There are three main things that will determine your academic progression after your degree. The first is your number (and quality) of publications, the second is your number of connections, and the third is the number of skills you have developed.
A lot of people forget the last one, but often it is the most important. If you don’t have the skills listed as essential in the job criteria, then your publications are largely irrelevant.
To this end, it is worth looking at a few jobs you might like to apply for early in your degree, and seeing what skills you would need to procure them. There are usually a set of complementary skills that appear together in job criteria, which you can procure during your degree through collaborations and courses etc.
Get Practical Tips- You will not be able to acquire every skill for every research job. Attempting to do everything will just leave you not very good at anything. However, there will be a core set of skills that apply to most jobs in your area of research, and it is a good idea to make sure you can do most of these.
- Attend student seminars and learn what techniques others are doing.
- Look for courses in techniques and ask your supervisor if you can attend.
- Before your interview, spend extra time researching skills you are less practiced at.
Read Personal Perspective
My PhD was quite strange because the techniques I learnt were not overly related to each other. When I applied for jobs, I often found that I had some of the required skills but not all. If you don’t want this to happen to you then make sure you possess a good set of complementary skills.
