Navigating the Postdoc Path: Reflections, Advice, and Lessons Learned

University of Sheffield’s Joan Cordiner offers practical advice and personal reflections for postdocs forging their career path

WHEN I moved back to the UK five-and-a-half years ago, I realised that academic careers had changed since I had left 16 years earlier. One of the biggest changes? Grant funding had moved away from supporting PhD students and towards postdoctoral researchers. As a result, postdoc positions have multiplied and most lectureships are now filled by candidates with several postdocs under their belt – not those moving straight from a PhD.

More jobs is a good thing. But I remain concerned.

Postdoc positions are temporary contracts. This means people have little security and often must move locations between contracts. I think back to when I was in my early career and I can’t imagine having that level of insecurity. Short timeframes also mean new managers may push for rapid academic output, with little room for professional development.

Thankfully, the research environment matters (I was pleased to discover that my university offers excellent training opportunities for postdocs, along with a dedicated postdoc association for support).

Is a postdoc right for you?

If you are aiming for a lecturer/academic position, it’s the right step, especially if you are happy moving between projects, universities and countries (a perpetual postdoc, if you like). But if you’re considering industry or a non-academic path, the value of a postdoc depends on your goals. It’s hard to generalise.

Another route is to commercialise your research – or your advisor’s – through a spinout. Louis Allen, a former PhD and postdoc from my group and an IChemE Research Award finalist (2024), recently launched Kausalyze1 based on his doctoral work. He secured multiple ICure (Innovate UK) grants and completed a Royal Academy of Engineering commercialisation programme, which provided mentoring, training and support during the pre-spinout phase. Our university’s commercialisation team played a key role throughout. If this interests you, reach out to your institution’s team for guidance. 

Advice from the field

I asked my LinkedIn network what advice they’d give to postdocs. The responses were so valuable that they are worth sharing exactly as given (attributed to the person who gave it using their LinkedIn name so you can look them up!).

• "Don’t chase metrics and compare yourself against others; set some achievable targets and work on things that are of interest to you and relevant to society. Ask yourself, if you are not enjoying it, are you allocating your time well?" Nilay Shah
• "Talk to others who work with or have worked with the person you are applying to work for. Keep a record of your ideas/write them down. Network with people around and below you. Smile at sad people at conferences, share tables at lunch – you can do awesome research together in the future. Also, just be kind." Jo Sharp 
• "Get into the driving seat and drive your project as early as possible (within a year maximum). Try connecting/developing theory and practices to address global issues around UN SDGs. Time management and work-life balance is important. Be open-minded in receiving knowledge beyond your own area/topic of research." Iqbal M Mujtaba 

“Always look at how your skills can be applied in another field: that ‘small’ skill you picked up along the way might be the start of the next step”

Rob Woolhouse

• "The best opportunities will often come from unexpected directions, probably in unexpected locations, and will take courage to grab. Grab them." John Provis 
• "Write for your own edification, not just for your publications list. Writing is thinking – that’s why it’s hard – and there is nothing more powerful for growing as an academic than writing (and nothing more dangerous than outsourcing your thinking and growth to AI). Give focused attention to developing a genuine deep competence in one area that you can draw on with confidence; at the same time, be flexible and keep learning. There is no area, however fashionable now, that will sustain an entire academic career. Realise that there is a difference between being an academic and a researcher; decide which you want to be, and why.Develop skills in assessment and academic judgement, as these are the defining qualities of an academic." Grant Campbell
  
• "Develop your skills. Do skills courses but also look for opportunities to put them into practice. Keep your eyes open from early on, looking at what opportunities are available. Talk to many within academia (beyond your discipline) to see what it is really like and whether it is for you." David Bogle

Lessons learned from mentoring

Over my career I have mentored many hundreds of people. Here are some recuring themes:

• The 80/20 rule: 80% of the benefit often comes from just 20% of the work. Perfection comes at a cost – so ask yourself, when is “good” good enough? Reserve the extra 80% of effort for the final 20% of benefit only in the cases where it truly matters.
• Imposter syndrome: Everyone has it. You only see others’ best moments, not their doubts. Write down your own good days and revisit them when needed.
• Keep smiling: When I give careers advice talks, I often show a slide of my daughter as a smiling two-year-old – terribly cute, of course. It’s hard to argue with someone who looks that happy. Smile a lot, be nice, be helpful, be respectful – ie treat people as you would want to be treated. Kindness always pays back.
• Energy is finite: If someone frustrates you, do you spend all your energy replaying it and letting it ruin your day? Or do you choose to focus on what truly matters to you? You can’t change other people – but you can control how you respond. I often say to people who are really consumed by something someone said to them or new university bureaucracy, is the energy you are putting into this frustration helping you or making you miserable. Choose where you invest your time and attention. A book I’d recommend is Plate Spinning: A Beginner’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving as an Engineering/Science Academic2 by one of my colleagues, Siddharth Patwardhan. It’s free and full of practical advice.

Build your network

We all have times when we struggle or when things are not going well. Remember that you are not alone – your academic advisor should not be the only person you talk with. You should network outside your group in your school or department. Talk to other academics, talk to other postdocs. Find out what the norms are in other groups. Every university has a support service and every department or school has a head. If you are struggling, keep talking to different people until you get the help you need.

Build a local support network quickly when you move. Get organised at work and in scheduling what you do to relax, booking your holidays well in advance to make sure you take them. Set yourself goals – they can boost efficiency and bring real satisfaction when achieved. Take time in nature. Go for walks to reset your focus, your brain often works best in the background.

Network outside academia. Some of the world’s best Eureka moments have emerged at the intersection of disciplines, where people dared to ask seemingly silly questions, networked across fields and had the courage to collaborate beyond their expertise.

Believe in yourself. Take opportunities to be courageous and cultivate a diverse set of mentors. Each year, reflect: What do I want? What am I good at? Where do I struggle? What are my skills – and what should I do next?

Keep learning and don’t be afraid to make a change. I moved from 30 years in the chemical industry to academia. It was scary and yes, I had huge imposter syndrome and the feeling I needed to prove myself. I’ve done lots of roles in many countries that were scary but it’s been a fantastic career and I’ve got to do things I would never have dreamed of.

Focus on strength

Believe in yourself. Take opportunities to be courageous and cultivate a diverse set of mentors. Each year, reflect: What do I want? What am I good at? Where do I struggle? What are my skills – and what should I do next?

I really like StrengthsFinder 2.03 – it’s a test that identifies your top five strengths. The accompanying book’s core message is simple: find a role that plays to your strengths and either avoid tasks that rely on your weaknesses or collaborate with people who excel where you don’t. No one is strong at everything. You’ll thrive in roles that align with your natural abilities and you’ll develop faster in areas where you already have aptitude.

Explore chemical engineering careers,4 one or two might just speak to you. And, like much mentoring advice: use only what’s useful for you.

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References: 

1. www.kausalyze.com
2. bit.ly/patwardhan-plate-spinning
3. bit.ly/gallup-strengthsfinder2
4. How I Did It: Inspirational stories from IChemE members: https://www.icheme.org/education-career/how-i-did-it/