• Question: What was the biggest challenge to get to your position? What is your advice to overcome it?

    Asked by anon-340888 on 28 Nov 2022.
    • Photo: Matthew Swift

      Matthew Swift answered on 28 Nov 2022:

      The biggest obstacle if you want to work as a Post-Doc is probably getting onto a PhD programme in the first place. They are exceptionally competitive things to get on if you need funding (which most people definitely will).

      To overcome this, my advice would be to get as much lab experience as possible as early as you can. Even if it’s juts shadowing somebody in a lab, it’s still an advantage. When you reach undergrad, volunteer over the summer to help on a lab project. Speak to your tutors about what you find interesting and what projects they may have coming up.

      Talk to as many people as possible and you’ll really increase your chances!

    • Photo: Charli Corcoran

      Charli Corcoran answered on 28 Nov 2022:

      I think the biggest challenge to getting this position was the job application process. There were a lot of candidates, as I think there are for many jobs at the moment, and then I had to attend 2 interviews.

      My advice to overcome this is similar to Matthews – try and get as much experience in your chosen field as you can, whether its volunteer work, work experience through school (you can organise work experience yourself as well, either by emailing the labs directly or someone in the facility you’d like to work in), summer internships etc etc. Take the opportunities to do practise interviews whenever you can – the more practise you have in that environment the less daunting it will be.

      If you have enthusiasm for what you want to do, make sure that shines through!!

    • Photo: Sharon Madzorera

      Sharon Madzorera answered on 29 Nov 2022:

      I started my career late, only finishing my undergrad at 26. This meant balancing work and family, studying while having young kids etc. It felt like my age mates were way ahead of me career-wise, and there was a lot of barriers in my journey to where I am. I had to focus on my goal and reaching the place of comfort in my work. This was not easy, I had to say no to a lot of stuff I could have been doing so I could focus on family, work and study.

Comments