This positions are really “truly” open: there are candidates already lined up
Pros
The obvious of having Yale in your CV if you are a researcher. There are many opportunities to meet interesting people on campus and also abundant resources to develop your career further. The abuse to post-docs in many was is a real issue (there is a chat with 7000+ people). The cases of abuse are everywhere. Here I am referring to the psychology department.
Cons
I interviewed for TWO positions. The second one accepted. The first one was a truly bad experience. One of them, I applied through the portal with no previous context or contact with the Lab. They had three different stages and therefore seem to have an actual process. They ended up taking several months to say the position was filled. I checked, and it was filled with an internal applicant who just finished their degree. Being on the inside, I saw that it is very likely that these processes are open with a candidate in mind. They even made me send a research proposal using their data and work many hours on this process. The second position I applied to was in a lab where I had already been in contact with the PI and had previously attempted collaborations. The offer was made, and then when the publication was made, I knew it was to hire me. I don’t think they interviewed anyone in this case or pretended to give other people the chance, like in the first case. But the truth is that if you do not have a previous contact with the Lab and the hiring person or PI, it might be very likely that you are just being part of a process that is meant for someone else and that you will not be truly considered as anything other than their “transparency” card. To be fair: it is okay to just want to hire a specific person for a post-doctoral positions because of the highly specialized skills. What is not okay is to make other people work and believe they are in a true process and get to the point of having them work on their research: giving a 2 page research paper proposal? Really?
