Peer Learning Seminar: Kate Daubney on career skills and academia.

As part of our team Peer Learning Seminar series, we had the pleasure of hearing from Kate Daubney, in conversation with the ARRC Project’s careers consultant Kate Murray. Kate Daubney is a freelance employability specialist who works with universities and sector suppliers around the world. She has had a rich and fascinating career that encompasses both academic research and teaching as well as career development, editing and consulting. Indeed, her own career trajectory is an excellent example of the ways in which academics can translate their skills into a wide variety of careers. 

The conversation touched upon several key issues related to all three strands of our project. These include: 

• Issues around identifying and communicating the transferable skills one gains in academia. 

• Researchers’ identities, how they form and how they influence their own perceptions of their skills and employability. 

• The ways in which researchers make career decisions and approach opportunities.  

Identifying and Communicating Skills 

When considering how researchers can learn to identify, value and develop their skills, Kate described a Venn diagram, with three overlapping sets of skills. The first element is research skills (both qualitative and quantitative), the second is dissemination and communication skills, and finally what Kate refers to as ’innate subject-based transferable skills’. Kate’s recent research has focused on innate skills developed within individual academic disciplines, which can be valuable and transferable on the job market. She gave the example of History graduates being recruited in high numbers to become tax auditors. She argues that it is the transferable skills taught in the discipline that have made history graduates appealing candidates for these roles. Some of these include sourcing and evaluating evidence, developing perspective and constructing narratives, dealing with ambiguity and a forensic attention to detail. These skills are developed in the academic context and can be useful both within and beyond it. It is not difficult to see how identifying such competencies, which lie beyond researchers’ very narrow field of specialist expertise, could be useful for not only considering career options, but also when preparing a Narrative CV. 

Research Identity and Career Management  

Kate moved on to discussing the ways in which identities are formed during a PhD and how this experience can not only colour a researcher’s approach to their career, but can also limit their scope when considering career progression. In particular, the language around seeking employment outside of academia is often referred to as ‘going over to the dark side’ or ‘leaving academia’. In this context the researcher must let go of their identity as a researcher, and not let their journey (and all the hard work they put in to become an academic) get in the way of seeking alternative careers. This can be further hindered by university employers who don’t offer many opportunities for career progression, or clear guidance on career advancement, which leaves it to the individual to be opportunity facing – something that is difficult to do when they are so embedded and focused on their current employment in academia. This situation reflects some of what we have uncovered in the first part of our Strand 2 research, where early career researchers are eager for career development conversations and support from their managers, looking to them for guidance on their careers.  

When managing career progression, there is an issue that universities may not be doing enough to acknowledge that people hold multiple different career identities, even in the same role. For example, academics must often be researchers, educators and administrators, and the transferable skills gained from each of these identities must be taken into account when considering career options. In this context, when you go back to the Venn diagram of skills, you can see how researchers actually possess a vast array of transferable skills, many of which go unacknowledged or unidentified both by the researcher and university employers.  

In terms of strategy, Kate proposed that researchers should acknowledge that the Academy is a hierarchical system with a traditional patronage mindset, yet understand what they offer, both within and beyond academia.  The approach is therefore one where the individual takes responsibility for their own career progression.  

To do this, researchers need to be reflective about their career path. Kate’s model for employability is formed of four elements: the researcher’s knowledge and specialist skills, transferable skills, experience and academics. She stressed the importance of being opportunity-facing and considering the vast array of possibilities that are potentially open to researchers once they understand their employability. She likened this approach to being at the draft stage of a PhD when all avenues of enquiry were open, and you could decide which way to take your research before narrowing down the scope.  

Making Career Decisions 

This discussion around understanding employability and being opportunity-facing led on to one about how people make career decisions. This is a topic we are considering in Strand 3 of our project, so it was really helpful to hear Kate’s perspective on this. She outlined 5 main points: 

1. Know yourself. 

2. Recognise that you are bigger than your research. Ask – why is the research important to you? 

3. Don’t get trapped by the journey you have taken to get where you are.  

4. Recognise the influence of those around you, i.e. Your PhD supervisor or recent managers. 

5. Know the difference between career readiness and employability readiness. 

In relation to the 5th point, Kate defined career readiness as knowing what you want to do and employability readiness as knowing what you offer. These two distinct but intertwined terms are useful for decision making when it comes to careers. Once you understand what skills and attributes you possess, you can be empowered to embark on a new career or find opportunities to advance in the one you already have. While in a research context, the opportunities might be fewer and farther between, knowing what you offer, and being able to communicate could be advantageous.  

This talk was a wonderful opportunity for us as team, many of whom have come from academic backgrounds and are indeed still working as researchers, to reflect on the ways in which we evaluate and communicate skills. It also highlighted the many opportunities that academic research can open up to researchers, either in or beyond the academy. Thank you Kate! 

Author: Marie Collier.