Why, what happened in the meeting?

Mackem_Beefy I know what you are saying but I just think this is one of those things that really does depend on the people you ask. I personally don't think 1 year out after a viva makes any difference, since you are likely to get papers published during this time and therefore you look active even if you are not, and I know my supervisors and other academics I know agree with me, but I am fully aware other academics may not have these same opinions.

For example, a postdoc in my lab worked in a shop for a year because he couldn't find another job. Still got his postdoc in the end though. Another post doc worked as a science tech in a school for a year. Still got a postdoc in the end. There's lots of stories like these. I guess we don't hear about the ones that don't manage to get a postdoc after taking time out from academia though.

Hazy Jane makes some good points.

It's going to depend on the individual institutions, you should contact their admissions departments and ask.

Have you got any previous employers to use? your MSc supervisor? BSc tutor?

I really don't think it should affect any future academic/think tank jobs. Especially if it's only for 9 months. Everyone knows how difficult the job market is at the moment so if it was me I would just mention that in any future job interview.

Take the time off and use it to write papers and apply for jobs, that way it won't look like you have been doing nothing. Don't mention the gap if you don't have to.

I think whether this affects your career prospects depends on the person interviewing you. Convince them you needed a break and it was a dream opportunity, and now you are ready to throw yourself into a postdoc and work hard. I don't think many supervisors would have a problem with that and I don't see what advantage a newer graduate would have over one that graduated just a year before.

This depends on your area. Unless there is very little research on your topic you should be able to write a lot more that 2500 in a lit review. Think about writing your thesis, aren't you going to have more than 2500 for that introduction?

There you go! Amazing what can happen when you know people. Just apply for it. You can make the decision of whether to take it if you get it :)

Yep that all sound legit. I wouldn't expect there to be anything in the contract about an extension. Exciting :)

Yes, a welcome one :)

Thanks Incognito. I also want to pay myself a proper postdoc salary as well though!

This was always one of my biggest worries: how will I ever be able to develop research questions? I have found, surprisingly, that I can and that it just took time to understand the literature directly related to my research question and also the areas that other researchers working on similar topics were addressing. I have only been able to do this adequately as I entered my 3rd year.

Think about the next research questions you would address for your own work after your PhD. If you can't answer this now, I'm sure you will be able to eventually.

It's annoying to train new staff continually, so unless they only want someone for a short term project, I would presume they want to give a permanent position. This is will be clearer when you start the job so I wouldn't push it any further now, I would wait and see what sort of comments they make about the future. I agree 6 months is a good time to start looking for a new position, but don't just rely on your 'impression' of whether there will be an extension, make sure you ask them directly. Also bear in mind, permanent contracts take time to be set up by HR etc anyway so they will need to be arranging things months in advance.

That's great news Incognito, well done! It's just because if you turn out to be a bad employee it is difficult to dismiss you so temporary contracts like this are common nowadays. Just impress them whilst you are employed and you will be fine! Once you start, you can also ask when they will let you about the decision of a permanent contract so that you know if you need to start looking elsewhere.

Congrats!

Tell your supervisors your concerns - you might be able to work on something more interesting to you as a side topic.

Also, bear in mind although you are not passionate about the topic now, after several years of obsessing over it, you might be. This happens to a lot of people. Sometimes of course it goes the other way and people hate their PhDs. It depends on the person.

If you back out it doesn't look great, but it's possible to recover from it.

Considering sticking it out at this stage as you may not even get it anyway.