Postdoctoral fellowship opportunities are quite rare, but they do exist and they have some distinct advantages over traditional postdoctoral work, depending on the direction you want to take your career in. However, there are some disadvantages too, and you should know about these before you decide whether or not a postdoctoral fellowship position is for you.
Looking for postdoctoral fellowship opportunities
One of the best places to begin to look for postdoctoral fellowship opportunities is actually right where you're pursuing your doctorate itself. You can begin to research the possibility of doctoral fellowships while you're still working on your degree. That's not to say that you're likely to get a job right where you're going to school, but you can begin to network with advisors and other colleagues to find opportunities elsewhere. This gives you an edge over someone who doesn't have this type of resource available to them. One of the reasons for this is that your advisor can certainly recommend you as someone who is certainly good in your field, and they may be able to put your name in for job openings that haven't even gone public yet.
If this resource is not available to you, take heart; you can still look for postdoctoral fellow positions on the Internet. In addition, job sites list positions in just about every area, so you should be able to find a postdoctoral fellowship position in the location you want to be in as well as your particular area of specialization. Keep in mind, though, that even though these positions are quite plentiful, they're also highly competed for. Therefore, it's not a given that you'll get a position simply because you apply for it, but you do have many opportunities available to you.
Advantages to becoming a post doctorate fellow
Depending on what you've specialized in, if you become a post doctorate fellow, you have the great luxury of pursuing opportunities specific to research and getting paid for it. In many cases, postdoctoral fellow positions focus almost exclusively on research, and it's not likely that you'll have to perform other job duties that associate professors, for example, will have on faculty. Instead, postdoctoral fellowship positions focus largely on study and research. This is going to be especially useful to you later in your career if your particular area of expertise focuses on research as one major aspect of it.
In addition, this is one time in your professional career when your time is really your own and you can do what you want, pretty much, as long as it relates to your professional career. You can take the time to travel to conferences, study, and just in general get to know things about your subject area that you might not otherwise have time to if you had to concentrate on other job duties. If research is a particularly important component of your field of expertise, you can also publish on what you've learned for years to come, even after your fellowship is over and you've gone on to the next level of your career.
In particular, if you are in academia, a fellowship position is likely to help you get tenure. If you are outside of academia, a fellowship may still garner you faster advancement and promotion over someone who has not had postdoctoral fellowship opportunities.
Finally, because the fellowship is almost entirely self-directed, you really can focus on specifically what interests you in your area of study and on your particular academic interests. If you were to work in a typical full-time position right away, you wouldn't have this luxury.
Disadvantages to becoming a post doctorate fellow
Despite all of its advantages, there are some disadvantages to becoming a post doctorate fellow. You will have to weigh these against the significant advantages of being a post doctorate fellow before you make your decision.
In some cases, becoming a post doctorate fellow may be a disadvantage to you especially if your area of expertise is in a particularly lucrative area like engineering. You'll likely be able to earn more right away if you move directly into an engineering position instead of going into a postdoctoral fellowship position.
Postdoctoral fellows in general make about $40,000 a year, depending on their area of specialization and location. By contrast, their professional colleagues can make significantly more, again depending on the area of expertise and location.
Another point of consideration is that even though it's true you're postdoctoral fellowship position gives you the significant opportunity to spend your time as you please on research, you're also at the whim of your employer in terms of what you get credit for. In addition, you may perform many of the same job duties as someone who is in a "regular" postdoctoral position and not a fellowship, but you're likely to get paid significantly less. It's also quite likely that you'll be less recognized for the work you do than will someone who's fully tenured or otherwise fully employed.
Should you pursue postdoctoral fellowship opportunities?
The choice is up to you, but as outlined above, there are distinct advantages and disadvantages to taking this type of position.
One thing to remember is that even if you do take a postdoctoral fellowship position and find that it is lacking, remember that it won't last forever. The position will last anywhere from six months to five years, so it's temporary. If you find it constricting, remember that you will be able to move on from it eventually and sometimes quite quickly.
In addition, especially if your area of expertise focuses a lot on research, you're going to have almost unlimited time to do research on your own when you would otherwise not have been able to if you took a postdoctoral fellowship position. Therefore, you may want to consider taking such a position if you're going to find this research time valuable.
Finally, this is one time in your career when your time is really going to be your own for the most part. You'll usually have much less responsibility and greater freedom than you will at any other time in your career. For this reason alone, it's worth considering a postdoctoral fellowship position, although of course the final choice is yours.
