I am currently a PhD student who will graduate in July. I am currently applying for academic postdocs, with the goal of taking a tenure-track job at the end of my postdoc position. In my field (operations research), most of the postdoc positions are for one year with a possibility of extension to two and sometimes three years.
If I am given the choice, should I spend one year as a postdoc, or two? Would I be able to make a significant contribution to a research project if I were to only work as a postdoc for a year?
Currently, I am leaning towards a two year postdoc. If I were to only spend one year as a postdoc, I feel that it is a rather short period of time in which to start and finish a research project. If I spend two years as a postdoc, then I would be applying for tenure-track jobs one year later, and I am also hopeful that at that point, I would have done some research which I could submit in my job application in addition to my existing PhD work.
What advice would you have for me?
Edited in response to question in comments
As David Z mentioned, in my field, a postdoc appointment is for a fixed term (typically one or two years, or one year with a possibility of extention).
Answer
Two.
In the United States, at least in computer science, most postdocs are synchronized with the academic calendar. A typical postdoc starts in August, and faculty application deadlines start in November. So for purposes of applying for faculty positions, a one-year postdoc is really only three months long. A two-year postdoc gives you five times as much time to strengthen your faculty application!
No comments:
Post a Comment