Do I need postdoc experience?: A career exploration guide

Considering career options for after your PhD? One career step you may consider is additional training as a postdoctoral scholar. The goal of this guide is to provide some questions that may help you to determine if a postdoctoral position matches your career goals and practical considerations.
 

Follow the dropdown menus to reflect on the purpose of a postdoc and whether it makes sense for you. For help answering these questions, see the tips at the bottom of the page.

A postdoc is a temporary training position meant to further your longer-term career goals. Start by answering:
  • What are your long-term career goals? If you're not sure, these career exploration resources may help you explore options.
  • Are you already qualified for the job you want? If not, what training and experiences are you currently missing, and how can you develop them?
  • Are you pursuing a postdoc because you want to go into academia? If yes, do you want to pursue faculty careers or consider other academic careers?
  • If you are pursuing an academic position, what is involved in the path from postdoc to assistant professor at the institutions you are interested in? The Academic Career Readiness Assessment can help with clarifying different types of faculty positions you may be interested in (e.g., research- or teaching-focused), and can help you create a training plan for what you need to accomplish in your postdoc. 
  • Are there benefits or downsides to joining and institution as staff or a research specialist as opposed to a postdoc?
  • If you do not want to go into academia, what are you looking for from a postdoc?
Then, consider whether a postdoc is necessary for your career path. Expand this list for responses from professionals explaining the utility of a postdoc for their career in:

In addition to your career goals, it is important to consider whether doing a postdoc makes practical sense for you.

Is doing a postdoc a practical choice for you?
  • What is the salary range and what are the determinants of the salary (e.g., is the salary based on work experience)?
  • Is the salary negotiable?
  • Does the research group already have funding for the postdoctoral position, or would you need to bring in additional funding?
  • Would accepting a postdoc (e.g., with your current research group) provide you flexibility for determining your next steps?
  • Are there options for full time vs part time or in-person vs remote work?
Can I stay on as a postdoc (temporarily) at UCSF, after finishing my PhD?

You have likely heard about students who finish their PhD and then continue directly into a postdoc position with the same research group. This can be done for a variety of reasons, such as using the additonal time to finish up research projects, finalize publications, or for more practical considerations while you figure out your next step. The availability and expectations of these positions tend to be unique to each researcher, so it is important to communicate frequently and proactively with your program and PI if this is something you'd like to pursue.

Additionally, you should be aware of the additional support available for postdocs at UCSF through the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. We recommend starting with their postdoc timeline for an overview.

To help answer any of these questions, consider:

  • Informational interviews with the professors, postdocs, and students in the departments where you are considering postdoc opportunities can be informative.
  • Discussing these questions with your PI, mentors, colleagues, and alumni of your doctoral program can also be very beneficial.
  • The UCSF Office of Career and Professional Development also provides career consultations to talk through any of these topics or can help if you are not sure where to begin!
  • Discussing these questions with family and friends can also be valuable.

This resource was based on work developed by Sarah Gallalee, PhD during her internship at the Office of Career and Professional Development in 2023. These questions were developed during conversations with 25 faculty, staff, students and postdocs with the goal of helping social and population sciences students determine if a postdoc position would be a good next step.

Back to 'Should I Do a postdoc?'

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