University of Manchester Careers Blog

Written by Elizabeth Wilkinson, Careers Consultant at The Careers Service

If you’ve taken part in the flurry of vivas which happen before Christmas – congratulations on getting this far. We’re here to help with your next step.

Some of you will have sailed through with no corrections, but it’s much more normal to have a few tweaks to make before you get those sought after two letters before your name. It’s also a good time to really ramp up your job search, or maybe some soul searching before deciding on your next step.

Get some online support, just for researchers

A free online careers course, run by staff from the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Sheffield, starts on 27th January.

“Careers for Early Career Academic Researchers” helps you explore your career options and make career plans, through a series of articles, videos, discussions, and reflective exercises. Here’s what a previous participant had to say about it:

This course has been fantastic, particularly as I am at a stage where I am finishing my PhD and was worrying about what comes next. I didn’t realise a lot of the things about academic and non-academic career paths, and have found the self reflection tasks invaluable.

Tips and tricks for job searching

I’ll be running a new 50 minute talk aimed just at doctoral researchers, getting you up to speed with the job market, debunking myths about job search and showing you how to uncover the hidden or niche jobs which might be just up your street.

Doctoral Researchers: How the job market works – and how to navigate it
Thursday 20th February, 12.00-12.50pm, Room 4.204, University Place
Register on CareersLink (to get notified in case of any changes) – search for Event ID 5773

Bespoke support – just for you

If you have tricky options or issues to navigate which don’t fit neatly into standard advice, or if you’d just like to talk it all through, you can have a one-to-one appointment with me. Alternatively, you can also see one of our other careers consultants who are fully aware of the issues associated with job hunting for PhDs. In fact, two of our Careers Consultants have PhDs themselves.

Careers guidance appointments – includes face-to-face, Skype and phone appointments, wherever you are.

Whether you’re considering academia or one of the many options beyond academic research, we’re here to help.