Jobs after phd

1. POST-DOCTORAL ACADEMY

Obtaining a post-doctoral employment is perhaps the most conventional step in academia. The duration of post-doctoral jobs varies (between 1 year and 4 years, typically). One option is to continue at the university where you received your PhD and work on a continuing project related to what you accomplished for your PhD. You may then utilize your post-doctoral years to publish the work you accomplished during your PhD and expand your research network.

2. FACULTY POSITION IN ACADEMIA

Some individuals bypass the postdoc stage and go straight to professor. If you join a tenure-track program right out of graduate school, you may be at a little disadvantage since you lack the post-doc years to increase your publications. As a young faculty member, you will most likely spend a significant amount of time teaching.

You may be considering a faculty post at the university where you received your PhD, but you are aware that there are very few opportunities. However, if this is the career path you choose and you are prepared to travel and become an academic nomad, you may discover that other regions of the globe are yearning for persons with a PhD to join their faculty. This strategy is best suited to developing nations. In a recent essay, John Laprise discussed his experiences in the Gulf.

3. ADJUNCT POSITION IN ACADEMIA

Other non-tenure-track roles at universities include adjunct positions. While some colleges exploit their adjunct staff by overburdening them with pedagogical obligations, others treat their adjunct faculty as they should be treated: as important contributors who have chosen not to seek tenure and the title of full professor.

4. ACADEMIA: TEACHING AT A COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY

Undergraduate institutions in the Netherlands and Belgium are known as "Hogeschool": these schools only provide undergraduate degrees and conduct shorter research projects with a direct application to industry. Similar systems exist in various regions of the globe, mostly at teaching-oriented universities.

These universities need PhDs to fill teaching positions and do practical research. The connections between industry and these schools are usually stronger than at bigger, older colleges.

5. INDUSTRY: YOUR ARENA OF EXPERIENCE

Joining a business in your area of expertise (in my case, anything from a bridge design firm to a huge contractor) is a possibility. While some people regard the PhD as a useless extra degree and a waste of time (you could have gained practical experience in this time period! ), most companies agree that employees with a PhD add additional value to the company and can be assigned to tackle more complex problems or put their highly refined skill set to work.

6. INDUSTRY: POLICY MAKERS' ADVISOR

A person who is knowledgeable with the technical literature and contemporary research and can convey these findings to policymakers and politicians to help them make decisions is the connection between researchers and policymakers. We want to do study to make the world a better place, but we also want our findings to be implemented. This is when policymakers' consultants come in.

7. INDUSTRY: BUSINESS ADVISOR

You may have a PhD in neuroscience and believe that business is not for you, yet huge consulting businesses employ PhD grads from many areas. These organizations will keep an eye out for you if you know how to handle enormous volumes of data. If you wish to learn more about the work of these organizations, you may usually join them for a weekend when you will be pushed to solve a business case.

8.BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR IN THE INDUSTRY

Why not establish your own business and transform your study into a commercially viable product? Yes!Delft helps you get started with your idea at Delft, and other institutions offer comparable efforts.

You may also establish a business that is unrelated to your PhD study. PhD graduates establish businesses as professional proofreaders, technical translators, independent researchers, and career- and/or research consultants to PhD students. Check out my conversation with Dr. Ryder on the subject. C

Read Dr. Chris Humphrey's guest article for additional information about moving to industry. Read on for 7 advice on how to get into the business. I also did an interview on seeking work outside of academia.

9. THE GOVERNMENT

You might conduct research (academic positions), serve as a liaison (no. 6: advisor to policymakers), or enter public service and use your expertise in government institutions. You may be working in one of the ministries, where your grasp of complicated challenges aids decision-making. A strong grasp of a complicated transportation system, for example, is required to make the proper decisions in transportation (remember that research has shown that building more roads only leads to more traffic and does not solve complex traffic problems). Or you may utilize your sharp intellect to work your way up in a political party and ultimately, ideally, become a minister. Belgium's previous prime minister has a PhD in Chemistry and is credited for leading the nation through the Euro-crisis.

10.SCIENCE COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM IN SCIENCE

Do you like discussing to your friends and family the larger ramifications of your work? You may pursue a profession in scientific communication or science journalism. Universities need scientific communicators to serve as the interface between researchers and the general audience. Newspapers and periodicals depend on scientific journalists to stay up with latest articles and transform them into a lighter, more readable read that focuses on the influence on the world around us.

11. ANYTHING YOU WISH

You have the ability to shape your own career. You are not required to choose a single decision (academic or industrial) and stay with it for the rest of your life. Throughout your life, you will have a lot of employment and profession changes. Follow your passions. Simply follow your nose. Have fun on the ride. Create a career, as Dr. Kelly discusses in this interview.