Finding post-docs

In a bad year with fewer faculty positions, post docs look pretty important for good new PhDs.
Here are a few ideas culled from conversations with my colleagues:

• Many post-docs are simply floated via group emails to friends and colleagues: ask all of your thesis committee members and other faculty who know your work and respect you to forward such announcements to you.
• Many post-docs are announced in informal “interest group” email listservs: find key ones to join, or ask your faculty contacts to keep an eye on these for you too, and forward appropriately.
• Many professional associations have “news and notices” bulletins of one sort or another, available on their web site and/or distributed by email. The Chronicle of Higher Ed lists post-docs, but not a lot and scattered across fields. Others more specific are the Association for Psychological Science (APS), the American Sociological Association (ASA), Academy of Management, American Economic Association (“Job Openings for Economists” or JOE), various sections within the Social Science Research Network (such as the Economics Research Network Professional Announcements).
• More pro-actively, go to the NSF Grants Awarded page and find large awards in NSF programs that are relevant to your work (larger awards, especially $1 million and up, are more likely to support post-docs), and sent a cover letter and c.v. to the PIs.