Job-hunting Strategies

for Postgraduates

Dr Darcey Gillie Careers Consultant for

Postgraduates

The Careers Service University of Manchester

Please check-in using: http://bit.ly/cseventcheckin4

What are we going to ?

• Why have a strategy?

• Tactics to identify your ideal job

• Goals and Action Plans,

• The ‘less visible’ market.

A Strategy?

Really? But…

…it’s hard work!

…having a Masters/PhD should be

enough.

…I want to keep my options open.

…isn’t having a CV all I need?

…I’m too busy.

…it’s too scary!

…I hate the word ‘strategy’.

Developing Your Strategy – Step by Step

Self assessment

Research Target List

Goals and Action Plans

Skills Interests

Experience Requirements

Who? Why?

Match?

Dream Alumni Hiring

Plan A Plan B Plan C

Tactic 1. Identifying the…

Tactic 1. Identifying the possible

• I am geographically mobile

• Work-life balance is important to me

• I can afford a lower salary to get my

ideal job

• I’m willing to take a less than ideal job

to get to my ideal job

Agree Disagree

Tactic 1. Identifying the possible

• I am willing to do more training or

retrain

• Willing to start entry level and work

my way up

• Work must fit around my lifestyle

• Willing to build a network to get job I

want

Agree Disagree

Tactic 2. Your ‘ideal’ job

What’s it’s purpose?

• Don’t worry about the title

• 90 seconds – what are three objectives of

your ideal job?

• Hints: “to <…> people”, “to understand

how/why <…>”, “to develop innovative

solutions to <…>”, “to write and publish

magazine articles”

Tactic 2. Your ‘ideal’ job

What activities in your ideal job? (out of 100%)

Managing/supervising

Teaching

Research

Pastoral care

Innovating

Selling

Collaborating

Planning

Administrating

Advising

Communicating

Generating income

Effecting change

Tactic 2. Your ‘ideal’ job

What type of organisation?

Third sector

Industrial

Commercial

Public sector

Educational

Service sector

What size?

Small: 1-49

Medium: 50-249

Large: over 250

Community based

Tactic 2. Your ‘ideal’ job

What motivates you?

Identify three key words that encapsulate what you want

from a job.

Example: autonomy, creativity, helping people

Tactic 2. Your ‘ideal’ job

What sort of environment energises you?

Finally: Tactic 2. Your ‘ideal’ job

Write your own job description.

Tactic 3. Focus

Lots of Applications =

False Sense of Security

• “I’m doing something!”

• “One of these has to lead to an interview!”

Applying and hoping for the best is not a strategy.

• Specific jobs with specific employers

• Demonstrate motivation

• Show how you can add value

• Establish commercial awareness

• Highlight key words

Focus is better

Commercial awareness quiz

Which of the following are not businesses?

• The University of Manchester • IBM • The Whitworth • RSPB • Elsevier Publishing • The Big Issue • GSK • Church of England

• The organisation’s mission and aims

• The sector

• Political/economic issues that affect organisation

• Competitors, partners

• Business priorities

• Market, clients, stakeholders

• Numeracy

Commercial awareness

Anyone in the audience done any

research lately? Hint:

Research roles and sectors

• What roles are you interested in?

• Who’s in the sector?

• Why do you want the job?

• Do you match what they need?:

Keys skills, education, experience

Approaches Online Jobs

Recruitment Firms

Direct

Social Media

Networking

The following slides are

resources you can use in your

own time to support your job

hunting.

International job search

Global • Passport Careers:

http://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/international/internationaljobs/

• Linkedin

Specific regions • Africa Manchester Graduate Network

• China Manchester Graduate Network

• India Manchester Graduate Network

• Pakistan Manchester Graduate Network

(don’t see/can’t find one for your region or country – create and run

your own!)

International job search

Europe • EURES – European jobs portal – can search using PhD as keyword

or by level of qualification:

https://ec.europa.eu/eures/public/homepage

• Euraxess: http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/

• www.jobs.ac.uk

USA • Job Openings for Economists (JOE) – www.aeaweb.org/joe/

• www.academickeys.com/

• www.higheredjobs.com

General job search

• www.jobs.ac.uk

• JISC mailing lists – reported by many PGRs and

researchers as useful source of opportunities

• #ecrchat http://ecrchat.wordpress.com/

• #phdchat

• www.postgraduateforum.com/thread-13087

• www.academia.edu

• www.linkedin.com

• @manpgcareers

• www.manunicareersblog.com – postgraduate pages

Sector specific

• www.environmentjob.com

• http://www.museumjobs.com/

• http://www.publicsectorcareers.org/

• Social researchers: http://the-sra.org.uk/jobs/job-vacancies/

• Third sector: http://www.charityjob.co.uk/

(you get the picture…)

Academic jobs

• www.jobs.ac.uk

• University websites, listserv

• http://www.findapostdoc.com/

• http://www.academickeys.com/ US + Middle East, Asia, Canada,

Australia

• http://www.postdocjobs.com/ US + rest of world

• http://www.academic360.com/ and Chronicle of Higher Ed

• Ireland: http://www.heanet.ie/

2 Hour Job Search Task

• List 10 dream employers

• List 10 employers that include alumni

• List 10 employers who are currently recruiting

(shows growth)

Then prioritise!

• List

• Alumni

• Motivation

• Posting

Prioritise –

L.A.M.P

Your dream employers, Alumni

employers, hiring employers & trending

employers

Have employers got alumni?

How motivated are you by this

company? Are they hiring you?

What is Networking?

So why bother getting together?

Get information

Give information

Be part of a community

Learn

Make friends

Collaborate

New opportunities

Advice

Be useful

New ideas

Fresh perspectives

Support

Identifying Contacts

• Recruitment events

• Alumni Office tools, events and platforms

• Your peers - where did the person next to you work?

• Faculty – who are they working with and in what area?

• LinkedIn is a particularly useful tool but you should use

it with caution – DON’T simply write to people with a

generic connect request, these are generally not well

received!

Feeling a bit tongue tied?

www.ed.ac.uk/files/imports/fileManager/sugg

estedquestions.pdf

Exploring your Network Map

Work

My Network

Family

Friends

Society Membership

Professional Bodies

University Online

Networks

Other

Tactics into strategy: 2 approaches

DOTS Planned happenstance

Making clear decisions Risk-taking: Take action, try things

Logical and systematic approach Optimism: Future can be unpredictable & uncertain

Identifying ideal job Curiosity: Unexpected events offer opportunity to explore, experiment & learn

Matching skills & interest to job Flexibility: adapt to changes in circumstances, keep an open mind

Refining & focusing choices Persistence: don’t give up

The processes:

Goals and Action plan

• Define your goals - S.M.A.R.T.

– Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant,

Time bound

• Develop your own personal job hunting strategy

• Plan A, Plan B, Plan C…

• Spend time and be methodical

• Record everything

Re-cap Developing Your Strategy – Step by Step

Self assessment

Research Target List

Goals and Action Plans

Skills Interests

Experience Requirements

Who Why

Match?

Dream Trending Alumni Hiring

Plan A Plan B Plan C

Think of one thing you could do…

• in the next week

• in the next month

• in the next year

…to do this*.

(*and then make sure you do it.)

Develop your job hunting strategy

One-to-one guidance appointments

Interview simulations and applications advice

Workshops, Events, Manchester Gold Mentoring and more…