'Are you a researcher wanting personal and professional support and seeking more career certainty?'

Dear Researcher,

Would you jump at the chance of taking control of your future and getting practical help to secure a stable career - one that rewards your experience and the efforts you've put into research?

Introducing Postdoc Career Success

confident female postdoc

Imagine: a rewarding career and peace of mind...

WHAT'S YOUR CHALLENGE?

THE POSTDOC CAREER SUCCESS proposition

... Worried about a position coming to an end or making job decisions that damage your chances of continuing in research?

    Use a proven method of finding positions and a career that fit your priorities and your strengths

... Stressed about your job prospects and depressing academic research employment statistics?

    Secure peace of mind, practical support to help you compete, plus confidence and the skills to be in demand in any career you choose

... Isolated and having trouble finding good advice about your career options inside and outside academia?

    Access open-minded, experienced mentors whose only aim is to help you choose and pursue a career you'll cherish

... Frustrated by a lack of guidance on how to master your demanding job, work more effectively and achieve your full potential?

    Access step-by-step advice and training that will make your postdoc years easier, more productive and focused, and set you up to excel

... Short of time and struggling to balance competing priorities?

    Learn how to make more of your time and energy with a program focused on your priorities that doesn't take you 'off task'

... Disappointed by generic training you've had in the past that just hasn't worked in practice?

    Benefit from proven tools, experience and advice specific to your situation, to give yourself maximum advantage.

Who are we?

PostdocTraining is an independent, private company specialising in professional development support for researchers. We offer a unique combination of online, on-demand training and face-to-face tuition, advice and mentoring.

We work with both individuals and institutions worldwide to introduce essential skills and tools for early career researchers to apply immediately in their work, irrespective of their research discipline. The researchers we work with span many different countries and cultures.

We aim to build clarity, capability and confidence quickly, and give postdocs the best possible chance of living highly successful careers that reflect their own strengths and preferences.

PostdocTraining career planning workshop in Melbourne, Australia. You can access our training and career support online anywhere in the world.

How do we know about your frustrations and worries? Because we've been there ourselves and lived through every step!

Kerstin Fritsches - doing neuroscience at sea

One postdoc's story - Kerstin Fritsches, Founder and Head Trainer, PostdocTraining

"I finished a PhD in neuroscience in Australia in 1999, and went on to become a postdoc and Research Fellow. While I loved the job, I also faced a huge number of challenges - and my PhD had prepared me for none of them!

"I desperately needed clear direction, more capability in non-research skills, and more confidence to pursue my own preferences.

"I knew I was nowhere near as productive as I should be with the papers, experiments and the track record I needed to create - and quickly! - to survive in the competitive research world. I made many mistakes and wasted time because I didn't know any better.

"Publication strategies, applying for my next grant and managing myself, my students, my industry sponsors, the faculty around me and my own little lab were just some of the many things I needed to get right. But no-one was handing out manuals on how to do them!

Solving the problem
"I started to educate myself: fast. Frustratingly, most of the professional training available took a lot of time and was rarely designed for researchers, let alone postdocs specifically. Some of the most helpful was the training I did independently and paid for privately, because I realised I needed to invest in my own success. I couldn't afford to wait for someone else to get around to offering me something suitable.

"After several years of training myself I ended up running career development training for postdocs for my university - and found I loved making a difference to others' careers as well as my own.

Finding an ideal job
"Two years into my second Fellowship came my scary revelation. My collaborators and I published a high-impact paper that created a lot of media attention. A bit of the dream had come true. Yet once the excitement had died down, it shocked me to realise I had achieved what I wanted. If I never published another paper in my life, it wouldn't matter. I was ready to move on: but now what?

"All my friends and colleagues were research academics - I had no role models for someone with a research background leaving academia.

