advice.I made a custom cover email by reading a little bit about the job position and requirements.

[@medardkafoutchoni6511]

congrats

[@AgusAcademy]

You are right professor.. thank you for your feedback, it makes me feel more confident to move on the next steps to get postdoc position.

[@dr.karikalankulandaivelu5061]

thanks

[@VyacheslavGrzhibovskiy]

Gracias

[@alekseiegorov9857]

Great advice!

[@anonymousanonymous9820]

It will be an ideal way like what the professor said, but sometimes you will find that he/she/them told you that there is no position in their lab after you read one person's work for a month.

[@andresparra747]

I applied to 10 places got only two postdoc offers, now I am doing a 3 year postdoc in Europe, but my sole desire is to transition into industry. Hopefully one day it would materialize into reality!

[@superpichu9115]

Where is Europe are you working?

[@andresparra747]

@@superpichu9115 Germany

[@jyotimali3187]

Congrats. And best wishes.

[@sashanealand8315]

me too

[@MrSupasonics]

Well I send contact emails like that from 2014, but get the answers like 1 in the 100? Thing is, it is very simple, there are too many PhDs than job

[@biologistvonriemann3580]

Plus,what is to stop them them taking credit for your idea or proposal ?

[@fatimavlogs5160]

What if that professor does not reply to my email. I mean i did that so many times spend almost a month reading professors research and then suggested him an idea but no reply from professor. Its wastage of time when 1 in 100s professor reply to our emails

[@muhammadaminkhan2249]

So you mean candidates should have contacts , reference , closeness.....personal communication. As per your thoughts then why people take time and study about the work so snd so

[@ameenalgamal.9741]

Truely true.

[@mrsparkly]

strange but i did not actually get what he want to say

[@emmanuelameyaw9735]

😀😀....if 50 postdocs do exactly what he has said and applies to his lab, he is gonna accept all of them because they did the application correctly...regardless of available space? Or if all postdocs do it correctly, then they will all get accepted?

[@hbltcpmj]

Hindemburg Melão Jr.

[@user-ex2yt1pl6u]

All of that for a bullshit compensation. Yeah, keep it.

[@bibaswanbiswas1583]

With due respect the idea of sending 2 instead of 100 is fundamentally flawed. How does the applicant know that there is a need of a person like him/her in that lab. So I would say both are fundamentally wrong. The best thing for a science student is not to do PhD. PhD is the most worthless thing you can have these days. I hire PhD/MS STUDENTS regularly. It is very hard to work with fresh PhDs. They do not know anything about the real world but think they know a lot. Do not rant against me please, I am a PhD too.

[@polielie]

Life is a bell curve. There are some PhDs that will be hard to work with, who assume they know everything without knowing. Then there are some other PhDs that know a lot. I know a lot about the "real world", whatever that is supposed to mean. I do not agree with your suggestion that a science student should not to pursue a PhD. In what other way can one find a project that gives so much freedom and teaches a person to be self sufficient, independent, to dive into the unknown, be innovative etc?

[@bibaswanbiswas1583]

Let me elaborate this. I myself, a PhD (Chemistry). I found that PhD makes you specialised not an expert. These days we have a problem of huge groups. In an academic group (let's say in the field of biological science) there are many people with virtually identical yet purely academic expertise. This creates havoc. I have post docs dirting their hands with Mss in lab-job. If PhD/Postdoc serves the real purpose then we will not have this situation. Only solution to this problem 1/5 th the PhD recruitment make PhD harder. I got my PhD from a top 30 unit. Literally, I have never been challenged intellectually by my peers. The sadder part is I am really an ordinary student.

[@bibaswanbiswas1583]

Do you think this guy's opinion makes sense? How could you write only two application when the probability of getting reply is 0.01 due to your expertise and funding.

[@polielie]

I think it makes sense. If I were to apply for a post-doc position that I really really want, I would try to meet the Prof. in person probably at a conference. If that did not work, I would ask my PhD advisor for help in contacting the Prof. If I stay in the same field the chance of my PhD supervisor and the Prof. I apply knowing each other is very strong. During my master's I have worked a top tech company and at their main R&D division where they only hire PhDs as employees. I also did PhD for 6 years. And yes you are right that most of the PhD students are just crap. However, 90% of the general public is also crap. But having seen the industry and the PhD life, I don't think there is a huge difference between doing a PhD and working as an R&D engineer. At least my PhD has been extremely demanding and I have learned extremely much, and I feel totally ready for my next challenge.

[@faba6292]

Any Ph.D. student that is true expert in their field will be aware of how little they actually know.