Skills
Although many of them will value the specialist knowledge and expertise that you have gained from your research, all employers will expect you also to be able to demonstrate the wider, ‘transferable’ skills that you have gained through carrying out research and through other experiences, such as paid employment, voluntary work and leisure activities. As part of the career-planning and job-seeking process, you will need to be able to: identify the skills you have already and those which you need to develop; relate those skills to the requirements of particular jobs and employers and think of the evidence you will provide to show employers that you have got what they are looking for.
How do I find out what skills employers are looking for?
The following list is not meant to be exhaustive but it will give you an idea of the kinds of skills that employers typically ask for.
| communication skills | project management | lateral thinking |
| organisational ability | time management | networking |
| data collection and analysis | negotiation skills | IT skills |
| problem solving | working autonomously | team working |
Recruiting researchers: survey of employer practice 2009
If you want to find out more about employers’ requirements you might find it helpful to look at the report from a major survey carried out in 2009 by VITAE in partnership with the University of Sheffield Careers Service. One particularly helpful feature of the report is that it highlights those skills which employers, rightly or wrongly, believe to be under-developed amongst postgraduate researchers. This will help you both in identifying skills which you need to acquire and develop and in thinking about how to provide good evidence for skills which you have but which some employers might not recognise.
How do I assess the skills that I have already and identify the ones that I need to develop?
Researcher Development Statement
In 2010, Vitae published the Researcher Development Statement, a document which sets out the skills, knowledge and behaviour that an effective researcher should be able to demonstrate.
Researcher Development Framework
The statement complements the Researcher Development Framework, a much more detailed document which describes the level to which a researcher would be expected to have developed certain skills at each stage in his or her research career. The two documents are intended to be helpful to all researchers whether they are looking for a career in academia or outside.
Tools for assessing your own skills
|
RDF Professional Development Planner The Researcher Development Framework has been incorporated into a downloadable Professional Development Planner to enable you to identify the areas in the framework you want to develop further, create an action plan and record evidence of your progress. |
Careers Service Publications You can download a copy of our briefing sheet ‘Skills of Researchers’ from the right hand menu. This lists the skills that employers look for and explains how doing research will have helped you to acquire these skills. For more detailed information on individual skills and what employers understand by them, download a copy of our publication ‘Description of Skills’. |
|
This section of the Prospects website will help you identify what you want out of a job, what you can offer an employer, and generate job ideas. See the relevant link on this page. |
Graduates Yorkshire, in association with the Windmills Programme, maintains this career management tool which includes a section to help you reflect on your skills and put them to best use |
How can I gain the further skills that I need?
As mentioned above, skills can be developed through a range of activities such as part-time paid employment, volunteering, being part of a sports team, taking on a leadership role in a student society, membership of departmental or faculty committees or organising fundraising initiatives.
DDP portal
In addition, the University offers a variety of formal training courses for postgraduate researchers and you will find details of these through the DDP Portal on the website of Research and Innovation Services.
Skills resources online | Sheffield useful library guide
We offer a suite of talks covering a range of skills. Additionally, the Sheffield useful library guide provides further online resources covering life skills from assertiveness to work life balance (you will need your username and password)
SUGS | Grad Schools - Vitae
If you are in the second year or later of your research you might be particularly interested in the Sheffield University GRADschool (SUGS) a three day non -residential course designed to give participants the opportunity to reflect on their career plans and develop their communication, team working and critical thinking skills through a range of learning activities which are both interesting and fun. The Vitae site provides details of the national and regional GRADschools on which SUGS is modelled. You can also listen to the experience of a researcher who attended.