Finding and Applying for Jobs

Careers in academia

For careers in academia, a PhD is likely to be a minimum requirement. Institutions will also look at your ability to teach and carry out administrative duties as well as your research potential and publication record. The level at which you enter an academic career will depend on a number of things such as: your academic discipline; how much experience of teaching and research you already have; the relevance of any previous employment outside academia and the nature of the institutions that you apply to. However, most new doctoral graduates enter academia initially through a temporary post, e.g. as a post-doctoral researcher or temporary lecturer.

An Academic Career

Also, of course, if you choose to apply for jobs in other countries you may find that entry requirements, career paths and job titles differ significantly from those that you have found in the United Kingdom.
You will find detailed information on academic career paths, together with an extensive list of vacancy sources (UK and international), on the University of Manchester’s ‘An Academic Career’ website.

Careers outside academia

Employers who are recruiting for posts where research is the main activity may ask for a PhD in a specific field and some major firms of recruitment consultancies have a designated entry point for holders of postgraduate qualifications. However, most doctoral graduates who enter careers in industry, commerce or public services do so by taking jobs for which the stated entry requirement is simply a degree. This may give rise to the feeling that all the effort that you have put into gaining a research degree has been wasted, but although employers’ recruitment campaigns may be targeted mainly at undergraduates, many of them actively welcome applications from those with a higher degree and some (but not all) of them will offer a higher salary and/or faster career progression to more highly qualified entrants.

Recruiting researchers

When applying for jobs outside academia, you will need to put more stress on the transferable skills you have gained and how these are applicable to your chosen occupation. 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. You will find a link to the survey report, entitled ‘Recruiting researchers: survey of employer practice 2009’, on this page. 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.

Finding vacancies

The Careers Service’s on-line Vacancy Service provides access to information on hundreds of graduate jobs and also on opportunities part-time jobs that you might wish to consider if you need additional income or experience while you are carrying out your research. Additionally, it includes links to a number of national and regional databases, including some which advertise jobs in the public and voluntary sectors.

Make applications

The ‘ Make Applications’ section of our website provides information and advice on writing, CVs and covering letters, making applications and preparing for interviews and assessment centres. You might like also to download or collect copies of our publications ‘CVs and Covering Letters for Researchers’ and ‘Interview Tips for Researchers’.