Hey y'all. I am dead bored on a flight with internet, so am doing a thread on the questions you should think about and/or ask when being interviewed for post-doc positions.

Tune in if you're on the post-doc job market!

So there is no "typical" post-doc position, particularly in communication (my field), which is pretty new to the idea of post-docs.

Some are super lux with oodles of funding and perks, others have admin/teaching loads.

You first gotta figure out what the gig requires.

Your first question should be what does the PI *think* the position involves. Usually this is spelled out in the job description.

But you should also be on a fact-finding mission of your own from the moment you get a Skype interview/site visit.

Does the PI seem like a collaborator you want to work with intensely for 1-2 years? Do they know know how to manage a team, or will they look to you to run training and meetings?

Do they have good relationships with their department and school? What is their personality like? What motivates them?

There are also things you can negotiate for, and other things you cannot.

The overall salary *may* be set in stone by the grant or University by the time you get into the picture.

But you can absolutely negotiate for space, time, and travel funding after the offer is made.

My post-doc had zero travel funding. Tried to negotiate to no avail. This ended up being a bigger problem than I expected, because I was still trying for academic positions at the time. I needed to go to 2-3 conferences a year.

But personality can be a huge issue. Some PIs absorb toxic habits that they normalize in their research groups.

The problem is that there are so few post-docs that if you land one, you feel pressured to accept no matter what.

But what you might not see is other options may be better for you.

Try to lay out pros/cons and see them clearly.

Try to think of everything that you find valuable in life.

Making things work with a remote partner can be super difficult for example.

Ph.D.s and post-docs joke about their work causing them to be divorced. But this is no joke.