3rd annual PhD and Postgraduate Career conference
Video transcript
Speaker 1, Jo Healey:
What I think the main skill is to be able to manage your supervisor – if you have these skills, you will be able to work in a team and with managers quite well, and most beneficial skills you will ever gain. It’s not the work you do that will make a difference; it’s the skills acquired, such as working independently, showing initiative, for the PhD students.
Speaker 2, Joel Graham:
One of the things we look to is the students’ entrepreneurial skills, and if PhD students have a standard set of skills, we would look for what else they can bring to the organisations and help the business to be more creative, innovative and how they can help us to compete out there in the workplace, and also how can they stand out, and what added value can they bring to the organisation.
Speaker 3, Peter Forbes:
We did research recently with 25 MNCs, which included companies that recruit PhDs from science and technology, engineering and what came out of the research, which included looking at graduates from Brazil, China and India and also Europe. The overriding principle criteria was empathy to see work in different cultures, and trans-national cultures and also being able to work and collaborate with them, speaking and listening skills, and also the drive and resilience in the sheer numbers of motivated graduates coming out countries like India etc.
Speaker 4, Nick Wright:
We also certainly value flexibility and being very flexible with our customers, and also should be able to travel widely, and communicate both verbally and written in different cultures clearly. One of the skills of PhD is learning to write in-depth and accurately, and also clearly of high standard.
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