I am about to begin a neuropsychology postdoc with a 50/50 split of research and clinical training. As I want to excel (not simply survive), I've informally asked current supervisors, the internship training director, and my grad school mentor which habits/characteristics/things, in their opinion, help a postdoc succeed. I also pose the same question to the forum: what can I do to excel on postdoc? Or what are the characteristics of successful postdocs you have trained/associated with?
Succeeding on postdoc
- Thread starter NeuroWise
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2012
- Messages
- 103
- Reaction score
- 63
How do you operationalize "excelling" at postdoc? Positive opinions from your supervisors? Most neuro reports written in a week? Compliments from the clients?
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2010
- Messages
- 9,849
- Reaction score
- 6,934
Timeliness, receptivity to feedback, curiosity, self-initiation (within reason), and willingness to quickly admit when you mess up. And being a generally pleasant person.
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2011
- Messages
- 223
- Reaction score
- 192
Organization!!
I set aside a chunk of time within my first month to update my interview forms, create Excel spreadsheets (patient info, checkboxes for whether I submitted my report, was waiting for feedback, when I uploaded it into Epic, who & when reports were routed, etc), etc. This immensely helped with things down the line - I don't feel frazzled when I've got a million things to do b/c I know exactly what needs to be done (or which stages of editing my reports are in).
I also find that trying to write the background info same day (while waiting on data from the psychometrists - which can take a few days here) can expedite reports.
I sat down with my new supervisors individually and discussed how I had been trained and what I was hoping to get out postdoc. I have one supervisor who continues to look back at that and pushes me to work on those goals (e.g., not relying on an interview form, shorter / more concise reports, etc). So I encourage you to be open / up front about your weaknesses and goals for what you hope to get out of fellowship. I'm at a clinical site for neuro postdoc. I have a strong research background (which they knew coming in) and I expressed my desire to write a grant while on fellowship. They have supported with in this endeavor, but I had to let them know this was goal upfront (and that I wanted to save 1 day for research per week) in addition to my clinical goals.
Good luck!
I set aside a chunk of time within my first month to update my interview forms, create Excel spreadsheets (patient info, checkboxes for whether I submitted my report, was waiting for feedback, when I uploaded it into Epic, who & when reports were routed, etc), etc. This immensely helped with things down the line - I don't feel frazzled when I've got a million things to do b/c I know exactly what needs to be done (or which stages of editing my reports are in).
I also find that trying to write the background info same day (while waiting on data from the psychometrists - which can take a few days here) can expedite reports.
I sat down with my new supervisors individually and discussed how I had been trained and what I was hoping to get out postdoc. I have one supervisor who continues to look back at that and pushes me to work on those goals (e.g., not relying on an interview form, shorter / more concise reports, etc). So I encourage you to be open / up front about your weaknesses and goals for what you hope to get out of fellowship. I'm at a clinical site for neuro postdoc. I have a strong research background (which they knew coming in) and I expressed my desire to write a grant while on fellowship. They have supported with in this endeavor, but I had to let them know this was goal upfront (and that I wanted to save 1 day for research per week) in addition to my clinical goals.
Good luck!
