ku phd psychology

• Enroll & Pay
• Prospective Students
• Current Students
• Degree Programs

Welcome to the Department of Psychology

The mission of the Department of Psychology at the University of Kansas is to further the understanding of the mind, the brain, and human behavior through the classes we teach, the new discoveries we make in our research, and in our service to the people of Kansas and the world. At the undergraduate and graduate levels our students acquire knowledge and skills that will enable them to become leaders in the psychological sciences and in other professions.

Undergraduate Program

Explore our Undergraduate Program

Graduate Program

Explore our Graduate Program

• Enroll & Pay

The Clinical Child Psychology Program at the University of Kansas

The Clinical Child Psychology Program at the University of Kansas is a graduate program leading to the doctoral degree in Clinical Child Psychology. We are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association as a doctoral program in clinical psychology with a special emphasis on children, adolescents, and families.

Our mission is to develop leaders in the research, dissemination, and practice of psychological clinical science for children, youths, and their families.

The Clinical Child Psychology Program fulfills the basic and traditional orientations to Clinical Psychology as a practice area in health service psychology with an emphasis in working with children, adolescents, parents, and families. The CCPP is an initiative jointly affiliated with the KU Departments of Psychology and Applied Behavioral Science. This interdepartmental program involves the resources of faculty in both departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The program includes a core faculty with specialty interests in clinical child and pediatric psychology.

KU CCPP Quicklinks

The child and family services clinic, support the ccpp, apa accreditation.

• Enroll & Pay
• Prospective Students
• Current Students
• Degree Programs

Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology

The curriculum provides a sequence of instruction that integrates:

• Courses in the basic principles of behavior, experimental methods and research design
• Conceptual foundations with training in basic, applied, and intervention research (e.g., assessment, analysis, intervention, evaluation).

For its research and training, the department receives considerable grant funding.  The doctoral training program operates according to a junior colleague model. Students work closely with their advisors, joining them in every aspect of professional development. This includes designing and conducting research, preparing manuscripts for presentation and publication, and presenting and publishing those manuscripts. Students typically work with one advisor, but may work with others or have co-advisors.

The Doctorate in Behavioral Psychology is accredited by the Association for Behavior Analysis International Accreditation Board: annual report data .

The PhD program helps meet the educational requirements for licensure in the state of Kansas. If you plan to obtain a license or certification in a state other than Kansas or a US territory after completion of your program, it is highly recommended you first seek guidance from the appropriate licensing agency BEFORE beginning the academic program to ensure you can obtain a license or certification in your home state or territory.  The APBA provides resources for licensure and certification boards outside of Kansas. 

Annual reporting period: Calendar year January-December 2023

ABAI Accreditation Report

BCBA Examination Pass Rates

Course Requirements

Ph.D. students are required to take one course in each of seven content areas, along with two practicum courses. Students complete and orally defend an empirically based Master's thesis. With approval, empirically-based theses from other graduate programs may meet this requirement. Following competency exams, students propose, conduct, and defend an empirically-based dissertation.

Current Doctor of Philosophy in Behavioral Psychology requirements from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Affiliated Programs

The department offers a joint PhD-MPH degree in collaboration with the Master's of Public Health (MPH) program in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center. This is the first degree in the nation to combine an MPH with the strengths of advanced study in applied behavioral science. It incorporates efficiencies in the elective and research requirements of both departments.

Faculty and student research teams address issues in community health and development, child and youth health and development, disabilities and independent living, and healthy aging. Separate admission is required for both the department (Ph.D. program) and Preventative Medicine (M.P.H. program).

• Admission and Program FAQs
• Degree Requirements

• Enroll & Pay

Overview of the Psychology Graduate Program

Monday, October 30, 2023 at 10:00 AM until 11:00 AM Central Daylight Time UTC -05:00

Registration is no longer available because the registration deadline has passed.

Cognitive and Brain Sciences

Department of psychology, university of kansas.

