Why bother with career perspectives?

Supervisors may feel that their core task is to coach and guide the PhD candidates in their academic research process. There is however more to doing a PhD than learning to conduct research. The PhD candidate’s career perspectives may influence their project, both when it comes to inspiration and research questions but also regarding their general motivation to finish the project on time.

Consider the following statement:

The PhD candidates’ career perspectives will influence the PhD project, whether the PhD supervisor is actively involved in shaping and enabling the candidates prospects or not. Therefore, it is in both the supervisors’ and the PhD candidates’ interest to include the topic of career perspective in the training and supervision.

• What are your thoughts about the previous statement?
• Do you discuss career plans and perspectives with your PhD candidates?
• If you have not discussed it yet, how do you plan to approach the topic of your PhD candidate’s career perspective?

Discuss this statement and your thoughts on the questions above with a colleague and share your thoughts on the platform.