Please note that this course is no longer active.

It has been replaced with a series of online courses that feature online career development, videos on academic CVs and the PhD Careers Programme one hour sessions. This is provided solely by the Careers and Employability Service. To access these courses, please select the link below:

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/careers/phd-students/index.aspx

This face to face course is run by the Researcher Academy 

The Researcher Academy courses are very popular and the majority are run in both semesters to give you the opportunity to attend at a time of the year that suits you. Semester 1 courses will be available for booking from the second week of October and Semester 2 courses from the second week of February. 

Target audience: Late stage postgraduate research students including writing up and thesis pending. Penultimate and final year PhDs

The ability to prepare and present well targeted and effective job applications is an essential skill in today’s competitive job markets. Recruitment consultants and employers look for targeted applications where the candidate has analysed the job information and connected their experiences, skills and behaviours to the details supplied. It is important to develop and adapt your job application skills and to be able to use a variety of ways of presenting yourself to a prospective employer. This course will help you to recognise the breadth and variety of experiences and skills you have to offer. It will also enable you to develop a flexible and adaptable approach to making job applications as having only one type of CV, cover letter or application form style will be restrictive and may affect your chances of success.

Pre-requisites:

You are advised to attend this course BEFORE attending

Recruitment Interviews and Selection Exercises – Developing Confidence, Techniques and Strategies

Process: This course is a participative workshop delivered over one half day

Description: 

The course will focus initially on identifying the range of behaviours, skills and experiences that PhD researchers may potentially be able to present to employers as well as discussing what employers may expect from PhDs. We will then consider and review different CV styles and formats, methods of completing application forms and preparing effective cover letters and supporting statements. Examples of good and bad practice will be available for you to review and analyse. Additionally there will also be an opportunity to understand how to use social media and professional networks as part of your job application approaches.

Related Courses:   

Applying for Academic Jobs – Understanding the academic job market and developing early career strategies

Recruitment Interviews & Selection Exercises: Developing Confidence & Strategies

Aims/ Objectives:

This course will help you develop a flexible and adaptable approach to the job application process allowing you to analyse the job requirements and target your experience and skills effectively at this stage of a recruitment process.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Recognise the skills and experience PhDs need to present to employers outside academia
• Analyse how to present these effectively in a variety of written application formats
• Evaluate example documents to build knowledge of different types and styles
• Appreciate the impact of online profiles and utilise this to review and refine your profile
• Critique your current application approaches and plan how to develop these in the future

Booking Conditions 

Privacy Statement 

The Researcher Academy is committed to protecting the privacy of researchers who register for our training courses and events. Your completion of the booking process shall constitute your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal data to University staff and external partners responsible for the delivery of the course or event for which you have registered.  Personal information shared includes; name, role/position, mode of study, School/Department, dietary and accessibility requirements. 

Latecomer policy 

Researchers should plan to arrive prior to the advertised course start time. Except for exceptional reasons, there will be no admittance to a researcher academy or Faculty Training Programme (FTP) course 15 minutes after the advertised course start time. 

Importance of booking commitment 

When booking on to a Researcher Academy short course you are entering into a commitment to attend. If you find that you are no longer available to attend you MUST cancel your place (on the system if more than three days before the course) or if at short notice by emailing ra-training@nottingham.ac.uk. This will ensure that your place can be offered to another researcher on the waiting list. Failure to cancel a place results in other researchers missing out on places through the waiting list process. 

It is unacceptable for researchers to just not attend when booked onto a course. The Researcher Academy maintains records of those who repeatedly do not attend courses they have booked. This may affect future eligibility to book onto further Researcher Academy courses and will affect considerations for Researcher Academy funded opportunities.