Advice and Resources for Career Statements

1. Advice and Resources for Career Statements UCC Careers Services

2. Why Personal Statements? • A personal statement gives you the opportunity to present aspects of yourself and your background that may not be apparent from the other parts of your application. • The statement is a chance to show you have what it takes to be successful in your research. • How knowledgeable are you about postgraduate research? • Do you have characteristics that favour success?

3. Rules & Guidelines Content:Make sure you answer each question asked! Audience: Make sure the vocabulary and language style you use are appropriate for this audience. Time: You will need to allow time to prepare a first draft, ideally receive some feedback on it and then finalise your statement. A rushed statement stands less chance of being successful.

4. Personal Statement (500 Words) • Why do you wish to pursue a higher degree by research? • Why have you proposed this research topic? • Why do you feel there is a specific demand for the skill set that you wish to build? • Why are you particularly suited to this research field? • Which of your attributes demonstrate your capability to be a good researcher, e.g. commitment, motivation, thirst for knowledge?

5. Career Training and Development Plan • What are you career goals and how will this scholarship enable you to achieve them? • How will go about acquiring the expert knowledge and transferable skills necessary for your professional development? • How would this scholarship enable you to gain skills relevant to employment outside of academia?

6. How will go about acquiring the expert knowledge and transferable skills? The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is a useful tool.

7. Want to see how the skills and attributes developed through your PhD transfer? • Employability Lens: • An overview of the key knowledge, behaviours and attributes developed by researchers that are most desired by employers. • https://www.vitae.ac.uk/vitae-publications/rdf-related/employability-lens-vitae-researcher-development-framework-rdf-may-2012.pdf/view • Enterprise Lens: • An overview of the knowledge, behaviours and attributes developed as a researcher and how these can be acquired through or used in enterprise activities. • https://www.vitae.ac.uk/vitae-publications/rdf-related/enterprise-lens-on-the-vitae-researcher-development-framework-rdf-apr-2012.pdf/view • Other Lens documents for Engineering, Intrapreneurship, Information Literacy, Knowledge Exchange, Leadership, Public Engagement etc.

8. Useful web resources • Imagine PhD - a career exploration and planning tool for the humanities and social sciences https://www.imaginephd.com/ • Jobs UK: Jobs and Career Resources for PhDs www.jobs.ac.uk • Impact of Doctoral Careers: • https://www.ukri.org/skills/reports-and-data-sources/impact-of-doctoral-careers/ • The Versatile PhD: • Aims to help humanities and social science graduate students and PhDs identify, prepare for and excel in non-academic careers. You can join for free and get access to a range of information including career profiles of doctorates. • https://versatilephd.com/

9. https://www.vitae.ac.uk/researcher-careers/researcher-career-storieshttps://www.vitae.ac.uk/researcher-careers/researcher-career-stories

10. Job Titles in Higher Education • Clinical Project Manager • Commercial Officer • Communications Officer • Data Analyst • Grants Officer • Facilities Project Manager • Faculty Librarian • Graduate Education Manager • Director of Research, Business and Innovation • Technology Transfer Officer • Head of Research and Commercialisation • Laboratory Manager • Policy Advisor and Trainer (Doctoral Schools) • Project Officer/Study Coordinator • Quality Manager • Researcher Development Advisor/Coordinator • Science and Grants Manager • Senior Recruitment Officer • Software Support Specialist • Strategic Planning Officer • Head of Clinical Bio-Manufacturing Facility https://www.vitae.ac.uk/vitae-publications/reports/vitae-what-do-research-staff-do-next-2016.pdf/view

11. Research Policy and Administration • Project Manager (government dept.) • Grants and Careers Officer (learned society) • Industry Programme Manager (academic scientific society) • IP Rights Manager (research council) • Portfolio Manager (research council) • HE Policy Advisor (funding council) • Policy Adviser (medical research charity) • Policy Officer (European Commission) • Senior Policy Officer • Science Policy Adviser (government dept.) • Science Policy Analyst (research council) • Research Facilitator (care charity)

12. Public Engagement and Science Communication Communications Officer Development Officer Education Outreach Officer Engagement Manager Research Communications Manager/Officer Science Communications Officer

13. Writing and Publishing • Associate Editor • Copy Editor • Development Editor • Medical Information Manager • Medical Writer • Section Editor • Account Director • Marketing Communications Officer

14. LinkedIn University Pages:www.linkedin.com Click “See Alumni” on the UCC LinkedIn page to access a searchable database of UCC alumni. Sample search by keyword “PhD” – and narrowed to those who studied English brought: • Curator: University • Senior Information Developer: Johnson Controls • Research Administrative Coordinator: Research Centre, University • Programme Officer: Entrepreneurship Network • Games Designer (Self-Employed) • Executive Production Manager, National Newspaper • Product Marketing Manager, Facebook • Access Officer, University • Regional Director, Non-Profit Organisation • Recruitment Projects Officer, University • Head of Publishing, Irish Publishing Firm • Associate Director, Trusts, UK University

16. Informational Interviews • https://career.berkeley.edu/Info/InfoInterview

17. Actions to Take • Research destinations of past graduates. • Research career options of PhDs in your field. • Learn some networking skills. • Schedule some informational interviews. • Think “outside the box” in terms of networks and potential employers. • Provide ambitious career aspirations with plausible, specific, well-researched plans to move forward.

19. Good Luck!