PhDone - What Next?PhD final year is that last leg of the race. This is where we reap the rewards of our hard work. This post strips it all back, exploring two core objectives that you need to focus on to bring your PhD home and set you up for success afterwards.
We often take intellectual curiosity for granted, however it’s a core ingredient to help you thrive in any career you pursue. Having the desire to ask the ‘why’ questions will increase your skillset, opportunities and overall visibility, ensuring career success.
Starting your job search after your PhD can feel daunting and unclear of when to actually get a move on. As with most things this depends on a range of personal factors, but in this post we provide you with a timeline to keep in mind.
Nobody likes to read or study about a pension. However, our PhD and studying years typically set us back in understanding and growing our pension, so it’s imperative we get to grips with it post-PhD and begin to understand and define a strategy that sets us up for success throughout our career.
LinkedIn is one of the most effective and popular tools to search and identify jobs. Additionally, connecting with others via LinkedIn can help grow your professional network, identify careers, and validate your skills all at the drop of a message.
Getting stuck in is what PhDs and academics do best. Recognising this skill and tailoring it to help you develop further, grow your network, and acquire new skills will lead to improved opportunities for your academic career and beyond.
Freelancing is another career opportunity you could explore after your PhD. Being able to set up on your own can provide a different quality of life outside the 9-5, with significantly more flexibility on your working hours. This post breaks down how to get started with freelancing and what it consists of.
Often, we get caught up presenting ourselves as a well accomplished academic. However, if we’re looking to move out of academia it’s vital that we start rebranding ourselves and our skills in a way that feels more tangible and translatable. Here’s how.
Critical thinking is a core skill most, if not all, PhD students possess. This skill enables you to evaluate concepts, articulate their flaws and opportunities for improvement without being confrontational. Being able to critically evaluate concepts outside of academic is an asset for any organisation.
It’s easy to believe that non-academic and academic opportunities post PhD are scarce. However, this isn’t the full truth – it isn’t necessarily easy, but we can guarantee you it’s nowhere near as hard as you think. You just need the right ingredients.