PhD Supervisors Careers and Employability Toolkit

Your support counts

The economic impact of Covid 19 may have made students more anxious about their career prospects than in previous years and many PhD students may be concerned about the impact on academic jobs and opportunities to gain relevant experience. They may need a nudge and encouragement to act, and this is where you can help – timely prompts at key stages make all the difference.

Diversity and inclusion have always been important to us as a Service and to the University. Covid 19 has further highlighted inequalities and we want to support students who may be at particular disadvantage. Please encourage any students who you feel might be in this position to contact us. PhDs and MRes students | The University of Edinburgh

Early Years

• Get them to start exploring career ideas – this can open their minds to possibilities.
• Ask them about their plans for their professional and career development. Remind them everything counts – public engagement, conferences, volunteering, training courses, or internships.
• Alert them to tutoring or demonstrating opportunities if appropriate. The on-campus Employ.ed for PhD’s internships could also be of interest and short virtual internships have grown which can be a good way of exploring career ideas
• Suggest they attend PhD student specific careers workshops on getting started with career planning or preparing for an academic career
• Endorse the benefits of taking small steps throughout their PhD – this will reduce overload and help them balance career development with their research.

Later Years

• Encourage them to look beyond the headlines: graduate recruitment has fared better than other levels and PhD graduates are very employable. Whilst some sectors have contracted, others are experiencing renewed growth
• Get them to keep on top of all news relating to the impact of Covid on UK (and global) recruitment through reading LMI and sector themed posts on our Careers blog, Inform.ed
• Get them to attend PhD workshops on job applications and interviews, available for academic jobs and for careers beyond academia
• Check how their plans are developing – closing dates for graduate employment programmes are early in semester 1 and making effective academic or fellowship applications takes time
• Remind them to make use of the Careers Service – we can help them make sense of their career options, find opportunities, and refine their job search
• Reassure them that it’s never too late! We are here to support them as they complete their PhD and beyond graduation.

Signposting to the Careers Service: encourage students to take advantage of the services we offer – there’s support available in different ways to respond to student preferences

• PhD specific careers webinars where they can often engage with other PhD students across the university
• All events, webinars, jobs and internships are available via MyCareerHub
• Information and resources for PhD students on the Careers website
• Students can get 1:1 help via:
  • Live chat
  • MyCareerHub ‘Ask a Question’
  • Bookable appointments.