Career Management
We hope that you make the most of your experience as a researcher at The University of Manchester. As a postgraduate researcher you will have lots of opportunities to develop skills and knowledge that will be helpful for your career development, whether you wish to become a career researcher in higher education, a lecturer, a researcher outside higher education or indeed to pursue just about any career direction.
But how will you get there?
You need to think about how you are managing your career at all stages of your contract. For example you might ask yourself the following questions:
- How will you assess your skills and review both your project and professional development progress?
- Are you developing and maintaining useful networks both within and external to academia?
- Are you contributing to publications, conferences, and grant applications?
- How pro-active are you in identifying opportunities for expanding your role - teaching, public engagement, mentoring, administration?
- Are you an active member of a professional society?
- Are you making full use of the careers advice and resources that are available to you?
- What would you like to do after this contract? Do I wish to stay in academia or explore other options open to me?
- What do you need from your career?
Development & Training Opportunities
Workshops
- Your Careers - It's Never to Early to Think Ahead
- Essential Guide to getting a Job Careers
- CVs & Applications
- Interviews
- Assessment Centres
- Careers Intensive
- Evidencing Your Skills
- Pathways: career options for early career researchers (university wide, annual)
Links & Resources
- University of Manchester Postgraduate Careers Blog - An excellent source of news, events and information specifically relevant to postgraduate researchers and their experiences.
- Careers for Doctoral Researchers - a web resource specifically targeted at doctoral researchers. Tips, advice and support around the themes of - explore, connect, reflect, communicate and persevere.
- An Academic Career - This site aims to help you if you are interested in becoming an academic, whatever stage you have reached in your career. You can find information on what academics really do and how people typically enter academic careers. It also encourages you to ask yourself some challenging questions.
- Vitae Careers Stories - Personal narratives focusing on the experiences and decisions that the story tellers found significant. They offer real insight into the lives of the story tellers, illustrating what they consider important and providing an opportunity to learn about the decisions they have made and why they made them.
- Guardian Careers - Unmissible live Q&As, CV and interview advice, Insider's guides to specific sectors and more...