21. "How Do You Plan A Research Career?"
- Bianca Blanch
- Jul 24, 2020
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 27, 2020
Careers are difficult to plan. In research, your career is largely in the hands of funders who assess you, your research contribution and your potential, then decide if they want to invest in you. To make it easy for them, you need to show you have been on one path your entire career. This week I give you advice on how you might plan that career.
My Experience of Planning My Research Career
As a researcher, you need keep learning new skills, but also be able to explain your research career as a linear story.
I have said many times, my career has been a happy accident. I took opportunities as they arose, and rarely planned ahead. But around the time of starting my PhD I decided to get serious about research and plan my career.
The reason for this change was because I knew crime research was the career for me. My crime research manager advised me that I needed a PhD, do that PhD in something other than crime research, but make sure it has a crime research element. This was because there were few crime research jobs in Australia, doing my PhD in another topic would gave me more options as a post-doc. But, if I still wanted to pursue crime research, I had the skillset they required. I took his advice and did my PhD in prescription opioid misuse.
Around this time, I found the PERFECT casual research job. I would be interviewing people serving time in prison about what happened to their children when they were arrested by the police. For a year, I drove all around NSW collecting data from any person who agreed to be interviewed.
The reason why this was the perfect job for me personally, was because I had always been fascinated by people's minds, particularly those people who have committed a serious crime. In my early 20s, my career aspiration was to be a psychiatrist. Specifically, a prison psychiatrist, who would assess people to determine if they were sane or insane. So I was excited about the opportunity to conduct research in prisons.
The reason why this was the perfect job for me professionally, was it clearly demonstrated my crime research experience across two settings, government and prison. I felt certain this unique combination of experiences would give me an edge for any crime research job I went for as a post-doc.
This plan would may have succeeded if I had pursued a career in crime research career. Instead during my PhD I fell in love with (health) data and its potential to help others.
The Lessons to Plan Your Research Career
What do you want to do?
To survive in research, you need to find what you are passionate about. Being a researcher is tough, job security is low, and so is the pay (generally).
So, do you really want to be a researcher? If so, why? What do you like about research?
These three questions have been my guiding principles throughout my career. I have never had a 5-year career plan, instead I work hard and pursue opportunities that are interesting to me at the time. I then just follow my gut. Sometimes these opportunities work out, sometimes they don't. Both types of experiences are equally valuable in shaping my future career direction and giving me valuable life lessons.
What skills do you need for that career?
If you have a career you want to pursue, do you know what skills/qualifications you need to get you there? If not, read, 'How Do I Talk To An Expert' for my tips on how to find an expert in the field so you know all the details of that job, including any degrees, specialised skills, and other pertinent information about your dream job.
How can you get hands on experience?
Can you find a job that overlaps with your current dream job? Or any aspect of that job? This will not only give you hands on experience, and allow you to develop contacts in the field but most importantly you will see if you actually like doing this job.
In my example of panning my career, it was clear that I wanted to work in crime research, and potentially in prisons, so I found a job that gave me that experience. It turns out, I didn't like this type of research, so I am grateful I found this out before pursuing it as a career.
Who do you know?
Do you know anyone who knows someone in the field? Can you pull any strings to speak to someone doing your dream job? Pursue all of your contacts. The more information you have the more prepared you will be for the job, and to prepare yourself to be a good candidate for the job.
What skills do you already have?
In 'The Academic Playbook', I describe the core skills every researcher needs to master to have a long and fruitful career. You have skills that are transferable to this job, write them down so you know what they are and you can sell yourself to the employer during the interview.
What does this job add to your CV/skillset?
To secure funding you always have to show you are growing, either through new collaborations, new topic areas, new techniques, novel application of your research to a new field etc.
How does your dream job compare with your career path so far?
Is it a natural progression or have you taken a right turn? Either way, in funding applications you need to explain (and convince) another person that your research career has been one seamless journey, always progressing towards this change. Also, highlight why your unique combination of skills, makes you the best person to answer this really important research question.
(If you don't have the answer yet, think about it some more, you will find a common thread to tie it all together.)
Play the long game
Chances are, your dream job is about 10-15 years in your future. Make decisions that maximise your chances of getting there for the long-term. Take every opportunity, learn each aspect of the job so when you finally arrive, you will kill it!
Re-evaluate your career goals
It is great to have a plan, but make sure you check in with yourself and make sure your dream job is still the same. As you gain experience, and work in different workplaces you may find another job you didn't know existed or want to pursue another path. As I said above, you should pursue any opportunity that is interesting to you. Then, you will know when you end up in your career that it is the right one for you as you explored other options, and you still chose this one.
Have you planned your career? Or has your career turned out completely unexpectedly? What advice would you give your younger self knowing this is how your career turned out? Let me know your experience by leaving a comment below or emailing me at AuthenticResearchExperiences@gmail.com
Photo by Dave Phillips on Unsplash
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