• CBS Faculty
• Graduate Students
• CBS Talk Series
• Mind Lecture Series
• Research Facilities
• In the News
• Department of Psychology

Announcements

Cognitive and Brain Sciences The Cognitive and Brain Sciences PhD program at the University of Kansas seeks students with the intellectual potential, motivation, and quantitative aptitude to engage in productive scholarship in a basic or applied area of interest, including: • Cognitive psychology • Cognitive neuroscience • Developmental science • Aging and cognition • Child language • Quantitative methods The training program emphasizes the development of a broad-based foundation in theory, research methods, technical skills, and quantitative analysis for application in a variety of basic and applied research settings. Areas of focus of current faculty members and faculty affiliate members include memory, cognitive development, language, perception, attention, aging, higher-order cognition, neuropsychology, computational neuroscience, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, philosophy of psychology, and philosophy of mind. Our graduate students begin research as soon as they enter the program. As a result of this focus on research, our recent graduates have quickly found employment in academic programs, research organizations, and applied research units in industry and government. The current general program requirements are here . The program follows a mentorship model; students are admitted to work with specific faculty members rather than to the program at large. Students and faculty can also work closely with one of our affiliated faculty members in other departments (Linguistics, Gerontology, Speech-Language-Hearing, and Philosophy). Every month there are talks by faculty members and researchers in the field that take place within the Psychology Department, in other KU departments, and at the KU Medical Center (see our CBS Brown Bag and Mind Lecture Series). Our admission requirements are listed here . During the application process, applicants are encouraged to contact faculty members with whom they are interested in working. Useful Links Graduate Application (Deadline: December 1st) CBS Program Curriculum Psychology Graduate Program Profile KU Graduate Studies

• Enroll & Pay
• Prospective Students
• Current Students
• Current Faculty

Ph.D. in Educational Psychology & Research at KU

Program Overview

The Ph.D. in educational psychology & research at the University of Kansas offers doctoral students two unique program specialization areas of emphasis. The Development & Learning (D&L) area of emphasis prepares students for work as research scientists in education psychology. The Research, Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics (REMS) area of emphasis prepares graduate students for careers in quantitative methodologies. Students develop their own research agenda around a relevant topic in collaboration with faculty.

Career Outcomes in Educational Psychology & Research

Students pursue the Ph.D. in educational psychology & research at KU with varying career goals in mind. Graduates of the Development & Learning (D&L) area of emphasis work in a variety of settings, but most commonly seek faculty positions in higher education. The Research, Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics (REMS) area of emphasis prepares students to apply the best and most current knowledge of research methods, program evaluation, classroom assessment, measure development, and statistics.

Related Programs

• Master's in educational psychology & research
• Ph.D. in counseling psychology
• Ph.D. in school psychology
• Program faculty
• School scholarships
• Office of Graduate Studies

Thinking about educational psychology & research?

Brag points, graduate student life view as gallery page.

Vibrant Campus Environment

In the heart of the United States, the city of Lawrence revolves around KU and its students.

Graduate Student Funding

The Office of Graduate Studies at KU provides both internal and external funding resources to support students.

Professional Development

Graduate students will leave KU with a professional and academic network of faculty and staff.

Graduate Teaching Assistantship

Program applicants and current students can apply for a Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) in the Department of Educational Psychology.

2024-25 Academic Catalog

Doctor of philosophy in behavioral psychology.

The Department of Applied Behavioral Science offers a curriculum through which students learn how to examine and address problems of social importance across the lifespan. Students receive training in the application of behavioral science to improve the human condition through prevention and intervention. The department’s doctoral program in behavioral psychology satisfies coursework requirements for Board Certification in Behavior Analysis and, in most states, licensure as a behavior analyst. It does not satisfy requirements for licensure in psychology.

Admission to Graduate Studies

An applicant seeking to pursue graduate study in the College may be admitted as either a degree-seeking or non-degree seeking student. Policies and procedures of Graduate Studies govern the process of Graduate admission. These may be found in the Graduate Studies section of the online catalog.

Please consult the Departments & Programs section of the online catalog for information regarding program-specific admissions criteria and requirements. Special admissions requirements pertain to Interdisciplinary Studies degrees, which may be found in the Graduate Studies section of the online catalog.

