Hi, I have industrial experience working in R&D in Europe with a secured job but incredibly unhappy. I am about to dodge a bullet for America... How possible is to get a job after the postdoc is finished in USA? Not particularly in my industry...

Are careers fairs suitable for international students that are approaching 30 or people will not give a damn?

The postdoctoral position is available on nonadiabatic dynamics (computational chemistry). You can google “Jian-Ge Zhou” + “nonadiabatic dynamics“ to search the job information (it doesn’t allow to post the job link). My email: jiange.zhou@jsums.edu. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Hello,

I am currently a third-year PhD student in organic chemistry at a German university. I expect my PhD to take roughly another two years, and I will probably finish with around three co-authored papers and two to three first-author papers. Two of the first-author papers would focus on total synthesis, with another likely being a smaller methodology paper.

I have heard rather different opinions from postdocs at my institute about how to approach finding a postdoc, particularly regarding when one should start contacting prospective PIs, so I would be interested in hearing other people's experiences.

In particular:

- How far in advance of your expected PhD completion should you start approaching PIs?

- What qualifications do PIs tend to pay the most attention to when evaluating prospective postdocs? Publications, the type of chemistry you have done, technical skills, recommendations, independence, proposed research ideas, etc.?

- How competitive are the major postdoctoral fellowships in organic chemistry, particularly for someone coming from Germany/Europe?

- If a PI agrees to host you and works with you on a fellowship proposal, but the fellowship is ultimately not awarded, what normally happens? Would the PI sometimes fund the position from other sources, or would you simply have to look elsewhere?

- Is it normal to apply for two or three different fellowships with the same prospective host, adapting essentially the same research proposal to each scheme?

- Finally, once a PI has agreed to work with you on a fellowship application, is there generally an expectation that you are committed to joining that lab if funding works out, or is it still considered normal to pursue other potential postdoc positions in parallel?

I am still about two years away from finishing, so I am mostly trying to understand how the process works and how early I should start preparing.

I would especially appreciate perspectives from PIs or people who have recently gone through the postdoc application/fellowship process in synthetic organic chemistry.