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Second and Third Postdocs Job Search
By Emil Volcheck
from the Perpetual Postdoc department
Posted Mon Jan 12, 2004 at 11:30:09 AM PDT

In today's job market where tenure-track jobs are scarce, but VIGRE postdocs are readily available, are we seeing a trend towards second postdocs?

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At the Joint Math Meetings, I met a guy starting his second postdoc. His first postdoc was a VIGRE, and the availability of VIGRE postdocs is making it far more common to do two postdocs, in his view. He said that everyone he knows is doing two postdocs. Because some departments are allowing you to apply for their postdocs five years out from your Ph.D., he said he would even consider a third postdoc.

Are you or is someone you know doing a second postdoc? Do you think this is becoming more common? What about third postdocs? Please post your comments.

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Second and Third Postdocs | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
[new] Common in the science? (none / 0) (#1)
by jvano on Mon Jan 12, 2004 at 07:20:50 PM PDT

I heard somewhere at some point that this was more common in some of the sciences. Of course I have a friend in computer science and he went straight to a tenure track position with no postdoc, but then postdocs are rather rare in the first place in computer science.

Is there a general trend, independent of field, that goes something like this...

  1. postdocs are rare, most people go directly from getting a phd to a tenure track job (or go elsewhere)
  2. time passes and more postdoc positions become avaliable, now most people go from getting phd into one postdoc (or elsewhere) and then into a tenure track job (or elsewhere)
  3. even more time passes and now there are lost of postdoc positions and in order to land a tenure track position anywhere one is expected to have completed two (or more?) such postdocs...
Thoughts?


[new] Second postdoc coming up ... (none / 0) (#2)
by overconvergent on Wed Jan 14, 2004 at 10:38:38 AM PDT

I'm in the middle of my first postdoc and I am going to do a second. It seems like a good way to get lots of research done (if the teaching load isn't too extreme).

The availability of VIGRE postdocs does odd things to the market; I'm not a US citizen so I can't apply for them :)



Second and Third Postdocs | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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