Survey reveals details about postdoc experiences at ASU

Remember the postdoc survey we asked you to complete back in  December? The results are in and we wanted to show our appreciation by giving you an overview of the results and a little insight about how we plan to use this data as we make plans for the next year or two of the Office.  

The survey went out to about 350 postdocs, and we allowed two weeks for responses.  We had a total of 56 postdocs complete the survey. 

For starters, we asked you to tell us your 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% 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 how that affects your experience at ASU. 

There is concern among postdoc offices around the country that postdocs are spending too much time as postdocs, so we wanted to know what year you earned your PhD.  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. 

Another interesting question was, “where did you get your PhD?”  We learned that 21% of our respondents actually earned their PhD at ASU.  We don’t know if this is reflective of the entire population, but we suspect that it’s close. We also learned we have folks from a very diverse collection of universities:  From Cornell, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins and Yale; and from Oxford, McGill University, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.  And even U of A!  

We always want to know why our postdocs choose ASU.  Over half of ASU postdocs report that they came to ASU specifically to work under the PI/Advisor with whom they work. This speaks to the strength of our faculty, and reflects ASU’s efforts to recruit rock-star researchers. 

We know your time with us is limited, and one of the important goals of the Postdoc Office is to pay special attention to our new postdocs.  So we asked if there were adequate resources to help you relocate and get settled in Arizona.  About one-third of ASU respondents said it was “very easy,” so for the other two-thirds of you, we could have done better. While we realize that some of this is out of our control, we do want to do our part to make your transition to Arizona a pleasant one.  By adding more resources to our website and hosting special events specifically for new postdocs, we plan to place more emphasis on incoming postdocs this year. 

We also learned that about half of you came from international locations, and are here on either a J-1 Visa or an H1-B Visa.  As we try to develop more resources for our international postdocs, this gives us a snapshot of the kind of topics we need to cover with regards to immigration issues.

Perhaps the most important question we asked was, what do you want to be “when you grow up?”  As we’ve said since the inception of the Postdoc Office, we want you to have a great experience while you are here, and we want to prepare you so your next job exceeds your expectations.  Fifty-six percent of you want a faculty job that mostly involves research, and about 13% of you want a faculty job that mostly involves teaching.  About 15% of you want to end up doing research in industry for a large corporation.  Only one of you responded that you wanted to launch a startup company based on your research.  All of this data helps us plan and offer professional development topics that suit your interests and get your ready to be successful when applying for your next job.   

We also asked a lot of questions about your relationship with your supervisor.  We were pleased to learn that nearly 87% of you have an “Excellent” or “Good” relationship with your PI. In 2019, we are going to be rolling out a mentorship program, and this helps us with the design of that program, and it helps us understand the scale with which we need to plan to implement it.    You can read more about this program in the article below. 

Finally, we asked you how many of you had attended any of our office’s events or activities.  About 55% of you who responded that you have.  This also matches our data that says that about 150 of you have signed in at least one postdoc event.  Out of 340 of you, that’s not too bad.  We also asked for suggestions for professional development topics, and other activities for postdocs, and we got some great answers.  I don’t want to spoil the surprise, so you’ll have to wait and see what we’re going to be rolling out. 

We would like to hear your thoughts.  If you’d like to give us feedback or suggestions, just click here.  This will open a survey form where you can provide anonymous comments.  Leave your name in the form if you like. 

Again, thank you to everyone who responded to the survey.  We look forward to seeing all of you in 2019.