Developing Career Choices for ‘Authoring a PhD – Getting Started’

1. Developing Career Choicesfor‘Authoring a PhD – Getting Started’ Kate Daubney PhD Careers Adviser

2. Today’s Topics • Who am I? • Assessing yourself • What are my choices? • Defining possible careers • How can I choose? • Ways to build towards a good decision • What’s next? • Preparing for good career development

4. Stages in good career management Self Awareness ↓ Career Exploration ↓ Decision-making and Goal-setting ↓ Job Search (and success!) ↓ Professional Development

5. Self Awareness • Who am I? • How did I get here? • What expectations did I bring with me about what follows my PhD? • What expectations do others (supervisor, friends, family, others) have about what follows my PhD?

6. Who am I? Most people know ‘who they are’: • You are a combination of your existing experiences and choices But it depends on who you’re talking to… 3 exercises to explore this – Stand Up! Move Round!

7. Self-presentation Exercises • The ‘In the same boat’ Exercise • The ‘Cocktail Party’ Exercise • The ‘Careers Event Networking’ Exercise

8. Tools to ‘find yourself’ • Psychometric tests, e.g. MBTI • Having a ‘label’ can clarify what parts of the preceding exercises you found easy or hard • Can indicate what work environments you will flourish in • Being labelled can also be off-putting! • More info at the Careers Service

9. How did I get here? • Some exercises to map your route… • We are seeking clues to what matters to you • Recurring elements, passions, positives and negatives

10. ‘Greater than the sum of your parts’ List your roles (PhD student, bank intern, rowing champion etc):

11. What shape is your network? List everyone you know:

12. The Master CV • The CV is a formal ‘route map’ of your experience • Important to have an up-to-date CV on file • Make a master with everything you have ever done on it • Be prepared to extract versions for different audiences – like the networking exercises

13. The WEIGHT of expectation… • What does ‘Doing a PhD’ imply? • Some exercises to explore that…

14. What expectations of the PhD did you bring with you?

15. I’m a PhD Student… In groups, list the reactions you get when you say that!

16. Fighting back! • It’s natural to want to reject other views of you and what you should do with your life • That includes your supervisor’s views… • Recognise expectations, assess them, then decide whether to accept or reject them • Objective views of yourself can be useful, but only if they are objective!

17. So far, we have… • Clues to your personality type - your interests, strengths, skills • Clues to the influences over your path now and in the future – work, people, experiences • Add these clues together and try to assess yourself objectively – I can help with this!

18. Defining Possible Careers Customarily PhD graduates either go into: • Academic careers • Non-academic careers • Increasingly PhD graduates are seeking a crossover: • Academic career with ‘real world’ input • Non-academic career with research credibility

19. And to help you choose, always… • Research – find out more information • Talk – to your network • Try – it out: intern, volunteer, shadow • Reflect – think it over, is it right for me?

20. So what is an Academic career?

21. Academic Roles • Lecturer (Professor/Assistant Prof (US)) • Teaching Fellow • Research Fellow • Research Officer/Project Manager • Academic Administrator (e.g. head of research degrees office)

22. Teaching and other career-building opportunities during your PhD • Occasional research assistant • Research assistant or research officer (f-t) • Graduate teaching assistant • Tutorial fellow or lecturer (f-t) • Journal editor or sub-editor • Book reviewer • Consultant to outside bodies (govt or others)

23. How to stand out: Teaching • Get experience: • Teaching • Designing courses • Supervising student coursework/dissertations • Examining/assessing student work • Undertake GTA training • Get LSE PGCertHE

24. How to stand out: Research • Get experience of research as an ORA, RA or RO • Present papers at academic conferences to raise your profile and get feedback • Review books for journals and act as consultant to outside bodies • Publish articles in good refereed journals or book chapters in edited volumes

25. Building an academic network • Attend conferences and seminars in your field to meet the ‘big players’ and make contact with peers • Look out for non-academic forums for relevant info/contacts as well • Get involved – join postgrad networks, conference organisations, national and international professional bodies etc.

26. What academic employers look for • Publications, publications, publications! • Understand RAE and the nature of HE funding • Relevant teaching experience • Research experience, especially on funded projects • Credentials – have they heard of you? • Presentation skills and admin experience

27. Applying for academic positions while doing your PhD • Application pack: • Appropriate CV with relevant experience • Cover letter that addresses their expectations as well as what you offer • Research statement • On the day: • Presentation to demonstrate ability to communicate (teaching or research) • Panel interview

28. BREAK Any Questions?

29. Non-Academic Careers

30. Non-Academic Careers • Typically c.75% of LSE PhDs go into academia • So LSE PhD routes into non-academic careers tend to be very diverse • Current LSE PhDs are aiming for: • Niche media analysis and consultancy firm • FSA • US literacy NGO • V&A museum • World Bank • McKinsey management consultancy • Music Industry

31. So much choice… Different strategies for narrowing the options: • Each approach overlaps with the others • Do your research now, identify your options, try them out Subject or Role Network Dream Job

32. Jobs that evolve from your Subject • Build on your specialist expertise • Direct pursuit of research interests in real world • Applying subject expertise in other contexts • Continuing to evolve subject expertise • e.g. Consultancy or policy development in your field (corporate, govt, or independent) • e.g. Communicating your subject to lay audience

33. Jobs that evolve from a Role • PhDs have lots of transferable skills • These can be summarised into role types: • e.g. researching, communicating, advocacy, problem solving, project management • You might need to learn a new sector, but your core adaptability is high • Broader opportunities generated by this search

34. Networking…

35. Using your Network to find work • When you’ve completed your network list, add your contacts’ jobs • This generates individual roles, not just job types • Do your contacts have jobs that interest you? • Find out more – analyse for skills, challenges, opportunities • Work outwards from specific roles

36. Dream job • Everyone should have a dream job • You may not know what it is yet • But you know how it would make you feel • Creative, influential, original, courageous… • Use it as an endpoint and plan backwards to now • However far off it seems, it is still attainable in some form

37. Dream into Action… • Whether you are changing direction or not: • Identify people who have this job already • How did they get there? • What qualifications, contacts, experience do I need? • When/how will I start – during or post PhD? • Have a plan B, C, D… Alternative routes will improve your chances of success

38. Getting Experience • A common theme in career planning is getting experiences to help you decide • Internships are a way to do this Sharon Bray LSE CS Internships Co-ordinator

39. What internship? Full/Part time Paid/Voluntary Project based

40. What do you get out of it?

41. What do they get out of it?

42. Applications • Research and networking – you know what to do… • Cover letters – the good, the bad and the ugly • Follow up – it’s not nagging

43. LSE Internships • Summer and Term time • Policy, Parliament, CSR, Media Policy and Development. • Register on My Careers Service and at www.lse.ac.uk/internships

44. So away you go…! • Check online job sites, trade press for job roles and company profiles • Internships and volunteering for experience and insight • Plan multiple routes to your dream job • Very clueless? Consider a skills audit or psychometric test • Shake your network!

45. Any Questions? Kate Daubney K.daubney@lse.ac.uk Sharon Bray S.Bray@lse.ac.uk • 30 minute appointments with Kate, Wed and Thurs afternoons • Email and phone support