Questions to Ask in a Postdoc Interview
Written for the candidate: questions to ask a potential postdoc advisor, in a formal interview or in a first exchange before any post is advertised, with others for the people in the lab and, once there is an offer, for the department office. They are grouped by subject: the project and the grant behind it, mentoring, the lab, a short group to ask lab members when the PI is not in the room, then publishing and career support, and last pay, visas and the decision timeline. Nobody asks all of them in one conversation, so the guide covers which belong in a first email or call, which to save for the visit, and what to get in writing before you accept.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Project and funding
What project would I be starting on, and is it funded already?
Why ask it
The answer you need has three parts: the project, the grant that pays your salary and the date that grant ends. If it has eighteen months left to run, plan around eighteen months until someone shows you where the rest would come from.
How long is the appointment, and what determines renewal?
Why ask it
Renewal can hang on your progress, on the next grant coming in, or on both, and those are different risks. Find out when the decision is made and how much notice you would get. A one-year contract renewed each spring is harder to plan a move around than three years in writing.
How much of the project is already defined, and how much would I shape myself?
Why ask it
A project written into a grant comes with aims the PI has promised a funder, which gives you a running start and less room to wander. An open brief gives you ownership and a slower first year. Neither is wrong, but you should know which one you are accepting.
What would you want me to have achieved by the end of the first year?
Why ask it
A concrete answer, such as a method working, a dataset collected or a draft submitted, shows the PI has thought about your start. It also gives you a yardstick to bring back at your first review, so write it down.
If I develop a project here, can I take it with me?
Why ask it
Pin down what 'it' covers: the research question, the reagents or animal lines, the code, the dataset. Formal ownership of data and materials depends on the institution and the funder, so the practical test is what the last postdoc who left for an independent position was able to take.
What does the position involve beyond my own project?
Why ask it
Equipment upkeep, running a facility, safety duties and helping on other people's papers all come out of the same week. Listen for a rough share of time, because a post that is half service is a different job from the one advertised.
Where is the project most likely to get stuck?
Why ask it
Every project has a step that everything else waits on: a difficult assay, slow recruitment, a dataset that has to be cleaned first. Ask what has already been tried there, and who in the group has got that step to work before.
What happens if the project does not work?
Why ask it
Two things decide how bad a dead end is: whether a second direction exists, and whether the grant lets the money follow you to it. Ask the PI to name the fallback. 'We will figure it out' is not a fallback.
Is this a new position, or would I be taking over from someone?
Why ask it
If someone held it before you, ask what they published, how long it took and where they went, then whether their notebooks, code and samples are in a state you could pick up. A project that has passed through two people without a paper deserves a direct question about why.
Are the approvals, samples or datasets the project depends on already in place?
Why ask it
Ethics approval, animal licenses, data access agreements and material transfers can each take months, and the clock on your contract runs while you wait. If something is still pending, find out what you would work on in the meantime.
How is the lab funded overall, and when do the main grants come up for renewal?
Why ask it
Your own salary line is only part of the picture. A lab living on one grant that ends next year will spend that year writing and economizing, whatever your contract says. Several awards with staggered end dates make for a calmer place to work.
Do you have funding for a postdoc right now, or would the place depend on a fellowship I bring?
Why ask it
Worth settling early when you have written to a PI who has not advertised a post. If the place depends on a fellowship, ask which ones the lab has hosted before and when the next deadline falls, because months can pass between applying and the first paycheck.
Could I read the grant proposal that funds this position?
Why ask it
The aims in the proposal are what the PI has committed to deliver, so they show what you would be held to. Not every PI will send the full text, but the summary and aims page is a fair thing to request once they are serious about you. Treat whatever you receive as confidential.
Where do you see the lab's research going over the next five years?
Why ask it
You are checking whether the direction leaves room for you. A PI moving the whole lab toward a new method may want you as the person who brings it in, which is an opening, or may be drifting away from the thing you came to learn. PIs tend to enjoy this one, so it is an easy way into a first call.
What are you hoping a new postdoc will bring that the lab does not have now?
Why ask it
The reply shows whether you are wanted for a skill you already have, such as a method or a model system, or as extra hands on an existing plan. Being the only person who knows a technique makes you valuable and also makes you the lab's help desk for it, so ask how much teaching of it they have in mind.
