The top 10 best career development books for postdocs in Academia

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Introduction: What are the Best Career Books for Academics?

The academic career is a long and complicated one. It takes a lot of time and effort to get to the top. But, it is not impossible. There are many books that can help you navigate your way through this journey with ease. These books are written by university professors, PhDs and other professionals who have been there, done that. So, these books will have the practical advice you need to get from where you are now to where you want to be in your academic career.

There are many academic skills that are important for PhD students and postdocs to learn in order to advance their academic careers. These skills include: writing, research, collaboration, and communication. It is important for PhDs students and postdocs to learn how to take advantage of these skills because they can help them with their future career paths.

The books discuss the importance of studying and applying these academic career development skills to advance your own academic career.

It is important to stay organized, focused, and motivated to be successful in Academia.

The books on this list are all about career advancement in Academia. They are all from different perspectives, but they all have one thing in common: they provide a roadmap for how to get ahead in your career in Academia.

Conclusion: Start Reading Today and Get Ahead in your academic career!

Title	Summary	Pages	Publication Date	Buy
How to Succeed as a Scientist: From Postdoc to Professor 1st Edition	This unique, practical guide for postdoctoral researchers and graduate students explains how to build and perfect the necessary research tools and working skills to build a career in academia and beyond. It is based on successful training workshops run by the authors: first, it describes the tools needed for independent research, from writing papers to applying for academic jobs; it then introduces skills to thrive in a new job, including managing and interacting with others, designing a taught course and giving a good lecture; and it concludes with a section on managing your career, from how to manage stress to understanding the higher education system. Packed with helpful features encouraging readers to apply the theory to their individual situation, the book is also illustrated throughout with real-world case studies to enable readers to learn from others' experience. It is a vital handbook for everyone seeking to make a successful scientific career.	226	2011	Buy Now
The Chicago Guide to Your Academic Career: A Portable Mentor for Scholars from Graduate School through Tenure 1st Edition	Is a career as a professor the right choice for you? If you are a graduate student, how can you clear the hurdles successfully and position yourself for academic employment? What's the best way to prepare for a job interview, and how can you maximize your chances of landing a job that suits you? What happens if you don't receive an offer? How does the tenure process work, and how do faculty members cope with the multiple and conflicting day-to-day demands? With a perpetually tight job market in the traditional academic fields, the road to an academic career for many aspiring scholars will often be a rocky and frustrating one. Where can they turn for good, frank answers to their questions? Here, three distinguished scholars—with more than 75 years of combined experience—talk openly about what's good and what's not so good about academia, as a place to work and a way of life. Written as an informal conversation among colleagues, the book is packed with inside information—about finding a mentor, avoiding pitfalls when writing a dissertation, negotiating the job listings, and much more. The three authors' distinctive opinions and strategies offer the reader multiple perspectives on typical problems. With rare candor and insight, they talk about such tough issues as departmental politics, dual-career marriages, and sexual harassment. Rounding out the discussion are short essays that offer the "inside track" on financing graduate education, publishing the first book, and leaving academia for the corporate world. This helpful guide is for anyone who has ever wondered what the fascinating and challenging world of academia might hold in store.	272	2001	Buy Now
The Chicago Guide to Landing a Job in Academic Biology (Chicago Guides to Academic Life)	The Chicago Guide to Landing a Job in Academic Biology is an indispensable guide for graduate students and post-docs as they enter that domain red in tooth and claw: the job market. An academic career in the biological sciences typically demands well over a decade of technical training. So it’s ironic that when a scholar reaches the most critical stage in that career—the search for a job following graduate work—he or she receives little or no formal preparation. Instead, students are thrown into the job market with only cursory guidance on how to search for and land a position. Now there’s help. Carefully, clearly, and with a welcome sense of humor, The Chicago Guide to Landing a Job in Academic Biology leads graduate students and postdoctoral fellows through the perils and rewards of their first job search. The authors—who collectively have for decades mentored students and served on hiring committees—have honed their advice in workshops at biology meetings across the country. The resulting guide covers everything from how to pack an overnight bag without wrinkling a suit to selecting the right job to apply for in the first place. The authors have taken care to make their advice useful to all areas of academic biology—from cell biology and molecular genetics to evolution and ecology—and they give tips on how applicants can tailor their approaches to different institutions from major research universities to small private colleges. With jobs in the sciences ever more difficult to come by, The Chicago Guide to Landing a Job in Academic Biology is designed to help students and post-docs navigate the tricky terrain of an academic job search—from the first year of a graduate program to the final negotiations of a job offer.	150	2007	Buy Now
The Chicago Guide to Your Career in Science: A Toolkit for Students and Postdocs (Chicago Guides to Academic Life) First Edition	Embarking upon research as a graduate student or postdoc can be exciting and enriching—the start of a rewarding career. But the world of scientific research is also a competitive one, with grants and good jobs increasingly hard to find. The Chicago Guide to Your Career in Science is intended to help scientists not just cope but excel at this critical phase in their careers. Victor A. Bloomfield and Esam E. El-Fakahany, both well-known scientists with extensive experience as teachers, mentors, and administrators, have combined their knowledge to create a guidebook that addresses all of the challenges that today’s scientists-in-training face. They begin by considering the early stages of a career in science: deciding whether or not to pursue a PhD, choosing advisors and mentors, and learning how to teach effectively. Bloomfield and El-Fakahany then explore the skills essential to conducting and presenting research. The Chicago Guide to Your Career in Science offers detailed advice on how to pursue research ethically, manage time, and communicate effectively, especially at academic conferences and with students and peers. Bloomfield and El-Fakahany write in accessible, straightforward language and include a synopsis of key points at the end of each chapter, so that readers can dip into relevant sections with ease. From students prepping for the GRE to postdocs developing professional contacts to faculty advisors and managers of corporate labs, scientists at every level will find The Chicago Guide to Your Career in Science an unparalleled resource. “The Chicago Guide to Your Career in Science is a roadmap to the beginning stages of a scientific career. I will encourage my own students to purchase it.”