Career options with a PhD

Here’s a taster of where some of our PhDs from the last few years have ended up.

• Higher education lecturer or researcher is the most common choice. Job titles include lecturer, associate lecturer, post doc researcher, research fellow
• Freelancing and self-employment are popular: Freelance writer/ journalist/ musician, self-employed filmmaker/ consultant/ artist
• Other roles include: IT consultant, business consultant, media researcher, psychologist in private practice, psychotherapist, teacher, children and family worker, chief science officer (tech sector)

Download our Options for PhDs helpsheet from our VLE page.

How to decide what to do

This involves some soul searching. Start by considering your reactions to the following statements:

• I want to progress into an academic career
• I want the expert/subject knowledge developed in my PhD be part of my job
• I want to be a researcher but not in an academic environment
• I want a portfolio career where I can combine creative practice with other work
• I’m happy to use the transferable skills gained from my PhD in an unrelated area

Get insight and inspiration

Try some of these:

• Read about other PhD researcher careers at vitae.ac.uk/researcher-career and beyondthephd.co.uk
• Find out the stats of where people end up in Arts and Humanities and Social Science (login required)
• Attend Industry Panels and events run by the Careers Team. Many of the sectors are relevant to PhDs. Past events have covered NGOs, museums, think tanks. See current events on CareerSPACE
• Understand your skills, values and needs. Jobs.ac.uk has a free career planning toolkit aimed at post docs
• Research the job market. prospects.ac.uk is a good place to start

If you want to discuss your options book an appointment with a Career Consultant.