Naturejobs have been working in partnership with Vitae to understand what staff researchers do if they were to leave academia. It’s been interesting to see how the survey has been answered, and many people have shared their stories on Twitter with the hashtag #postacstory.
This week, Vitae are hosting their annual International Researcher Development Conference in Manchester and Naturejobs and Vitae will be releasing the first round of results. Here’s what we can tell you so far:
Those who answered the survey are most likely to have left their role as researchers in higher education (HE) for:
- more job security
- they don’t want to be employed on fixed term contracts
- a better work/life balance
- actively wanting a career outside higher education research
The challenges of making this transition included:
- dealing with their own and others’ perceptions of their move
- letting go of their research
- not knowing what was required in their new role
The things that were most helpful during the move were:
- their personal support networks
- knowing that their research and general competencies were transferable
- Several mentioned the value of getting more experience of other environments, work shadowing, etc, before making the move
Many respondents also gave some advice:
- Find out what was most important for you
- take yourself out of your comfort zone
- stay in touch with colleagues
- expect it to take time to find and settle into a new niche
The survey is still open, so if you previously worked as a researcher in higher education and have now left and you want to share your story, please follow this link.
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