Researcher Careers and Recession

10 July 2009

By Web Admin

By Fiona Christie, Careers co-ordinator for Postgraduate researchers, Univeristy of Salford

We are living in extraordinary times and there is no doubt that the job market is grim. However, it is also true that the job market is different depending on where you are approaching it from, e.g., it is much worse for the carmaker from Wolverhampton than it is for the software engineer from London. The recently published What do Researchers Do? confirms the view that those of you at the very highly qualified end of the job market have been consistently in a relatively strong position in the job market, but there isn't any room for complacency as recent figures from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) demonstrate. Vacancies have plummeted by 24.9% in the latest recruitment round approaching levels not seen since the last recession in 1991 and far exceeding the modest dip of 5.4% predicted by the same recruiters in February.

http://www.agr.org.uk/Content/Cold-Comfort-for-Class-of-09 

Some of you may despair at the situation but I do think there are strategies you can use to help yourself in a very competitive job market.

Know your sector

Do your homework whether you are looking for work inside or outside academia. How has the sector you are interested in been affected by the recession? Construction, finance, manufacturing and retail have all been hardest hit. However, within this there is variation, e.g., careers in the insurance industry seem more recession-proof than those in investment banking. Job opportunities in the public sector seem to have remained fairly constant; so looking for research or related roles in this sector could be a wise move. One example is the Government Operational Research Service

http://www.operational-research.gov.uk/recruitment

Find out about the future of research funding

Postdoctoral opportunities funded by the Research Councils are affected by public funding. There are concerns amongst the research community about what funding will be available in the future. The next spending review is anticipated to be after the next general election; and there does seem to be consensus that whoever wins the next general election may reduce the funding available to the Research Councils to dish out.

Other funding providers e.g. The Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK have already planned to cut funding. It could well be that funding for research will be euphemistically "strategically consolidated" so that the number and range of projects that are funded will be reduced. So if you are not in a clearly income-generating or cutting edge field you will have to work harder to be able to continue your research.

Explore the hidden job market: In a recession many jobs go underground so creative job search is key. Many organisations are cutting their recruitment advertising budgets. So don't just rely on the jobs that are being advertised. Use and build upon your network to find out about potential job opportunities. This can be real networking and virtual networking. Increasingly employers from all sectors will search for candidates online. So make sure any virtual identity you have is positive. Linked In (http://www.linkedin.com) seems to be the favoured social networking tool for businesses right now but there are others. I have heard some employers say that if they can't find someone online they are suspicious. There is an assumption that if you have been in academia you should come up on a Google search even just because you presented at a conference! 

In addition make use of the relevant trade press and newspapers to find out about what's new in your sector or the region you want to work in. This is a good way to find out about small and medium-sized organisations that you could approach pro-actively for work.

Use your Careers Service

Underpinning all my advice to researchers looking for a job in the recession is that you have to anticipate that more people are applying for any job you are also applying for. So you need to make sure any application you make for a job is excellent and that you prepare well for job interviews. Your University careers Service can help you with this. Flicking through the responses from our research staff to our recent CROS survey at Salford (www.cros.ac.uk); I was struck that many of them said they wanted "career management" training but talking to a careers adviser about their career was low on their priority list. This does beg the question who do they think offers Career management training!  I don't think it's just at my University that research staff can overlook the help that is freely available on their doorstep at the Careers Service.  

A recent AGCAS publication written by a team of careers staff nationally is "University Researchers and Job market". It includes advice on planning your career as well as sources of vacancies, writing a CV and preparing for Interviews

http://www.agcas.org.uk/agcas_resources/115-University-Researchers-and-the-Job-Market

Know yourself

If you're concerned that you may struggle to find work in the recession it could also be time to do a really honest audit of your skills. Are there any gaps that could fill that could make you more employable? This could be around IT skills or even language skills. I am conscious that mother tongue English speakers who don't have another language could be at a disadvantage in a global job market. And remember you don't have to be fluent in a language for it to be a valuable addition to your skill set.

Fiona Christie is careers co-ordinator for postgraduate researchers at the University of Salford. She can be contacted via www.careers.salford.ac.uk/student/phd/blog 

By Fiona Christie 

Vitae would like to thank the author(s) for contributing this article. Vitae would like to remind readers that the information and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Vitae or CRAC: The career development organisation.

This article has been published as part of Vitae's Researcher careers and recession online activity in July 2009.  To view other articles on this theme please visit www.vitae.ac.uk/careersandrecession