Career Strategies for PhD Students Session 1: Career Planning

Rebecca Valentine

Career Adviser

Introductions

Orientation

Participation

Confidentiality

Mobile phones switched off

Course handbooks

Introductions

Course objectivesThis course will cover:

Introduction to the 5 stage career planning process Self- awareness: skills, motivations, interests,

personal priorities and other factors that influence career choice

Opportunity awareness: generating and researching career ideas

Decision making styles, methods and strategies Information sources

Career management“Successful career management requires individuals to take control of their own career and to develop the confidence, skills and knowledge to make and implement realistic well informed career decisions, and continue to review and adapt their career plans in the light of changing circumstances”

Skills involved:Self assessment and personal reviewResearching job ideas and opportunitiesCareer decision makingGoal settingAction planningCommunicating effectively to reach your career objectives

The career planning process

Make it Happen!

Focus on Options

What IWant and

What I haveto Offer

What’s outThere?

Make Plans

Self awareness

Opportunity awareness

Decision making

Action planning

The application process

What is a career? (e.g. Mr A. Salmond, St Andrews Graduate)

Early career: MA Economics & History (St Andrews) →

Assistant Economist (GES) → Assistant Economist (RBS) → Oil Economist (RBS)

Political career: Member, The 79 Group → suspended from

membership of SNP → re-joined party and elected Vice Convenor for Publicity → MP for Banff and Buchan → elected Deputy Leader of SNP then later Leader → elected to Scottish Parliament → stood down as Leader of SNP → left Scottish Parliament to lead SNP Group in House of Commons → elected Leader of SNP (again!) → elected to Scottish parliament (again!) → elected Scotland’s First Minister (minority gvt) → re-elected as Scotland’s First Minister (landslide victory)

Self awareness

Skills/abilities

Interests

ValuesNeeds

Preferred working style

Opportunity awareness Occupational knowledge

What’s involved – tasks/activities/projects? What’s required – skills, abilities, qualities? What’s possible – specialisation, development?

Employment / labour market knowledge Where are the opportunities? Who are the employers? How competitive? What future prospects?

Further study / training What’s necessary? What’s desirable? What else could help?

Making decisions… Self awareness – awareness of your strengths, what’s

important to you and your personal priorities Opportunity awareness – awareness of the range of

possible career options and in-depth understanding of what is involved in the careers of most interest to you

Well informed realistic careers decisions require consideration of both concepts simultaneously

We make many career decisions throughout our lives “Career ladder” is a thing of the past. “Crazy paving” is a better description of the route through

which many of our careers develop e.g. sideways moves, changing direction, going backwards before progressing

Self awareness

Focus on skills We all have a wide range of skills & abilities including

technical skills (hard skills) and transferable skills (soft skills/competencies)

Transferable skills include team work, time management, problem solving, communication skills, IT literacy

Identifying hard skills is usually straightforward however you may have spent little time reflecting on the other skills you’ve developed through a research degree

Identifying skills allows you to recognise strengths (and weaknesses or areas for development) and also to think about which skills you wish to take advantage of in the future

Part 1

Flipchart 1 What skills have you developed during your PhD? List them

Exercise 1: Group task

Exercise 1: Group task

Part 2

Flipchart 2 From your list, choose one skill How specifically did you develop that skill? Give details using CARL framework

Feedback Thinking about your strengths: Can you identify certain skills you would like to use and develop in the

future? Are there some skills where you are competent but you do not care so

much about?

Thinking about areas you are less confident about: Are there areas you wish to avoid/minimise? Are there any you wish to develop?

Additional exercise: Skills assessment

Page 10 of course handbook For each of the 7 skills groups you are asked to: Rate your skills (Strong/Average/Poor) – think about

wider experience, not just UG and PhD study and think positively about what you have done and how you have gained

Identify the skills you would like to use in a job Identify the skills you would like to develop and how you

might develop them

The benefits for researching career options Identifying and acknowledging your own skills is essential for effective

career decision making Recognising your strengths can help you to clarify your personal

priorities You are more able to assess how well matched your skills set is to the

job requirements Spotting gaps can help you to identify areas for development Awareness of your skills is critical if you are to market yourself

effectively to employers

Our discussion has focussed on the skills developed during your PhD but it is important to fully recognise your wider skills set and how you have benefitted from all aspects of your experience including work experience and personal activities

Motivation We are motivated by our needs and values Each of us will have different priorities about what we

want from a career; can be difficult to articulate what we really want but identifying this helps us make confident decisions

If you value something you are likely to: Be proud to be associated with it See it as important Be willing to give effort or time to further its progress If you are motivated in a similar way to your colleagues and the

organisation you work for you are more likely to feel satisfied in your work

Exercise 2: Values

Handbook page 15-16 Look at the list of factors and rate each one in terms of its

importance to you (very important, important or not important)

5 minutes to work through individually Feedback Any special insights or revelations – new ideas or

confirmations? Any conflicts? Significance for future career choice? Work/life balance? Could some values be addressed outside of your work?

