Employer Engagement during the PhD

In this post, Alice Kinghorn, PGR External Engagement Project Officer in Careers Network, shares her tips for engaging with employers outside of academia to gain insights into different careers, develop key skills, and build your network.

Engaging with employers outside of academia during your PhD can be daunting. Whether this be through an internship, attending careers event, or building informal relationships with employers, many PhD students have reservations. Perhaps you are concerned about your supervisor’s support in seeking a career beyond academia, or maybe you’re worried about the time needed to build a professional profile.

There are, however, an increasing range of external engagement opportunities (to meet, interact, and develop relationships with employers) that don’t require the time commitment of an intense work-placement or internship. This blogpost explores two ways to do this: building a professional network through LinkedIn, and attending events with external employers. Both are useful ways to gain insights into non-academic careers and to develop professional skillsets.

The University of Birmingham’s LinkedIn profile page, with the “Alumni” section highlighted.

Have a Conversation with your Supervisor

You may be worried about your supervisor’s response if you want to explore opportunities beyond academia, either because they want you to stay in academia, or because they are concerned about time away from your studies. However, recent research at the Universities of York and Sheffield have shown that supervisors of PhD students who undertake external engagement opportunities appreciated the valuable skills they had gained. These included professionalism, adaptability, confidence, and interpersonal skills.

External engagement and support from employers does not replace your academic supervisors. Instead, it can provide critical insights into the world beyond academia. Consider explaining to your supervisor that you are interested in exploring career opportunities. They may even share employer and industry contacts with you.

Use LinkedIn to Grow your Network

LinkedIn is a great tool to grow your network in sectors you are interested in outside of academia without having to dedicate time to attending an event. A good starting point is to see where alumni in your research field are currently working:

1. Head to the University of Birmingham’s LinkedIn page
2. Click ‘Alumni’
3. Search ‘PhD’
4. Filter your subject in ‘What they studied’

Scroll down to start viewing search results. Where do alumni work now? Where have they worked? Are there any fields you are interested in?

Ask to connect with people in your field of interest. In your message, explain who you are, and why you would like to connect. What insights would you like to gain? Why do you think the connection is worthwhile? Growing your professional network this way is quick and easy, allowing you to keep up-to-date in sectors of interest.

Attend Employer-led Events

A further straightforward introduction to external engagement is through events organised by the postgraduate team at Careers Network. Here, you can learn how to draw on transferable skills, key differences working within and beyond academia, and how develop your professional skillset.

For example, engaging with employers requires a different skillset than talking to an expert academic audience about your research. Can you think instead about the skills gained during your research? Project management, problem solving, data analysis, presentation, and interpersonal skills are just some of those that you will already possess. Employer led discussions increase your exposure to external engagement whilst highlighting skills that employers are looking for, how to talk about these skills in interview, and how to develop them during your studies.

To further develop your skillset through employer led events, sign up to the PG Skills Canvas Course. See the latest events on the University Graduate School Events page.

What do you want to be known for? Your go-to question for the new academic year

As the new academic year starts and we welcome new PGRs to the UoB research community, Holly Prescott, PGR Careers Advisor from Careers Network, shares a useful question to help everyone prioritise the many opportunities presented throughout a research programme.

I love this time of year. Not for the anticipation as to who’ll spot the first Christmas advert… but for meeting new PGRs from the across the University embarking on their postgraduate research journeys.

That said, as PGR Careers Adviser, I feel a bit conspicuous turning up to inductions: why am I there to talk to people about what they want to do after their PhD before they’ve even started it? I try to make it clear that I’m not there to pin people down to the career they want to pursue from day one. Instead, I’m there to plant a seed, and to encourage people to go through their research degrees regularly asking themselves:

What do you most want to be known for?

What do you want to be famous for?