"I took a year to admit to myself I wanted to leave academia and yet more time before admitting it to others. I was still getting funding and doing research, as well as taking on lecturing and research management roles, but none of this offered the fulfilment I was looking for after more than 10 years as a researcher. I began actively looking for people who had left academia: and I started to find them - happy, passionate and satisfied in a huge variety of roles.

Planning for yourself
"I knew I had to work out what made me excited and happy, then create the plan for the career that would fit my preferences and strengths.

"I learned that what I loved about research was mentoring others and the entrepreneurial and creative aspects of running a research team. And I realised there was a huge need to help postdocs achieve much more quickly and easily what took me and my colleagues years to work out by trial and error."

PostdocTraining and the Postdoc Career Success program are built on this experience. They are designed to offer an easier and more enjoyable way to be a researcher, and give you the clear direction, capability and confidence to secure the career path that is right for you.

Tap into Postdoc Career Success when it suits you - online 24/7, with mentoring via phone or Skype when you need it

We have designed the Postdoc Career Success Program so that you:

Take charge of your postdoc career with a step-by-step approach, practical help based on your preferences, and mentoring that will give you purpose and focus so you really enjoy your postdoc years - and minimise doubt, confusion and avoidable mistakes.

Follow a clear and easy process that puts you first, to find what you would love doing and how to get there - within or outside academia.

Gain confidence to compete in this tough environment because you know exactly what to do to boost your productivity in research, generate more high quality written output and get funded.

Get help with finding positions that fit with who you are and what you want, and get you off the postdoc rollercoaster. The career planning principles we've adapted to work specifically for researchers have a job-finding success rate of 86%! (RN Bolles, 'What Color is Your Parachute?')

Discuss any important career question with us as independent mentors, accessible anywhere in the world when you need advice or help with strengthening your drive and direction.

Stop worrying about job security - because you have developed the confidence, skills and networks to succeed in any career you put your mind to.

Receive training and mentoring in one convenient place, support that is practical and to the point, available when you need it, and doesn't drag you away from your research at the wrong time.

I came across PostdocTraining at the perfect time of my life... when I was in utter confusion about my future, when the question, "what next?" had become a nightmare! After starting the program and with Kerstin's help via a Skype mentoring call I managed to clear out my 'mental cloud' about strategies to apply for postdoc positions, interviewing, my career priorities, how to make the most of lab visits to help take the right decision.

Within a month of this call, I had started getting multiple interviews. Kerstin worked with me till the point of my getting the formal offer letter from the lab, which I now feel very happy about selecting! My heartfelt thanks to Kerstin and the PostdocTraining team!"

Devaveena Dey
3rd year postdoctoral researcher
Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, USA

So why would you want to work with us?

Because you want to succeed in your career

Postdocs who receive training and mentoring have a much higher chance of succeeding, since they make fewer mistakes, are more productive, more confident and happier (Sigma Xi Postdoc Survey, 2005). Despite this, most postdocs find themselves in a 'sink-or-swim' situation, receiving little support when it's needed most: in your postdoc years.

We've built Postdoc Career Success to give you the best chance of rapid, sustained progress, regardless of whether you have support from your workplace or not. No frills, no exams - just practical advice and proven tools that you can use straight away in your work, so you have the capability and confidence to fulfil your potential, in your preferred career.

Because you will be working with a global specialist in training and mentoring early career researchers

The postdoc phase is a difficult stage of your career - but you don't have to struggle through it alone. Having a mentor and training outside your place of work is very common in many careers but is only now emerging as a priority in academic research. The added benefits of PostdocTraining's independent situation are clear:

  • We have no agenda or bias. Discussions with you will be focused purely on helping you select and achieve what you want, whether that is within academia or another field you would find more fulfilling.
  • You can discuss with us all career options or challenges, including those you don't want to raise with senior staff or colleagues at your workplace.
  • We have been where you are now and know exactly what you are going through.
  • We specialise exclusively in career training for researchers like you. We have a level of expertise and experience of working in this area internationally that is second to none.

