Am I competitive for a PostDoc position in top groups?

[prolineproline]

Hi,

 

I'm in my (hopefully) last year of Ph.D. in theoretical chemistry and I'm starting to look for a postdoc position. However, the number of recent theoretical/computational PhD grads from our school and other similar ranked schools that I'm familiar with is really small and lots of them just switch to computer science so they get a well-paid job easier...Therefore I don't have a good sample for reference and I need your help here.

 

My background: Tier 2 school, advisor is well-known in this field but not a big name.

My research: I do both quantum chemical calculations and molecular dynamics simulations for application purpose and I'm involved in method development too.

My publication: 4 first-author papers (JPCB, JPCLett and 2 JCTC), 7 co-authored papers (2 second-author JACS, 2 second-author JCTC and some other middle-author ones)

 

Do you think I have a good chance getting into a top group as postdoc?

 

BTW, I'm a foreigner so I'm not qualified for many postdoc fellowships, this might lower my chance to get a position.

 

Thanks a lot!

[loginofpscl]

Many profs in top insitutions will hire postdocs who have skills that they need. For example, people in materials chemistry and etc. often take postdocs because they have specialized TEM, AFM,  or XPS experience, i.e. if they can apply a skill that only a handful know. It would make some sense to try and e-mail the profs you are interested in working with, and figure out what problems they have on their plate currently, and see if your skillset can supplement them in answering those questions.

[Cookie]

My group is looking for a postdoc. PM me if you are interested. loginofpscl is right! "top" groups hire very highly specialized people, and that doesnt always transfer to "how many papers I have published".

 

PS: we are not a "top" group. We do what we think are interesting and compelling quantum dynamics problems. 

Edited September 13, 2014 by Cookie