In my experience, when it comes to careers, PhD students tend to fall into 3 camps: those who definately want to be an academic, those who definately want to do something else, and those who haven’t got a clue. So the real question is if you’re in category 2 or 3, how do you decide what to do?
Well, firstly, it might be useful to do a skills audit to help you to identify what skills you have and how to put these down in your CV. The IAD website has some guidance and a template to help you get started with this: Skills Audit
Secondly, seek help from the Careers Service, particularly if you fall into camp number 2 and you know what that ‘something else’ is. For University of Edinburgh students, and alumni within 2 years of graduation, you can find more information at the Careers Service website.
Thirdly, no matter what camp you fall into, consider attending a Reviewing Your Career workshop. There is a variety of information and courses available on the Doctoral section of the IAD website.
And remember, there are people all around you with interesting career stories so make time to ask people how they got to where they are now.
Next post: Procrastination and getting un-stuck…coming soon!
Fiona (Doctoral Training Manager, IAD)
iad4phd 