I am changing to Part time from September in order to gain some more independence and control of my PhD.

I was wondering how are other candidates finding either the search for full time or part time employment.

Do you find employers are less keen to employ you when they see you are undertaking research even on a part time basis?

Do you leave your current studies off applications or from your CV?

Thanks for your feedback.

:-)

If you've completed your PhD, unfortunately the likes of Ethos and even simply Googling your name will mean there's an electronic trace of your work so concealing is not the option it was.

If you're a current candidate, then you might want to Google to see if any papers or other work you've done shows up. Even if it doesn't, you may have a gap to account for in your CV. If you do wish to conceal exactly what you are doing and not mention the PhD, I would suggest say advertising this as a Research Assistant role and only if you feel you can get your employment referees to agree to the version of your CV you use.

When I realised how easily information about people showed up on an Internet search especially those pursuing post-grad research, concealing is something I became more reluctant to advise. I'd instead concentrate on forwarding and emphasising your key skills depending on the job and perhaps placing education lower down your CV rather than trying to conceal anything. You may be seen as dishonest if you do, even though there are people offering advice on job hunting who still may suggest concealment.

I started a thread on this recently you may want to look at:

http://www.postgraduateforum.com/threadViewer.aspx?TID=22470

How do you think going part time will give you more control? If you're still in the funded stage, I'd personally rather get it out the way. If you're working whilst continuing part-time, you may find yourself with alot less time to work on your PhD.


Regards,


Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

Dear Ian,

Thanks for your reply.

To clarify, I am referring to general employment rather than anything related to the industry or area with which research is associated. For example, sales assistants, customer service, administration positions.

Going part time in my case will give me much more control as it releases me from unpaid teaching commitments - which are so variable in terms of hours/dates per semester that they inhibit any further 'employment'. Equally, departmental changes and uncertainty is creating a negative atmosphere that is deeply troubling to F/T candidates, including myself. By going part time, opportunities to accept opportunities at conferences etc, have time to work on articles for publication can also be accepted, that would otherwise have to be passed over at Full Time.

I'm sure individual circumstances and departments impact differently on candidates, as will the area of research. I'm a humanities candidate halfway through my PhD at Full Time and the 'pot' for the bursary I had has run dry.