Hi Chococake
My original post was a year ago now (and I have had a couple of spammers in response to it too, sorry folks) but I did decide in the end to go with simple info on the card. I eventually went with nothing at all about the PhD - just my name, address, email and phone. (A good bit of advice I received was to write by hand on the back something about your research, if you were giving it to someone, so they remembered you in connection with your topic.)

I wanted mine to be just a way of being sure people could get in touch with me, and as I never did find a satisfactory way of putting 'PhD researcher' etc I went with the basics - this has the added benefit of being able to use them for all situations, with all my other roles in life!

I did feel it important to use professional ones, not the free kind that have the logo of the free providers on the back. I can recommend Moo; quick, high quality, you can choose recycled, and they are unusual too.

Jane
ps last year's conference was great; my paper went well, I got good feedback, and I felt confident and not at all disadvantaged by being 'mature'!

Hi Rigel34
I haven't any practical advice and am only in the middle of my own PhD, just wanted to show some moral support! You should be really proud of your accomplishments, it is a huge achievement to have done your PhD and don't let the depressing state of the job market tell you otherwise. There is definitely a place for you somewhere in the world! Hang in there
With all good wishes and positive thoughts
Jane

My uni is on the Block Grant Partnership, so things may be different..However, in case it helps - I applied for my first year, didn't get it, so applied again for the second time with two years left full time, and was lucky enough to get it. This means my award specified 24 months, when the other recipients this year were for 36 months, but it certainly is possible. Hope it works out in your case.

Thank you everyone for your good thoughts - sorry for delay replying; managed to avoid going into the garden this afternoon BUT had to deal with an estate agent putting house on market, so wanting to take photos, so ... needed to wave magic wand over house!

Sneaks, I will gladly accept the admiration for we mature students, thank you - I know what you mean; I am happy to talk and (rarely) get the tongue tied giggle thing... And it's a really nice feeling isn't it, being the one who knows most in your area? I had to disagree with my supervisor on something last week and when I corrected him (nicely!) he very happily pointed out that of course I knew more than him - nice feeling! And I will go now and look at your one goal thread , to see what your sup said (not nice... and anyway, the silent types are the deep ones, remember?)

And Pam, thank you for the suggestion of Publisher, not tried it and it would be much better to see what things are like before committing myself... And as for the age thing, last conference I went to the other delegates I spoke to were all in their 20s, so I did feel a little old, and these are the guys I will be competing with for the jobs later, BUT I was the one able to be at ease, make introductions etc, as you said - easier to relax...so overall I think anno domini were an advantage... I loved the Barker/Corbett/Cleese vision, brilliant - thank you. And , lastly, my lovely supervisor is a good 15 years older than me, which is always nice! Cultural history is my field, and there is generally a good mix of ages . And it's a great field which I love, which makes all this good to spend my time doing.


Jane

Hi Sneaks
This networking thing is something I know I need to do, especially with being (perhaps) disadvantaged by age... (or advantaged by maturity, on a good day...)
Sometimes I find it hard to know when you should introduce yourself to get yourself known, and when that comes over as a pushy and interfering person, as I think I did unintentionally recently at a seminar....sigh!
Ah well...
Slogging away today on a draft chapter when for one of the very first times in my whole first year I feel like saying '**** it' and taking a novel into the garden (which I can see from my office window....)
thanks for your reply, much appreciated.
Jane

Dear Montezuma,
Thank you for getting back to me - and no it's not too late! I still haven't bitten the bullet and ordered the cards, although I must soon...
That's really good advice about putting something on the back, too.
Thanks again, and best wishes
Jane

Hi 404
That's really helpful thank you - it's good to know what other folks are doing. My university doesn't allow its cards to be used by its doctoral students which is sort of why I was a bit floored, as it means starting completely from scratch.
Many thanks again - I like the sound of PhD Researcher!

Dear All
Am off to Australia for a conference in September to give a paper (will then be just at beginning of second year of FT PhD). I recall a discussion on this (marvellous) forum about business cards. I've just read it again and still came away now sure what to put on my card - does anyone just have name and contact details, rather than anything like PhD student or researcher? I am quite nervous about going (in my mid 40s, mum to two children, loving my research and feeling like I've found my niche but also feeling old in a world of brilliant people 20 years my junior) - so feeling like I can hand out a card with confidence would be one little part of my psychological armour.
By the way this is my first post and thank you for the forum and for existing everyone - although I distract myself with reading posts it does make one feel less like a strange alien knowing others are doing this crazy PhD life...
Jane