How Fresh PhD Scholars Can Build A Career Development Plan
A three-year doctoral degree ‘PhD’ provides numerous employable opportunities in both academic and non-academic fields to a scholar. Career development plans are highly attractive for a PhD scholar as they are experts in exploring answers to a researchable problem through facts and evidence. But how can PhD scholars outline what career development plans to opt for? This article will provide a guiding light to PhD scholars in building effective career development plans.
- How Will Your Doctorate Step Up Your Career Prospects?
A doctorate helps in stepping up the career prospects of a PhD scholar in many ways. It develops their competencies in technical skills such as investigating a topic by why, how and what aspects. It enhances soft skills such as collecting data ethically, team working, and time and cost management. With the publication, a PhD scholar becomes well-known for his contribution within and outside the country. A PhD scholar, during their research work, meet lots of people that help him in building professional networks. A PhD scholar fosters career opportunities that otherwise would not be possible to get with these professional networks.
- What Are Your Career Plans After Your Doctoral Degree Program?
After completing a doctoral degree program, following are some of the career development plans as shared by experts of PhD dissertation writing services:
- Academic Profession
After completing a doctoral degree program, the Academia profession offers diverse career development plans. These plans comprise of temporary positions (post-doc, fellowship) and permanent positions (lectureship, professorships). Hence, the academic profession provides opportunities for excelling in teaching and conducting original education research.
- Business Consultant
Consultancy is always attractive to me since my first internship in the automobile manufacturing industry. This career development plan will require strong analytical, critical, statistical and research skills developed through a doctoral program. Also, these skills will help in handling a large amount of data to resolve an underlying issue a business organisation experiences. After utilising my skills effectively, I will be able to provide consultancy to the automobile industry.
- Advisor to policy-maker
Consultancy enthralled me to become an advisor to policy-makers. The process and role of consultant and advisor are exact. The only difference is consultancy is for a business organisation, while advisory is related to policy-makers in regulating/formulating a policy. Advisors assist policy-makers in developing and implementing policies complying with law and regulation in resolving a public issue. Hence, this career development plan will help me in working with the policy-makers of the UK and developing good relationships with them.
- Becoming an Entrepreneur
I can become an entrepreneur after a doctoral degree program. This career development plan requires my problem-solving skills, taking risks, thirst for asking why and what, as well as planning and management skills.
- 10 Career Paths for PhDs
The career paths a PhD scholar can opt for are as follows:
- Industrial Research and Development (R & D)
It is the most appropriate and mentally attractive career development plan for a PhD scholar due to its financial and non-financial perks. This field requires the amalgamation of scientific discoveries with rigorous R & D. Yet, this career prospect becomes challenging due to consistent focus on innovation and uniqueness. This career path comprises of various disciplines that a PhD scholar can adopt as a profession.
- Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Manufacturing or Automobiles Industry.
- Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) Industry.
- Banking and Financial Services Sector.
- Defence Industry.
- Consultant as a Career Profession
Consultancy is a career development plan that focuses on providing expert and independent opinions on specific matters to the client. The job role of a PhD scholar is exactly as an academic scholar in the consultancy profession. The scholar involves in research, data collection, analysis, and synthesis of the relevant information. Yet, the change is of inclusion of business activities in this career. A PhD scholar as a consultant should have a thorough knowledge of the commercial world’s techniques and processes.
- A career in the discipline of Finance
The financial sector provides attractive career development plans to a PhD scholar in quantitative, economic and statistical analysis.
- Non-for-profit organisations (Charity and volunteer Sector)
Non-for-profit organisations need PhD scholar expertise from generic to specialised research projects as a project manager. The research projects that an academic PhD scholar carries out in the charity and volunteer sector includes environmental charities, sustainability and wildlife conservations.
- As a Researcher in NHS
NHS (National Health Service) provides robust research opportunities to a medical PhD scholar on biochemistry and related healthcare fields.
- Disciplines of Medical Communications
This profession involves consultancy as well as writing research manuscripts on various domains of the medical field. This career development plan is most suitable for a medical PhD scholar. The in-depth research of a PhD scholar helps in training of graduates of pharmaceutical, medicine and therapists.
- Research Communities and Councils
A PhD scholar can opt for career development plans in research councils. The research councils are publicly-funded organisations that support postgraduate students with funds and grants for research. They are employing 12000 people across the UK, in which 9000 are researchers. These researchers work in laboratories to get involved in researching real-life issues of the public.
- Pharmaceutical
This scientific field is suitable for a science background PhD scholar. PhD scholars can assist this industry in the manufacturing and development of medicines that can heal diseases and viruses.
- Roles in Central government
Central governments involve in nationwide policy-making to resolve general public issues. The role of PhD scholars in this career development plan is to assist the central government with their research expertise. They can collect real-time data, analysis, synthesis, and formulate effective policies.
- Engineering industry
Engineering is the most demanding field that requires an understanding of the technologies, trends, and processes. A PhD scholar can serve in this field as a product developer, research analyst or a traditional engineer. Their role is to carry out robust research in developing a product and conducting market analysis.
Final Thoughts
After getting a doctoral degree, PhD scholars have numerous options for career development plans. They can either opt for an academic discipline or a non-academic discipline. But whatever they opt for, they have to represent their expertise in conducting effective research.
