LIST!

I was at a preparation for friends' wedding tonight and the bride is so organized she had a pile of lists. So I feel inspired to start my own list here, of important things I am learning about job applications, that I wish I knew before.

4. Be proactive about things - ask people to read your drafts, talk to people about your ideas, sign yourself up for talks and conferences. That's what a good postdoc will do, and, because you are hoping to be one too soon, you should too.

3. This is from a few days ago, but bears repeating: don't rely on your adviser to help you with your research proposal. It must be your own ideas! It has to be your own writing. Get your act together and move it along!

2. Collaborate! Or be known. Work with or interact with senior people in your field OUTSIDE of your own institution! SENIOR people. Those connections will come handy when you are wondering who will write your letters of reference.

1. Start research independent from your adviser well ahead of job applications. May be a year ahead is a good time. Think of interesting things to do, write your own proposals, get your own observing time, collaborate with your peers - other grads and postdocs. These projects will lay your road to writing job applications.

enough for now, more later.