Your career
“Most of us spend more time planning our annual holiday than our career.”
Innes Henry.
Finding the perfect career for you is unlikely to happen by just sitting back and waiting for it to come to you. You need to take control of your own career: not only will no-one else do it for you … would you really want them to?
It is really important to take time out to think about what you want and to plan how you are going to get there. These pages should help you to make a start, providing links to various sources of information and help which you might find useful during the process.
The University of Bristol's popular Research Staff mentoring circles are back this academic year. The circles are cross-disciplinary, offering an opportunity for networking with researchers from outside your own discipline and to gain valuable outside perspectives on your career. The circles aim to provide a forum in which research staff can talk about their careers, share their experiences and discuss challenges they are facing with both a supportive peer group, as well as a more experienced academic. Inductions begin in November 2012, with sessions starting early 2013. For more details or to apply, please visit the RS Mentoring webpage.
Below are a couple of career-focused websites which you may want to visit:
- Vitae the national organisation championing the personal, professional and career development of researchers.
- The University of Bristol Career Coaches have helped many research staff over the last eight years. Visit the Career Coaching web pages to book an appointment or to browse the information on there.
You may also like to look at the University's jobs website.
As a member of research staff, broadly you career options fall into three categories:
Whatever career you are interested in, these are three key areas which you need to think about: