Career Planning for Life after the PhD

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Career Planning for Life after the PhD
Tony McAvaneyCareers AdviserUniSA Career
Services
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Seminar Objectives

• To
• Explain the benefits of having a career plan and
  identify resources to assist you with this
• Describe common employment destinations for HDR
  graduates
• Discuss job search strategies relevant to how the
  employment market really operates
• Describe some basic principles for self
  marketing, including how to position yourself in
  the marketplace

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What is your marketing message?

• A question often asked at commencement of
  interview is Tell us a little about yourself
• What would you say in answer to this question?
• Its a request for a positioning statement - give
  a strong, positive overview of
• Your career background summary of career
  progression
• Your key strengths skills, knowledge, attitude
• Some milestone career (not just academic)
  achievements
• Your aims in going forward in your career (that
  would resonate with a potential employer)

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Job Search Success Secrets

• These are
• A targeted approach to finding employment - what
  are you looking for?
• Understand how to work the job market
  visible/hidden elements i.e. a balanced job
  search strategy where how do you look for
  work?
• Your self-marketing skills - ability to
  demonstrate you have what the employer wants, and
  can make a contribution to the organisation
  creating employer interest

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The Post Grad Employment Market
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What happens to PhDs?

• Traditionally a PhD seen as apprenticeship for
  research and teaching in academia
• Approximately 50 of (all) PhD candidates do not
  end up in academia (source e.grad school)

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UniSA PhDs

• 2008 GDS (For EAS)
• 64 were available for full time employment
• 83 of those in full time employment
• 17 working part time seeking FT

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Employment outcomes

• Public sector 83
• Private sector 11
• NFP 5 (1 person)
• 83 working in SA, 2 people went o/s
• 94 found professional level employment
• 94 working higher education sector

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Earnings(Source 2008 GDS)

• 15 - 20k or less
• 15 - 57 - 59k
• 8 - 61k
• 30 - 75 - 78k
• 8 - 80k
• 8 - 96k
• 8 - 100k
• 8 - 130k

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Fields of employment for all PhDs(Source
Gradsoline.com.au)
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Career Planning
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What is a career plan?

• A plan for the direction of your working life
  this should be a lifelong activity
• Consists of
• An overarching vision for what you want to
  achieve in your working life
• Short, medium and longer term goals for your
  career progression
• Matching your personality, values, beliefs,
  skills and interests to work which is rewarding
  to you

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Career planning - how?

• Essentially a three step process
• 1. Self awareness - where am I now and how did I
  get here?
• 2. Options awareness - whats out there for me,
  where am I going vision for the future?
• 3. Self marketing - how will I get there?
  action planning to achieve your goals

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Career planningSelf analysis

• Thorough review of self should enable you to
  summarise
• Your top 5
• Personality characteristics
• Values
• Skills
• Areas of knowledge/specialisation
• Areas of career interest (fields of employment,
  occupations)
• These areas represent your point of difference
  in the marketplace

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What skills do employers want?

• In addition to professional/technical skills the
  following transferable skills are commonly
  required
• oral and written communication skills
• creative problem-solving skills
• initiative and enterprise skills
• planning and organising skills
• learning skills
• technology skills
• team working skills (may be an issue for PhDs)
• self management skills
• emotional intelligence interpersonal skills

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Self assess - your career plus

• What are your strongest values, needs, motives
  and goals for other aspects of your life
• Family
• Relationships
• Mental
• Physical
• Social
• Financial
• Spiritual

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Self assessment resources

• E-grad School Maximise your career - online,
  moderated career planning resources
• http//www.windmillsprogramme2007.co.uk/frames.asp
  - tools to explore and audit Me Pty Ltd
• http//www.careerexplorer.net/aptitude.asp - a
  range of self assessment tools, including
  personality assessment
• http//www.seek.com.au/if.asp?locdirection
  free assessment of preferences and competencies
• http//www.careers.qut.edu.au/courseplanning/selfa
  ssessment/ - basic tools values, skills,
  interests, working environment
• http//www.cdm.uwaterloo.ca/index2.asp - a very
  good resource, step by step approach to career
  planning
• http//www.careers.mq.edu.au/sub/students/PGRSWork
  book.pdf - Macquarie Uni workbook for Post Grad
  research students

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Career PlanningIdentifying your options
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Options awareness

• Decision making in relation to employment
  targeting is difficult for some
• A targeted approach generates better results than
  any job will do
• Have several options - ideally
• Start with big picture decisions and narrow
  choices down from there

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Narrow down employment options

• Start to research and make first decisions about
  where you want to work (then start to think about
  job role)
• Private sector or government (Fed/State/Local)
• Organisation size large, small to medium
  enterprise
• Management, working environment, culture
• Self employment freelancing are you suited,
  how will you get your work?
• Location local, regional, national, global,
  virtual
• Industry, niche or specialisation what are your
  interests, what skills are needed in the area?
• Portfolio career carrying out several jobs
  concurrently

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Targeting

• Job role what skills you want to use, what are
  you good at?
• Job role one that also matches your
  personality, values, beliefs, interests etc
• Realistic expectations about your entry point
  bottom of the rung?

