Finding jobs and employers
Once you have decided on your chosen career (having identified your skills and explored career options) you need to start finding jobs to apply for. With the exception of academic jobs, there is no specific job market for PhD graduates and whatever career path you wish to follow, you need to put your research skills into practice when looking for jobs.
Academic Jobs
There are three main approaches to academic job search:
- Applying to advertised vacancies for research or teaching positions.
- Making funding applications to create your own research position.
- Networking to uncover jobs that are not advertised or to improve your chance of success with approaches 1 or 2.
Plan well in advance so that you don't miss deadlines for funding or opportunities for networking.
Advertised vacancies
- It is vital to keep track of advertised jobs; research fellowships, teaching fellowships and lectureships are all frequently advertised.
- For sources of academic vacancies see the Useful Resources for Postgraduate Researchers section of this site.
- Ensure you check/or set up alerts regularly for job portals.
Do not limit yourself to "advertised vacancies"
The ‘hidden job market’ accounts for a large proportion of jobs available, so make sure that you do not limit yourself to a narrow range of resources during your job search. Many positions are never advertised publicly and are instead filled through internal advertising, speculative applications, by word of mouth or through contacts.
- Use Networking to uncover jobs that are not advertised or to improve your chance of success.
- Use Social Media to access the hidden job market.
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