Careers workshops

This briefing session is for research staff and will focus on writing academic CVs. It will address how to present your skills, experience and research effectively, and assist you to tailor your CV for different roles within academia.

This one hour briefing session is for research staff thinking of applying for a new job in academia, whether academic teaching or academic research.

The session will explore:

• What makes for a good CV;
• What counts in an academic CV;
• How to present your skills and experience effectively;
• Supporting or personal statements, or cover letters for academic applications.

Please note that feedback on individual CVs is not possible at this session. This is best done by arranging an individual career development consultation.  Further information on these consultations can be found at:

http://www.ed.ac.uk/careers/university-staff/careers-service-support-for-staff

After attending this session you will be able to:

1. Improve your confidence in writing and tailoring your CV;
2. Increase your understanding of how to adapt your CV for different roles, including teaching focused or research focused roles;
3. Understand what should be addressed in a cover letter or supporting statement.

This workshop relates to domains B1, B3 and D1 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

This workshop for research staff will focus on creating a CV for non-academic jobs. It will address how to present your skills, experience and research effectively, and assist you to tailor your CV for different roles.

This one and half hour briefing session is for research staff thinking of seeking a change to a non-academic job (within or out of higher education) or making a career switch.

The session will explore:

• What makes for a good CV;
• How to adapt your CV for careers outside academic research;
• How to present your skills and experience effectively.

The session will include a presentation and group discussion of some example CVs. 

Please note that feedback on individual CVs is not possible at this session. This is best done by arranging an individual career development consultation.  Further information on these consultations can be found at:

http://www.ed.ac.uk/careers/university-staff/careers-service-support-for-staff

After attending this session you will be able to:

1. Improve your confidence in writing and tailoring your CV;
2. Increase your understanding of how to adapt your CV for different roles, specifically roles outside of academic research.

This workshop relates to domains B1, B3 and D1 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

Career Management for Researchers is a bespoke online course developed by specialist researcher careers consultants at the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Sheffield. It has been designed for PhD students and research staff who are exploring their career options and preparing for the next stage in their career, whether in academia or beyond. It is a 4-part course designed to address key career issues pertinent to researchers. Each week the course content provides a range of articles, videos, reflective activities, exercises and discussion topics. You are encouraged to set aside 2-3 hours to complete all of the content available in a week.  

Course themes 

Week 1 - Making career plans and identifying what you want 

Week 2 - Exploring career options beyond academia 

Week 3 - Careers in Higher Education - research, teaching and professional roles 

Week 4 - Job search, CVs, applications and interviews within and beyond HE. 

Designed as a 4-part course to be completed over 4 weeks you can access it individually and work on it at your own pace. Once you register, you have 6 weeks when the course is open to you.  

Alternatively, if you would like to be part of a cohort of University of Edinburgh research students from all disciplines working on it together, Eleanor Hennige, IAD Careers Consultant will be facilitating online discussion sessions around the course on set dates over a 4-week period. This will allow you to complete the course content each week before discussing it with Eleanor and fellow researchers so that you can all share strategies, ideas and experiences as well as build a support network.  

To be part of this you would register to start the course at the same time and commit to attending the 4 online discussion sessions. To register to be part of the March cohort please register for the course and then sign up on MyEd to the 4 discussion sessions scheduled on 9th,16th,23rd &30th March.

During March, researchers from across UK institutions will be encouraged to engage with the online course, so whether you join the Edinburgh cohort or do it on your own, there will be other researchers online, adding comments, experiences and suggestions.  

This workshop focuses on strategies for generating and researching alternative career options. It is aimed at researchers who are considering a change of career direction but who have no clear ideas of what to do next.

This workshop will help you to explore a range of careers open to researchers.  It will focus initially on careers linked to research, but outside an academic environment, and other common career areas researchers enter.  We will discuss different strategies for coming up with career ideas and the best ways to research careers to determine interest and suitability.

You should attend this workshop if:

• You are considering making a move away from academic research but have no clear ideas of what to do next;
• You have thought about what interests you in a future career;
• You are open to exploring a range of career ideas.

