Firstly, I just want to thank everyone for the comments and feedback I have read. Agree or disagree, I appreciate the time you have taken to respond to my blog. Also thankyou to anyone that has shared my posts! On to the blog post!
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Before you get into this post, I want you to do something. Sit down and write a list of transferable skills you have from your PhD. Transferable skills are those which you can take and use in another discipline. It is also one of the most asked for things in selection criteria when applying for a job. If you end up with different skills on your list, to my top ten – please share in the comments below! I would love to build a really strong list for others to use.
The list below is not exhaustive, but I constantly see these skills being asked for when applying for a job. Don’t undersell your experience during your graduate years. You have an amazing skill set – and it is time to apply that to your work resume.
1. Project management : An obvious number one. This skill you build as you take over your project more and more. You need to plan experiments/research/interviews into a very tight deadline. Many times you need to work with other people to achieve your goals, and you will need to manage your project around their timelines. You may need to juggle 3 or 4 different things at once. All of this is within the realm of managing a project.
2. Time management : Many jobs need someone who can effectively manage their time. Most of you will have had learn to do this. The PhD has a timeline you need to abide by, and you need to manage your days to achieve your end goals.
3. Resilience : Going into the “real world” can be a somewhat daunting experience. There will be many people higher up than you, and many people you may not get along with. You may also see no accolades for your work for a long time, and may be dealing with difficult people. You are resilient for making it through your PhD with all these things being thrown at you. You will have dealt with difficult people and circumstances. These all make for an amazing skill set.
4. Writing skills/Report preparation : You have written reports, a thesis and papers (even those unpublished). You have amazing writing and report skills. You know how to use endnote – that is more than most people.
5. Communication skills : You will have presented your work to a huge varied audience. You have learnt how to present, how to communicate and how to communicate tough concepts to a naive audience.
6. Ablity to work independently : For much of your PhD, you will have worked independently on your own niche project. Through this you have once again 1. managed your project and 2. managed your time all independently.
7. Able to work in a team : Even if you are the only one working on your project, you will be surrounded with a team of other researchers you will end up working with. You know how to work in a team.
8. Analytical/Evaluation/Research skills : By now you should know how to research the most unusual and interesting facts. You can analyse a post on facebook from a mile away, and you know how to evaluate good and bad research.
9. Office/IT/administration skills : You should have picked up a multitude of admin skills, from using Microsoft office, to designing posters through Adobe illustrator. You may also have had to be your own Personal Assistant – list these skills!
10. Ability to deal with change : For many, your PhD will have had to have changed from when you started. For me, I lost two supervisors after my first year, then was made to move to a whole new project (but I was very happy to – as it was what I was really interested in). Sometimes chaneg is due to people leaving, or due to your initial concepts not working and having to change your project direction. You know how to deal with change.
What have I missed? comment below!
To PhD and beyond! 