Overview of HazyJane on PostgraduateForum.com

Overview of HazyJane

Signup date: 30 May 2008 at 11:23am

Last login: 13 Jul 2017 at 12:15pm

Post count: 1964

Recent Posts

Getting a job after your PhD? You're having a giraffe!

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

Quote From incognito:
Hi ginga,
I disagree with HazyJane, however, when she said that employers see you as potentially less equipped than BSc/MSc ppl: it all depends on how you market yourself vis-a-vis job specs.

I didn't express my point as well as I could. I agree that marketing is key. If, however, you simply rely on "I have a PhD therefore you must know I'm awesome" I don't think that will get one very far. Better instead to demonstrate how the skills and experience gained are relevant to the needs of the employer.

Getting a job after your PhD? You're having a giraffe!

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

Quote From ginga:
I was sort of under the impression that just by completing a PhD, it would be a passage of right to apply for any position even if the research topic is not related to it. Surely employers are aware of the determination and dedication required to be successful in a PhD, aren't they? I thought the phone would never stop ringing the day after I graduated with offers of gainful and fulfilling career opportunities but I have thus far been clearly misguided.

I'm not 100% sure if you're serious, but if so I'm afraid you have been mis-advised. A PhD is essentially an apprenticeship for a specific job (career academic/researcher) where the availability of successful candidates far outweighs the number of jobs available in most fields.

It is certainly not a ticket to a position where you have no related experience (it can be possible to transfer, but it depends on your competition). Many external employers will fail to understand the skills and insights gained through your studies and see you as potentially less equipped for a job than your peers who went out to work after Bachelors/Masters. There are exceptions, but brace yourself for having to convince people of your suitability.

Essentially if you want to proceed with job hunting, it may be best to throw away any previous assumptions you had about how your qualifications will be perceived, and work out how best to market you (rather than your degrees) as a good job candidate.

It's not nice to realise this at this stage, though at least you are making the realisation while employed, rather than looking for any work at all.

Taking 3 months to a year off to travel after science PhD - bad idea?

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

Quote From elflick:

HazeyJane - really what I want out of my work life is a job I really like doing everyday - which is working in a lab. I'm not so bothered about a career as such - as long as I get paid a fairly decent wage (post-doc wages seem amazing to me) I'll be happy.

You have given some really good ideas though - visiting an overseas lab and attending a conference sound like a fantastic idea! I already have 2 papers published and will have 2 more published (hopefully!) for after my Viva (hopefully this'll make me look more active...).

Have you considered industry at all? If so, make some contacts and try to figure out where things are moving to, skills/assay wise. It's all very well being an expert in a technique but if it becomes obsolete through automation then you're stuck. You could maybe weave in a course on the latest state of the art technology, or something like statistics/bioinformatics into your itinerary.

Mid 40's - Am I Too Old To Do A Phd ?

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

Quote From donfrico:
I am in my mid 40's and did a postgrad degree many moons ago. Is it too late to undertake a Phd? Will I struggle to get funding.

Do you want to do it for enjoyment or as a career move? If the former, you're never too old. If the latter then your age is not a barrier but be aware that academic job prospects in most fields are poor, regardless of age, so make sure you've familiarised yourself with the issues in this respect before starting out.

Some

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

'some students think A..., some students think B...; while some other students think C..."

The sentence above could mean:
1. 90% think A, 8% think B, 2% think C
2. 34% think A, 33% think B, 33% think C
3. 50% think A, 25% think B, 25% think C

I would say that those differences may be important to the interpretation of your findings.

I'm not a qual researcher, so I may be wrong, but just because something is qualitative I don't think you can totally ignore relative magnitude. A sentence like "A few students thought A, some thought B, but the majority thought C." is more informative than the sentence you originally gave.

Of course if all you want to do is simply identify all the opinion options within a group, maybe your original approach is sufficient. I would expect, though, at the very least you would need to report how many people were in the overall group.

Taking 3 months to a year off to travel after science PhD - bad idea?

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

Quote From elflick:

(after all, most women take time out to have kids - and I won't be doing that).