Admission to the Ph.D. Program

For admission in the fall semester, please view the application deadline and all required application materials on the Graduate Admission page of our departmental website . Students may be admitted for the spring semester, but there is no filing deadline.

Eligibility criteria for admission to the Ph.D. program follow Graduate Studies’ admission policy . To be considered for admission to graduate status in the program, a student must hold a bachelor’s degree. Non-native speakers of English must meet  English proficiency requirements . 

For admission with full graduate standing, the department recommends that applicants complete 12 credit hours of undergraduate or graduate course work in behavior analysis, behavioral science, psychology, education, or related fields, and 6 hours in experimental methods, research design, or statistics.

Among the department’s application materials is a list of departmental faculty members. Students should review  faculty members  on the department's website and descriptions of their research, scholarly, and professional interests. Applicants should select any faculty members whose research interests match their own. These faculty members review the applicants’ materials. An applicant is accepted when one of the faculty members consent to admit the student. This faculty member becomes the advisor of record.

Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology Degree Requirements

The doctoral program trains highly competent researchers in applied behavioral science (e.g., applied behavior analysis, applied psychology). Students are taught to discover and produce, translate and apply, and communicate knowledge in the behavioral sciences for understanding and solving problems of individual and societal importance, both local and global. The curriculum requires a sequence of instruction that integrates courses in the basic principles of behavior, experimental methods and research design, and conceptual foundations, but emphasizes course work and training in applied and intervention research (e.g., assessment, analysis, intervention, evaluation). Its objective is to discover and advance empirically based solutions to problems of individual and societal importance, both local and global.

The doctoral program follows a junior-colleague model. Students work closely with their advisors and join them in every aspect of professional development. This includes designing and conducting research, preparing manuscripts for presentation and publication, presenting and publishing those manuscripts, preparing editorial reviews of manuscripts, and engaging in all facets of the responsible conduct of research. Students typically work with 1 advisor, but may work with other faculty members or have co-advisors. If a student’s or advisor’s interests change, students are free to change advisors.

Course Requirements

The doctoral degree program requires students to take 1 course in 10 areas, along with 2 practicum courses. The areas and the practicum courses are:

Research Methods II must be an approved graduate seminar or special topics course in research methods. Students can check the graduate handbook or with their faculty advisor for a list of approved courses. 

Also required is Research or Intervention Practicum I and II (6). 2 supervised practicum courses in (a) basic or applied research or (b) behavioral interventions.

Master’s Thesis

Students complete an empirically based master’s thesis and pass an oral examination on it. With their advisor’s approval, empirically based theses from other programs may meet this requirement.

Research Skill

The Office of Graduate Studies requires students to have training in responsible scholarship and research skills pertinent to the field of research. This will be met by:

• Satisfactory completion of either ABSC 735 OR ABSC 770  
• Satisfactory completion of either ABSC 841 OR ABSC 851

One of the following:

• At least one submission of a first-author manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, OR
• The work for these must have been entirely completed at KU
• No more than one may be a poster
• At least one must have been presented by the time of the comprehensive examination; if the other has not yet been presented by the time of the comprehensive examination, it must be accepted for presentation at an upcoming meeting
• At least one must list the student as either first or presenting author

Teaching Requirement

Graduate students receive training in the teaching and supervision of undergraduates. The requirement may be met in 1 of 2 ways. In the first, students serve as a paid half-time teaching assistant for 1 semester or as a quarter-time assistant for 2 semesters, assuming proportionate responsibility for class organization, lecturing, grading, and office hours under a faculty member’s supervision. In the second, students take LA&S 792 or ABSC 941 , attend 3 brown bag lectures at the Center for Teaching Excellence, and present a guest lecture to the department. In both cases, students must also write a statement of teaching philosophy and obtain numeric evaluations of their teaching in their guest lectures.

