THINK back to when you were applying to university from school. Remember all the extracurricular activities you were encouraged to include, or invent, for your personal statement 鈥� captain of the netball team, Duke of Edinburgh silver award, grade 7 violin? What was the point? To help you stand out from all the other fresh-faced students trying to get on the same sought-after course as you.
It was the same shtick come the final year of your undergraduate degree, when you realised once again that the CV needed a bit of padding. Holding the record for the number of beers downed in one sitting is never going to impress employers, so you volunteer to be treasurer of the Biochem Society or throw yourself into student journalism.
Now you are doing a doctorate and guess what, same predicament. Whether you intend to stay in academia, work in industry or try what your careers service calls an 鈥渁lternative career for scientists鈥�, these days simply having 鈥淧hD鈥� after your name is not enough.
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With a glut of both undergrads and postgrads, and a general shortage of jobs, you cannot afford to rest on your laurels. Extracurricular projects will not only give you something interesting to talk about in interviews, but will also bring additional transferable skills and show that you have a life outside the lab: they could make a difference between an offer and a 鈥渨e鈥檒l keep your CV on file鈥�.
聯Extracurricular projects could make the difference between a job offer and a 鈥榳e鈥檒l keep your CV on file鈥櫬�
Over the next few pages New 杏吧原创 takes a look at what you need to be doing, whether a postdoc is your next move, or something completely different.
GOAL: academia forever
If you love your PhD, it鈥檚 natural to set your sights on that elusive, high-flying academic career 鈥� in which case your safest bet is to publish at least one original research paper as a first author while still doing your doctorate.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no substitute for publishing good papers,鈥� says Andrew Pontzen, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. However, if you don鈥檛 quite manage it, strong references from your supervisor and others may act as a partial substitute when applying for your first postdoc beyond your research group. He stresses, though, that 鈥渟ooner or later the papers have to come, and everything else becomes secondary in terms of establishing an academic career鈥�.
It鈥檚 rare not to hit a few speed bumps during your PhD, so if getting published seems unlikely, it鈥檚 important to discuss your concerns and options with your supervisor. And essential as it is, publishing papers shouldn鈥檛 be the be-all and end-all, says Peter Dukes of the Medical Research Council (MRC). Formulating research questions, designing experiments and carrying them out methodically, before analysing and critiquing your work, are all fundamental parts of your PhD that must not be neglected. These skills will be crucial not only in your research career, but also vital for producing an intelligent and original thesis.
Talking about your work at conferences should also be high on the priority list, says Pontzen, 鈥渂ecause this is how people get to learn about you and your papers鈥�. It鈥檚 a great way to boost your profile and to meet useful connections for your post-PhD life. Dukes recommends doing fieldwork and short internships relevant to your research area. Visiting other research groups is also worthwhile. After all, who knows where that next job opening might come from?
Public outreach activities also come in handy in academic careers. or demonstrating experiments at primary schools are unlikely to be instrumental in landing you that all-important first postdoc position, but they will provide you with a toolkit for tackling the growing emphasis on engagement and impact that you are likely to encounter later on in your career. As Steve Cross, head of public engagement at University College London, says, 鈥淩esearch institutions are starting to consider public engagement as one of the factors used to make hiring decisions.鈥�
Finally, once you鈥檝e finished your PhD, it鈥檚 worthwhile 鈥� and becoming increasingly common 鈥� to spend an extra six to 12 months with your research group. After the crazed months of thesis-writing, this will give you the time you need to finish a few last experiments, write that top-notch paper, and apply for the postdoc position of your dreams.
GOAL: crossing over into industry
Three years of meagre grants and long hours may have you yearning for the pay cheque and structured environment of industry. What are the skills you鈥檒l need to tunnel across?
鈥淲e look for technically able people who can see the relevance of their technical understanding in a broader context,鈥� says Andy Leonard, vice-president of BP Cambridge. He says BP doesn鈥檛 count the number of papers an applicant has published; instead, recruiters look for evidence that candidates have acquired abilities such as teaching, coaching, leadership, coordination and presentation skills.
However, Rose Maciewicz, who oversees the internal , says an applicant鈥檚 publications are important. Papers are a way to assess a candidate鈥檚 merit, she says, and the quality of the journals applicants鈥� papers were published in is more important than the quantity.
But publications aren鈥檛 quite as important as they are with academic positions. 鈥淲e look for individuals who are self-starting, use their initiative, have a passion for what they do, are good communicators, and show excellent leadership potential,鈥� says Leonard. Running a club, presenting at conferences, working on a student committee or teaching a class are all much better ways of demonstrating these qualities than a hefty publications list.
At BP, Leonard says, it is becoming increasingly common for newly employed PhD holders to have undertaken an industrial placement, not necessarily at BP. That is viewed as giving them a leg-up in the application process. The , and all offer industrial CASE studentships, allowing students to spend at least three months working in industry during their PhD. Maciewicz says that new recruits with industrial experience like this 鈥渃ome into the job with their eyes open to what the pharmaceutical industry is all about鈥�.
