It ’ s becoming more important for PhD students to produce research outputs , to engage with industry , to be able to communicate their research to diverse , especially non-expert , audiences .
I think the key is keeping an eye on the desired destination really . If a student wants to pursue an academic job , they really need to engage in other academic activities fairly early in their candidature .
For example , doing teaching or getting involved in curriculum design helps to understand what an academic career involves apart from research . If they want to work outside academia , I would advise them to build those partnerships early and focus on more applied research that ’ s relevant to their particular employer or sector .
PhD research also provides ample opportunities to further develop transferable skills for any career really , even though the main purpose of the PhD is to develop independent researchers and then produce or extend a particular body of knowledge while focusing on a particular niche area , because these students do learn to debunk assumptions and develop deep expertise in one particular area .
They learn resilience and problemsolve . They pitch to non-experts for when they ’ re seeking funding . They network with international communities and colleagues . They learn how to visualise data when presenting at international conferences , for example . They manage people and they gain project management skills too .
I really want to stress the value of this research to non-academic employers , because we often hear that industry or non-academic employees don ’ t necessarily see PhD students as having the necessary skills , but we absolutely see that they do have those skills .
It ’ s really time , especially in Australia , for employers to open up those opportunities and be open to hiring PhD graduates .
How did the necessary skills required to do a PhD evolve over the years ? Soft and digital skills will be particularly important in the future for PhD students . The fastest growing training categories we see in our data are the interpersonal skills and personal attributes , followed by digital skills .
Increasingly , PhD students need to demonstrate superior communication and networking leadership skills as well . Our data shows that research experience is required in about 45 per cent of our sample , and that number is increasing year on year .
Because universities are interested in you completing on time , they do want to see some research experience . Not too much time is spent on actually building foundational research skills . PhD applicants need to arrive already equipped with communication and interpersonal skills , because PhD programs are tightly regulated and have structures to support timely completion and boost research outputs .
What are some of the reasons students want to get a PhD ? That is a good question , and the reasons are many . They might want to stand out from the crowd in the job market , or they might want to learn how to do research . They might be interested in gaining some deep expertise in a particular area of their interest , or they really want to do one and they need the title to pursue an academic career .
They might have been involved as a casual or sessional academic for a long time , or work at a university in a professional role or any other capacity , and really enjoy that sort of work and that intellectual challenge that research provides .
They might enter their PhD at various stages of their career and their life . We see , for example , quite a few mature students doing a PhD later in their life because they ’ re seeking that intellectual stimulation or want to spend some time doing focus study .
They might not necessarily have any particular employment-related expectations , which is very different to the motivations of a student who just finished their undergraduate degree , their honours degree , or a postgraduate degree that qualifies them for the PhD .
There are people who don ’ t exactly know what they want to do for the rest of their lives and choose to continue studying because they enjoy it and want to stay at the university a bit longer and deepen expertise in some particular area .
We see high numbers of part-time students who do a PhD on the side while working , running a business or taking care of a dependent .
PhD applicants need to arrive already equipped with communication and interpersonal skills .
What are some of the struggles faced by PhD students ? The biggest issue by far is mental health and wellbeing . It might be lack of adequate financial means that puts a strain on the PhD student . It might be lack of social support or lack of understanding for the research or the passion for the research .
Sometimes if you talk to PhD students in very advanced stages of their research , they have a deep understanding of their area that no one else can really grasp . That can make you feel quite lonely if you don ’ t find anyone else to connect with your ideas . That isolation , that loneliness can be quite profound .
A PhD is an individual piece of work . It ’ s an individual achievement . It is the student who did the research that will be awarded with a PhD title . It ’ s really the individual in charge of this .
The academic job market has become even more competitive since the COVID-19 crisis . How can PhD graduates use their skills to enter the non-academic labour market ? By the time they ’ re finished , they should be able to demonstrate and show even stronger evidence of the skills suitable for any career context really . My advice would be that students should reframe their research training as training for a professional career .
Good advice for PhD students is also to open up horizons and look beyond academia , because chances are they might need to reorient themselves towards a non-academic career . There are plenty of jobs out there that have that academic research flavour and require those kinds of skills , but do not particularly mention research or PhD requirements .
Jobs that require strong and long-term project management skills , for example , or data analysis skills , communication skills – these are all suitable for PhD students because that ’ s the bread and butter of their PhD research . ■
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