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[greyscale]

My partner, "Al", will be moving to Well-Endowed Research Institute (WERI) in the fall to start his own lab. I'm a postdoc, a few years behind Al and in the same field, and I'm staying here for now. I have a very competitive external fellowship and a strong publication record. This year has sucked, though. My advisor is patient, but I doubt I've impressed him so far.

I can imagine a few solutions to our two-body situation within the next few years, but one of them might require some action soon:

WERI also has fellow-type positions that provide a chance to run a small lab of your own for a few years. I should have applied before Al accepted the offer; he could have brought it up while negotiating. But I didn't, because my year has been rough and I don't have a research plan all set to go. I can't propose working on my current project there, at least not yet. I am here to learn some experimental techniques. If I do apply, it would either be for a different project using my existing skills, or this project but after I've learned more (and impressed my advisor...).

Al and I are visiting WERI soon. It's probably the first the director has known of my existence (just as Al's partner, not as a scientist), and he assumed that I'm moving there at the same time as Al. I can fix that misunderstanding easily. But should we bring up the possibility of me applying for a position when we visit? Or should I wait a few months til I figure out details of what I want to work on, and see if it makes sense then?

I'm sure I'm overthinking this. It's just that in a few weeks, I'll be sitting at a dinner table with these people, and I'm sure they're going to ask what I do, if I'm moving there, etc. I don't want to sit there tongue-tied wondering what I should say.

[terpsichore]

Certainly you should talk to them during your visit about the possibility of applying for jobs there. You need to let them know what you are looking for and find out the options. Don't talk about your rough year at your current postdoc. Instead it's okay to mention that you want to develop a strong research plan for the fellowship.

[greyscale]

Thanks for the reminder about not talking about the rough year when I visit. I know that, rationally, and it's exactly the advice I'd give to someone else. But somehow I'm less pragmatic when it comes to my own issues.

I also realized, after writing my first post, that there's no reason not to talk about my current project as something that will inspire my future directions. I'm excited about it, it's an interesting topic, and I'm sure I'll end up doing something related. Watching my partner's job search made me realize it's important to have broad future plans, not just a year's worth of experiments but big ideas about the next five years, and I'm not there yet. But for casual conversations, I should be fine just talking about my current work.