6 years ago I graduated after doing an agricultural science phd. By the time I finished the degree I was a disallusioned little soul so I got a job in humanities and that was the end of that.
I was disallusioned because I had no career guidance before or after my phd, my phd was industrially sponsored so I could not publish whilst doing the phd or present posters etc at conferences because of confidentiality. In addition, because I was very busy in obtaining results for industrialists I did not gain any teaching/lecturing experience - it was not offered to me either because the supervisor always passed the opportunity to other phd students. Being very shy and quiet at the time I did not push harder either.
To add icing on to my cake, I had a very bad personal year (nothing to do with my studies) which meant I had to stop writing a thesis for 1 year.
Now after 6 years, I have got ontop of things - I wish to pursue an academic career in research, publish and get involved in teaching. With no publishing, recorded teaching, or further research experience how would I have any possiblity of gaining a post doc position knowing that there is a lot of competition too out there?
If it was me I would look at getting a research assistant post, preferably one advertised to newly-qualified PhD students. You would be qualified based on your research skills developed in your PhD, but wouldn't need additional skills like teaching/lecturing skills. Then once you have that post look to develop your teaching/lecturing skills where possible, if you want to move into that field.
PostgraduateForum Is a trading name of FindAUniversity Ltd
FindAUniversity Ltd, 77 Sidney St, Sheffield, S1 4RG, UK. Tel +44 (0) 114 268 4940 Fax: +44 (0) 114 268 5766
An active and supportive community.
Support and advice from your peers.
Your postgraduate questions answered.
Use your experience to help others.
Enter your email address below to get started with your forum account
Enter your username below to login to your account
An email has been sent to your email account along with instructions on how to reset your password. If you do not recieve your email, or have any futher problems accessing your account, then please contact our customer support.
or continue as guest
To ensure all features on our website work properly, your computer, tablet or mobile needs to accept cookies. Our cookies don’t store your personal information, but provide us with anonymous information about use of the website and help us recognise you so we can offer you services more relevant to you. For more information please read our privacy policy
Agree Agree