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Tips for new faculty & postdocs?

Last month, we ran an inaugural thread soliciting questions from readers on tips for those on the tenure-track. Given that some readers may be beginning their first jobs post-PhD in a month or two–ranging from tenure-track job to postdocs, VAPs, etc.–I thought it might be worthwhile running an open thread soliciting queries from people about to begin new jobs of all sorts.

Are you about to begin a new job and have questions or are looking for tips on how to start off on the right foot? Fire away, and I'll run new threads discussing your queries!

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One response to “Tips for new faculty & postdocs?”

  1. postduck

    A tip for postdocs: because you’re neither a member of the faculty nor a grad student, it’s pretty easy for you to fall into various administrative cracks that make it a bit harder to orient yourself in your new position. Depending on what kind of institution or department you’re at, there might be no real “onboarding” process where someone shows you all the things you need to know (from how to use the copy machine to healthcare stuff). I was at a department where I wasn’t added to the relevant listservs, and for months I didn’t get emails about department parties or colloquia. So you need to be really proactive about getting all the information you need, making sure you’re on the right listservs, and so on. Otherwise, it’s really easy to remain out of the loop and not really a part of department life (especially for big departments).

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