Professional Seminar Requirement

Graduate students are expected to attend pro-seminar sessions when they are scheduled throughout the Fall and Spring semesters. These are usually scheduled for Friday afternoons at 3:30. Pro-seminars are typically presentations given by graduate students (see next paragraph), faculty members, and visiting scholars.

Doctoral students are required to present the results of their research at a department professional seminar meeting. The presentation is comparable to what would be presented at a professional conference. Students answer questions from their peers and the faculty in attendance.

Editorial Critiques

Students write 3 editorial reviews of published or unpublished journal articles, all of them empirical. The articles cover a range of topics and experimental designs. All 3 are graded pass-fail by the student’s advisor. Students may use editorial reviews from course assignments so long as the instructor and advisor approve doing so.

Comprehensive Examination

Students must complete the comprehensive examination by the end of the third year if entering the PhD program with a completed Master's obtained at another university, or within a year of defending their Master's in the Applied Behavioral Science MA program at KU. The examination has 2 components:

• Program of Study Written Document.  Students will generate a program of study document, developed in concert with their mentor, that includes: 
• A list of all graduate lecture/discussion courses completed in behavioral science and how the coursework fulfills ABAI accreditation standards 
• Up to 10 representative readings from each completed graduate lecture/discussion course
• Research interest statement (2-3 pages)
• Career plans statement (2-3 pages) 
• Up-to-date CV

In preparation for the oral examination, students provide their program of study document to the comprehensive examination committee. The examination committee will have the right to request additions/modifications to the reading list. The student will have a minimum of 2 weeks to prepare for the oral examination upon finalization of the program of study with the examination committee.

2. Oral Examination.  The program of study will be used by the comprehensive examination committee to generate relevant and individualized questions to ask during the oral examinations. Questions will span all coursework and student-indicated research domains (those of personal interest to the student and relevant to their career trajectory). These questions will be posed during the oral examination. The oral examination will last two hours and is not open to the public. The defense is successful if a majority of the committee members vote to pass it.

Dissertation Proposal

In preparation for the dissertation, students will complete a departmental required written dissertation proposal and an oral discussion of the proposal. The proposal will include a) a thorough literature review and b) a research proposal. Students should follow specific instructions for these components as dictated in the student handbook. The dissertation proposal discussion will entail a one hour meeting with the dissertation committee.

Dissertation

In consultation with their advisors, students conduct an empirically based dissertation, typically based on the comprehensive examination proposal, and pass an oral examination on it. The defense is successful if a majority of the committee members vote to pass it. If students do not pass the dissertation defense, they may not defend it again for a period of at least 90 days. If the oral defense is failed twice, students have 30 days to petition the department for a third attempt. Failure to petition, or a rejected petition, will result in students' dismissal from the program. The dissertation defense will be open to the public.

Print Options

Send Page to Printer

Print this page.

Download Page (PDF)

The PDF will include all information unique to this page.

2023-24 Entire Catalog

All pages in the Academic Catalog

Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS)

New phd position at sodas, phd position at the copenhagen center for social data science (sodas), university of copenhagen, with a focus on investigating the role of adults’ curiosity for decisions, behavior, and life outcomes, apply here: https://employment.ku.dk/phd/show=161571.

Who are we looking for? The Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS; https://sodas.ku.dk/ ), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Copenhagen, invites applications for a PhD position (100%, 36 months). Supported by the Tryg Foundation, the chosen candidate will primarily work in a project related to curiosity in children and adults, together with a PhD student at the Department of Psychology, a post-doc (at SODAS), Guido Makransky (Department of Psychology), and Ingo Zettler (SODAS and Department of Psychology).

The position is available from 1 July 2024, but a sooner or later starting date is also possible.

The chosen candidate will be part of the research project “Shedding New Light on Curiosity in Children and Adults”. The main goal of this project is to generate new knowledge that can support children and adults in having a positive life both mentally and socially, by increasing the understanding of: 1) how to best conceptualize and measure curiosity in children and adults; 2) how interventions can foster individual’s curiosity levels; and 3) the role of (different aspects of) curiosity for important outcomes. The project has three intertwined work packages focusing on psychometrics; Virtual Reality (VR) measurement and interventions with children; as well as survey, experimental, and register data studies with adults.

