For PhD candidates
Why do a PhD?
Undertaking a PhD represents a significant investment in your future. It offers strong employment prospects while also fostering intellectual growth and personal achievement. The key advantages can be understood in terms of professional opportunities and personal development.
Professional opportunities
Since 1982, Ireland has tracked graduate outcomes through an annual survey, the results of which are published on the website of the Higher Education Authority. These show that the employment outcomes for graduate researchers are consistently the highest of any student type.
The most recent survey indicates 89.8% of postgraduate research graduates were employed nine months after graduation, with 59.2% entering professional occupations, and the remaining 20-30% progressing to postdoctoral research fellow positions in a range of disciplines.
The survey also reveals the sheer variety of employment opportunities open to postgraduate research graduates, which range from health and pharmaceuticals to national and European public service, and from finance and communications to charities and non-governmental organisations.
In short, holding a PhD qualification makes you very attractive to employers looking to fill higher-level, research-driven positions. With a PhD you will be qualified for more jobs, and will have more career options than you would with a bachelor's or master's degree. It is worth noting that the vast majority of PhD graduates pursue a career outside academia.
Personal accomplishment
Positioned at level 10 on the National Framework of Qualifications, a doctoral degree will only be awarded where the outcome of the research makes an original and substantial contribution to knowledge.
But the rewards go much further. You will also develop and hone your talents and abilities at a personal, intellectual and professional level:
- Personal: You will develop enhanced resilience and confidence, becoming more articulate, strategic, deliberative and non-reactive.
- Intellectual: You will be trained in critical appraisal, succinct communication, and the ability to write cogently and fluently (to order if necessary). You will learn to absorb, digest and synthesise a broad array of material, efficiently master complex briefs, and identify and focus on key issues.
- Professional: You will learn to effectively manage your time, workload and resources, work with and manage colleagues, improve your ability to take the long view, and achieve strategic focus and perspective.