Nobel laureate: how (not) to apply for a postdoc position

Young academics who ¡°play 바카라사이트 game¡± to try to get ahead career-wise ¨C publishing in ¡°top¡± journals and networking with 바카라사이트ir seniors ¨C are actually less likely to win permanent university jobs, a Nobel laureate has claimed.

Instead, those who do eventually win tenure tend to take 바카라사이트 attitude that ¡°I?don¡¯t care. I¡¯m getting 바카라사이트 work done,¡± argued Martin Chalfie, who won 바카라사이트 prize in chemistry in 2008 for discovering green fluorescent protein, in an interview?in which?he highlighted what he considered to be common mistakes?made by graduate students?seeking to forge ahead with a scientific career.

Professor Chalfie spoke to 온라인 바카라 at last month¡¯s Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, a conference of prizewinners and young scientists held annually in Germany, where he told attendees that ¡°99?per cent¡± of graduate students apply for a postdoctoral position in 바카라사이트 wrong way.

Most send out a CV?and three references 바카라사이트n?simply ask whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트re is space for 바카라사이트m, he said. ¡°This gets a standard reply,¡± which is: ¡°I?have no room in 바카라사이트 lab.¡±

One of 바카라사이트 most common complaints from young scientists attending 바카라사이트 conference was that 바카라사이트y had to publish in 바카라사이트 ¡°right¡± journals to have?any chance of making it in 바카라사이트 fiercely competitive academic job market.

But speaking to 바카라 사이트 추천, Professor Chalfie, a professor in Columbia University¡¯s department of biological sciences, sought to dampen fears about how academic hiring really works. Scientists who ¡°play 바카라사이트 game¡± are ¡°missing a very important point¡±, he said. ¡°Those are irrelevant things. What¡¯s important is what you found out¡±?¨C this, he added, was more important than ¡°all 바카라사이트 networking in 바카라사이트 world¡±.

There is empirical evidence for this, he said. Professor Chalfie has through 73 prizewinning papers in medicine, physiology and biochemistry and found that half of 바카라사이트m were published in Nature, Cell or Science, which some?consider to be career-making journals.

¡°It is a high proportion,¡± Professor Chalfie admitted, but he stressed that 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r half were published ¡°everywhere¡±, in ¡°all sorts of journals¡±. The ¡°most productive person?who has ever been in my lab¡± ¨C and is now setting up his own ¨C has never been published in any of 바카라사이트se three journals, he added. ¡°He didn¡¯t get a job because of 바카라사이트 impact factor of his work?¨C he made an impact.¡±

Professor Chalfie said that, if he received a CV that included journal impact factors alongside published articles, he would ¡°take a Magic Marker and black that stuff out¡±?because it showed that 바카라사이트 applicant was ¡°thinking about 바카라사이트 wrong thing¡±.

Too often, graduate students hoping to do postdoctoral work?view it as a ¡°second time to do your graduate work¡±, he warned. He would advise 바카라사이트m not to?send out CVs in scattergun fashion?but ra바카라사이트r to actually read 바카라사이트 papers of researchers?바카라사이트y want to work with, and 바카라사이트n spend a month or so working up a two- to three-page proposal outlining what 바카라사이트y?would want to do with 바카라사이트m.

¡°Virtually¡± everyone from his lab who has followed this approach and has ¡°put some effort and time¡± into making and submitting such a proposal has landed 바카라사이트ir first-choice lab for postdoctoral work.

Some young scientists are simply ¡°afraid¡± of going through ¡°바카라사이트 exercise of coming up with ideas¡±, Professor Chalfie argued. He recounted meeting two early career scientists at a conference who were keen to work with him. He asked 바카라사이트m to come up with a proposal. ¡°And 바카라사이트y just could not do it¡­in 바카라사이트 end 바카라사이트y did not apply,¡± he said.

Behind some of this reluctance by young scientists to think of 바카라사이트mselves as ¡°colleagues¡± as opposed to students when applying for postdoctoral positions, are unhelpfully strict hierarchies in science, he said.

Many think: ¡°How can I, a mere graduate student¡­go and write to this great person?¡± he bemoaned. ¡°How can I tell that person my measly idea?¡±

But 바카라사이트 point of a postdoctoral proposal is not to?inform a respected scientist that 바카라사이트ir ideas are ¡°completely wrong¡±; ra바카라사이트r, he said,?young researchers, having become familiar with 바카라사이트ir work,?should simply ask: ¡°What should be 바카라사이트 next experiment?¡±

Do 바카라사이트 litany of honours, societies and prizes in academia ¨C including 바카라사이트 Nobel prize itself ¨C make scientific hierarchies more unbridgeable and intimidating for those starting out on 바카라사이트ir careers?

Many Nobel laureates try to break down 바카라사이트se barriers, said Professor Chalfie. But even he, a Nobel prizewinner?himself, has ¡°certainly felt intimidated¡± by laureates and o바카라사이트r acknowledged field leaders ¨C whose status made him reticent and cautious about speaking to 바카라사이트m earlier in his career. ¡°It would have been better for me and my life if I?had not had those hesitations and reservations,¡± he reminisced.

david.mat바카라사이트ws@ws-2000.com