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Careers, Employability and Enterprise Centre

Finding a Job with your PhD

In terms of the graduate recruitment cycle there is no separate process for PhD students. A lot of major companies do recruit on an on-going basis but it is important that you are aware of early closing dates, particularly during the Michaelmas term of your final year of research study. Please refer to the 'Employment opportunities' section, for general advice and information on job search, but also utilise our dedicated vacancy service.

Employment opportunities specific to your research

If you are considering a position directly related to your specialism it is vital to employ the contacts that you have made through your department and the conferences that you have attended. Vacancies are often advertised in specialist journals, magazines and professional associations. For example the New Scientist contains potential PhD appropriate vacancies across the breadth of scientific disciplines. The Social Research Association is a useful portal for those wishing to apply their specific background to social research posts. A further source of employment opportunities is via both generic and specific recruitment and employment sites. PhD Jobs is a good example of a general job search site that is dedicated to postgraduate students; the career articles on the Prospects website contain links to recruitment organisations that are much more specific to different occupational areas.

Post-Doctoral Opportunities

In addition to the aforementioned information there are some very good websites advertising academic posts. Links to these can be found on the right hand side of this web page. It is also important to consider the vacancy pages of individual university websites and those of the Research Councils. To view the Durham University vacancy pages, please visit www.dur.ac.uk/jobs and select the appropriate link.

You might also find the Interview tips from Jobs.ac.uk useful as they include various useful resources, including how to succeed at academic interviews.

Additional information