Getting on
Advancing your career
While in academia career progression is fairly homogonous and normally progresses from post doctoral research onto lectureships and senior lectureships, outside academia it is much more varied. There will be lots of ways you can improve your own career.
Work experience, short internships and secondments
To develop a non academic career you can take part in other activities which will build your skills, experience and understanding. You can arrange activities yourself or find an organisation that will do this for you. For example, The British Science Association Media Fellowships are annual opportunities to spend 3 – 8 weeks working alongside journalists in a media organisation (BBC, The Guardian, Channel 4 News and the New Scientist have had placements)
Competitions and Awards
In science, prizes and awards for scientists are common, but they might depend on your discipline. For example, the Royal Society of Chemists has several annual awards. You can also find excellent careers information and vacancy lists.
Courses and Qualifications
You could also consider how you could develop some further skills or gain qualifications to accredit your prior experience and expertise. Think about whether you could increase your employability by shift your identity from university researcher to something else.
TLDU courses at University of Sussex
The Teaching and Learning Development Unit at Sussex (TLDU) is available for all staff. On offer is a programme of workshops and courses which are free. Also there are courses particularly for researchers.
Courses outside Sussex related to academic careers
Vitae the national organisation supporting the career development of researchers hosts Advancing in Academia courses for research staff.
You can also attend development courses at The British Library. For example, on using Web 2 technology to build your profile as a researcher. Here is one from March 2010.
Other courses and qualifications
If you are making a career change you may need professional qualifications. You may be able to attend some short courses to help you transfer to a different area of work. Many employers are happy to invest in training their staff and cover all or some of the costs and you should think carefully before investing your own money. Courses and qualifications that others have found useful are in the fields of:
- Statistics
- journalism
- marketing
- management
- procurement
- communications