The process of choosing a postdoc lab that satisfies both your personal and professional needs is often not very clear. But choosing the ‘right’ postdoc is one of the most critical choices you will make in your academic career. How do you start? Where do you start? What personal factors should you consider and which ones should you prioritize? How do you choose a postdoc that aligns well with your career goals? This course addresses these questions and considerations.

The course will guide you through identifying your needs, preferences, and values (NPVs), reverse-engineering your postdoc search based on your NPVs, and building a game plan to leave your PhD. It also will guide you through the process of finding, interviewing, and choosing a postdoc lab, as well as leaving your PhD lab. While the content of this course is focused on the PhD-to-postdoc transition, the concepts and strategies in this course can be applied to other professional transitions.

This course is created by the NIH-funded Yale Ciencia Academy in collaboration with iBiology/SCL.