Hi all, a friend of mine has recently successfully passed his viva, being awarded his PhD with minor corrections. Our question is, can you begin to use the title "Dr" immediately or do you have to wait until minor corrections have been completed and submitted? My friend is applying for jobs and of course it will look much better if he can say "Dr" not "Mr". Thanks for your help.

I waited until after my corrections were submitted and accepted. Until that point you don't really have the PhD.

I have spoken to people who applied for jobs at this stage and who used 'Mr/Ms', only for the prospective employer to address them as Dr anyway! I don't think it will harm your friend's chances to go with 'Mr', as anyone who knows about PhDs will just assume it's a given anyway.

I thought that the PhD (and so the Dr) wasn't officially conferred until graduation? But as stated, anyone in the academe world will know the score. So I think go with Mr/Ms whatever.

I don't see the problem. If you apply for jobs you add a CV and a cover letter so the recruiting person knows that you are in the process of getting your PhD. I don't think you get extra points for referring to yourself as Dr. XY ;)

Officially, you are not a Dr. yet and could still fail (of course that is rather unlikely with minor corrections), so I guess it is not legit.