How do I ask a faculty member if I can work with him? There is a postdoctoral position that I would like to apply for. One of the requirements for it is to identify a working group and a faculty member that you are interested in working with. I have never done this. How do I ask a person whom I've never met/worked with if I can work with him ? I mean, what is a polite way to say, well, compared to everyone in the group, your work seems to be the closest to what I want to do, so can I work with you please?

I would be very grateful for any input. Thanks in advance !!!
The first thing to do is probably send the academic you're interested in working with an e-mail. In that e-mail, you can say how interested in their work you are, a bit about your background and round off with asking for a meeting to discuss a possible post-doc position?

Hopefully, they'll respond to the e-mail favourably and you'll be on your way. If they don't reply, then perhaps, after a week send a polite reminder or even go chap on their door.

Be bold. The worst they can say is no and that's not that bad anyway, as you'll have the confidence to go on and ask others.