LSE Careers blog - Opportunities

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In this blog, LSE PhD graduate Jas Ellis reflects on his own transition from academia and shares advice for imminent and recent PhD graduates finding their next steps. Jas recommends PhDs carefully evaluate the skills they’ve developed against what employers want and look for opportunities where that match is closest. In particular, PhD graduates shouldn’t overlook blue-chip graduate programmes, which offer a robust foundation for a long-term career through their breadth and expectations of progression.

LSE alums don’t need to be told about demand and supply. In this blog I’ll be focussing on a specific product: you. In navigating the job market, it pays to consider – with a cool head – what modern employers are looking for and how your skills and expertise stack up against that.

Understanding Your Skills

What is a PhD, really? Well, the degree itself represents two things:

First, the thesis is a contribution to frontier research, which for most of us is small.

Secondly, and for many more importantly, the degree is the recognition that you have the skills necessary to operate on that research frontier.

For an academic career, both are relevant. Outside academia… let’s just say it’s less than ‘both.’

It’s helpful to consider those research skills in three buckets:

• At the narrowest, you have thesis-specific skills, in my case the economics of family size decisions. This is where you’re a world expert (for now…)

• Zooming out, you’ll also have acquired a strong competence in field skills (eg, applied microeconomics). You’ll have a broad understanding of your discipline and experience with a wide range of its methods.

• Finally, you’ll likely have some excellent general skills, built through the process of doing research. This would include analytical reasoning and information synthesis, but likely also drafting, presentation, and possibly project management.

To foreshadow my conclusion somewhat, the mistake I see time and again among PhDs navigating the early career job market is to focus on their thesis-specific skills, when it is the broader two categories that represent their true comparative advantage.

Turning To Employers

The graduate job market is extremely competitive, and Generative AI has made it even more so.

I’ll start with the bad news: your thesis is irrelevant to non-academic employment. While engineers and bioscientists sometimes find their work marketable, that is unusual in the social sciences. Ignoring academia, the number of jobs where thesis-specific expertise is helpful is tiny, for any thesis. Moreover, even for those jobs, other candidates from the same field will make for stiff competition.

The good news is that there are many employers who value field skills. Central banks, for instance, employ many PhDs in both research and policy roles.

The best news is that the general skills a research degree gives you are highly valued by employers of many sorts.

That said, employers also want juniors to show attributes such as teamwork, stakeholder management, and manageability. These are not commonly given strong emphasis in PhD programmes. And even among employers who need field or strong analytical skills, master’s and experienced bachelor’s candidates who can demonstrate a wider range of abilities will usually be preferable to those with PhDs who can’t.

Actions And Consequences

In any marketing, negotiation, or stakeholder management situation, the best tactic is to think from the other perspective. So, start with what employers want. (And make sure to check what you want against that reality.)

• For finishing PhD students: As I write, it’s a pretty tough market. The best offence, in this case, is defence: get a job that either offers a clear use of your analytical skills, or one that rounds out your team and stakeholder skills. Both is good. If the role offers progression – even better. Fortunately, there’s a clear source for these opportunities: any grad programme. Your pitch will be carried by your excellent analytical skills; heavily emphasise the soft skills they presume you’ll lack, and in most cases play the field skills only as a bonus.

• For midway PhD students: Start planning now, with the emphasis on the delta between the experience you’ve banked and what your favoured employers want. With time to run before you’re marketing yourself, this is the time to get things on your CV that demonstrate how collaborative and adaptable you are. Similarly, you will not be replaced by AI – you are its master, as your next thesis chapter is about to show. When are the first deadlines for internships? (Hint: sooner than you thought.)

• For prospective PhD students: Going in, you have even more road. This is the time to consider what you really want out of your career. Part of that is evaluating what a PhD will and won’t give you. ‘Plan beats no plan,’ said Timothy Geithner. The plan will evolve, sure. But even a general direction gives you something to base your investment decisions on.

A lot of new PhDs focus on their dream job, often one which is closely connected to their thesis. Outside academia those jobs exist, sometimes, but are always hard to get.

On the other hand, many experienced PhDs can attest to the incredibly rewarding careers their doctorates opened up for them. It’s smarter to build towards a dream career than get hung up on a single job. Grounded expectations are essential.

In such a competitive recruitment environment, blue-chip graduate programmes stand out. There’s a lot to be said about a well-run programme of rotations, being shown the ropes for an effective and well-established institution or business, taught the necessary skills – often with qualifications paid for, a robust process for feedback and, usually, progression planned in. (You’ll also be able to take your think-tanking classmates for dinner…)

Might it feel like a step down? Yes. But the skills you have already acquired stack the deck in your favour when it comes to getting that job and succeeding at it. Your wider strategic skills will distinguish you down the line. And success there is a strong currency in both government and NGOs.

Looking back, I see my PhD less as a qualification, and more a foundation. It was really in combination with my first job – a typical undergrad analyst role – that it all came together. It’s hard to imagine my career path without starting from my PhD. But it certainly wasn’t the only investment I made.

If you’d like help considering what this means for you, LSE PhD students and recent PhD alumni can book a confidential careers discussion with Catherine, LSE’s PhD-specialist careers consultant.

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