Mentoring
How often do you meet one to one with each postdoc?
Why ask it
Weekly, monthly and 'my door is always open' are three different jobs. Whatever you are told, check it with the group later: a standing meeting that is cancelled half the time is worth less than an honest 'whenever you need me'.
How would you describe the way you supervise postdocs?
Why ask it
Hands-on and hands-off both produce good postdocs, so the label matters less than the example. Ask for the last time they stepped into someone's project and why. Then hold the description up against what current members tell you.
How many postdocs have you advised so far, and would I be one of the first?
Why ask it
A new advisor has time for you and needs your papers as much as you do, but there is no record to check and their letter may carry less weight. An established one has the record and a fuller calendar. If you would be the first postdoc, ask how they were mentored themselves and what they would do differently.
How much of the year are you away, and how do people reach you when you are?
Why ask it
Senior PIs can be traveling or tied up in committees for long stretches. A quick reply to a message counts for more than an office door that is technically open. If someone else runs the lab day to day, learn who, because that person is in effect your supervisor.
How quickly do you usually return drafts?
Why ask it
A manuscript that waits three months for comments is three months gone from a contract that may only run for two or three years. PIs tend to answer with the turnaround they aim for, so ask a current postdoc how long their last draft really took to come back.
When an experiment or analysis is stuck, who would I work through it with?
Why ask it
In a small lab the answer may be the PI at the bench. In a large one it is usually a senior postdoc or staff scientist, and it helps to know whether that person is staying. If postdocs are expected to sort it out alone, decide honestly whether that suits you.
Besides you, who here would act as a mentor to me?
Why ask it
A second mentor, formal or not, means another reader for a fellowship draft and a reference letter that does not come from your advisor. Some institutions and funders expect a mentoring committee for postdocs and many have nothing of the kind, so ask how it works there and who the last postdoc leaned on.
How do you let a postdoc know how they are doing?
Why ask it
Some institutions require a yearly review and some PIs never give one unless asked. With no check along the way, the first clear feedback you get may be the renewal decision. It is fair to ask when they last had to tell a postdoc something unwelcome, and how they went about it.
Do your postdocs have a written development plan, and do you go through it with them?
Why ask it
An individual development plan is something certain funders and universities ask for, and labs differ on whether it is a working document or a form filed once. The answer shows whether your career goals get any airtime or only the project does.
What do you do when you and a postdoc disagree about where a project should go?
Why ask it
You will disagree at some point, over an experiment, a reviewer's comment or which journal to try. Ask for a real instance and how it ended. A PI who cannot recall being argued out of anything may not be easy to argue with.
Do you expect to move institutions or take a sabbatical while I am here?
Why ask it
A lab move can mean following the PI to another city, staying behind with nobody to supervise you, or a gap in your contract. Nobody can promise, but most PIs know whether something is in the air. If the PI's own position is not permanent yet, ask when that is decided and what it would mean for your post.
What should I know about working with you that I would only find out later?
Why ask it
The best answers show some self-knowledge: slow on email, blunt in lab meeting, unreachable every August. If the answer is 'nothing', put the same question to a current postdoc once the PI is out of the room.
The lab
How big is the group, and how is it split between students, postdocs and staff?
Why ask it
The figure that matters is how many people the PI supervises directly. In a group of twenty with no senior staff, time with the PI can be thin and the students will bring their problems to you. In a group of four you may be the only postdoc, with nobody at your stage to compare notes with.
Who else would I work with, inside and outside the group?
Why ask it
Lab websites list collaborators from ten years ago beside the ones from last month, so ask which collaborations have a shared grant or a paper in progress right now. Then ask who in the group holds each relationship, because one that runs through a single departing postdoc tends to leave with them.
How do you keep projects in the group from overlapping?
Why ask it
Two people on the same question, with the faster result winning, is a deliberate policy in some labs. Others draw clear lines. You want to know which before you join, and current members will say plainly whether they feel like colleagues or competitors.
Is there a lab manager or technician, or do postdocs handle ordering and upkeep?
Why ask it
Support staff decide how much of your week goes to science. Where there are none, somebody still orders reagents, answers the freezer alarm and trains newcomers, and it tends to be the most senior postdoc. Find out who does it now.
Would I be supervising students, and how is that recognized?
