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Career Options for PhD StudentsWednesday 1st February
13.00 – 14.00
Dr. Tracy BussoliCareers Adviser for Researchers
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Today’s Topics
• What are my choices?
• How can I choose?
• What to do next?
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Possible Careers
Customarily PhD graduates either go into:
• Academic careers• Alternative Careers• A combination of both
– Academic career with ‘real world’ input– Non-academic career with research
credibility
An Academic career?
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Academic Roles
• Lecturer (Professor/Assistant Prof (US))
• Postdoctoral Researcher• Teaching Fellow • Research Fellow• Research Officer/Project Manager• Academic Administrator (e.g. head of
research degrees office, research grants officer, development advisor)
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Career-building opportunities during your PhD
• Research assistant or research officer (p/t)• Graduate teaching assistant (Law,
SEMS,SBCS and other departments) • Demonstrating (Lab- based PhD)• PhD Representative• Tutorial fellow or lecturer • Journal editor or sub-editor• Book reviewer• Consultant to outside bodies (govt or
others)
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How to stand out: Teaching
• Get experience:– Teaching– Designing courses– Supervising student
coursework/dissertations– Examining/assessing student work
• Undertake GTA training• Get PGCAP/CILT (need to be teaching
to do both)
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How to stand out: Research
• Publish articles in good refereed journals or book chapters in edited volumes
• Present papers at academic conferences to raise your profile and get feedback
• Review books for journals and act as consultant to outside bodies
• Get experience of research as an ORA, RA or RO
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Building an academic network
• Attend conferences and seminars in your field to meet the ‘big players’ and make contact with peers
• Look out for non-academic forums for relevant info/contacts as well
• Get involved – join postgradraduate networks, conference organisations, national and international professional bodies etc.
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What academic employers look for
• Publications, publications, publications!• Understand REF and the nature of HE
funding• Relevant teaching experience• Research experience, especially on funded
projects• Credentials – have they heard of you?• Presentation skills and admin experience
Alternative Careers
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Narrow Horizon Known and safe but insecure
A little wider But still university - based
Still research but transferring research toanother setting
Using knowledge and understandingbut not research
Using transferable skillsrather than specific knowledge
•Postdoc•Research Fellow•Teaching Fellow•Lectureship•Research Associate
•Research Institute•Charity•Consultancy firm•Think Tank•Independent Consultancy (self-employed)•Policy Advisor•Analyst (finance)
•Teaching schools/colleges•Publishing books/journals•Project Manager•Journalism•Management Consultant•Administrative roles
•Research Grant Facilitator•Grant Advisor, Public Engagement
Increasing risk and research effort to investigate Increasing likelihood of retraining
•Start your own business•Any grade graduate job•SME•Accounting•Marketing
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Alternative Careers
• Six months after graduating 53% % of QM PhDs went into academia (2009/2010 data)
• QM PhD roles are diverse and include R&D software developer, Early Modern Record Specialist, Lecturer, Power Systems Analyst.
N = 105All disciplines
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Jobs that evolve from your Subject
• Build on your specialist expertise– Direct pursuit of research interests in real
world– Applying subject expertise in other contexts– Continuing to evolve subject expertise
• e.g. Consultancy or policy development in your field (corporate, govt, or independent)
• e.g. Communicating your subject to lay audience
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Jobs where you can use your transferable skills
• PhDs have lots of transferable skills• These can be summarised into role types:
– e.g. researching, communicating, advocacy, problem solving, project management
• You might need to learn a new sector, but your core adaptability is high
• Broader opportunities generated by this search
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Sectors where PhD is rated• HE………academic and many roles outside of
academic positions• Banks ……in analyst roles as quants/financial
modelling• Patent Lawyers• Government• International Organisations• Your own business/consultancy• Consultancy Firms• Pharmaceutical/Biotech/Medical Communication
Companies/Science Publishing• Tech Companies/software developers such as
Google, Microsoft• Think Tanks
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How can I choose?
• Research – find out more information
• Talk – to your network
• Try – it out: intern, volunteer, shadow
• Reflect – think it over, is it right for me? Talk to a Careers Adviser
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Using your Network to find work
• Generate a network list then add your contacts’ jobs
• This generates individual roles, not just job types
• Do your contacts have jobs that interest you?
• Find out more – analyse for skills, challenges, opportunities
• Work outwards from specific roles
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What’s next?
• Researching your options is essential• Getting relevant experience also
really helps• Consider internships, work-shadowing
or volunteering– Full/part time; paid/unpaid; project or
ongoing• Use your network• Apply speculatively
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• Consider what you want from an internship• Source organisations to offer useful
experiences• Consider what you can offer them
– Full/part time; paid/unpaid; project or ongoing• Lots of formal internship schemes exist –
are they right for you?• Use your network to source opportunities• Apply speculatively – create what you
want, where you want
Internships
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One to One Appointments
Dr. Tracy Bussoli• 30 minute appointments (up to three a
term)Mondays: 11.00 – 14.30Tuesdays: 11.00 – 14.30
Call 020 7882 8533 to book an appointment
• Look at events calendar on blog http://qmresearcher.wordpress.com/
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