PhD...Plenty of Huge Decisions

You've reached the summit, surpassed your own expectations, the final hurdle has been cleared...and now what. It’s almost an anticlimax (and a huge relief) to be finished your PhD. Thesis is done & dusted, the ordeal that is your viva wasn’t as hellish as you’d imagined it would be, and the graduation ceremony was quite pleasant (apart from the silly hat). So, where to next? The obvious choice is to Post Doc. Yet in the current economic climate, where once there may have been 15 post doctoral positions, there are now perhaps 3. And as budding researchers, is bench work really our only option?

I finished my PhD about 6 months ago and since then I’ve been having quite a professional identity crisis. I love the lab, however, more frequently I’m finding myself frustrated with the limitations of my work. When experiments go right, there’s no better feeling. Chances are though; you’ll spend months on optimisation & heart breaking preliminary work, which can sometimes lead to no real results at all. Another drawback of the Post Doc route is the lack of stability or permanency; 2 or 3 year contracts don’t make the bank manager happy, nor do they put your mind at ease in terms of job security and making solid future plans. So I asked myself 2 questions; what do I really want to do for the rest of my life, and what are my options?

Surprisingly, there are many avenues that one can travel down after you’ve received your PhD. The most exciting and interesting to me were in the areas of management consultancy, science journalism, and even patent law. I confess that I did buy a book on this topic: Alternative Careers in Science by Cynthia Robbins-Roth. It has many helpful tips and over 20 different categories of jobs that are available to new PhD graduates. While I’m not ready to delve into industry just yet, nor to sever all of my academic ties, I’m tempted to use the skills I’ve acquired that don’t necessarily translate on the bench; communication, investigation & management.

Most of all, like everyone, I want job satisfaction, a career that's challenging, while also rewarding & provides stability. This may indeed be via the academic career track, but it's reassuring to know there are plenty of other options out there; in case I decide to hang up the pipette once & for all.

Rachel xxx