—Dov F. Sax, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, Brown University “Step-by-step, Victor Bloomfield and Esam El-Fakahany provide sound, thorough, yet succinct advice on every issue a scientist in training is likely to encounter. Young readers will welcome the authors’ advice on choosing a graduate school, for example, while senior scientists will probably wish that a book like this had been around when they were starting out. With down-to-earth and occasionally humorous advice, The Chicago Guide to your Career in Academic Biology belongs on the bookshelf of every graduate student and advisor.”—Norma Allewell, Dean, College of Chemical and Life Sciences, University of Maryland	336	2008	Buy Now
The Academic Job Search Handbook Fifth Edition	The Academic Job Search Handbook is the comprehensive guide to finding a faculty position in any discipline. Building on the groundbreaking success and unique offerings of earlier volumes, the fifth edition presents insightful new content on aspects of the search at all stages. Beginning with an overview of academic careers and institutional structures, it moves step by step through the application process, from establishing relationships with advisors, positioning oneself in the market, learning about job openings, preparing CVs, cover letters, and other application materials, to negotiating offers. Of great value are the sixty new sample documents from a diverse spectrum of successful applicants. The handbook includes a search timetable, appendices of career resources, and a full sample application package. This fifth edition features new or updated sections on issues of current interest, such as job search concerns for pregnant or international candidates, the use of social media strategies to address CV gaps, and difficulties faced by dual-career couples. The chapter on alternatives to faculty jobs has been expanded and presents sample résumés of PhDs who found nonfaculty positions. For more than twenty years, The Academic Job Search Handbook has assisted job seekers in all academic disciplines in the search for faculty positions at different kinds of institutions from research-focused universities to community colleges. Current faculty who used the book themselves recommend it to their own students and postdocs. The many new first-person narratives provide insight into issues and situations candidates may encounter such as applying for an international job, combining parenting with an academic career, going from an administrative job to a faculty position, and seeking faculty positions as a same-sex couple.	392	2016	Buy Now
A PhD Is Not Enough!: A Guide to Survival in Science	Despite your graduate education, brainpower, and technical prowess, your career in scientific research is far from assured. Permanent positions are scarce, science survival is rarely part of formal graduate training, and a good mentor is hard to find. In A Ph.D. Is Not Enough!, physicist Peter J. Feibelman lays out a rational path to a fulfilling long-term research career. He offers sound advice on selecting a thesis or postdoctoral adviser; choosing among research jobs in academia, government laboratories, and industry; preparing for an employment interview; and defining a research program. The guidance offered in A Ph.D. Is Not Enough! will help you make your oral presentations more effective, your journal articles more compelling, and your grant proposals more successful. A classic guide for recent and soon-to-be graduates, A Ph.D. Is Not Enough! remains required reading for anyone on the threshold of a career in science. This new edition includes two new chapters and is revised and updated throughout to reflect how the revolution in electronic communication has transformed the field.	176	2011	Buy Now
ReSearch: A Career Guide for Scientists 1st Edition	ReSearch: A Career Guide for Scientists is a career planning guide and practical tool for graduate students and postdocs. This book provides step-by-step processes for the assessment of career goals and the actions that can be taken in order to achieve them. ReSearch includes chapters on the basics of career planning, determining unique selling points, and navigating work-life concerns. This book also includes narratives from a number of perspectives to showcase the variety of career options available. ReSearch is written by experts with inside knowledge of how to effectively leverage skills in order to take that next step in your career, whether you are a recent graduate or are interested in transitioning into something new. This book is also a valuable resource for advisors and careers counselors who mentor students and postdocs about their career plans.	274	2017	Buy Now
Academic Scientists at Work: Navigating the Biomedical Research Career 1st Edition	Academic Scientists at Work guides the scientist on the journey from the end of a postdoctoral career to the point of promotion to Associate Professor. The book includes valuable advice on: -Choosing and getting your ideal academic job; -Setting up and effectively managing the lab; -Obtaining funds; -Teaching and mentoring; -The promotion and tenure process. Also offered are template worksheets and point-by-point instructions on how to complete them, with downloadable blank worksheet versions contained in the accompanying CD-ROM. Included are six database program files that can be used to help the reader organize his/her laboratory specific reagents. Academic Scientists at Work is a valuable resource for the Career Scientist who demands and expects the best.	260	2013	Buy Now
Navigating an Academic Career: A Brief Guide for PhD Students, Postdocs, and New Faculty (Special Publications) 1st Edition	Demystifies the academic career path with practical advice With the number of people being awarded PhDs growing far more rapidly than the supply of academic jobs, those at an early-career stage must think strategically in order to be competitive and successful. Navigating an Academic Career: A Brief Guide for PhD students, Post docs, and New Faculty is a concise and conversational manual that guides readers through starting their academic journey, surviving the demands of their first academic position, and thriving in academia and beyond. Volume highlights include: - Firsthand perspective on the characteristics of a successful academic - Guidance on interviewing, negotiating, branding, and other essential soft skills - Tips for effective time management and writing high-impact research papers - Insights into developing leadership skills and mentoring others.	96	2019	Buy Now
Surviving Your Academic Job Hunt: Advice for Humanities PhDs	This candid book dispenses essential advice for academic job hunters and gives them the skills and knowledge to land a job in the humanities. Fully revised and updated, this book offers a comprehensive look at the do's and don'ts of the application and interview process and provides indispensable tips and a variety of practical tools.	228	2016	Buy Now