Why ask it
Day-to-day supervision of a PhD student can take hours a week and rarely appears in the job description. It is good practice for running a group as long as it shows up somewhere: authorship on the student's papers, a formal co-supervisor title where the university allows one, or a paragraph in your reference letter.
What do lab meetings look like, and how often would I present?
Why ask it
Presenting regularly is free practice for job talks and catches mistakes early. Notice how the questions are described as well. A group that picks each other's data apart kindly is worth a great deal, and one where only the PI speaks is not really a meeting.
Which instruments, computing and core facilities would I rely on, and how easy are they to book?
Why ask it
Access on paper to a machine with a six-week booking list is not access. Ask how long the wait was the last time someone in the lab needed it, and whether core facility fees are charged back to the grant, since that can cap how many runs you get.
How is data organized, and what happens to it when people leave?
Why ask it
Within months you will be building on someone's old experiments, so ask whether a departed postdoc's raw data and analysis could be found today without emailing them. The same habits decide what state your own work is in when a reviewer wants a reanalysis two years on.
What hours do people in the lab usually keep, and is anyone expected in on weekends?
Why ask it
Time courses, animal care and instrument slots can make odd hours unavoidable, which is different from a PI who counts heads at 8 p.m. If the reply is about passion and not about hours, save the question for the group.
How long do people usually stay in the group, and has anyone left early?
Why ask it
Early departures are not automatically a warning, since people follow partners and take industry offers. A pattern of them, or reluctance to discuss it, is worth understanding before you move cities.
What is the department like outside this lab: seminars, other groups, people I could learn from?
Why ask it
A postdoc in an isolated lab has one mentor and one reference. A department with a busy seminar series and neighbors working on related problems gives you second opinions, collaborators and people who can write about you later.
How would you describe the culture of the lab?
Why ask it
On its own this gets adjectives: collaborative, driven, friendly. Push for the evidence by asking who trained the newest member, whether people read each other's drafts, and what the group last did together that was not work.
Could I speak with current members of the group without you present?
Why ask it
Most PIs build this into a visit, and after a video interview it is normal to ask for two or three email addresses. Talk to more than one person, and to the newest member as well as the most senior, because they see different labs.
Could you put me in touch with one or two people who have left the lab?
Why ask it
Former members have less riding on the PI's goodwill, which leaves them freer to be frank. If only the lab's stars are suggested, pick one more name yourself from an older paper and write to them.
Lab members
What does a normal week in the lab look like for you?
Why ask it
One for a current postdoc or student, away from the PI. The PI describes the policy and the people at the bench describe the practice: how many hours are really worked, how much of the week goes to other people's projects, and whether the weekly meeting actually happens.
What is the PI like to work for, day to day?
Why ask it
Listen to what comes first and how quickly. An easy, specific reply, such as 'reads everything within a week and says so when it is not good enough', is the reassuring kind. Long pauses and careful praise deserve a gentle follow-up.
How does the PI react when an experiment fails or a result comes out negative?
Why ask it
Most projects spend long stretches not working, so this is the mood you would live in. Curiosity and a plan for the next attempt are what you hope to hear. Stories of people being blamed, or holding bad news back, should weigh heavily, because a lab where bad news is unwelcome is a hard place to do careful science.
Can you live comfortably around here on the postdoc salary?
Why ask it
Lab members know the rents, the commute and whether people share apartments or raise children on the pay, none of which the PI is well placed to tell you. If you would be moving with a partner or children, say so, and ask who else in the department has done it.
What do you wish someone had told you before you started here?
Why ask it
It is open enough that people can choose how honest to be. Small answers, such as the parking, the ordering system or the cold room, are a good sign in themselves. If someone goes quiet and then says 'it depends what you want', ask what they wanted.
Knowing what you know now, would you still pick this lab?
Why ask it
Keep it light and leave it until you have talked for a while. A quick yes followed by reasons is reassuring, and 'yes, but' is where the detail sits. Do not press anyone who dodges: they still work there, and the dodge has already told you something.
Papers and career
Where have your last few postdocs gone?
Why ask it
You are after names and current jobs for the most recent leavers, not only the famous alumnus from ten years back. Count how many ended up where you want to go, and how long each spent in the lab before getting there.
How is authorship decided in this group?
