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Introducing The Strategic Postdoc: Your FREE Guide to Transitioning from PhD to Postdoc

Giovanna Guerrero-Medina's picture
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Promotional card for the video course The Strategic Postdoc. The title is to the left and the three smiling speakers are to the right. Laurence has long hair and is wearing a scarf, Naledi has short wavy curl and glasses and Ray has short hair and a polka dot blouse.

As you approach the final stretch of your PhD, it can feel like everything is piling up at once. Between writing your thesis, publishing your work, preparing for your thesis defense, and also taking actionable steps towards your next steps after graduation... It can be an overwhelming process!

With this in mind, we’ve created a resource that will help you have a structured approach to finishing your degree and finding a postdoctoral position that is the right fit for you. That’s where The Strategic Postdoc (TSP) course comes in! Whether you're finishing your PhD or supporting graduate students in their professional development, this new resource helps make the process of looking for and landing a postdoc more transparent and easier to navigate.

TSP is a FREE, online course developed by the Yale Ciencia Academy, in collaboration with the Science Communication Lab, and the Office of Career and Professional Development at UCSF. This course provides you with the tools and strategies you need to confidently transition from your PhD to the right postdoc—or even a different career path.

What You’ll Learn:

TSP is designed to help you navigate the complex postdoc application process, from identifying the right fit to negotiating your position. By the end of the course, you’ll walk away with a personalized roadmap to guide your PhD to post-PhD journey. You’ll learn to:

  • Assess if a postdoc is the right next step for you
  • Reverse-engineer your postdoc search based on your career goals, needs, and values
  • Create a game plan for applying, interviewing, and choosing the right postdoc lab
  • Strategize your PhD completion while preparing for your next career move

Whether you’re considering a postdoc or exploring other career paths, this course provides practical strategies that can be applied across multiple professional transitions.

How It Works:

The course consists of 3 modules, featuring 12 short instructional videos, interactive exercises, and peer discussions to help you build a strategic plan tailored to your goals. You’ll also have access to downloadable handouts, activities, and reading materials for a deeper dive into each topic.  Designed with the busy lives of graduate students in mind, TSP is self-paced and only takes 4-6 hours to complete. 

What You Get:

  • 12 engaging short videos packed with practical tips and key concepts
  • Actionable strategies to help you successfully navigate the PhD to post-doc transition
  • Access to handouts, activities, and additional resources for a deeper understanding
  • A Strategic Postdoc Roadmap, a personalized action plan for your next career steps

Why You Should Take This Course:

As part of the Professional Skills for Proactive and Engaged Trainees series Developed by Yale University and Ciencia Puerto Rico, in collaboration with iBiology and the Science Communication Lab, TSP is a comprehensive resource designed to help you plan for success. This course is the third in the series, following other essential courses like Career Planning for Early Career Scientists and Strategies for Effective Public Engagement. A new course on managing mentoring relationships during career transitions is also in production!

For Program Administrators:

The Strategic Postdoc and other videos in this series can be easily incorporated into formal graduate training curricula or professional development programs. Over the next year, we will be releasing additional resources for program administrators or faculty members interested in hosting training sessions around the topics of the video. If you are interested in using the videos in your program or curriculum, please contact Dr. Giovanna Guerrero-Medina, Principal Investigator and Director of the Yale Ciencia Initiative and Director for Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Wu Tsai Institute at Yale University.

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