Throughout your academic journey, you are likely to meet PhD candidates from all sorts of work backgrounds. Some may have already banked a wealth of relevant work experience prior to commencing a PhD at a later stage of their life, whereas others have gone straight from bachelor’s to master’s to PhD.
For many young PhD graduates who go straight through the educational system, there is a chance that academic achievements will heavily outweigh relevant work experience, thus creating an imbalance which will make the subsequent job market more challenging. In this blogpost, I am going to explain why it is paramount that you seek applied work opportunities during your PhD if you want to boost your chances of employment in both academic and non-academic settings.
1. Your career path will become clearer
Gaining short-term exposure to an array of different roles during your PhD will open your eyes to the reality of varied professions. In most cases you will quickly develop an idea of where your passion lies, what you are good at, and jobs you definitely want to avoid in the future! Here is a quick word association when I look back to the roles I took on during my PhD:
- Working with athletes: Predictable and tiring.
- Laboratory work: Boring.
- Research: Frustrating.
- Teaching: Rewarding.
- Student employability support: Really rewarding.
Believe it or not, working with athletes was of most interest to me at the start of my PhD! Over time, my initiative to seek short-term experience in different positions made me more assured of where I wanted to go with my career. Ultimately this has since resulted in lecturing and student support roles, which have always felt like a hobby as opposed to a job I reluctantly have to get out of bed for.
I strongly advise you to give up a few hours a month in your PhD to gain further exposure to roles that interest you (i.e. volunteering, shadowing). If you don’t enjoy it, it’s a career path crossed off the list, and you can focus on the next idea until you find your calling!
2. Experience will increase your industry awareness
Reading about a career pathway is very different to actually experiencing it first-hand. Gaining exposure to the workplace opens your eyes to the realities of what happens on a day-to-day basis and allows you to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses. With early exposure, you have time to work on your weaknesses during your PhD so you can become even more prepared for the job market.
For example, I did not anticipate the level of administration and pastoral care that would come with lecturing duties I undertook as a PhD student. I came into the role with a tunnel vision view of preparing material, delivering lectures, and marking assignments. Being exposed to the additional challenges of the position made me adapt accordingly and see the bigger picture. I then made a point of strengthening my administration and student support capabilities, and ultimately became a more well-rounded lecturer.
There are lots of other things you may not realise before entering a particular industry. Examples include work-life balance, job flexibility, role security, and opportunities for promotion and pay rises. The best way to grow awareness of this is to seek short-term experience as a PhD student and immerse yourself into the environment. Organise meetings with your management and colleagues to learn even more about the logistics of the profession you are considering.
Ultimately, your awarenss of a career pathway is likely to be challenged at a job interview (e.g. “What do you think are the challenges of working in Higher Education?”). To score well, it helps if you have prior experience and can use real-world examples when answering questions about your competency and suitability for the role. Do not wait until after your PhD to do this – it could be too late!
3. A PhD alone doesn’t give you all the skills you will need
Since finishing my PhD, I have worked as a lecturer, content creator, and placements manager. My PhD in isolation gave me minimal preparation for all these roles! I had to develop additional soft and hard skills outside of academic settings to perform these roles, and you will need to do the same to stand out in future job applications.
When applying for those roles, it is likely that many of the other candidates will have a PhD (the PhD may even be an essential criterion for the post). This is why you need to ask yourself “What do I need to do to get ahead of the other applicants?” The answer is usually further down the job advertisement, and it usually consists of a large list of skills pertinent to the vacant position.
If you have a good idea of the career pathway you would like to pursue after your PhD, start to read job advertisements now. Highlight the common skills which keep popping up in multiple adverts and assess how you plan to improve these skills. Training courses and self-learning techniques are very effective, but applied experience of developing and implementing these skills is what will impress interview panels the most.
Seek short-term experience with an organisation which will allow you to enhance your desired skillset. As a PhD student, I would always offer free guest lectures to universities around Germany and the UK to provide myself with different challenges. Furthermore, I worked with a content creation company to enhance my digital and hosting skills after my PhD. Whilst these were short-term opportunities, they provided ammunition for future interviews; demonstrating my willingness to develop and ability to learn quickly under pressure.
Reach out to employers yourself and see what comes your way. Don’t wait for it to come to you!
4. The working world will open up a priceless network
Gaining applied experience as a PhD student gives you endless opportunities to openly communicate with future employers in real-world settings (and not just a LinkedIn message). There are different ways this can be beneficial:
- Expressing your personality: Work experience is a great way to show what an excellent character you are, and how you would fit into the environment full-time in the future. Some of the key traits to express are a strong work ethic, interpersonal skills, initiative, ability to learn quickly with minimal supervision, and analytical capabilities.
- Showcasing your capabilities: You may have skills to bring to your work experience that are a gap in the organisation. For example, you may be excellent at coding, or possess outstanding public speaking skills. Whatever this skill is, unearth it to employers during your work experience. Avoid doing the bare minimum in the workplace – find gaps and demonstrate your talents to the management team!
- Putting your passion forwards: Exhibiting a true passion and flair during your work experience will stand out to employers if you decide to apply for permanent roles in the future.
- Expanding your existing network: You are not just looking to tap into the network available within a single company – you want to learn about who else they know outside the organisation. You don’t have to explicitly ask for these contacts, but if you exhibit high performance during your work experience, people will start to talk. The company you worked with may not be hiring after your PhD, but they could recommend you to other employers.
You can only do all of this if you are in the workplace, so start to consider where you can gain work experience during your PhD now.
Final Thoughts
Take the time during your PhD to consider career options (speak to your careers adviser if you are unsure), and then look to identify a list of prospective employers where you can gain experience. Be broad here – a lot of employers may not have opportunities right now, so create a large list to strengthen your chances of securing something.
Also ensure you personalise your correspondence to each employer. Companies receive a lot of template messages with no sense of passion or personality, so stand out in their inbox with a well-thought-out message!
The work experience can be as little as a few days, and doesn’t have to be a large commitment away from your PhD and personal life. Most importantly, put yourself about in your field, because nobody else will do it for you.
