No need to apologise for the bluntness. I want realistic replies.

The thing is, in terms of suiting my lifestyle (money-wise this will be fairly decent, I actually like conducting research, it would give me stability for at least the next three years, location wise it's perfect) this is perfect. I take on board your points about the impact of this in the future. I probably agree with you. But all I really want to know here is whether my proposal would be considered.

It's quite a while since I posted here, but I thought I'd drop in again with a query for you all :)

I graduated with a PhD in Politics from the University of Liverpool in December 2011. My thesis focused on Irish Republican ideology. It had become abundantly clear well before graduation that getting into academia - particularly coming from a Politics background - was going to be very difficult indeed. For the past year or so I've done temporary administrative work and a little bit of freelance stuff on the side. But this has neither paid particularly well, nor been all that stimulating.

And now I've discovered that there are fully-funded PhD studentships on offer at a different university. Fees paid up front, £16,000 tax-free annual allowance. Throw in all the other discounts/exemptions you get as a student, that starts to look a very attractive prospect!

But would applying for a second PhD like this be a total waste of time? Would an institution be willing take on someone like me if my research proposal was good enough (I think it would be genuinely useful research, by the way - far more applicable to the 'real world' than my previous project).

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Ta muchly.

My first teaching experience was tutoring third-year Undergrads and Masters students. A wee bit daunting. Still, I did plenty of prep and was sure to spend time encouraging students to interact with each, rather than just drone on at them for an hour. Things went really well and I actually quite enjoyed it, getting good student reviews at the end of the module too.

Definitely worthwhile and if you prepare well, I'm sure you'll have fun. Best of luck ;-)

Thanks to you all, some really useful stuff there.

I am UK-based and I've had the PSAI mentioned to me before, so that's something I'll definitely look into shortly.

Frankly, hearing some of thse stories is a little dispiriting. Still, I'd rather have it straight than sugar-coated useless 'advice' such as "keep plugging away". I've already been alerted to some more teaching opportunities after Christmas and I'll try to press on with getting some stuff published if at all possible.

To be honest, I'm not precious about the idea of being an academic. Working as a researcher for a think tank, or in intelligence, or any number of other fields would still be something in which I'd be interested. I think previous applications might have been hindered by the fact I hadn't finished the PhD, so I'm hoping I might have more luck on that front now...

Hello to you all,

I was awarded a PhD (subject to undertaking minor corrections) last week. Obviously I was elated. But now comes the hard bit - finding a job. My thesis was on the Irish Republican movement and I'm looking for something in Political Science, or possibly Modern History or International Relations. However, there doesn't seem to be a great deal out there and I'm conscious of my lack of publications possibly counting against me. I did give a paper at a fairly high-profile conference which seemed to go down well, but I haven't had anything in academic journals at all.

Is this something I should concetrate on rectifying? Or is it not so important for very early-stage rsearchers? If I do need to get a publication record going, does anyone have advice on how to go about it?

I did teach seminars two years running, which is obviously good for the CV. I'm just not sure it's enough.

Any other general advice on what to do now I've finished would be great :-)

Cheers.