For researchers thinking of changing career direction, don’t obsess about your qualifications and specific subject knowledge. You have developed a whole wealth of skills from your research which you can translate into the language of new career areas. Employers want to know you have the right attitude, committment and potential to succeed in their organisation. The kinds of skills they […]
Hard skills, soft skills, transferable skills, technical skills, interpersonal skills. Skills are what employers want from their prospective PhD employees. They’re not so interested in the details of your particular disciplinary research area, they want to know how you will apply your knowledge and skills to help them to innovate, create and develop new products, […]
Last week, I ran a career workshop at a research institute in the lovely city of Vienna. The participants were doctoral students keen to find out about the kinds of careers they could consider after their PhD. I asked them to come up with a list of careers where a PhD is (1) essential; (2) […]
If you hadn’t noticed, it was National Postdoc Appreciation Week (#NPAW) last week. Held each year during the third week in September, all kinds of initiatives and activities are organised to highlight and celebrate the invaluable contributions made by postdoctoral researchers and to support them in their careers. You only need to do a Google […]
Can you describe your research in just a few sentences? How about in one sentence? Or, better still, in only five words? The art of simplification and summarisation is highly skilled (without the aid of AI of course!). You will need to use it during your PhD or postdoc when you submit your 100-word abstract […]
I’ve just come back from a great holiday in France, where I had the chance to get away from my desk and gather my thoughts – even more so because we had no access to the internet for most of the time (unthinkable, I know!). Even though I wasn’t actually working, I was still mulling […]
According to a new report from the EUA-CDE, 75% of universities that they surveyed believe that non-academic employers only understand the value of a PhD “to some extent”. So, what does this mean for those PhD researchers who are looking to move out of academia and into business or industry? What does it mean for […]
They say that every journey starts with a single step. But it also ends with a single step. Career planning involves many steps, twists and turns and usually ends with an interview to assess whether you’re the right fit for a particular role (and vice versa). This final step usually involves ‘interrogating’ candidates in what […]
Without sounding too big-headed and boastful, you probably do! You know who I am because I have a fully completed profile on LinkedIn, Researchgate and other social media. When you meet me, I’m probably wearing a badge or have been introduced by a host at your institution. When I write to you, I use a […]
You’ve heard of Research & Development (R&D), but what about Researcher Development? It’s all too easy to think that once you’ve qualified to postgraduate level, gained experience or have reached a certain age, further professional development isn’t really necessary. And while that’s true up to a point – you don’t necessarily need to undertake formal […]