In addition to the points made about this by others above, it's worth noting that there's quite a lot of evidence suggesting that many women struggle to get back into academia after time out to have kids. It's perhaps not as bad today as in the past, in part because there are now some formal ways of supporting them (and indeed people who've taken time off to care for relatives). But it does add to the challenges, so don't glibly think that interruptions don't matter, as they do.

If you were in another career, where there were steady and plentiful jobs going, this would all be less of an issue, but you're on a career path where there's not enough jobs to go around anyway.

Taking 3 months to a year off to travel after science PhD - bad idea?

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

Quote From elflick:
I know someone who used to work my lab who worked in insurance admin for 2 years before getting a technicians post (he had a PhD) - then went on to get an amazing post-doc.

Probably the exception rather than the rule.

Some things to consider:
1. What was your motivation for putting yourself through a PhD? If it was because your heart was set on an academic career, perhaps you should aim to optimise the already slim chance of success.
2. If in 5-10 years time, you have failed to get back on the career path you originally wanted, how disappointed/regretful would you be?
3. If academia doesn't work out, do you have a realistic plan B/plan C that you could be happy with.
4. Could you in some way couple your cycle tour with career-enhancing experiences? For example, if you have contacts at an overseas university, how about doing some cycling in that country, being a visiting academic at that university for a few weeks/months, and then setting off again? Chuck in a couple of conferences and publications and at least your CV would be growing.

I reckon you could swing 3 months off, as some people's notice periods mean they wouldn't be able to take up a job before that length of time has passed. But longer than that without having a job in the pipeline may well cause you trouble.

3rd year of PhD and thinking about a postdoc position

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

At some point in the process of becoming an independent researcher, one has to be able to come up with one's own questions/hypotheses.

Has your work to date been prescribed by your supervisors? Have you had to develop lines of inquiry based on findings from your work?

Worried about no funding during fourth year

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

See if your student services department have contingency funds.

You may also want to check if your uni library/careers service has access to this:

http://www.postgraduate-funding.com/

See pg 12 here to check:

http://www.postgraduate-funding.com/images/investing_booklet.pdf

My application is unsuccessful

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

I agree with all that is posted above. Just to add, if you really want to do a PhD, you will need to find ways of handling 'rejection' or failure without it affecting you so deeply and putting you off trying again. The PhD process itself is highly likely to be marked by dead ends, criticism (hopefully constructive) and going back to the drawing board. Ditto academia in general. If that's something you feel very uncomfortable with you may want to consider whether this is the right path for you.

How long would it take to hear PhD interview response?

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

Sorry to hear it didn't work out. In general, whether for jobs or PhDs, it is always worth keeping on going with applications even if you've got an interview lined up for something you really want. Waiting around for the outcome of a single application can mean missing out on other good opportunities.

Presenting finding which are already published at a conference?

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

Check the conference regulations.

Generally conferences are for 'new' and 'upcoming' work. They usually have a long lead in time. So if you've already published something, then presenting it as it is might not be fresh enough. It would be preferable to have updated it/developed it further.

If you end up publishing something between applying to a conference and presenting at it, that is less of a problem though.

Edited to add... you might also have to take into account copyright arrangements with the journal, especially if the conference itself publishes abstracts in a journal.

PhD Acknowledgements

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

Quote From Mackem_Beefy:

Consider this. With the advent of electronic respoitories (both University and National - Ethos, Trove, etc.) that are searchable on the internet, PhD theses no longer gather dust and can be quite often access by other researchers and even members of the public.

This. It's not just your examiners who will potentially see it.

I'd keep it to just "For Sarah" or if it feels weird to call your mother by her name, "For S. (my mother).

Alternative, if she is only ever "Mummy" in your mind, would be simply "For M." The meaning is there for you and her, but you can skirt around some of the above issues.

PhD funding non-completion and repayment

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

Probably not. I left a PhD and was only asked to repay a few days worth of stipend, as I was paid in advance and didn't quite finish one of the payment periods.

Copying and pasting from PhD for Journal Article

HazyJane 1964 posts
10 years ago

You need to check the regulations of the university. And also those of the journal. As well as self-plagiarism there is the issue of copyright. Once you submit to certain journals you would be handing over the copyright to them. That being the case you might then have to ask their permission to use those overlapping extracts in your thesis if you hadn't published that yet.

In short, you're best off just rewording.