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Understand some of the more common career areas researchers enter outside academic research;
2. Explore different techniques for generating career ideas;
3. Identify good sources of information for generating and researching career options

This workshop relates to domains B2 and B3 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

This workshop will focus on the early stages of career choice and will help you to start to identify what is important to you in a career; including the skills you want to use, values to be satisfied, preferred work environment and other factors important to you.

You may be considering moving out of academia into another career area but how do you decide what else you would like to do? 

In this workshop we will look at the early stages of career choice and you will begin to identify what’s important to you in a career through structured self-reflection.  You will start to develop a ‘wish list’ of what you’re looking for in your career in terms of skills you want to use, values to be satisfied, preferred work environment, and any other factors important to you.  This will help you in the future as you start to assess your interest in and suitability for different career areas.

This workshop will help you to:

• Identify the skills you have developed in your research career which you would like to use in the future;
• Think about your key drivers and motivations for the future;
• Consider what constitutes your preferred work environment;
• Identify barriers to change and explore strategies for tackling these.

The workshop will be followed by an optional linked workshop, ‘Changing Careers: Exploring Career Options’, which will focus on strategies to help you to generate and research alternative career options.

After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Develop an awareness of what is important to you when considering your future career development;
2. Develop an improved insight into your key drivers and motivations for the future;
3. Work on initial development of a personal framework for assessing your suitability for alternative career options.

This workshop relates to domains B1, B2 and B3 of the RDF. 

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

The final hurdle of the challenging path to a fellowship is the interview. In front of a panel, you'll need to demonstrate the skills, experience, creativity and leadership expecting of future research leaders. This session will look at the typical format of fellowship interviews, the questions you might expect to face and answer your concerns about delivering the same impact in a virtual environment. 

This short workshop will outline the experience and skills expected of new lecturers.  It will encourage reflection and discussion on how to continue to build your profile and develop relevant experience to improve your competitiveness for an academic career.

You should attend this workshop if:

If you are wondering how to make the transition from early career researcher to first lecturing job then this interactive session will be of interest.  Drawing on the results of a national survey of academic staff in universities across the UK, the session will outline the experience and skills looked for in new lecturers.  We will discuss what experience you need to develop (and share tips about how you can be gaining this experience) and what to emphasise at application and interview stages.

 After attending this workshop you will be able to:

1. Understand the experience, skills and qualifications that make a good candidate for a lecturer role;
2. Assess your own experience and identify gaps in light of what is required for lectureship positions;
3. Share and gain ideas of how you can build additional relevant experience.

This workshop relates to domains B1, B3 and D3 of the RDF.

For further information on the RDF visit:  http://edin.ac/2cDDzAE

A career development consultation is a 1 hour one-to-one appointment with a professional careers adviser. You can have as many consultations as you need and they are available all year round. You can use this appointment for many purposes, including:

• discussing your career options, pathways and planning strategies
• practical advice on preparing a targeted CV or application form.
• undertaking a mock job interview for an upcoming role you have applied for
• general advice and discussion on any career issue relevant to you or your current situation

Consultation appointments can help you, whatever your current stage. You may:

• have recently joined the University.
• be coming to the end, or potential end, of a project or contract.
• have been here a number of years and aim to develop a long term career in the University
• be actively looking to move in a new career direction

Eligibility: Our 1:1 appointments are only open to early career academic research-only staff on fixed term contracts, e.g. research assistants and associates, post-docs, and research fellows; and early career academic teaching staff on fixed term contracts, e.g. teaching assistants and teaching fellows.  Unfortunately, we are unable to provide support to academic staff on open-ended lecturing contracts.

Please note:

1. After you book a slot for a consultation, please email any supporting documents to ResearchStaff.Careers@ed.ac.uk.  Providing supporting documents such as a CV or job description will help you to gain more from the consultation process
2. Consultations are available on Monday to Thursday. 
3. Consultations will be held via Mirosoft Teams, the careers consultant will call you at the appointment time.
4. Advice is available via email if you have a quick query or perhaps have an approaching application deadline. We will endeavour to reply to all email requests within one working week.

Please refer to our webpage for our Privacy Statement for Career Development Consultations: https://www.ed.ac.uk/institute-academic-development/research-roles/research-only-staff/career-management/career-consultation