What can you offer employers?
Clarity about what you have to offer a potential employer will assist you in presenting effectively and confidently at selection interview. You can offer skills, experiences, motivations as well as knowledge, personal qualities and intelligence.
Being visible
Considering your research and academic reputation, think about increasing associations between your name and:
- Publications in well recognised peer reviewed journals
- Books authored or edited
- Conferences - attended, presented at, organised
- Teaching - designing, delivering, evaluating degree level courses
- Presentations and workshops at your own and other institutions
- Grant applications
- Your professional network
- Other contributions to your academic field
Collecting your evidence
Career Builder has been developed by the University of Sheffield and is worth using in your career planning for collecting evidence of skills and experience. The complete Career Builder resource is large but worth considering and can be easily downloaded from http://gmpcrs.group.shef.ac.uk/rcb.html
Useful links:
Joint Skills Statement - a comprehensive list of transferable skills identified by Research Careers at UUK was developed in collaboration with all the research councils and is useful for systematically considering the range of your research experience. Evidence to demonstrate the experience you have had with these skills can be gathered and added to your portfolio.
In due course, the Researcher Development Framework will replace the Joint Skills Statement, but at the time of writing is still in its consultation stage.
University Researchers and the Job Market - a 100 page booklet offering comprehensive, realistic and practical advice on all aspects of the job hunting process and making career decisions, from recognizing your skills to articulating them to employers in written applications and at interviews.
A Contract Researchers Guide for Developing Employability Skills - a comprehensive, yet manageable guide based on the Career Builder resources by the University of Sheffield