Why ask it
Take a concrete case: if you lead a project the PI conceived, who is first author, who is corresponding author, and how is shared first authorship handled when a student did half the experiments? Labs that settle this when a project starts tend to have fewer arguments than labs that wait for the final draft.
What does a typical postdoc here leave with in terms of papers?
Why ask it
Fields differ too much for any number to be the right one, so compare the answer with what the jobs you want appear to require. One large paper after five years and three solid ones after three are different bets, and the lab's habit will become yours.
How do you decide when a paper is ready to submit, and where it goes first?
Why ask it
Some PIs hold work back for years chasing one more experiment and a bigger journal, and your contract can end before the paper is out. A useful follow-up is how long the last manuscript sat between a complete draft and submission.
Does the group post preprints?
Why ask it
A preprint lets a hiring or fellowship committee read work that is still in review, which matters when your whole timeline is two or three years. Practice varies by field and by PI, so if the answer is no, ask what the concern is.
Is there money for conference travel, and how much?
Why ask it
Get a figure: how many meetings a year, who pays, and whether you would go to present your own work. If travel comes out of the grant that funds your project, ask what that budget line is, because it is the ceiling whatever the intentions are.
Would I have the chance to teach, and is any of it required?
Why ask it
A guest lecture or a co-taught course helps an application to a teaching-heavy department and costs research time everywhere else. Find out whether teaching is optional, whether it is paid separately, and whether your funding allows it at all, since some fellowships and grants limit the hours.
How involved would I be in writing grants, and could I be named on one?
Why ask it
Postdocs often draft large parts of a PI's proposals. Whether you can appear as a named investigator depends on the funder and the institution's eligibility rules, so ask how it works there. Where it is not allowed, ask how your part would be described in a reference letter.
Would you expect me to apply for my own fellowship, and would you help with the application?
Why ask it
This is really a pair of questions. In some labs a fellowship application in the first year is a condition of staying past the second, and it is better to hear that now. In others the PI would sooner keep you on the grant, so ask who applied last and how many drafts the PI read.
Is there time and money to learn a new technique or take a course?
Why ask it
A postdoc is supposed to add something to what your PhD gave you. A visit to another lab or a methods workshop costs little next to a salary, and a PI's willingness to pay for one shows whether they see the post as training or as labor.
When a postdoc goes on the faculty job market, what do you do to help?
Why ask it
The useful answers are practical: reading the research statement, organizing a practice job talk, calling colleagues, agreeing what you can present as your own future program. Raise the time it takes too, since a final year with weeks of applications and interviews needs a PI who expects it.
How do you handle it when a postdoc's plans move away from academia?
Why ask it
Plenty of postdocs leave for industry, policy, publishing or teaching, so this is not a fringe case. Real support looks like time for an internship or a course, introductions to former members in those jobs, and a reference written for a non-academic reader. Encouragement with none of that attached costs the PI nothing.
Does the institution have a postdoc office or association?
Why ask it
Where one exists, it is usually the place for career workshops, contract questions and, if it comes to it, a dispute with your supervisor. Where there is none, postdocs can fall between the services for students and the ones for staff. Check the university website first, then ask what people in the lab actually use.
What have the postdocs who did well in your lab had in common?
Why ask it
This gets at what the PI really values, which may be independence, speed, careful records or simply being in the room. Compare the description with how you work. If it sounds like someone else entirely, better that you both see it now than at the first review.
Terms and next steps
What does the position pay, and does it follow a published scale?
Why ask it
Many postdoc salaries are set by an institutional, national or funder scale, so the detail to get is which step you would start on and whether your years since the PhD count toward it. Whether a PI can add to the scale from other funds differs by institution, so ask what has been done before.
If I win a fellowship, what happens to my salary and benefits?
Why ask it
A fellowship stipend can be lower than the salary it replaces, and in some systems fellows stop counting as employees and lose benefits that came with the contract. Ask whether the lab or the institution tops up the difference, and confirm it with the office that administers the award.
What benefits come with the position: health insurance, retirement, parental leave?
Why ask it
These depend on the country and on how you are appointed, and a postdoc classed as a trainee or fellow can get a thinner package than one classed as staff. The PI often will not know the details, so ask for the name of the person in the department or HR who does.
Would the institution sponsor my visa, and who handles the paperwork?
Why ask it
Ask how long it has taken recently, because it affects your start date and sometimes your ability to travel during the post. Rules on length of stay and on a partner's right to work differ by country and visa type, so put those to the international office instead of relying on the PI's memory.
Is there help with moving costs or finding housing?
Why ask it
Find out whether relocation is reimbursed afterwards or paid up front, and whether it comes from the grant or the institution. An international move on a postdoc salary is a real cost, and it is far easier to raise before you accept than after you arrive.
How much leave do postdocs get, and do people in the lab take it?
Why ask it
The entitlement is in the contract or the institution's policy. Whether anyone uses it is a lab matter. A current member can tell you when they last took two weeks off and what the reaction was.
When would you want me to start, and is there room to move that date?
Why ask it
Thesis corrections, a visa and a move all take longer than planned. A start date tied to a grant's spending deadline may be fixed, while others can slide by months. Agree on it before you resign from anything or sign a lease.
What would you like to see from me before we take this further: a CV, a research idea, a talk?
Why ask it
This suits the stage before any formal interview, when you have approached a potential advisor and nobody has said what comes next. Some PIs want a one-page idea, others a seminar to the group or a word with your PhD supervisor. Naming the next step keeps the exchange from fading after one friendly reply.
Is there anything in my background or plans you would like to hear more about before you decide?
Why ask it
It brings a doubt into the open while you can still answer it, whether that is a technique you have not used or a paper still in review. It also shows you can take a direct comment, which the PI will be weighing anyway.
What happens after today, and when do you expect to make a decision?
Why ask it
Postdoc hiring often runs without an HR timetable, so a decision can drift for weeks while the PI waits on other candidates or on a grant. A date lets you manage other offers, and it is reasonable to say so if you are holding one with a deadline.
Assessing a Postdoc Position
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Which Questions to Ask When
A first email to a potential postdoc advisor
Many postdocs begin with a message to a PI who has not advertised anything. At that stage ask only whether there is funding or a fellowship route, what the lab is missing that you could bring, and what the PI would want to see from you next. The rest of the list can wait until you both know a position is possible.
The first call or video interview
Keep to the project, the funding behind it, how the PI supervises and where earlier postdocs went. Five or six questions is plenty, and expect the PI's questions about your own research plans to take most of the time.
The visit and the lab members
Hours, draft turnaround, overlap between projects and who really runs the lab day to day are questions for the people doing the work. The Lab members group in the list is written for those conversations. Have them with one person at a time over coffee, not with the whole group at once.
After the offer
Salary step, benefits, relocation, visa and start date go to the PI and the department administrator once an offer exists. Raising them earlier is not wrong, but the PI often does not have the answers until then.
Ask the Group, Not Only the PI
Get time alone with current members
Ask for a conversation with a postdoc or senior student without the PI present. If that is not offered, ask for it directly, and treat a refusal as an answer in itself.
Ask the same three questions of everyone
Draft turnaround, meeting frequency and what happens when a project stalls. If the answers agree, you have a fair picture of how the lab runs. If they contradict each other, the experience probably depends on who you are, and it is worth finding out why.
Contact someone who has left
Former members are usually candid and easy to find through old papers. One short email asking what they would want to know before starting is often the most useful thing you do.
Get These in Writing Before Accepting
- The funding source and the end date of the grant paying your salary
- Appointment length, renewal conditions and notice period
- Salary, and the step on the scale if there is one
- Travel and research budget available to you
- Any teaching or supervision that is expected rather than optional
- Whether you may take a project or dataset with you when you leave
- Visa sponsorship details and who files the paperwork
- What happens to your salary and benefits if you win a fellowship
- The start date, and any relocation money that was agreed
Common Pitfalls
Choosing on the strength of the topic alone
An exciting project in a group where drafts sit unread for months can produce fewer papers than an ordinary project in a well-run group. Weigh the supervision as heavily as the science.
Not asking where previous postdocs went
It is the closest thing to an outcome measure available, and most PIs will answer it. A group that cannot name any recent destinations is worth a second look.
Assuming independence will be granted later
If the answer about developing your own line of work is vague now, it is unlikely to get clearer once you are on the payroll. Ask for an example of someone who did it here.
Treating the offer letter as the full agreement
Authorship norms, project ownership and travel budgets rarely appear in it. Confirm those by email so there is a record you can point back to.