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Create a target list

• Final step - develop and maintain a data base of
  your targeted list of potential employers
• Directories search
• Yellow Pages
• Online directories
• http//www.dlook.com.au/
• http//www.nationwide.com.au/
• Google search

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Career planning - summary

• Through structured self-analysis develop a
  concise picture of what you have to offer, and
  also your needs
• Identify employment options that match your
  capabilities, interests, values life needs
• Next step your self marketing strategy

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Self marketing strategy
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What do employers want?

• Landing a job involves selling a successful
  sale occurs when the buyers needs are met
• Your sales pitch must address how you will meet
  these employer needs
• CAN you do the job your skills,
  professional/technical and meta-skills, knowledge
  (and qualifications)
• WILL you do the job interest in the position,
  overall motivation to perform the role, work
  ethic etc
• FIT personality, values, communication style,
  likeability, personal presentation

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The employment marketDid you know?
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Job search strategy - balance

• Everyone looks at applies for work through the
  advertised market
• Your job search stops if there are no advertised
  positions reactive vs proactive strategy
• Few of your colleagues (competitors!) are likely
  to be effectively networking

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The advertised market

• Newspapers, journals, newsletters etc
• On-line register at least with seek.com and
  careerone
• Industry associations, specialist job boards
• Recruiters identify and work with 2 or 3,
  complete list at SA Central (www.sacentral.sa.gov.
  au)
• Graduate recruitment
• UniSA careers website
• Graduate Opportunities website

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Explore the hidden market

• Accessed through networking information
  interviewing
• Job search networking means meeting people you
  know personally, or on a referral basis to
  conduct information interviews
• Seek advice or guidance about how to find work in
  your chosen field
• Research the industry and job roles you have
  targeted
• Research individual organisations their needs,
  recruitment processes, decision makers/key people

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Referral based networkingAdvantages

• No cold calling strangers
• Contacting people you know who provide easy
  access to those you dont know
• Target your contacts its about connections 6
  degrees of separation!
• If your contact cant help, ask if they know
  someone who can

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Other networking strategies

• Some of the more obvious ways to expand and
  cultivate your network
• Join professional associations
• Seek mentoring
• Develop contacts in your discipline, involve
  people/organisations in your research
• Write book reviews
• Attend/help organise conferences, seminars,
  workshops
• Cultivate referees, relationships with associates
  through your employment or study life

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Positioning (your profile)

• Develop a personal commercial
• A strong, positive overview of
• Your career background summary of career
  progression
• What you are doing now, and why
• Your key strengths skills, knowledge, attitude
• Some milestone career (not just academic)
  achievements
• Your aims in going forward in your career (that
  would resonate with a potential employer) we
  tend to get what we ask for

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• Resume
• Bob Builder
• 22 Streetsville, Suburbia S.A. 1234
• Telephone [phone]
• Email bob.builder_at_ispprovider.com.au
• Summary/Profile
• A community and social services professional
  whose career has encompassed managerial and
  consulting roles in a variety of social
  interventionist settings, including
• Key strengths include
• Project management - highly competent, results
  oriented project manager, managed 3 major
  government grant research projects in past 12
  months, delivered outcomes on time and within
  budget.
• Change management - significant and recent change
  management experience, key member of team which
  identified necessary changes to operations
  planning and practices as part of organisation
  merger.
• Strategic planning- conducted major feasibility
  study to inform government policy in regards to
  social intervention program, recommendations of
  study subsequently adopted and implemented

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To ponder
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Employment outside academiapoints to consider

• Recruitment is costly employers wont spend
  time pursuing applications that miss the target
• A lack of work experience, plus an overly
  academic frame of reference can make it hard for
  PhDs to hit the target
• Dichotomy reluctance by PhDs to enter job
  market at entry level, yet little professional
  experience to attain more senior roles
• In employment, experience cannot be studied for,
  yet this is often what employers want so
  patience by PhDs is sometimes required
• Employers observe that once PhDs are into their
  role and are able to flex their intellectual
  muscles, they can make swift progress through the
  organisation

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Employment outside academia points to consider
(cont)

• A willingness to accept that a PhD does not
  confer automatic entry to the job market may be a
  small price to pay for future success
• A CV littered with details of publications,
  conferences and research interests spells out
  only one thing frustrated academic
• A CV exposing a work history that is confined to
  teaching, tutoring or pastoral support may raise
  more questions in the mind of the employer than
  it answers
• PhDs can use the careers service as a sounding
  board and for advice on analysing and marketing
  their skills and assessing what further
  development might be advantageous
• Research your options, be proactive in seeking
  advice and information -

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Useful resources/links

• Council of Aust Postgraduate Associations -
  http//capa.edu.au/
• E-grad School - http//www.egradschool.edu.au/
• E-grad School maximising your career (through
  QUT Blackboard) contact E-grad school for
  log-in instructions
• Beyond the PhD (UK) - http//www.beyondthephd.co.u
  k/

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Summary

• In this presentation we have
• Looked at some of the factors to be included in a
  career planning and self assessment exercise
• Identified job search strategies you can apply in
  both the visible and hidden employment market
• Described the importance of positioning yourself
  in the marketplace being able to articulate who
  you are, what you have to offer in terms of
  experience and capability, and where you are
  wanting to go in your career