Hi everyone,

My friend who is further ahead in her PhD than me has recently been offered a RA role for just after she completes her PhD (I am clearly very jealous) but she is unsure whether to take it and I wondered if anyone here had any advice? The research is in part linked to her PhD but not as much as she hoped and it is only for 12 months when I think she was hoping for something more long term. She also is very keen to have children and sees this job as preventing that for another few years. What is the normal maternity laws on temporary contracts? I think she is worried she would be letting the project down if she left mid way through.

The position is paid for 12 months but then they are expected to write publications after that 12 months is up. Is that normal? I think she is worried she will be expected to keep working on the project long after her funding runs out!

I can't really help her as I am not even close to thinking about this kind of thing! Anyone have any advice I can pass on?

:)

Tell her to take the job. In this market, she'd be crazy not to. My partner and I have just graduated with our doctorates (both sociologists) and are not impressed with the number of potential jobs out there. Twelve months is short enough that she can stick it out if she has to. In terms of maternity leave she definitely won't receive it as you have to be F-T member of staff. I would expect that she might be doing odds and ends on the project after the official end date but not enough to ask for a contract extension. Long story short: your friend is VERY lucky to have any job prospects right now so please encourage her to get it whilst she can.

I'd have to say Sarkis is probably right. There are very few longterm academic contracts these days so if she wants to stay in academia she probably cannot afford to be choosy. Maternity leave would depend heavily on the funder and university rules but a look around a) the funders' website and b) the uni HR site would probably get some answers, but that said she's right to think the PI might be less than impressed given the length of the contract. I would add that when you are moving between short postdoc contracts, some publications will almost invariably be written post contract - if you do not want the publications as you don't intend to continue academically, then there's no obligation but many see if as useful obviously.

Hey! I've just finished my PhD and have been hunting around for jobs, and it's really tough out there. I have managed to get a post-doc position but it is only for one year, and I'm having to move about 150 miles for it. I'm hopeful (as are my new employers) that it will lead onto a longer-term contract, but there are no guarantees. I also applied for RA jobs and if I'd been offered one, I would have taken it. From what I can gather, a lot of post-phders are taking up RA posts at the moment, and many people with PhDs aren't even getting interviews for those positions. So, yes, I think she should take it! It is pretty normal to be writing papers up once you've moved on to a new position, but she wouldn't actually be under any obligation to do so I don't think. I'll probably be writing up more papers from my PhD after I've started my new position, but that's for my own academic record/CV rmore than anything. Best, KB

I think she should take it - the academic job market is rubbish, and opportunities are hard to come by. I've applied for quite a few RA jobs too, and if I had been offered one I would definitely have taken it :-)