The chosen candidate will be primarily responsible for organizing and conducting the studies with adults. The chosen candidate is expected to publish scientific articles in international journals as well as to present findings at national and international conferences. In general, the position is research-focused, and funding is available for conducting studies, conference attendances, and a research visit such that the chosen candidate can start building their international network and research expertise. For the chosen candidate, there will be possibilities to influence the project and develop new project ideas within the project frame. In addition, the chosen candidate will also be asked to fulfill other work obligations (typically teaching or supervising thesis students) to a small degree in the overall period.

Applicants should have a master degree in computational social science, social data science,  psychology, another social science discipline, or adjacent disciplines. Next to interest in conducting research on curiosity, applicants should have experience with conducting survey and/or experimental studies, including quantitative analyses. Having experience with register data is an additional strength, but no precondition. It is expected that applicants will publish in internationally recognized scientific journals in English, and that the chosen candidate will contribute continuously with their collaboration skills to the interdisciplinary, international research team. High proficiency in spoken and written English is thus a requirement.

What do we offer? The chosen candidate will become part of the SODAS research environment and active doctoral program with about 20 PhD students. SODAS is an interdisciplinary research, teaching, and impact center, combining traditional social science theories and methods with novel data science methods and paradigms. In collaboration with partners in Denmark and abroad, SODAS is home to research projects funded by, among others, the European Research Council (ERC) as well as both independent and private Danish research foundations. SODAS hosts the English-language Social Data Science (SDS) Master degree program at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

The working language at SODAS is English. Our community maintains strong collaborative relationships with all Departments at the Faculty of the Social Sciences (Anthropology, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology), the Department of Computer Science at the University of Copenhagen, as well as internationally renowned, computational social science research groups and centers in the Copenhagen area, including the Networks, Data, and Society (NERDS) group at the IT University of Copenhagen, the Social Complexity Lab at the Technical University of Denmark, and the Pioneer Centre for AI which operates across all Danish universities.

How to apply Submit a complete application at our online portal. Click on the “Apply now” icon at the bottom of the page to apply. The documents must be in Adobe PDF or Word.

• Cover/motivation letter (max. 3 pages)
• Curriculum vitae (including publications and conference presentations, if applicable)
• Diplomas and transcript of grades (bachelor and master, if applicable)
• An abstract of the master thesis is written in English (1 page)
• Master thesis (if applicable)
• Up to 3 research articles and/or working papers (if applicable)

Please note that it is only possible to upload one document per attachment category. If more than one document has to be uploaded in the same category, please make sure that they are scanned and collected into one file.  

Terms of Employment

• In order to be awarded a PhD scholarship the chosen candidates have to enroll as PhD students at the Faculty of Social Sciences, cf. the rules of the Danish Ministerial order No 1039 of 27 August 2013. Most likely, the applicants will be enrolled in the PhD program at the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen.   
• Further information about the PhD study programme is available on the website of Copenhagen Graduate School of Social Sciences:   https://samf.ku.dk/phd-skolen/english/  
• Under "Legal basis" on the website you will find information about the rules and guidelines for the PhD programme, and the Danish Ministerial Order on the PhD Programme at the Universities.    
• The salary range starts at approximately DKK 29,000 per month + a 17.1 % contribution to the pension scheme. The exact net salary depends on various aspects including the chosen pension scheme and taxation but can be expected to be around DKK 21,000 net/month. It is possible to negotiate salary supplements on an annual basis.

The Recruitment Process Shortlisted applicants are notified of the composition of the assessment committee, and each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant themselves. Further information on these recruitment process at University of Copenhagen can be found here:   https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

An Equal Opportunity Workplace The University of Copenhagen is committed in its pursuit of academic excellence to equality of opportunity and to creating an inclusive working environment and therefore encourages all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of personal background, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnicity etc. For more on the diverse working place environment at the University and the University’s participation in the HRS4R HR Excellence in Research, see https://employment.ku.dk/working-at-ucph/eu-charter-for-researchers/

International Applicants The University of Copenhagen offers information and services for international researchers. Please find more information about these services as well as information on entering and working in Denmark here: https://ism.ku.dk/

Contact Information Information about the recruitment process is available from Dorthea Andersen, HR, e-mail: [email protected] , please refer to ID number: 211-1797/24-2H #1 .