Because you understand the costs of doing nothing about your career

You can't afford to waste precious time going to faintly relevant workshops, spending hours trawling the net for useful information or going to endless events on the off-chance of finding the key to your career.

You know you need more training, advice and mentoring to get your next job and ultimately more secure employment, be more productive, start winning funding and build the career you actually want. Engaging PostdocTraining to be your personal career trainer and mentor will give you all this and more. It will save you so much time, a lot of effort and potentially significant amounts of money in income or grant funding.

I found the PostdocTraining program to be a fantastic resource for guiding me through my time as a postdoctoral researcher. Since starting the course, my productivity level has increased, the quality of my scientific writing has improved, and I now have a clearer idea of my career direction. This is a must-have resource for young scientists embarking on their career."

  Martin HowPostdoctoral researcher, University of Queensland, Australia

How can I be sure the program will work for me?

PostdocTraining's program will make a substantial difference to your confidence, skill levels and employability. The researchers we work with tell us it does - and that's really the only proof that matters!

I just want to thank you for this very rich year. I can tell you I won an award for young researchers! I also got a 4-year research grant, a very prestigious one, for my own project and to start my own group. So I owe you! 🙂

I hope that you keep on providing postdocs with this excellent career support."

Irene Rodriguez Meizoso
3rd year postdoctoral researcher
Lund University, Sweden

Kerstin provides excellent and inspiring advice on career development for postdocs. More specifically, the PostdocTraining classes and mentoring calls have helped me clearly define short and long-term career aims and make a plan on how to improve my chances of reaching them. I can highly recommend the Postdoc Training program."

Johanna Hol?
3rd year postdoctoral Fellow, Oslo University, Norway

At US$597 for the full program including all the material, mentoring and inclusive bonuses like ongoing email career advice and our monthly postdoc news service, researchers tell us it is extraordinary value and that they wish they'd known about it earlier.

We appreciate, though, that this is a significant investment in your career, so we also give you a 100% guarantee.

POSTDOC CAREER SUCCESS TRIPLE GUARANTEE


We will refund your money in full:

  • if the program does not meet your expectations
  • if your circumstances change during the program and you find the support is no longer relevant for you
  • if you do not feel more capable, employable and confident about your job prospects after having applied everything you learned in the program.

We take all the risk: we believe in this program 100%. We only want to work with researchers who are happy with the training and mentoring, so if you find we are not a good fit, you will get your money back.

More about what's inside the Postdoc Career Success program

The step-by-step program is built around 15 eclasses, or modules, delivered fortnightly online over 7 months, focused on building your career development skills in a research setting. The eclasses are accompanied by practical tools and resources that can be applied immediately to your work and challenges. Designed for the active and time-poor, eclasses are available in online, downloadable text and audio formats so you can access them wherever you are.

Modules cover career planning and pathways; managing time, people and projects; publishing strategies and practices; improving productivity; initiating partnerships; attracting funding; and building networks. (If you need access to any particular module in advance - for example because you are just about to apply for funding - this can be arranged.)

The time commitment is readily manageable for someone in a full-time position - an average investment of 1-2 hours in total of your time every two weeks to complete all the elements of the eclasses.

The eclasses in detail

icon for Postdoctraining eclass1 Strengthen Your Work Platform

In this first eclass you will discover how to build a strong platform in your current and future roles in order to settle in, become productive and achieve success as quickly as possible.

For example, you will learn about the specific issues to raise with your supervisor or school head, and how to make sure you have the right resources and structure - including a career development framework - to make the most of your position. We also show you how you build the right team of supporters around you.


icon for PostdocTraining eclass 2

How do you prevent burn-out, increase job satisfaction and maximise your chances of sustained career success?

By concentrating on your strengths and preferences and using them to best effect.