Additional exercise: Interests

You will tend to find a job stimulating when you have a genuine interest in both the nature of the work activities (e.g. working in a research environment or working with people) and the work content (e.g. Using scientific techniques, designing software)

Complete the exercise on P17 of the Handbook in your own time

Ensure that you reflect on why a particular activity interests you and what sustains that interest

Try thinking about topics that you are drawn to (e.g. in journals, documentaries etc)

Additional exercise: Style of working or interacting with others

Our preferred styles of working and interacting with others depend on a number of factors, the most significant of which is our personality (temperament)

Complete exercise on p18 of the Handbook This exercise helps you to consider aspects of your

personality expressed by the style in which you deal with people or approach tasks

Recognising your own personality or temperament will help you assess whether you will be able to meet the demands of a job and will also help you identify which working environments you might find congenial or unsuitable

Personal priorities and factors which may impact on your options

A variety of factors can impact upon your career choices Some factors may be out of your control (e.g. health,

financial constraints) Others may be a result of personal choices or priorities

(e.g. location or maintaining a good work/life balance) Other factors may affect you in more subtle or

subconscious ways (e.g. not wanting to let others down) Assessing these factors will help you identify how they

could affect you and your current options

Exercise 3: Other factors

Page 20 of Handbook: Look at the list of factors and tick those that are relevant

to you Choose ONE factor today that you think may influence or

restrict your career choice that you feel comfortable to discuss.

Discuss in pairs possible ways to overcome this or minimise its effect

Complete the rest of the activity in your own time

Possible solutions

When developing your career it’s sometimes difficult to find the ideal position in the right location at the right salary

May need to re-evaluate personal criteria and consider some creative solutions e.g.:

Location – could you widen your travel to work area even for a short period of time?

Could you move away to gain experience before relocating to where you want to live long term?

Finance – could you re-assess the lowest salary level you are prepared to accept for a short time in order to gain experience?

360 degree influence assessment

Who are the significant people in your life?

What impact has their advice, expectations and ideas had on your career plans?

How much do you value their opinion?

Try the exercise on page 21-22 of the handbook in your own time

Self reflection summary chart

See summary chart on page 23 of the handbook Once you’ve completed all the exercises you can review

your self-reflection and record key elements from each exercise

Add any other factors which you feel are important to your decision making

Reflect on which have the highest level of importance to you; these may be the factors you wish to focus on when making your career decisions

Coffee break

Opportunity awareness

Resources to help you generate ideas

Careers Service website - Occupations Destinations / What do PhDs do? Vitae website career paths SAGE and other vacancy databases Careers Fairs and Employer presentations Prospects Planner / TARGETjobs Careers Report Professional Organisations linked to subject Careers directories and databases

Before you begin exploring…

Be realistic and take on board any messages you pick up as you do your research e.g. failure to find specific vacancies in Edinburgh

Keep an open mind and ignore preconceived ideas of e.g. what an office job is or what an accountant does

Don’t try to research every possibility Remember there is no such thing as a perfect job. Any job

will involve a balance of activities you enjoy and ones you enjoy less. Getting the balance right is the important thing

Teacher – explaining fractions to a class of 7-year-olds

Careers adviser – finding ways of engaging students with career planning

Town planner – how to solve traffic congestion outside local primary school

Tax consultant – how to minimise the tax liability of a company

Civil engineer – how to reduce the problem of ‘bounce’ on a bridge

Environmental officer – how to meet re-cycling targets

Personnel manager – how to introduce new patterns of shift working without alienating the workforce

Academic – how to manage the departmental budget for maximum benefit

Problem Solving

Spider diagramExample based on “Problem Solving”

Exercise 4: Speed group activity

Each group has a flipchart with a different skill/competency

Come up with some jobs where that skill would be important and suggest how it might be used

After 2 minutes, pass your flipchart on to the next group

Researching careers

Careers Service www.ed.ac.uk/careers

> explore options > occupations

> explore options > occupations > Connect.Ed and day in the life of

Careers websiteswww.prospects.ac.uk > types of jobs

www.vitae.ac.uk > career profiles

Professional associations Work shadowing Other sources of information e.g. company websites,

annual reports, articles in the media or specialist journals NETWORKING – talk to people!

Identifying your network Family Friends Academic staff Careers Service – Connect.Ed database, fairs, presentations,

seminars

Other sources – conferences, student societies, professional bodies, online networking sites (eg. LinkedIn, Academia.edu), chance encounters

Using your network

Improve your knowledge of: The role The industry sector The recruitment process

Through: Discussion / informational interview Visit / work shadowing

Decision making

Exercise 5: Discussion topic

What factors influenced your decision to start your PhD?

To what extent were you influenced by others? Did you drift into it? Had you considered alternatives? What did you hope to achieve? Did you have specific long

term goals? …what else?

Decision making

Have you made good well considered career decisions? Have your decisions been heavily influenced by others? To make good career decisions we need to be clear about our own

priorities and value systems What we want from life is very personal and is often quite different

from those around us Things change over time as our personal circumstances change and

we gain fresh insights, knowledge and skills Listening to the opinions of other people is beneficial but aim to

recognise the impact of other people’s views on your decisions

Decision making stylesWhich is your preferred style?

intuitive logical talking hesitant testing ideas

Less effective styles include: impulsive / fatalistic / compliant/ delaying / paralytic

Decision making tools

Pros & cons analysis

Force field analysis

SWOT analysis

Decision matrix

Decision making summary

People make decisions in different ways

No one approach will work all the time

Good decisions come from examining the reasons that underpin them

Perfect decisions are rare!

Further support3rd floor Main Library, George SquareTel 0131 650 4670

careers@ed.ac.uk

www.businessandeconomicscareers.wordpress.com

http://researchstudentcareers.wordpress.com/

Other sessions

Planning an academic career: What it takes to succeed

Thursday 13th March 2014 9.30am-2.00pm (including lunch) Careers outside academia

Wednesday 2nd April 2014 9.30am-2.00pm (including lunch)

Marketing yourself effectively (CVs, applications and interviews)

Planning an academic career: Job search and application strategies