Know yourself
- Ask yourself (and ask others)
- What kind of researcher are you? What are your strengths as a researcher?
- What other interests do you have?
- What are you good at? What would you like to be good at?
- What would you like to be known for? What is important to you about your career?
- Download the relevant skills audit to see the range of skills gained through higher degree research and reflect on your strengths and areas for development:
- The researcher career assessment tools Science Careers Individual Development Plan (for STEM researchers) and Imagine PhD (for Humanities, Arts and Social Science researchers) are excellent resources to start exploring your career possibilities.
- Reflect on your values, motivations, temperament, resilience and other individual factors that influence your career through the Career Self-assessments.
Know your options and build your network
- Ask your supervisor and colleagues in your research group or discipline for information (and connection to) previous research graduates
- Get an understanding of postdoctoral funding opportunities through the Research Services Office resources
- Use LinkedIn Alumni tool to search for research graduates, and connect with UOW graduates working in your career of interest
- Set up email alerts on recruitment sites with relevant keywords (topic, subject, discipline, “research” or other specific skills)
- Get an insight into research graduate careers online:
- An Academic Career
- Over 150 Researcher Career Stories from researchers working in a range of sectors (Vitae – International Researchers’ Organisation)
- Versatile PhD Typical careers that PhDs pursue across diverse sectors
- For more online resources download our ‘What do HDR Graduates do?' career inspiration for HDR students.
More information
Find more information and resources on the following pages: