Postdoc Career and Professional Development
The Graduate School and the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs offer workshops, events, and resources throughout the year to help UMD postdocs develop their professional skills and plan their careers.
Setting Your Goals
Whether you have recently started your postdoc or you’re nearing the end of your time at UMD, it’s never too early to start thinking about your career goals! Once you’ve established your goals, you can gain a clearer understanding of what you’d like to prioritize during your postdoc in order to build the skills, experiences, and relationships that will help you start the next stage of your career.
When you start your postdoctoral appointment (or at any point afterwards), you are strongly encouraged to develop an Individual Development Plan (IDP) and discuss your plan with your supervisor and/or other mentors. There are several IDP templates available online:
- Learn more about the IDP process for postdocs in the Postdoc Manual
- Download UMD’s version of an IDP for Postdoctoral Researchers
- Check out the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA)’s Core Competencies to help you complete your IDP
- Additional IDP templates designed for graduate students and postdocs include: myIDP (Sciences), ImaginePhD (Humanities and Social Sciences), ChemIDP (Chemistry), or PHaSS-IDP (Public Health).
Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs supports postdocs’ professional development across a range of areas:
- Mentoring: Learn more about cultivating effective mentoring relationships as a postdoc, and become a mentor or mentee in one of OPA’s mentoring programs.
- Postdoctoral Research Symposium: Held every September during National Postdoctoral Appreciation Month, the PRS brings together postdocs from across Maryland to showcase their research and build community. Keep an eye on the OPA newsletter in late Spring/early Summer for the call to get involved in the PRS Planning Committee.
- Workshops: We periodically offer professional development workshop series for postdocs, including mentoring, leadership skills, and conflict management workshops.
Office of Career and Professional Development
We encourage postdoctoral scholars to take advantage of all relevant Career and Professional Development resources offered by the Graduate School. Unless indicated otherwise, Graduate School events and workshops are open to postdocs.
Some career resources that postdocs may find particularly valuable include:
- A schedule of workshops and access to the Doctoral Career Development Newsletter (you can also check out the Graduate School’s events calendar for a full schedule of events).
- The virtual learning platform Beyond the Professoriate
- Career exploration, career development, and job search resources
- 1:1 Career Advising appointments with Dr. Yi Hao, Program Director of Career and Professional Development
External Resources for Postdocs
National Postdoctoral Association (NPA)
The NPA “improve[s] the postdoctoral experience by supporting a culture of inclusive connection.” They have an extensive library of resources specific to postdocs, including a toolkit on “A Postdoc’s Guide to Mentorship.” Postdocs at UMD have an organizational membership to the NPA.
The Postdoc Academy
A professional development program for postdocs, which includes virtual, asynchronous skill-development courses and resources for both postdoc mentees and faculty mentors.
Beyond the Professoriate
Postdocs of all disciplines have 24/7 access to an e-learning platform, Beyond the Professoriate. Both asynchronous/recorded content and scheduled/live webinars are available.
National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD)
Provides professional development, courses, and resources to faculty members, postdocs, and graduate students through “on-demand access to the mentoring, tools, and support needed to be successful in the Academy.” Postdocs at UMD have an institutional membership to the NCFDD.