Whether your ultimate goal is to become a tenure-track professor or not, if you like research, becoming a postdoc is still a common next step for many graduating PhD students. By becoming a postdoc, new PhDs can (finally) receive a full-time salary to conduct research and diversify their skill set, making themselves more marketable for future job searches. As I started preparing to seek out postdoc and job positions for next year, I asked five postdocs for advice. It seemed that many followed a general timeline, set before prospective graduation.