In these two eclasses we help you to identify:

icon for Postdoctraining eclass3
  • your key strengths from over 50 transferable skills you use as a researcher;

  • which of the 8 career preference types you belong to and what this means for your career choices; and

  • your top 5 values that you must consider as part of all your future career decisions, to secure positions that will let you fulfil your priorities and potential.

icon for Postdoctraining eclass4 Developing Your Career Destinations

Clear direction and strength of purpose are essentials if you're going to fulfil your potential.

In these two eclasses you will develop a complete career plan that is flexible enough to grow with you and brings together your goals, strengths, preferences and 'non-negotiables'.

Once your career plan is developed you will be in a position to make really well informed decisions about your future with confidence, and answer crucial questions such as, "should I move countries for my next position?", "which is the right research group for me?" or "which alternative career pathway will I pursue?", based on your own clear priorities.


icon for Postdoctraining eclass6 Overcoming Pitfalls and Blockages

This eclass examines the 4 most common obstacles preventing people from reaching their career goals and explores the best ways of avoiding or overcoming them.

You will be introduced to resources including a tool to help you rapidly analyse and prioritise your tasks, and strategies for steering clear of commitments that take you away from the activities that really matter to your career development.


icon for Postdoctraining eclass7 Creating More Time in Your Day

This eclass introduces a range of proven time management strategies and tools to help you work more quickly and efficiently, increase your productivity, and minimise wasted time and the stress associated with it.

You will discover how to take stock of your time, structure the tasks that are most important for you, and win back time that you can reallocate to your own priorities.


icon for Postdoctraining eclass8 Improve Your Writing Efficiency

How would you like to settle into a rhythm that allows you to produce papers regularly, minimises stress and optimises use of your time?

This eclass is packed with advice on how to make time for writing, increase your written output and get your papers submitted and published earlier, featuring a guest specialist in the area of writing efficiency, Hugh Kearns.


icon for Postdoctraining eclass 9 Managing Authorship

This eclass is designed to give you a solid, practical grounding in authorship negotiation and how to minimise the stress and potential for conflict associated with it.

Together with authorship specialist, Dr Suzanne Morris, we outline some established rules and processes that allow for equitable determination of authorship attribution, to help make sure you get all the credit you are due from your publications.


icon for PostdocTraining eclass10 Your Complete Publishing Strategy

How do you create a publishing history that convinces people on funding and interview panels that you have what it takes? Developing a publication strategy that goes beyond submitting individual papers or monographs is essential to your success. This eclass takes you through all the essential steps in creating such a strategy, from planning your papers to advertising your successes by telling your research 'story' in the most effective way.


icon for PostdocTraining eclass How to Get Funded

Imagine where your career could lead if you accessed new pockets of funding and had the confidence and skills to create and convert new funding opportunities... .

This eclass introduces you to 7 different types of funding sources (most researchers consider one or two at most). The module also analyses the nuts and bolts of an excellent application, how to structure the content for maximum impact and adopt budget strategies that minimise your risk.


icon of PostdocTraining eclass on Project Management

Project management is a key skill for any researcher but one that is rarely taught. Here you will discover the 7 principles of effective project management to help you run outstanding projects - and be first in line for future projects.

You will learn how to manage projects on time, within budget and with excellent outcomes that set you apart - and to do so with confidence and low levels of stress.


icon for PostdocTraining eclass on communciation skills

Imagine being the person everyone wants to work with: easy to get along with but also supremely good at managing people - including getting 'difficult' people to work well in your team and achieving the results you need.

This eclass is about the people skills that make this possible, including skills in negotiation, managing conflict and communicating in groups. You will explore a toolbox of strategies that will help you negotiate for great outcomes, deal with challenging people and situations, and become an effective leader.


icon for PostdocTraining eclass 14 called Networking for Your Career

How do you benefit from the great opportunities that come from effective networking? By creating the right networks in the first place and understanding how to nurture them to maximum mutual advantage. This eclass focuses on tips and techniques you can apply immediately, so you can look forward to building networks that give you the support you need to accelerate and sustain your progress.


icon for PostdocTraining eclass 15 called Your career Options

How would it feel if the insecurity of academia was not an issue for you because you have identified alternatives that appeal to you and developed the skills to pursue them with confidence?

