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As a current or recent postgraduate student, you will have developed a range of specialised skills and expertise that will make you attractive to a range of employers. Here we outline some advice and key resources for developing your career as a researcher or in other areas with postgraduate qualifications, whether in higher education or a range of other sectors and career pathways. 

As you are thinking about your next steps after postgraduate study, much of our wider careers advice still applies. The sector is also increasingly recognising the need for and importance of specific tailored careers guidance for postgraduate researchers (PGRs) (particularly those undertaking doctorates), and it is worth taking a look at your own HEI's provision for PGRs in addition to the resources shared here. 

Increasing numbers of PGRs will go on to careers beyond academia, and there are many potential career pathways to explore, none of which should be seen as a 'Plan B' from a traditional academic career. PGRs are well-positioned to succeed in a variety of careers, and possess a range of high-level skills in demand by employers. 

How you can stand out

Postgraduate study, particularly for research degrees, is at, or informed by, the forefront of an academic or professional discipline. Successful students show originality in the application of knowledge, and they understand how the boundaries of knowledge are advanced through research.

They are able to deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, and they show originality in tackling and solving problems. They have the qualities needed for employment in circumstances requiring sound judgement, personal responsibility and initiative in complex and unpredictable professional environments.

Postgraduate degrees are also characterised by an increased intensity, complexity and density of study. Such degrees typically include planned intellectual progression that often includes a synoptic/research or scholarly activity.

Over the course of your studies, you will have developed:

• A deep degree of detailed knowledge and key specialisms.
• Specific, deeply developed skills (especially methods) in high demand across a huge range of sectors
• A broader range of the 'soft' skills that accompany subject knowledge:
  • Communication and persuasion skills, including the ability to present your work to a range of audiences, and to produce written work of publishable quality.
  • Time management strategies, including being able to independently motivate yourself.
  • Independent working and intellectual confidence.
  • Innovation and problem-solving, including the ability to critically evaluate and reason in a balanced way, and to synthesise and analyse a range of sources and/or large amounts of data.
  • Awareness of organisational contexts (aka 'commercial awareness).
  • Contributing to a team.

It's important to note that with postgraduate qualifications, you are just as eligible for many graduate recruitment schemes. Employers frequently don’t distinguish between undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications, or may specifically look for a specialist masters or research degree when recruiting.

With the knowledge and skills you have developed, you may find that you are better equipped to move into your preferred career pathway more quickly.

Frameworks and resources

As you start to think about your next steps beyond your postgraduate studies, there are a number of useful frameworks and approaches you can use to structure your job search and to think carefully about where you want to go next.

A good place to start is with . This can help you map out your skills and knowledge, identify particular strengths along with gaps you'd like to address, and monitor your progress. This kind of skills audit can be invaluable in working out areas to focus your planned professional development. Vitae has also put together resources on potential career pathways, mapping out , and making use of to illustrate these.

The also provides tailored guidance for postgraduates considering careers in academia, industry, self-employment or research. Designed around the Career Management Cycle, the guidance can be read as standalone sections, or worked through in it's entirety as a course; covering themes including self-reflection, finding opportunities and effective applications.

Case studies and career profiles are an extremely helpful tool in deciding which direction you want to go in. You can use these to see what a given career actually involves and whether you think it might be right for you, as well as looking at what skills, experience and qualifications have got the person in question to where they want to be. You can see some career profiles for geographers with research degree qualifications, as part of our wider series of geography career profiles. Other banks of profiles include .

This may also involve some soul searching. Another useful approach can be to start by considering your reactions to the , or similar examples:

• I want to progress into an academic career.
• I want the expert/subject knowledge developed in my PhD be part of my job.
• I want to be a researcher but not in an academic environment.
• I want a portfolio career where I can combine creative practice with other work.
• I want to use the transferable skills gained from my PhD in an unrelated area.

Resources and support for PGRs

• The University of Manchester has put together which can help you think through potential options and put a plan in place.
• Similarly, the University of Nottingham has thinking about their next steps.
• Likewise, the has specific guidance.
• The British Academy report features case studies of post-doctoral careers, including geographers.
• FindaPhD also has resources about .
• is a blog about careers for researchers beyond academia.
• You can use to sign up for alerts about jobs across the HEI sector - it's not just for academic roles. is also a good resource.
• Emma Williams has written for Times Higher Education on for industry job applications.