PAGE 2 OF 5
Jim Bardwell looks for postdocs with quality publications who will fit his lab's group dynamic.
Choosing the right people can make or break a lab group. And although there's not one right way of going about it, experienced investigators are quick to say it's not rocket science. With further prodding, however, they begin to describe well-honed techniques for recruiting, selecting, and managing postdoctoral fellows.
The stakes for both postdocs and mentors are high. Today more than ever, postdocs need to find a lab with a strong pedigree. And the investigators who hire them must identify a gifted experimental scientist who is compatible with the rest of the lab's employees.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Alt Lab Album
Learn where 100+ Alt Lab trainees are now.
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Any researcher over 50 will say that the trainees who come out of their lab are more important than any other page on their CV," says HHMI scientific officer Ed McCleskey.
“The expedition team has to be knowledgeable, hard working, flexible, and fearless.”
Jim Bardwell
Digging for Gold Seasoned investigators scout for talent at scientific meetings, summer training courses, and when giving seminars at other universities.
"When I go to a meeting I try not to hang out with my buddies too much; I talk to a lot of younger people," says Karolin Luger, an HHMI investigator at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. If she finds the right mix of innate curiosity and enthusiasm, she extends an invitation to apply to her lab.
Matchmaking is important too. A referral from a colleague who knows the lab's research and management style holds a lot of weight. Knowing firsthand a candidate's true training level—that they are guaranteed "good hands" at cell culture or crystallography—is invaluable.
Above all, though, these investigators are choosy from the outset, carefully selecting people who fit the lab's goals and personality. "You really have to get over the excitement that someone wants to work with you, and then dig deeper," says Luger.
When screening applicants, investigators rank different key elements first. For many, publications and productivity are most important.
"The number one thing I look at is their publications," says Michael Green, an HHMI investigator at University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. "Can they spearhead the project from its inception to its conclusion, a publication?"
Bardwell also emphasizes publications. "If an applicant has succeeded in publishing, that's a good indication they will succeed as a postdoc." He looks for quality publications on creative studies rather than quantity.
Luger looks for people who will bring interesting techniques to her group and who will speak their minds. "Are these people going to go out on a limb and fight for their ideas? Do they have their own vision?"
She recently hired a postdoc who came from a "hard-core thermodynamics laboratory," as opposed to a crystallography lab like hers. His influence on the lab resulted in development of a key assay and changed the way her group thinks about chromatin and the energetics that govern its assembly. She knew his perspective would bring fresh ideas.
Photo: Peter Baker
|
Go Back