This eclass steps you through how to identify options that would fit your strengths and preferences, nurture these options from inside academic research, and develop transferable skills and a track record suited to multiple careers. Whether you are dead-set on an academic career or want to consider other options, this eclass helps you take charge and address the inherent uncertainty of the postdoc situation. The eclass goes hand-in-hand with our bonus tool, the Career Options Masterlist.


Personal mentoring support and career advice

Postdoc Career Success includes direct support to researchers as part of the program to accompany the online modules, offering members the opportunity of high level, personalised attention when they most need it.

Mentoring calls

icon for PostdocTraining mentoring calls

3 hours in total of one-to-one mentoring with PostdocTraining Directors, Kerstin and Stephen, are included in the program price; by phone or Skype at your time of choice.

These sessions give you the chance to focus exclusively on your own needs, your own situation and challenges, with an experienced mentor to guide you. The mentoring calls can be used to tackle anything that will benefit you and your career. Deal with a pressing issue (such as job applications, career choices or funding strategies) or tackle longer-term orientation and strategy, to help you define and plan your priorities.

Email support

Stuck on some issue to do with career development, need a quick answer to a pressing question, or want to bounce an idea off a mentor away from your place of work?

Just email us with your question at any time during the program and we will get back to you within 48 hours. Simple as that: a pocket mentor service!

Group Training

Interested in a wider discussion on topics such as work-life balance, teaching, information on a particular grant process or career paths you are interested in?

PostdocTraining can organise special webinar-based training sessions on selected issues for Postdoc Career Success members. You only need to ask!


Bonus services and resources

Tools and templates

The program includes numerous practical worksheets, templates and checklists designed to save you the time of creating or sourcing your own, so you can turn theory into practice right away.

Whether it is a detailed induction checklist, project planning and management tools, templates for budgeting or prioritising tasks, or the Career Destination Finder, each tool is yours as a convenient download in Word or Excel format. 

Logo for Postdoc in the News newsletter

'Postdoc in the News' is our monthly international news service for program members, bringing you the most relevant and current information on research-related topics and career paths. Keep informed without spending your own time searching for relevant material across different media and amongst all the generic information 'noise'. 

icon for PostdocTraining Career Options Masterlist

PostdocTraining's extensive database allows you to explore dozens of career paths in academia and beyond for those with PhDs, whether in education and research institutions, government, not-for-profits, established industries or private enterprise.

The Masterlist offers on-demand access to overviews of a wide range of career and job types, and case studies of researchers who have transitioned into them.


PostdocTraining is a comprehensive resource for postdocs. I think Kerstin's program provides a holistic understanding of the expectations and requirements, and many useful practical solutions for postdocs. I recommend this program to anyone who wishes to take control of their careers to prepare themselves to become competitive and independent scientists."

  Grace LahPostdoctoral research Fellow, University of Queensland, Australia

SUMMARY OF THE POSTDOC CAREER SUCCESS PROGRAM

program element

value (US $)

15 eclasses in text and audio formats, delivered online and on-demand over 7 months; includes all exercises, templates and checklists, and life-long access.

$597

Personal mentoring calls with PostdocTraining mentors - 3 hours total

$600

Email career advisory service - unlimited for the program duration

Bonus service

Career Options Masterlist - life-long access, regular updates

$149

Postdoc in the News service - life-long access and archive issues to August 2011

$80

Extra group training webinars on request

Bonus service

Core value

$1,426

YOU PAY

$697

RISK-FREE ACCEPTANCE FORM

Yes, I would like instant access to the Postdoc Career Success program. As a member, I will receive:

15 eclasses packed with practical training, tools, tips and resources on the full range of topics essential to developing my career. All the classes are available online in written and audio formats so I can choose the format that fits my busy schedule. I will receive the classes every 2 weeks over a period of 7 months but, if I need to, I can ask to receive specific eclasses earlier. I retain life-long access to the program material and all the associated resources.

