A postdoc asks—

I've got another year on my contract and I’m starting to think about what I’m going to do after my postdoc. I’m in a different place than I was when I was in my PhD and I've been thinking about the criteria that are important to me in my next job—I need to stay in the Bay Area because my partner is finishing their training, I need salary to support us living here with a kid, I want to use the scientific training I’ve gotten in my PhD and postdoc, I don’t want to use that training to support companies that are doing stuff I find unethical, I don’t want to work totally isolated like I have been in my postdoc, and I want to have some job security since I’ll be the main salary person for our family. I’m having trouble finding roles that it would be worth applying to, since the jobs I’m seeing only meet some of my criteria. I feel like the right job has got to be out there. I still have time, so should I just keep looking? Am I maybe looking in the wrong places?

I think it’s great that you’ve done so much work getting clear on your priorities, but that’s a lot of factors to think about- I’m counting 6 distinct requirements in your description! If you are not seeing anything that feels worth applying to, that’s data that should be taken seriously. I wouldn’t expect the types of job openings you’ll find to change dramatically simply by waiting a few months. This doesn’t mean you need to settle for a job that will make you unhappy! Instead, I think it’s helpful to offer another framing for how you think about your criteria during a job search.

We know that, for the most part, job satisfaction increases over time (as long as you don’t stay in the same role/company). This implies that people are not generally fully satisfied with their first job (or really, any job), otherwise there would be no room for their satisfaction to increase. So, let’s try to relieve the pressure to find a job that’s a perfect fit, and think more in terms of what kind of job can lead to an eventually perfect (or near-perfect) fit. It can be especially difficult to work with your list of criteria if everything feels like an absolute dealbreaker rather than ordering things so that some factors are more or less important than others. For example, your salary requirements are going to be pretty firm at some point—this is a question of survival. On the other hand, what counts as ‘using’ your scientific training might be something you can flex on.

I'm not suggesting you need to ‘settle’ for a job that you will be unhappy doing. But, you’ll find more appealing opportunities if you think about where a position will lead rather than a black-and-white approach of only applying to jobs that sound completely perfect. Also, remember that you can negotiate with your employer and manager! They may be willing to make changes to your position, either upon hiring or after a certain amount of time with the organization.

Ultimately, your job search will come down to a choice from the actual opportunities you can find, and most people don’t have the resources to wait for something that sounds completely perfect. And I’m not just talking about financial resources! Job searching can be draining emotionally, intellectually, and relationally, in addition to draining your time and finances, and it is very normal and appropriate for your priorities and capacities to shift over time. For example, in one of my early job searches, I had a strong preference to stay in my current location at the beginning of my search, but after several months went by and I turned down other positions for different reasons, I decided to move across the country for a great position. While I initially thought moving was going to be a dealbreaker, over time a cross-country move started to feel easier than continuing to spend the emotional resources necessary to keep job searching in one place. I’m not saying you definitely need to consider moving (your reasons for staying in the Bay Area sounds stronger than my reasons for staying in New York at the time), but your priorities do not need to stay fixed throughout your search, so it is worthwhile to check-in with yourself frequently and to let your personal energy and attitude inform how you search and what you’ll accept.

-David Blancha, Assistant Director, Career Development Team for Researchers