Appointing Postdoctoral Fellows

1. Advertise open position(s).
   Faculty may notify the Postdoctoral Program Office to track their open Postdoctoral positions. The Postdoctoral Office posts postdoc openings on the postdoc website and will also post the opening on career.edu, a job bulletin board that is free and used by many universities and institutions. Please visit our Job Posting form page or contact the postdoctoral program coordinator to post your available position. The link to the Job Posting form webpage is: http://sackler.med.nyu.edu/postdoc/webform/job-posting-form

2. Identify, interview and select final candidates.

3. Contact the Immigration Services Department
   Immigration services needs to be contacted prior to hiring a foreign national at the NYU School of Medicine. The appropriate visa and endorsements are required before indiviudals apply for and obtain lawful employment. Visa and Immigration policies relating to postdocs can be found on page 25 under Visa and Immigration.

4. Verify education and check references
   It is the responsibility of the hiring department to verify education and check references. The School requires a notarized diploma or official university transcript noting the conferral of the Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent degree for hiring a postdoc.

5. Principal Investigator/supervisor completes and returns GUIDELINES FOR USE OF A POST DOCTORAL FELLOW OR A RESEARCH SCIENTIST TITLE (found in the Forms and Letters section) to department administrator to be sent along with the requisition.

6. Prepare postdoc requisition
   The Department Administrator should prepare a postdoc requisition with the required signatures, in accordance with funding sources. Salary must at least meet the lowest NIH training grant stipend level. Forward the signed requisition to the NYU School of Medicine’s Human Resources for final signatory approval. The Postdoctoral Office will notify the PI of the appointment approval and the maximum term of appointment.

1. Send out INITIAL APPOINTMENT LETTER
   Once the final candidate is identified, The hiring PI/supervisor should send the standardized Initial Appointment Letter (found in the Forms and Letters section) to the candidate and negotiate a potential start date. The NYU School of Medicine Postdoctoral Program Office uses standardized postdoctoral letters reviewed by the Vice Dean & Senior Counsel for Medical School Affairs and approved by the Dean of the NYU School of Medicine. Appointment letters must be sent well in advance of the postdoc’s anticipated start date. A copy of the offer letter must be attached to the requisition.

The appointment letter addresses the overall conditions of the appointment as follows:
• Their official title
• Projected start date
• Length of appointment (standard is one year from start date, renewable)
• Stipend amount
• Overall work project description (several sentences)
• General information regarding benefits
• Foreign national issues (if applicable)
• Diploma/degree requirement
• Required signatures

Before the official start date and after the candidate has accepted and returned the countersigned appointment letter, the faculty member should discuss any additional arrangements that are needed. It is recommended that the PI/supervisor notify the hired postdoc of the need to send in the forms for campus housing as soon as possible - preferably three to four months in advance of the postdocs arrival date. Forms and instructions may be found here 

Any job offer is contingent upon the satisfactory completion of references, the passing of a pre-employment physical, successful completion of a background check and completion of all required paperwork, including the completion of the I-9, which must be completed before the individual’s first day of employment.

2. Arrange Human Resources appointment for pre-employment process and send out NEW HIRE LETTER
   A representative from the NYU School of Medicine’s Human Resources Administration Office will contact the Department Administrator to schedule the candidate for an appointment for the pre-employment process. Prior to the arrival of the postdoc, it is recommended that the Department Administrator send the postdoc a New Hire Letter (found in the Forms and Letters section) with the appointment time.
   The New Hire Letter contains instructions regarding the pre-employment process.

3. Policy on Patents
   The School’s Statement of Policy on Patents of New York University must be read, agreed to and signed by all postdoctoral appointees at the time of meeting with Human Resources. The Policy is explained in the Policy for Patents and Inventions on page 44. The policy and signature page can be found in the Forms and Letters section of the handbook.

4. Policy Statement on Privacy, Information Security and Confidentiality
   The School’s Policy Statement on Privacy, Information Security and Confidentiality found in the Forms and Letters section needs to be signed by the postdoctoral fellow at the time of the meeting with Human Resources.