If it鈥檚 too late to organise an industrial placement during your PhD, don鈥檛 fret. Make an effort to gain knowledge about the industry you want to go into through internships or partner with industry for your first postdoc (chances are you鈥檒l do more than one, after all). Whatever sector you go into, you will be expected to show a strong grasp of that area of business when interviewed.
GOAL: science, but not research
Love science, but looking for a life that doesn鈥檛 involve safety goggles and a lab coat? If you鈥檙e shouting 鈥測es鈥� right now, it鈥檚 time to think about 鈥渟cience alternatives鈥� 鈥� a category encompassing everything from science communication to patent law, journal publishing to science policy. The thread that ties all these together is the ability to communicate technical information clearly.
Candidates for patent law need to show employers an ability to think clearly and communicate effectively, says Andrea Brewster, council member of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys. 鈥淭hey also need to know that you can show initiative and manage your workload. Being a patent attorney is a largely solitary job, so it looks good if you鈥檝e filled your spare time productively,鈥� she says.
Get experience teaching or lecturing while you are doing your PhD, and it would also help if you got a placement at an industrial R&D department or a legal practice while taking time out or waiting for your viva.
Proper experience is also vital for moving into journal editing. 鈥淲e get literally hundreds of applications for entry-level editorial positions, but the majority of these consist of people who state they have lots of writing experience 鈥� because they wrote their thesis,鈥� says Damian Pattinson, editorial director at the open-access journal PLoS ONE. 鈥淯nfortunately, everyone has this experience so you need to show something else.鈥� Pattinson says he favours applicants who have done internships or work experience at journals, or those who regularly write, even if it鈥檚 just for their own blog.
Experience of public engagement is valuable too, as it helps boost your confidence and communication skills. You could try helping out at your local science festival, volunteering for university outreach projects, or getting involved with national communication competitions, like and .
If this all sounds like too much work while you鈥檙e struggling to replicate that one exciting result from six months ago, just remind yourself that without any proof of your science communication skills, your CV will never make it out of the slush pile.
GOAL: start your own business
Late at night, when you are up to your elbows in an experiment or sitting bleary-eyed in front of a computer, it can be easy to forget that outside the lab walls is a whole university out there. If you are thinking you should have gone into business after all, it鈥檚 time to take an evening off to look around at what鈥檚 on offer.
The chances are, somewhere within your university there鈥檚 a shiny new business school. You may be surprised to learn that these are often very happy to open their doors to curious PhD scientists. 鈥淚n many ways, we operate under an 鈥榦pen door鈥� policy,鈥� says Barbara Diehl, manager of the centre for entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of Oxford鈥檚 Sa茂d Business School. 鈥淪tudents can contact us by email or just walk in through the doors and have a meeting.鈥�
The Sa茂d Business School runs a range of programmes focussing on business, innovation or entrepreneurship. They are meant to give science and engineering graduate students a better understanding of the jargon of the business world and introduce them to how a business person would evaluate a technology or a venture idea, says Diehl.
Student societies also offer valuable chances to meet key business people and develop appropriate skills. , for example, brings together budding entrepreneurs at both the undergraduate and early-career-researcher levels, and has affordable office space for students to work on their ideas. The society also offers students mentorship schemes and intellectual property advice to help them commercialise their ideas, and the chance to compete for funding (see 鈥�How I got where I am鈥�).
Chances are your campus is teeming with support and mentoring opportunities that aspiring entrepreneurs outside of academia can only dream of. Given the current state of the economy, the government is eager to encourage and nurture the next generation of science and technology innovators. So if you鈥檙e keen on life as an entrepreneur, the time to get involved is right now.
GOAL: who knows?
If you don鈥檛 have an inkling of what you want to do once your viva is out of the way, try talking to your university鈥檚 careers service. The quality of the advice may vary from place to place, but you won鈥檛 know how useful it could be if you don鈥檛 walk through those doors. It can also be worth trying the myriad of personality profiling tools available on the web. Some attempt to match your personality to potential careers; others simply tell you what traits you might possess. A test can鈥檛 make the decision for you, but it can be a useful jumping-off point.
While you ponder your options, you can work on developing a core set of transferable skills, says Ellen Pearce, director of , an organisation which supports early-career scientists. Many skills crucial to being a good researcher are also highly valuable in careers outside higher education: think teamworking, leadership, networking, collaboration, financial management, critical thinking and an appreciation of ethics, to name but a few.
Your success in job applications will depend upon your ability to convince employers that you developed these skills during your time as a graduate student. , run by Vitae and by universities with Vitae鈥檚 support, can help you with this. These are short courses designed to enable people to reflect upon and develop the skills they have as postgraduate researchers, says Pearce. Many of Vitae鈥檚 GRADschool courses are held in the Lake District, and if the idea of life post-PhD has you scratching your head in confusion, signing up to attend one could be the most important 鈥渉oliday鈥� of your grad student career.
