I am a newly hired postdoc - what should I do?

• Join the UCSC STEM Postdocs Association (USPA) mailing list to keep track of career development opportunities and gain access to a strong peer support network at UCSC. You don't have to be a STEM postdoc to join or attend events, but many events have a STEM focus. Find out more at uspa.ucsc.edu
• Postdocs at UC are represented by UAW Local 5810. Learn about your rights at uaw5810.org
• Learn about your benefits: www.garnett-powers.com/postdoc/
• Learn about university postdoctoral policies: https://apo.ucsc.edu/policy/capm/610.000.html
• Think about applying for a fellowship (many fellowships must be applied for within the first year of a postdoc). The USPA has links to opportunities here: https://uspa.ucsc.edu/tag/fellowship/
• Join your departmental seminar mailing lists and memos by searching Google Groups while logged into your UCSC email.
• Meet up with other postdocs in monthly postdoc science-social hours. Find out more about this event and others on the USPA's calendar. 

• Mentoring resources at UCSC (Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning - CITL)
• AAAS Individual Development Plan - myIDP, web-based career-planning tool for PhD students and postdocs in the sciences.
• "Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty"
  • addendum, "How to be a member of an R01 NIH Study Section"
  • addendum, "Writing a letter of recommendation"

Additional Postdoctoral Resources:

• UC Santa Cruz is a sustaining and an institutional member of the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA), which works to improve the postdoctoral experience by supporting enhanced research training and a culture of enhanced professional growth, advocates for postdoctorate policies that benefit researchers and scholars, develops resources for postdoctorates, and holds a conference and maintains other community-building pursuits. NPA resources and benefits are available to all members of the UCSC community, including faculty, administrators, postdocs and graduate students; register as an affiliate member using your ucsc.edu email address to access member benefits.
• UCSC’s Center For Innovation and Entreprenurial Development (CIED) offers the NSF Innovation Corps summer program "Summer & Startup Enrepreneurship Academy (SEA)." The 8-week program involves two day-long classes, followed by online webinars, and weekly office hours with faculty mentors.
• The searchable grant database Grantforward is supported by UCSC's Office of Research and can be accessed using a UCSC email address.
• The Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators (ISEE) at UCSC offers a professional development program (PDP) to prepare scientists and engineers to be leaders in effective and inclusive education.
  
• Santa Cruz Startup Sandbox hosts a variety of events of interest to novice entrepreneurs.
  
• QB3 Entrepreneurship seminars are held on the UCSF campus, are open to UCSC postdocs, and cover a large variety of topics important to life science entrepreneurs.
  
• Scientific Leadership and Management training (UC San Francisco) offers a 16-hour training course for people who are about to lead research groups in an academic environment. Acceptance into this course requires a competitive application.
  
• SLAM (UC Berkeley) offers a set of three workshops in spring that are open to UCSC postdocs. Three different sessions can be attended according to interest.
  
• Northern California HERC (Higher Education Recruitment Consortium) Job Search site
  
• IIE Scholar Rescue Fund, provides fellowships to scholars who are under threat in their home/current country, to enable them to find refuge in another academic community. 
  
• Postdoc Minority.com, provides articles, resources, event and career listings and more focused on the minority and POC postdoctoral experience.