Your PhD will open up many career options, both within academia and more broadly in industry and charity sectors. The core transferable skills of research, problem-solving, presenting, collaborating and project management are highly sought after by all employers. You can see what PhD graduates have gone onto do on our What do Imperial graduates do? webpage or by doing a LinkedIn alumni search.
As there are many options, it’s worth starting to explore these as you move through your PhD which will relieve the pressure on making these decisions while you’re trying to write up or preparing for you viva. Creating a Plan: Me is a good starting point. Below are some ideas of what you can do throughout your PhD to build your career skills and knowledge.
Many of the suggestions in the tabs can be done at any point in your PhD so browse through them all and find the ideas that work for you.
PhD careers journey
The first year of your PhD will be busy, transitioning into a new way of working and learning the skills to help you complete your PhD. It is also never too early to begin in explore different career options, even if this step does feel a long way off. Here a few ideas to get you started:
- Attend a 'Career planning for 1st and 2nd year PhDs' workshop which is run by the careers service as part of the graduate school’s Professional Progression development programme
- Networking is one the key school PhD graduates tell us they wish they had learnt and practiced during their PhDs. Get your LinkedIn profile working for you and begin to practice your networking to learn more about your career options
- Consider joining or engaging with relevant professional bodies. Talk to your supervisor/peers to find out useful places to start
- Interested in academia? Consider becoming a GTA to boost your teaching skills
- Thinking about working internationally? Explore different countries and roles via GoinGlobal
- PhD focused career events generally happen in summer term. Sign up to the weekly events email via Jobslive so you don’t miss out
- If you think you might be interested in working or collaborating with industry, discuss how you might explore that with your supervisor. Maybe get more involved in one of the existing collaborations, consider how to do a short work experience or internship during your PhD or ask if there are any new industry partners your research group is considering
- Time management is often mentioned as a key skill to get through a PhD. The PGR Success Guide has got some good tips on this and other useful support