Research versus non-research careers

Research training is challenging and thorough. It offers an ideal background for research or academic careers in the following sectors:

• higher education
• further education
• public and private research institutes
• commercial research companies
• health service
• central and local government departments
• trade associations and think-tanks. 

Organisations employing researchers frequently ask for methodological expertise and subject knowledge, though they may be flexible if they feel you have other valuable skills or suitable personal attributes. 

Academic settings generally give you the most autonomy to develop your research interests, whereas commercial research organisations require you to concentrate on their business priorities. Two-way mobility between public and private research sectors is becoming increasingly common. 

Non-research careers

Researchers decide to embark on non-research careers for various reasons. It may be because you would like to work in a role where, for example, you:

• engage with a new group of individuals – clients, or a classroom of children
• can expand your skills portfolio – business awareness
• obtain results from your work at a faster pace than is possible in most research projects. 

When choosing a non-research role, it is important to assess your skills and interests carefully. Think about how close you want to be to your research discipline – for some non-research positions subject knowledge is critical, whereas others depend on using transferable skills or may require re-training. Some researchers make a transition to a non-research role in a two-step pattern. For example, your first non-research role may not be your ideal role, but it offers you a chance to develop skills and gain experience that will be key in securing the type of position you are ultimately aiming for.  

Applications for non-research roles require the most effort: careful explanation of your skills and interests is necessary to attract employers' attention.

Generate ideas

 Some ways to generate ideas about non-research roles:

• look at vacancies in the press, university careers service, websites of professional bodies and other organisations
• get in touch with alumni of your research group, department or former student colleagues
• talk to your supervisor or manager, colleagues, friends, neighbours about destinations of researchers they know
• attend a careers event with external speakers or take the initiative and organise your own. 

In the majority of cases, researchers who moved to non-research roles say that their research training and transferable skills have been hugely beneficial to them. 

‘As a trainee solicitor I was asked to research some very specific information for a client in a very short space of time before we were to leave for a court hearing. The other side's lawyers had faxed over new information just before the court hearing that may have altered our case and the solicitor in charge of the case believed that it would be impossible to research the information in time. By ten minutes before leaving for court I had reviewed the new information, researched the web pages referred to in the fax, such that the solicitor in charge of the case could properly advise the client before the court hearing.  It made me aware of how adept I was at researching and how useful this is for my work in law.’

Rachel, genetics researcher now working as a solicitor