Hello all,

I would like to know the following:

- when does one apply for post-phd positions? How early? When are the major calls for applications?

- if you got a job, would you say it is important that some members of your prospective department are familiar with you? Or is it fine to just rely on a paper application?

- does one needs to apply for a post-doc after a Phd, or if it is possible to apply immediately for a Lectureship?

- If both are possible, which one is *easier* to get into?

Postdocs are just like a job, so they can be advertised at any time, there is no consensus that I am aware of.

People say you should start applying 6 months before the end of your PhD. I think that seems a lot of time will be spent job searching when one should be thesis writing, so I am going to wait until I am close to submitting before I start looking seriously for anything. Personally I want a gap between the end of one lot of research and the start of another because that makes more sense to me (I'm a 'completer-finisher' type of person).

It's often much more about 'who you know' or 'who your supervisor knows' that 'what you know'. You can apply randomly, and sometimes will get the position though obviously.

In some countries, mainly less developed ones, a PhD is all you need to secure a lectureship. In the US and UK, you need teaching experience for a lectureship with no research, and for a research position (where you probably need to lecture too) you need many years of a postdoc and a great publication record to even be in with a chance.

Neither are easy to get in to, due to the high number of candidates with PhDs and decreasing funding.