Some people enjoy studying. These people pursue graduate degrees after college. Some would even go on to get postgraduate degrees. They just never want to stop learning and educating themselves. Often, these people have a vested interest in a particular topic. They dedicate themselves to research and to finding solutions to their problems. What happens after one finally gets their postgraduate degree? Now that they have a doctorate, what do they do? Well, if they still want to learn and do research, they can apply to be postdoctoral associates.
Postdoctoral associate positions are available in universities and research centers. These institutions aim for higher learning and forwarding education. Postdoctoral associates are employed by these institutions to conduct research and to advance their learning. This arrangement will also be beneficial to the institution since they will be part of the research and will be with the postdoctoral associate when they publish.
If you enjoy learning and would like to build a career as an academic, this is a great one. Of course, if you will pursue this, you would have to be both passionate and patient!
Postdoctoral Associate Overview
Postdoctoral Associate Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a postdoctoral associate. For example, did you know that they make an average of $23.77 an hour? That's $49,442 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 10,600 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Postdoctoral Associate Do
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a postdoctoral associate, we found that a lot of resumes listed 10.9% of postdoctoral associates included phd, while 8.5% of resumes included research projects, and 7.5% of resumes included data analysis. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the postdoctoral associate job title. But what industry to start with? Most postdoctoral associates actually find jobs in the education and health care industries.
How To Become a Postdoctoral Associate
If you're interested in becoming a postdoctoral associate, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 2.5% of postdoctoral associates have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 5.9% of postdoctoral associates have master's degrees. Even though most postdoctoral associates have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a postdoctoral associate. When we researched the most common majors for a postdoctoral associate, we found that they most commonly earn doctoral degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on postdoctoral associate resumes include bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a postdoctoral associate. In fact, many postdoctoral associate jobs require experience in a role such as research assistant. Meanwhile, many postdoctoral associates also have previous career experience in roles such as teaching assistant or graduate research assistant.
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Postdoctoral Associate Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a postdoctoral associate can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as research scientist, progress to a title such as senior scientist and then eventually end up with the title principal scientist.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Postdoctoral Associate
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing Postdoctoral Associate (Smith LAB) Postdoctoral Associate (Smith LAB) | NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing | 03/25/2021 03/25/2021 | $58,50003/25/2021 $58,500 |
University of Colorado Boulder Cires/Noaa GML Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases (Ccgg) Airborne Program Post-Doctoral Associate Cires/Noaa GML Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases (Ccgg) Airborne Program Post-Doctoral Associate | University of Colorado Boulder University of Colorado Boulder | 03/21/2021 03/21/2021 | $58,00003/21/2021 $58,000 |
University at Buffalo Postdoctoral Associate, Microbiology and Immunology Postdoctoral Associate, Microbiology and Immunology | University at Buffalo University at Buffalo | 03/19/2021 03/19/2021 | $52,70403/19/2021 $52,704 |
University of Minnesota Post-Doctoral Associate-LI Lab Post-Doctoral Associate-LI Lab | University of Minnesota University of Minnesota | 03/18/2021 03/18/2021 | $48,42603/18/2021 $48,426 |
University of Louisville Postdoctoral Associate (JOB ID: 40696) Postdoctoral Associate (JOB ID: 40696) | University of Louisville University of Louisville | 03/18/2021 03/18/2021 | $47,47603/18/2021 $47,476 |
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Postdoctoral Associate Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Postdoctoral Associate. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Postdoctoral Associate Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Postdoctoral Associate resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Postdoctoral Associates
1. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
2. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
3. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
4. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Public
5. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
6. University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Public
7. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
8. Yale University
New Haven, CT • Private
9. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
10. Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN • Private
Top Skills For a Postdoctoral Associate
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 10.9% of postdoctoral associates listed phd on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and observation skills are important as well.
- PHD, 10.9%
- Research Projects, 8.5%
- Data Analysis, 7.5%
- Molecular Biology, 6.4%
- Biomedical, 5.8%
- Other Skills, 60.9% See All Postdoctoral Associate Skills
Best States For a Postdoctoral Associate
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a postdoctoral associate. The best states for people in this position are Nevada, Alaska, Maine, and Connecticut. Postdoctoral associates make the most in Nevada with an average salary of $66,133. Whereas in Alaska and Maine, they would average $62,398 and $59,663, respectively. While postdoctoral associates would only make an average of $58,939 in Connecticut, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Connecticut
$58,939
Avg. Salary
2. California
$58,268
Avg. Salary
3. New Jersey
$56,678
Avg. Salary
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