Key results:

Profile of respondents

• 269 Doctoral Researchers from across the five Colleges took part in the survey
• 28.7% of respondents have a definite career plan, and nearly all of these, 27%, are planning a career in academia

Resources Doctoral Researchers indicated that they would find most helpful in planning their future career

• 53% of respondents indicated that they need contact with employers and alumni
• 52.4% wanted relevant job vacancy and labour market information
• 46% suggested that they needed work experience or internships
• 37.6% specified that they wanted one-to-one career advice
• 32% thought career planning workshops would be helpful
• 26.4% thought mentoring and coaching were important

Doctoral Researchers rating of skills they are developing during their research, related to skills sought by employers

• Approximately 65% of respondents indicated that they had developed high level skills in research and creative thinking (giving a rating of either 1 or 2 on an 8 point scale).
• Only 20% rated their career management skills equally highly.

Barriers to accessing services

• 67.6% of respondents indicated that lack of time was main reason for not accessing career development services

Additional services

• 92% responded to the question asking them to indicate additional services
• Of this 92% information about careers in academia was the most popular request
• Online information was also a popular request
• A number of respondents indicated the need to include services for mature researchers, i.e. those mid-career and post-experience

A more detailed summary of the ADEPT survey results is also available to download (PDF, 140KB, opens new window).

ADEPT Services planned for 2010-11

In response to the results of the survey, the ADEPT team has planned to offer the following services this academic year:

• Alumni and employer networking events, workshops, and presentations
• College specific workshops on a range of subjects including Career Planning and Careers in Academia

For further details please see the ADEPT Events and College Pages.