What I like about this question is that it doesn’t pressure anyone to commit to a particular career route or job title. Instead of giving closed, limited answers like ‘I want to be a teaching-focused lecturer in the field of behavioural science,’ or ‘I want to be a policy analyst in the healthcare sector,’ this question instead encourages much broader, more flexible, more holistic answers, like:

• I want to be known for my expertise in international relations. I want to be the go-to person people think of when looking for an expert to talk about relations between X and Y countries
• I want to be known for supporting and advising people. I don’t know quite in what capacity yet, but I know I want to be a go-to person for things like mentoring others and helping them to achieve their goals

Another reason I like this question is that it helps you, from an early stage of your research degree, to be strategic about what you say yes and no too. I’m fully aware that induction and re-induction can feel overwhelming: there is so much information to take in, and so many training and development opportunities presented that you can’t possibly do them all. However, if you have some sense of what you want to be known for, then when presented with an opportunity, you can ask yourself… is this going to help me work towards being known for X, or not? If yes, then consider it. If no, then say ‘thanks, but…’ and move onto something else.

For instance, taking the examples above, person 1 could prioritise getting involved in networks and conferences that will raise their profile in their specific subject area. Person 2 could prioritise getting some mentoring or advisory experience: being a postgrad ambassador maybe, or doing some academic writing advisory work.

I often cite the example of a PGR I worked with a few years ago who wanted to be known for communicating science in an accessible way. She used that as a compass to seek out training and experience in public engagement and science communication, including getting involved in a scientific podcast. By doing so, she ‘accidentally’ made herself into the perfect candidate for a job she didn’t even know was a thing: a role that involved going out and interviewing scientists about how they use particular kinds of microscopes, in order to relate this back so her company can improve their microscopy products.

So, if you need a strategy to help you navigate what to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to this year, make friends with the question ‘what do you want to be known for?’

And, if you’re looking for direction with exploring your career options, then check out Careers Network’s PGR Careers Beyond Academia webinar series taking place in autumn 2023; details of events can be found on the Careers Network Postgraduate events page.

Imagining Career Possibilities through Guided Imagery

Last year, Faith van Horne, a PGR in the Department of Theology and Religion, led an activity with Careers Network on guided imagery for career decision-making.

Many career exercises focus on cognitive, logical activities. These ‘left-brained’ approaches include making lists of one’s strengths and experience, applying them to different careers, and so forth. Guided imagery, on the other hand, is a ‘right-brained’ activity, stimulating non-cognitive responses such as those produced by art, music, etc. By engaging your creative mind, guided imagery can stimulate career ideas you might not have otherwise considered.

The American Psychological Association defines ‘guided imagery’ as ‘a mind–body technique involving the deliberate prompting of mental images to induce a relaxed, focused state with the goal of achieving such varied purposes as managing stress or pain, promoting healing, or enhancing performance.’ In the case of career decision-making, the goal is to stimulate creative images and ideas around potential careers. Other aspects of life and well-being can arise as well. For example, one workshop participant noted the presence of a particular family member in the scene they imagined, prompting them to take into account geographical distance from family as they thought about their career. Creative engagement through guided imagery opens up all kinds of possibilities when thinking about potential careers, including other aspects of life than work.

Careers beyond academia: What ‘level’ of job can I apply for as a PhD?

In this post, PGR Careers Adviser Dr Holly Prescott discusses how to work out what ‘level’ of job to aim for as a PhD looking to transition into careers beyond academia. You can find a more detailed post on this on Holly’s PhD Careers Blog, PostGradual.

As someone who spent time in an entry-level job post-PhD, seemingly endlessly being rejected from more senior positions, I get that plotting your transition from PhD to a career beyond academia can feel daunting. Not only do you need to get a handle on what the options are and what you want to do, there’s a whole new world of job titles and workplace structures to get your head around. Hence, something I’ve spoken to so many PGRs about over the past five and a half years has been:

What level of job can I apply for outside of academia if I have a PhD…?

Photo by Jeremy Levin on Pexels.com

It’s no wonder that this scoundrel of a question pops up as often as it does. In academia, the next level up from PhD is postdoc. Easy. The clue’s in the name. But what about beyond academia? What level should you be aiming for then?

The Value of Research Placements for PGRs

In this post, Laura Clark, a PGR in the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, shares her experience of undertaking a placement in the Home Office during her PhD, and the skills she developed as a result.

I began my PhD with a vague idea that I would look for a placement without any specific thoughts about what, where, or the things I would like to get out of the experience. After a year of trying to find something suitable, I came across the URKI Policy Internships Scheme, a three-month placement at an influential policy organisation in a parliamentary department, government department, or non-government body. It was based on the needs of the department, which meant I did not need to spend a lot of time planning out the placement, and my research topic was irrelevant providing I could demonstrate I had the required skills. I applied and, after a long process, was offered a placement with the Home Office.

The headquarters of the Home Office, in London, which Laura didn’t visit because her placement took place during COVID-19 restrictions.
Photo credit: Steve Cadman

Survive and Thrive: Leadership

Continuing her occasional series, “survive and thrive”, Katie Hoare from Careers Network explores a key skill sought after by employers in the post-COVID-19 world.  It’s likely that you are already developing and using these highly transferable skills in your research.

What

When most people hear the word “leadership” they think ‘management of staff’ or ‘being the boss of an organisation’.  Whilst these positions do definitely require leadership ability, they are not the only scenarios where leadership skills are required.  You can and should be developing your leadership skills regardless of whether you are supervising others.

Leadership is not one skill, your ability to lead requires a variety of skills including self-awareness, accountability and communication.  Consultancy firm McKinsey have a conceptual framework for leadership and split it into three levels; 1) leading yourself, 2) leading others, 3) system leadership.  People often move from level 1 to 2 during their career, but not everyone ends up at level 3.  System leadership goes beyond leading one organisation to transforming whole systems and often involves connected organisations addressing multi-faceted problems.

‘Non-academic jobs’: more ‘academic’ than you think?

In this post, PGR Careers Adviser Dr Holly Prescott shows us how academic research and teaching aren’t the only jobs that can let you ‘keep’ the bits of academia that you really enjoy. You can find a more detailed post on this on Holly’s PhD Careers Blog, PostGradual.

In academia, we’re often taught to value our ‘outputs’ (papers, theses, grants etc.) over the processes that went into achieving them. Saying that we ‘do research’ or ‘do teaching’ can often ‘hide’ the things we actually do to manage and execute those things, and the things that we get good at in the process. Hence, we can often forget this important nugget that Australian geneticist Joel Huey tweeted a few months ago:

The take home message? Research/academia is not one job, it’s many. If the package deal isn’t for you, look for the bits you enjoy and find rewarding work with them. I was lucky, you may be too. 8/9

— Dr Joel Huey (@JoelHuey4) July 6, 2020

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Survive and Thrive: Adaptability and Resilience

Continuing her occasional series, “survive and thrive”, Katie Hoare from Careers Network explores a key skill sought after by employers in the post-COVID-19 world.  It’s likely that you are already developing and using these highly transferable skills in your research.

What

According to The Cambridge Dictionary, adaptability is “an ability or willingness to change in order to suit different conditions”.  The term can be applied to people, businesses, physical spaces and technology.  If something or someone is not adaptable, its use and benefit can be short lived.  Resilience has become a buzz word in recent years.  It can be defined as the “ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change” (Merriam-Webster).  In order to be resilient, you need to be adaptable.

Survive and thrive: skills for a post-COVID-19 world

In this post, Katie Hoare from Careers Network introduces her new occasional series, “survive and thrive”, looking at the skills most sought after by employers.  It’s likely that you are already developing and using these highly transferable skills in your research.

The world has changed.  COVID-19 has impacted all aspects of society and both people and businesses need to adapt and learn in order to survive.

As a postgraduate researcher you are accustomed to learning new things and you are already developing an excellent set of transferable skills such as research, independence, project management and communication.  Now all you need to do is augment this with the top skills employers are looking for and when the time comes for you to seek employment, be it during or after your degree, you will be a very attractive candidate for roles both within and beyond academia.

Job hunting is a research project

Following her post back in May, PGR Careers Adviser Dr Holly Prescott updates us on how to keep track of the employment landscape for 2020 job hunting.

Last time I spoke to you on this blog, toilet roll was just making its return to supermarket shelves. Since then, I’ve spoken to many of you who have had job offers rescinded, or have even had to rethink your entire PhD projects. However, I’ve also seen some of you get jobs. So what can you do uncover the opportunities that are still out there?

• Know the bigger picture. Stay up-to-date on the wider labour market from reliable sources. A great place to start is with Dr Charlie Ball’s UK Graduate Labour Market updates on Prospects Luminate