One-to-one mentoring. I'm entitled to 3 hours in total of mentoring time with PostdocTraining Directors Kerstin or Stephen via Skype or phone, at a time to suit me. I pick the career-related challenge or personal development issue I want to tackle and the private mentoring session will be arranged to help me address it.

Unlimited email support. I can submit specific career-related queries via email at any time to info@postdoctraining.com. PostdocTraining will be my 'pocket mentor' and the program team will always do their best to help me find an answer.

Action plans, templates, worksheets and checklists to help me apply all the useful strategies and tools addressed in the eclasses straight away, to tackle my daily challenges.

Free access to real-time training sessions. I can suggest topics for extra virtual group training sessions and PostdocTraining will arrange these for times that suit a majority of program members. These may be set up at key times of the year, such as to support grant-writing, or in response to emerging issues not already covered by the eclasses.

Postdoc in the News, my monthly news service so I don't have to comb through all the latest career development advice and information that may be relevant to me. PostdocTraining will do that work for me.

Career Options Masterlist, my database for career options for people like me with a high-level research background. The links and information in the database mean I can readily browse through potential career pathways and explore in detail those that interest me and are suited to my skills.


We're passionate about the value of the one-to-one mentoring sessions you receive as part of this program and take the calls very seriously, to make sure you get the best possible outcome. Our time is inevitably limited, though, so we must restrict the number of postdocs we can take on the program. Join now to make sure you don't miss out.

Choose the best payment option for you

One-off Payment - best value, save US $59

Cash-flow Option - regular equal payments

US$697 single payment

US$108 x7 payments

$108 now, then 6 payments spaced 30 days apart

best-value
cash-flow

As soon as you join you will automatically receive your own personal login to the Postdoc Career Success members-only area, so you can start working with us right away.

Remember the Postdoc Career Success Triple Guarantee

We will refund your money in full:

  • if the program does not meet your expectations
  • if your circumstances change during the program and you find the support is no longer relevant for you
  • if you do not feel more capable, employable and confident about your job prospects after having applied everything you learned in the program.

Don't delay: take control - with our support

A postdoc can be one of the best jobs in the world but it's also a tough existence, with little security, usually next-to-no training and plenty of uncertainty and anxiety.

If you want tried-and-tested, practical support that you can apply to your work straight away to make your postdoc time much more enjoyable, focused and productive, Postdoc Career Success is tailor-made for you. Our unique combination of flexible, online training delivery and direct personal mentoring has already helped hundreds of postdocs with their most pressing challenges.

We take all the risk through our money-back guarantee, so we are completely confident of the benefits you'll see from taking part in the program. We very much look forward to working with you.

Best regards

Dr Kerstin Fritsches
Managing Director and
Head Trainer, PostdocTraining


P.S. Remember, our commitment to personal mentoring means we have to restrict the number of researchers we can accept into the program, so don't miss out - join now and start straight away to take control of your career and direct your own future.

I would like to take the chance to thank you for the effort in the postdoc training. Personally, it was a game changer. I have learned a lot along this course and I am happy that we will have permanent access to the materials to go back to and refresh some ideas and thoughts every
now and then.

I also recommend this program as a mandatory course for all
researchers who just started their postdoc."

Marwa Dabaieh
2nd year postdoctoral researcher in architecture, Lund University, Sweden

Yours is some of the best advice I have received yet on establishing clarity in my thinking regarding the type of position I will obtain!

It is so nice to have a program such as yours on the web! (I finished my degree offsite so I sort of missed out on the postdoc programs of both institutions in helping me find employment!).

Appreciating you!
"

Kathryn Leake
1st year postdoctoral Fellow, CRCHUQ, Qu�bec, Canada