Additional information about the position can be obtained from Ingo Zettler, e-mail: [email protected] The closing date for applications is 30 April 2024 at 23:59   CEST.

Applications or material received after the deadline will not be taken into account.

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• CAREER COLUMN
• 08 April 2024

How we landed job interviews for professorships straight out of our PhD programmes

• Violeta Rodriguez 0 &
• Qimin Liu 1

Violeta Rodriguez is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Qimin Liu is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Boston University in Massachusetts.

By staying organized in their job hunt, both authors received several job offers. Credit: Getty

We met during the last year of our PhD training, after securing placements at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Department of Psychiatry for our predoctoral internships — the final step of our clinical doctoral programmes. V. R. came from the University of Georgia in Athens and was pursuing a PhD in clinical psychology, and Q. L. came from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and was working towards a PhD in clinical science and quantitative methods. It was amid the academic rigour and personal stress of the last year of our programmes that we became friends. We bonded over being immigrants and not speaking English as our first language while navigating the complexities of academia. We both wanted to forgo postdoctoral training and instead immediately become junior professors. Now, we’re assistant professors: V. R. is at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Q. L. is at Boston University in Massachusetts.

The odds we faced in the academic job market had seemed insurmountable, particularly to immigrants, and we had been cautioned by mentors and even junior faculty members about the challenge ahead. But we succeeded: we received a combined total of 27 in-person interviews, leading to 15 tenure-track assistant-professor offers across departments of psychology, paediatrics or psychiatry, schools of education and academic medical centres. (You can check out our hints for nailing job interviews in our other article .)

How to move labs

Despite the positive outcome, the process was stressful, fast and unpredictable. Our friendship became a sanctuary: amid the daunting job market and our own self-doubt, we understood and encouraged each other. We want to offer what our friendship provided us — understanding, support and encouragement — to researchers hoping to stay in academia after earning a PhD, so we are sharing our reflections and insights.

We must first make clear: no amount of job-search tips and tricks can substitute for good science and a strong publication record. To gauge our readiness, we looked up the CV of the most recent hire in each department that we applied to. We also made sure we had backup offers of postdoctoral positions. While navigating this process, we learnt that institutions were interested in candidates who planned to pursue external funding.

Qimin Liu is now an assistant professor. Credit: Qimin Liu

We had both obtained federal and private funding before — making us more competitive. We urge aspiring professors to prioritize their research contributions, external fellowship and grant applications and academic achievements above all.

To readers who’ve successfully navigated this process, many of our reflections and insights could seem obvious. However, this kind of advice can be the hardest to follow during a fast-moving job hunt, with several moving pieces involved and new considerations and job offers or advertisements emerging unexpectedly. Treat this as a checklist before beginning to fill out job applications.

Tips and tricks

Start your search early. Allow ample time to prepare for the job hunt; research potential options, such as jobs in academic medical centres, standard department positions or tenure-track jobs in related fields; and submit applications. Plan to reply to job ads long before the first deadline. Starting early gives you time to collect and incorporate feedback from mentors and colleagues.

Training: Free course on peer review

Prepare your networks. The academic job market can be unpredictable, with opportunities emerging unexpectedly. It is important to think about who can write letters for you — sometimes at short notice. Most of our applications required three letters of recommendation from all applicants. Others requested letters from only shortlisted candidates.

Plan ahead. The final drafts of materials took, on average, one to two months in total to prepare and polish. The initial drafts took about 8 hours, and the research statement required a total of 16 hours. (The research statement summarizes your research programme, the work you’ve done so far and what you plan to pursue in future. It can also highlight why a particular institution is well-suited to support your work.) Preparing drafted statements in advance made it easier to adapt them to different positions later — tweaking materials for specific positions took 30–60 minutes per application.

