Finding a full-time faculty job can be a daunting challenge for doctoral graduates. University of Cincinnati anthropologist Kathleen Grogan says postdoctoral researchers can benefit from having peers review their applications.
Finding a full-time faculty job can be a daunting challenge for doctoral graduates. University of Cincinnati anthropologist Kathleen Grogan says postdoctoral researchers can benefit from having peers review their applications.
She learned this herself while working as a postdoctoral researcher. She realized that she and other postdocs routinely solicited feedback in an online messaging app dedicated to aspiring scientists.
„I was on the job market and wanted people with broad scientific expertise to look at my stuff,“ said Grogan, an assistant professor in UC’s College of Arts and Sciences. „And I saw there were repeated requests on the Slack channel asking people to look at their applications, too.“
So she set up a pilot program that invited postdoctoral researchers to review each others‘ job application packages. These documents include a curriculum vitae, cover letter and research, teaching and diversity statements.
She wrote about the pilot program in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Postdoctoral research is a bit like career purgatory—a weigh station between defending a doctoral dissertation and accepting that first academic faculty position.
„It’s a precarious existence and you feel it,“ Grogan said. „A postdoc has to apply for new jobs almost immediately. I was very aware of my last paycheck.“
While a job application might seem straightforward, how qualified candidates present themselves and their work can make all the difference in piquing the interest of a hiring committee, Grogan said.
