How do I get a post-doc? It is a process of trial and error.

Sign up for job listing, stalk research groups and send cold emails.

In climate and meteorology there are two lists you should sign up to: CLIMLIST and Met jobs. I suggest using a filter on your email client so you are not overwhelmed with emails.

One thing I noticed about these job ads is that they come in waves. This might be due to funding cycles, year-end deadlines or similar but I found that I could go months without finding anything relevant. Long enough to making you question if you should change your research interests or lower your standards. Then all of a sudden there are multiple jobs you want. Keep an eye out for the next wave of jobs and be ready to drop everything and work to the job deadlines.

Find and stalk staff vacancy pages of groups you want to work for. If you know there is a group you want to work for then go visit them. This is not always possible but will give you a better chance of getting you a job with their group.

Send out cold emails. This is a tough thing to do. I suggest writing a template introducing yourself, your research interests and why you are emailing them. I also include my resume but I am not sure if people read it.

There are a few advantages to sending out cold emails. It gets your name out there. They might know of similar groups (or even forward your email) looking for someone with your experience. They might email you in the future to ask if your still interested. You might be asked to be involved in grant writing, which may lead to work in the future. I sent out quite a few emails like this. I was not offered any jobs via this approach but I was a guest of Freie University for six months in 2014 because I emailed the head of the group and introduced myself.

So you have found a job you want to apply for, now what?

Keep a close eye on the due date. I have submitted a number of applications on the day that they are due and it does not feel good. It can feel rushed and you are more likely to make a mistake or two. Plus its hard to credibly say your great at time management if you leave things to the last minute.

When I find a job I want to apply for I add them to a short list. I come back a few days later and reassess if the jobs are still interesting. If it is then I will research the group, assess if the location of the job would work and decide if I have the experience needed for the job. This last point may sound obvious but it is hard to gauge.

When I first started applying, I would apply for jobs that I thought were interesting. For the majority of these jobs I was either not short listed for an interview or was not even sent a reply to tell me I was not short listed. I got rejected a lot. But it took me a while to understand what people were looking for. Once I started to read my application from the eyes of the employer, sell my experience to the point that I was embarrassed and only applied for jobs I had a chance of getting I started to get more interviews.

When I started to do this, my success rate for interviews got a lot better. In fact, the last four jobs I applied for I got an interview for each.

Applying for the 'just in case they might see my potential' jobs can waste a lot of time. I would guess 2-4 hours per 'just in case job'. As a reference, it took me about 6-8 hours to write and revise an application for a job I had a good chance for, but this does not include touch ups to my resume and I generally had previous application selection criteria I could borrow paragraphs from. If there are selection criteria to address it could take me 1-2 days to apply.

Next you need to find your referees, address the selection criteria, draft a cover letter and an introduction for your email. And have someone proof read all of it!