Survey reveals details about postdoc experiences at ASU

Back in December, the ASU Postdoctoral Affairs Office sent out an informal survey to all ASU postdocs on the ASU campuses. The results are in and we wanted to provide an overview of the results, as well as shed a little light on how we plan to use this data.

The survey went out to about 350 postdocs and we allowed two weeks for responses. A total of 56 postdocs complete the survey. The survey was about 30 questions and was a mix of multiple-choice and short answer questions.   

To begin with, we asked postdocs to provide us with their title. Some universities have dozens of titles for postdocs, indicating different Human Resources classifications with different pay and benefits rates. According to the survey, at ASU about 71% of responding postdocs have the title Postdoctoral Scholar and about 20 percent of respondents are Postdoctoral Fellows. The remaining 9% are Postdoctoral Researchers, Postdoctoral Research Associates and even Associate Postdoctoral Researchers. In 2019, we will be researching the differences between these title classifications, if any, and if the differences affect postdoc experiences at ASU.  

Our survey indicates that over 70% of ASU postdocs received their PhD in years 2016-2018. There is a considerable amount of debate about the ideal length of time to spend as a postdoc. Many experts believe that 3 to 4 years as a postdoc should be enough time to do one or two major projects, submit for publication and embark on the job search process. According to our survey, most of our postdocs are in that window. Providing the resources, mentorship and training to keep our postdocs on track will continue to be a top priority.  

We also asked postdocs where they earned their PhD. About 21% of the respondents earned their PhD at ASU. We also asked the postdocs why they chose ASU. Over half of ASU postdocs that responded shared that they came to ASU specifically to work under the PI/Advisor with whom they work. We believe this speaks to the strength of our faculty.

One of the important goals of the Postdoc Office is to pay special attention to new postdocs. So we asked if there were adequate resources to help postdocs relocate and get settled in Arizona. Only about one-third of ASU respondents said it was “very easy,” so the Postdoc Office will increase our efforts to reach out to new, incoming postdocs to help make the transition to Arizona a pleasant one.

We are also keenly interested in learning exactly what postdocs want to do when their time as a postdoc is over. A whole 56% of the respondents identified that they want a faculty job that mostly involves research and about 13% want a faculty job that mostly involves teaching. About 15% of them want to end up doing research in industry for a large corporation. Only one of the 56 responded that they wanted to launch a startup company based on their research. All of this data helps us plan our professional development programs to suit the interests of our postdocs and help them be successful when applying for their next job.   

We also asked several questions about our postdocs’ relationships with their Advisor. We were pleased to learn that nearly 87% of ASU postdocs have an “Excellent” or “Good” relationship with their PI. In 2019, we plan to roll out a mentorship program, and this data helps us with the design of that program.

In summary we learned that, overall, our postdoctoral scholars are pleased to be in Arizona and part of the ASU community. We will continue to enhance and improve the programs offered by the Postdoc Office based on all of this valuable data.  

If you have questions about the Postdoctoral Affairs Office, please reach out to Wiley Larsen, program manager, at wiley.larsen@asu.edu or 480-965-9538.