Research potential job opportunities. Don’t just rely on word-of-mouth or googling specific positions to find things you’re interested in applying to. Use online job boards (such as HigherEdJobs or Nature Careers ), and tap into your professional network by sending e-mails or LinkedIn messages to your mentors and colleagues, letting them know you’re on the job market. Scour social media and department websites to find available positions. We both posted on X (formerly Twitter) that we were job hunting, and several people reached out with opportunities.

Develop job application ‘templates’. Create a set of well-crafted templates for your application materials, such as cover letters and statements, on which you can easily fill in your name, relevant details and where you’ve previously worked. Having adaptable documents allowed us to respond quickly to new postings.

Tailor your application materials. Templates can take you only so far. Take the time to customize your application materials, including your CV, cover letter (each of ours was one page long) and research statement, to highlight your relevant skills, experiences and research contributions. Tailoring your materials to each position demonstrates genuine interest and increases your chances of standing out to hiring committees. Generic applications are easy for hiring managers to reject. Mentioning centres or institutes that align with your research; available resources, such as early-career programmes, that you want to take advantage of; and the names of people whom you are interested in working with can help to personalize your application materials.

Stay organized. Maintain a well-organized system to track application deadlines, requirements and submission statuses. Be ready to remind your letter writers to submit their recommendations. Keep a calendar or spreadsheet to ensure that all required materials are submitted on time and to track when to follow up. An example spreadsheet is provided below.

Practise for interviews and job talks. Run mock interviews with your peers or mentors. Practise answering common interview questions and develop concise, compelling responses that highlight your expertise, teaching abilities and fit. Treat these seriously — you’re likely to be nervous in the real interview, so try to recreate that while rehearsing, perhaps by inviting a relatively unknown colleague or professor to join the practice runs. V. R. recorded her job talk on Zoom and sent it to others for feedback.

Practising your job talk — a presentation of your academic research that is often a spoken version of your research statement — until you know it backwards and forwards will prepare you for the unexpected. In addition, rehearsing how you plan to respond to different questions, and practising saying that you want people to hold their questions until the end, can be helpful.

Prepare a start-up budget to get your lab running. Many academic positions include a start-up fund for incoming faculty members. It is typically used for summer salary and staffing or research costs. You might be asked for an estimated budget before, during or after the interview stage — so you should have one ready in advance. When preparing your budget, keep in mind the spending norms at the institution and for your discipline. Ask for more than you think you need, because this amount will often be reduced during negotiations.

As we look back on our job-hunting experiences, we are reminded of how much we grew in this process, in ways that are not related to just our jobs — and this growth continued in our interviews .

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01044-1

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged .

Supplementary Information

• Example spreadsheet

Related Articles

• Research management

How I harnessed media engagement to supercharge my research career

Career Column 09 APR 24

Three ways ChatGPT helps me in my academic writing

Career Column 08 APR 24

How two PhD students overcame the odds to snag tenure-track jobs

Brazil’s postgraduate funding model is about rectifying past inequalities

Correspondence 09 APR 24

Declining postdoc numbers threaten the future of US life science

Adopt universal standards for study adaptation to boost health, education and social-science research

Correspondence 02 APR 24

How can we make PhD training fit for the modern world? Broaden its philosophical foundations

Junior Group Leader Position at IMBA - Institute of Molecular Biotechnology

The Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) is one of Europe’s leading institutes for basic research in the life sciences. IMBA is located on t...

Austria (AT)

IMBA - Institute of Molecular Biotechnology

Open Rank Faculty, Center for Public Health Genomics

Center for Public Health Genomics & UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center seek 2 tenure-track faculty members in Cancer Precision Medicine/Precision Health.

Charlottesville, Virginia

Center for Public Health Genomics at the University of Virginia

Husbandry Technician I

Memphis, Tennessee

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (St. Jude)

Lead Researcher – Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation & Cellular Therapy

Researcher in the center for in vivo imaging and therapy.

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies