An important part of doing a PhD is gaining skills that prepare doctoral students for a professional future inside or outside academia. The PhD students themselves are responsible for their ongoing professional development through their years of doctoral study. However, their institution, supervisors, and other advisers also play a significant role in getting students ‘career ready’. Receiving support for their professional development is particularly important for international PhD students, who often face more and other challenges than domestic students.

‘We're in a system where … lots of really smart people are going to get faculty jobs and lots of really smart people aren't.’ 

(Gary McDowell, Future of Research, cited in Science)

In this topic, we explore how supervisors and advisers can support international PhD students as they prepare for an academic role or as they pursue a career outside academia. 

We explore four areas: 

• The particular challenges facing international PhD students around professional development
• Transferable skills, their importance, and their place in PhD programmes
• Supporting international PhD students as they develop transferable skills 
• Networking – a focus area for international students.

This topic showcases good practice at individual higher education institutions (HEIs) in New Zealand and overseas. It also provides resources and ideas for further exploration. Throughout, this module considers the New Zealand International Education Strategy 2022-2030 and the 2021 Education Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners Code of Practice.

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International PhD students demonstrate many valuable, career-relevant skills and attitudes as they come to New Zealand and become part of a PhD programme. Starting a new life in a foreign country to pursue a PhD shows organisational skills, resilience, perseverance, and self-management. 

At the same time, international PhD students can face greater challenges than domestic students when it comes to getting ‘career ready’ for an academic or professional role in New Zealand or overseas. Why? Let’s take a look at Dima’s story below.

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Case study: ‘I sometimes feel like a child’ 

As you read Dima’s story, please contemplate the following:

• What were Dima’s expectations before coming to New Zealand?
• How does Dima’s status as a new arrival impact his self-confidence and employment choices?

Kia ora, I am Dima from Kazakhstan. I recently started my PhD in engineering. I feel insecure about my English and about living in New Zealand. 

Everything is so different. I have to ask so many questions, but I don’t like to. It’s embarrassing. I feel like a child a lot of the time. Help me, help me. Help me find an apartment. Help me find the right shops. Help me use the library. It can be frustrating. 

In Kazakhstan I was somebody, a respected engineer. Here, I am nobody. I have friends and a lot of family at home. Here, my wife and I often feel alone. 

I have to work to support my wife and baby daughter. Before we came, we thought: ‘The scholarship, that’s a lot of money. Yes, sure, the cost of living is higher in New Zealand. But that scholarship is a fortune here in Kazakhstan! How bad can it be?’ Well, now we know better. 

I thought I could get a technical part-time job that will look good on my CV, but now I am a cleaner. I study at the university during the day, and at night I clean it. I need the job and I don’t have time to look for anything better. In Kazakhstan I had friends from my uni days who could get me a part-time or contract job at their company. Here in New Zealand, I don’t know anybody.

In the list below, you will find eight reasons why international PhD students can face greater challenges in their professional development (please click on each title to learn more). Some are reflected in Dima’s experiences.

Eight reasons why ‘career readiness’ is a challenge for international PhD students

International PhD students need support to get ‘career ready’ in New Zealand, as every culture is different, often in subtle ways.

Becoming ‘career ready’ and getting a foot in the ‘professional door’ is challenging for everyone. However, international PhD students can face greater challenges than domestic students.

‘[International early career researchers’] socialisation is not just to a new profession, but also to a new country. Those responsible for inducting, managing and supporting early career academics need to be mindful of how much newcomers to the country might or might not know about New Zealand’s cultures and education systems (both school and tertiary level). Allowing some time to transition smoothly from one country to another (especially if moving with a family and needing to find a home, schools, and/or daycare for the children, and so on) is important. Furthermore, some support for raising awareness and knowledge of Māori culture and language may be appropriate for new academics from overseas.’

(Sutherland, 2018, p. 45-46)

It is essential for international PhD students to be supported as they develop – explicitly and continuously – skills, knowledge, and ways of behaving in academic and professional contexts. In other words, they need guidance in developing relevant transferable skills.

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Expert knowledge in a specific subject area is not enough to land a job as an academic or in the private sector. PhD students and graduates need to demonstrate a range of competencies beyond their subject matter expertise that make them a good employee and a good fit for an institution or organisation. 

‘The permanent job prospects in New Zealand for the large numbers of doctorates, and particularly those in natural and physical sciences, health and medical sciences, and society and culture (social sciences and humanities) are relatively poor, and their employment precarious unless they are prepared to undertake roles not historically seen as a progression from a PhD in their discipline.’

(Royal Society Te Apārangi, 2020)

Upon graduation, PhD students need a range of skills that they can apply with flexibility and adaptability in different professional roles and fields. In other words: they need – and need to evidence – transferable skills.

3.1 What are transferable skills?

The online learning platform Coursera offers the following explanation for transferable skills and their relevance:

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‘Transferable skills, or portable skills, are all the skills that you take with you from one job to another. The ability to clearly communicate ideas to others, solve unexpected problems, or work well in a team are all examples of transferable skills.

While technical skills allow you to accomplish specific technical tasks, such as coding with Python or creating wireframes for UX design, transferable skills are the skills that ensure you do your job well. As a result, transferable skills are highly prized by employers: after all, a programmer with the ability to work in a team is likely more valuable than a programmer who doesn’t code well with others.’ 
(Coursera, 2023)

The 2015 Student and Graduate Employability Skills Survey (Victoria University of Wellington) showed that employers in New Zealand are looking for the following top ten transferable skills in potential employees:

Top ten employability skills in New Zealand (2015)

1. Work ethic
2. Verbal communication skills
3. Energy and enthusiasm
4. Analytical and critical thinking 
5. Problem solving
6. Team work
7. Interpersonal skills
8. Written communication skills
9. Self-management
10. Initiative and enterprise

3.2 International PhD students need explicit, systematic professional development

Given the pressures on international PhD students, getting ‘career ready’ might quietly fall by the wayside for most of the doctoral journey. After all, most of the time, the end of the PhD seems unimaginable. 

Many international PhD students, thus, need a nudge and guidance to develop transferable skills continuously and systematically during their studies. They need to learn how to:

• Identify skills they already have and skills they lack
• Prioritise skills relevant to their goals and values
• Develop essential skills over time
• Document their skills development
• Communicate, evidence, and demonstrate their skills to potential employers or funders.

‍‘It was shown … that few PhD graduates will find permanent employment in academia. There is thus a probable mis-match for many of the graduating cohort between their leaving skills and what their likely employers seek. That is not to say that their highly developed analytical skills will not eventually be valued by and provide excellent value to employers – it is just that there is a perceived barrier for their gaining employment outside academia through the need for them to adapt to the employer environment, and accept their future lies away from academia.’ 

(Royal Society Te Apārangi, 2020)

To show your international PhD students the urgency of the issue, you could share any of the following resources with them:

• Andrew Stapleton: After the PhD what next? (YouTube video)
• Nature (Chris Woolston, 2017): Graduate survey – A love-hurt relationship (downloadable pdf article)
• The Conversation: ‘PhD students should prepare for careers beyond becoming professors’ (online article)
• Royal Society Te Apārangi (2020): ‘The research workforce of Aotearoa New Zealand’ (downloadable briefing paper)
• Te Ara Paerangi Future Pathways Green Paper submission: The grim realities of a doctoral student in Aotearoa (downloadable pdf article)
• The University of Auckland: ‘The elephant in the room: Precarious work in New Zealand’s universities’.

3.3 How do NZ institutions support their students’ skills development?

Aotearoa New Zealand doesn’t have a national strategy around doctoral skills development. Institutions offering PhD studies choose different tools and strategies to conduct a training needs analysis and to assist PhD students in their career preparation. How does your institution support the systematic skills development of their PhD students?‍

Reflection task: The procedures at your institution

What strategy and tools does your institution use to conduct a learning or training needs analysis (LNA, TNA) and assist PhD students in their academic and professional skills development? How are you being trained in the use of frameworks, guidelines, tools, and practices? Do you feel confident in applying them? Do supervisory meetings with your students involve a professional development plan (PDP)? What would you like to know, learn, or have access to to support your students’ professional development? Take notes in the textbox below.

Some institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand use – or model their procedures after – the Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF), developed in the UK and recognised internationally in Europe, Canada, and Australia. For an introduction to the Vitae RDF, see the YouTube video: Introduction to the Vitae Researcher Development Framework RDF.

The RDF comprises four skill domains with sub-categories and descriptors. Emerging scholars can identify strengths and weaknesses in their skill sets and make a plan to develop priority skills in stages over time. To see an overview of the domains, categories, and example descriptors, click on the heading below.

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You can also access the framework in pdf-format at: Vitae researcher development framework (RDF) 2011. 

Other institutions in New Zealand have developed their own framework, for example the University of Auckland. Have a look at the case study below to see how the University of Auckland guides PhD students in their systematic development towards being a skilled, independent researcher.

As a supervisor or adviser, you play a key role in helping your international students get ‘career ready’. This doesn’t mean that you should add a large amount of work to your busy schedule. It means that you encourage your students from the start to keep track of their skills training, reflection, and documentation – in line with their career goals, values, and interests. 

Discussing students’ professional development plan should be part of supervisory/advisory meetings

It also means that some elements of tailored performance development planning (PDP) should be included in meetings with PhD students, for example setting development goals, outlining strategies to reach those goals, and measuring progress. For some good questions to start a career discussion with a student in the early phase of the PhD, see: ThinkWell – For research supervisors (scroll down to ‘Career planning discussion’).

Career preparation must start with the start of the PhD journey. It cannot be limited to a few months after submission and to a few workshops on topics around the practicalities of the job search, such as CV writing.

‘Doctorates are no longer the exceptional qualifications they once were. In today’s competitive job market, in addition to demonstrating autonomous learning in relation to a specific research project, holders of a doctoral qualification must convince future employers that they have become proficient researchers with broad skills which are transferable to other occupational situation.’

(Denicolo & Reeves, 2014, p. 13)

Tips on how to design an individual development plan can be found here:

• Indeed career guide: How to write a professional development plan in 5 steps
• Indeed career guide: Guide on how to write SMART goals

For a comprehensive print resource that might or might not be available at your institution or in the local public library, see: 

• Denicolo, P. & Reeves, J. (2014). Developing transferable skills: Enhancing your research and employment potential. SAGE.

4.1 Tools for planning and documentation

Different tools for researchers (in training) are available to plan and document their individual skills development over time. These tools will also be helpful to communicate skills when applying for a job or for funding.

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‍4.2 Exploring values

Some development frameworks and tools leave values and interests unexplored. However, values will shape the career goals of PhD students and will affect the students’ decision making regarding which skills they should prioritise over others in their individual development plan. Hofstede insights allows a supervisor to consider differences in cultural values that international PhD students will be negotiating. These values influence individual convictions and instincts and how they map onto a new cultural context.

‘[People] must ask themselves questions about why they work, what they want to get from the work situation, and how the worker role will fit with their other life roles to help them experience meaning and mattering. By understanding one’s personal work-values system, the individual builds the fundamentals on which to develop answers to these questions about work. Thus, career advising helps students learn about themselves, academic and occupational options, and decision-making skills so they can implement satisfying and rewarding academic and career plans, and therefore, academic advisors must address work values with students.'

‍(Carlstrom & Hughey, 2014)

Some people value predictability and stability in their work, while others seek variety and creativity. Some prioritise the earning potential, while others accept a lower pay and seek out work that allows them to better society and help others. 

Work-related values also change over time. For example, job security might become more important when children come into the picture. While values are important for everyone, students with strong cultural and spiritual beliefs might emphasise values in their career planning. 

You can support your students by discussing values in some of your meetings. The University of Connecticut suggests a list of questions to get students thinking:

Questions to explore work-related values

• What is important to you?
• How do you define success?
• When have you been most inspired or most motivated?
• Who or what has influenced your ideas about your career options?
• How do you want to be remembered?
• Who or what do you look up to?
• If you were guaranteed success, what would your life look like?
  

(UCONN, A value-based approach to career planning)

As you have seen in Section 4.1, some apps provide options to assess one’s values and interests. Other tools might leave values and interests unexplored. Alternative resources to get students thinking include:

• Forbes: ‘Why your work values are essential to career satisfaction’
• Indeed: ‘Career values – how to identify yours and cultivate success as a professional’.

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4.3 Compiling evidence

It is helpful to advise international PhD students that they should always document their skills development and compile tangible evidence in some form of portfolio. A portfolio can comprise a wide range of evidence including:

• Digital copies of certificates
• Artefacts and examples of professional and academic work (for example a video recording of an online or asynchronous lesson, published articles, presentation slides, conference proceedings, reviewer feedback)
• Written or spoken (recorded) assessment of and reflection on professional learning
• Photos of one’s involvement in projects, hobbies, and volunteer work
• A lesson plan with reflection on its success and plans for future changes
• Student evaluations
• Recommendation letters
• Links to further evidence like YouTube videos or website content.

Evidence is vital for job seekers to show potential employers how they have demonstrated their skills.

Evidence is vital for job seekers. It provides opportunities to show potential employers and funders how applicants have demonstrated desired skills in different situations. Denicolo and Reeves (2014) stress the importance of evidencing transferable skills:

‘Completing one research project does not, in itself, prove you can manage any other; you need to convince a future employer of your transferable skills. For instance, you could provide examples that demonstrate both your understanding of project management models and tools and that your capabilities exist at a certain level. 

You need to provide evidence of how you applied that skill in your work. The strength and credibility of your evidence really counts when employers are choosing between candidates. It is good practice to use different examples to illustrate different attributes and experiences, rather than relying solely on your first main project.

Do not be afraid to cite voluntary work, sports activities, a seminar you organised for your peers or the small grant you applied for. They all count.

At a deeper level, it is advantageous to provide explicit examples of when  you used the skills or applied new knowledge in settings other than the obvious research obese since this will signify the transfer of learning from one setting to another.’

(Abbreviated excerpt from: Denicolo & Reeves, 2014)

Students can store evidence and reflections on their computer or in the cloud. Digital career planners might or might not provide space to store evidence. Alternative digital spaces to document how students acquired and applied skills in their work, study, hobbies, and in other roles include:

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The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) offers ideas on what to include in an academic portfolio: Developing an academic portfolio. Examples include:

Scholarship: 

• Copies of contributions of a scholarly kind made to computer based research discussion groups or listserves
• Copies of publications which cite your research.

Contributions to the community: 

• Copies of publicity or other materials from events that you have organised with a reflection on your contribution
• A description of your participation in working groups with a reflection on your main contributions
• Letters of thanks for your work from professional bodies or community groups.

4.4 Filling the skill gaps

New Zealand PhD programmes do not require coursework like, for example, PhD programmes in the USA. However, they usually provide a range of postgraduate workshops through their learning support services and postgraduate research team. 

Direct your PhD students to the schedule of upcoming workshops and check in occasionally on what they have participated in. If time permits, ask them for a reflection on what they have learnt and how they have been applying it in their PhD research, tutoring, or other roles.

What else does your institution have on offer? Are there short courses or services available that fit your students’ needs? Take a look at the case study below, outlining a coaching service at the University of Otago.

Case study: Personal coaching for graduate research students at the University of Otago

The Whare Wānanga o Otāgo offers a confidential coaching service for graduate research students: Graduate wellbeing coach. The web page lists some common reasons students present to the service: ‘lost motivation, procrastination, and feeling overwhelmed, managing the supervisory relationship, navigating university processes, to debrief, to manage life stressors affecting study, to make plans or schedules, to set goals, or to develop a good routine.’

If you are a supervisor, you can also take the following steps to improve the career readiness of your international students (see, for example, Sutherland & Coballis, 2006):

• Encourage your students to do brief internships in the private sector, and facilitate this by introducing them to your industry contacts and by supporting students’ application for suspension of their PhD studies
• Encourage your students to publish during their PhD studies
• Co-author with your students (but beware of appropriating students’ intellectual property)
• Establish a ‘thesis group’ for students and by students, where students meet to discuss ideas, trial presentations and research tools, debate theory, invite guest speakers, and generally support each other
• Encourage collaboration across disciplines 
• Ask students to present in a seminar series in your department
• Offer your students opportunities to tutor or work as a research assistant
• Invite your students to give guest lectures in your courses.

‘When I graduated with a PhD, my supervisor told me that I would be employable in academia in a few years if I continued publishing extensively. All that work, and still I wasn’t employable! And how am I supposed to publish and do additional research without funding or access to resources?’

(Recent international PhD graduate in the humanities)

Could you and your faculty find creative ways of addressing students’ learning needs? The School of Education at Te Herenga Waka, for example, helps international PhD students with gaps in their knowledge of qualitative research methods:

Case study: Catching up on qualitative research methodology at Te Herenga Waka

Staff in the Faculty of Education at Victoria University of Wellington noticed that some international PhD students were well-versed in quantitative research methods but were sometimes not familiar with qualitative research methods. 

The school introduced the option for these students to fully enrol in an MA course on research methodology without having to pay course fees. 

The course runs every trimester. Enrolled PhD students fully participate in all aspects of the course and receive a grade at the end. They learn about a range of research methods, research ethics, applying for ethics approval – and as an additional bonus they socialise in a class context. 

Here are some additional ideas for free and paid training options in New Zealand and online (please click on each title to learn more):

Free and paid courses in New Zealand and online

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To help students gain a better understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Tiriti principles in the workplace, you can point them to the following resources:

• Radio New Zealand’s The Aotearoa History Show is available on YouTube and includes an episode on Te Tiriti: Episode 4 – Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
• Venture Taranaki explains what the Treaty is and highlights some questions that an applicant might be asked during a job interview: The Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand (PDF)

• The Tertiary Education Commission summarises how Te Tiriti should shape workplaces in New Zealand on ‘careers.govt.nz’: Te Tiriti o Waitangi in work.

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Contacts within the academic and professional community are key to future professional success. Research (for example Heffernan, 2020) indicates that building professional networks early in the career can bring direct and indirect advantages including:

• Getting employment and career advancement through network support, recommendation, and invitation
• Having more opportunities to publish and co-publish and being invited more often to present at conferences
• Discovering professional and research opportunities
• Staying up to date with the latest research advances
• Staying motivated  
• Having personal and social support.

‘Central to much of academic networking research is the suggestion that networks can play a direct role in career success through employment, publication, and conference opportunities. However, networks can also have less-direct impact such as by positioning the researcher closer to burgeoning research trends which allows them to work with the most recent data.’

(Heffernan, 2020, p. 11)

Contacts with both peers and senior academics – and professionals – must be cultivated from the start of the PhD journey. However, as we learnt above, from the start international PhD students might have fewer or no professional and personal networks in New Zealand. They might also not be aware of how important personal connections are in a small country like New Zealand. 

Contacts students make at events, in study groups, and in associations can bring career benefits.

Depending on their cultural background, international PhD students might find it more challenging than domestic students to build networks, and they might require support in getting connected both with peers and senior academics and professionals. Let’s consider the following case study:

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Case study: ‘My supervisor didn’t introduce me!’ 

As you read Jenny’s story, please contemplate the following:

• How does Jenny interpret the situation?
• How might Jenny’s supervisor see the situation?
• What does Jenny’s supervisor need to understand about Jenny’s culture? What could the supervisor do to support Jenny’s networking? 

My name is Jenny. I am a PhD student from China. I am really sad and disappointed. I recently attended a conference overseas, together with my supervisor David and another international PhD student from Canada, Holly. 

A very eminent scholar in my field of study was a keynote speaker at the conference, and I was so excited to meet her, as I am relying a lot on her theories. But I never got to talk to her! I waited for my supervisor David to introduce me, but he completely ignored me. 

However, Holly had a whole meeting set up with that scholar! 

I am devastated! David only introduced Holly but forgot about me. Or maybe he didn’t think I was worth the trouble? I feel like quitting the whole PhD, because I don’t seem to be good enough and worth an introduction. Holly must be so much better than me. 

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Tips to help students build professional networks

Encourage your international PhD students to:

• Meet with peer groups in discussion groups, the postgraduate association or at postgraduate conferences
• Meet senior academics, for example by joining working groups, volunteering at events, and attending or presenting in seminar series
• Engage in cultural learning around networking strategies and reflect together in supervisory/advisory meetings on challenges for your students and for you yourself
• Join relevant local and international associations in the field and attend their events
• Contact academics from other fields and departments 
• Volunteer for professional associations
• Get involved in academic social media, for example by being active on ‘academic Twitter’
• Make use of on-campus services, associations, and clubs.

‘Participant #40 was employed in their third university appointment and suggested that they had received employment offers due to the academic network they had formed in graduate school.’

(Heffernan, 2020)

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In this topic, we discussed some of the reasons why international PhD students face greater challenges when it comes to getting ‘career ready’. We explored transferable skills, their importance and place in PhD programmes in Aotearoa New Zealand. We shared ideas around how you as a supervisor or adviser can support your international PhD students in their professional development. In particular, we shared tools that students can use to design their individual development plan for the entire time of their PhD studies. We highlighted the importance of work-based values, of compiling evidence, and of reflection on one’s learning and application of skills. We discussed some ideas of how you can help students fill their skill gaps. And we highlighted one focus area that can be challenging particularly for international PhD students: networking. 

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Carlstrom, A. H. & Hughey, K. F. (2014). Exploring work values: Helping students articulate their good (work) life. NACADA Journal, 34(2), 5-15. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1064098.pdf 

Cordwell, A., Wilkinson, N., Abraham, E., & Berkenbusch, K. (2022, November 8). New Zealand’s research workforce: Unpublished report prepared for the Ministry for Business, Innovation & Employment. https://files.dragonfly.co.nz/publications/pdf/cordwell_research_2022.pdf 

Coursera (2023, March 11). Transferable skills: How to use them to land your next job. https://www.coursera.org/articles/transferable-skills 

Denicolo, P. & Reeves, J. (2014). Developing transferable skills: Enhancing your research and employment potential. SAGE.

Heffernan, T. (2020): Academic networks and career trajectory: ‘There’s no career in academia without networks’. Higher Education Research & Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1799948. Retrieved 3 April 2023 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343473744_Academic_networks_and_career_trajectory_'There's_no_career_in_academia_without_networks' 

Patel, S., Yee, G., & Baisden, W. T. (2022). The grim realities of a doctoral student in Aotearoa [Te Ara Paerangi Future Pathways Green Paper]. Retrieved 31 March 2023 from https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/21135-patel-yee-baisden-te-ara-paerangi-future-pathways-green-paper-submission-pdf 

Royal Society Te Apārangi (2020). The research workforce of Aotearoa New Zealand [Briefing paper]. https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/assets/Research-Workforce-of-Aotearoa-NZ-briefing-paper-and-outcomes-Feb-2021.pdf  

Simpson, A. B., Jolliffe Simpson, A. D., Soar, M., Oldfield, L. D., Roy, R., & Salter, L. A. (2022). The elephant in the room: Precarious work in New Zealand’s universities [Research report]. The University of Auckland. Retrieved March 31, 2023 from https://auckland.figshare.com/articles/report/Elephant_In_The_Room_Precarious_Work_In_New_Zealand_Universities/19243626 

Soar, M., Stewart, L., Nissen, S., Naepi, S., & McAllister, T. (2022). Sweat equity: Student scholarships in Aotearoa New Zealand’s universities. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 57, 505-523. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40841-022-00244-5 

Sutherland, K. A. (2018). Early career academics in New Zealand: Challenges and prospects in comparative perspective. Springer International Publishing.

Sutherland, K. & Corballis, R. (2006). Reconceptualising the New Zealand PhD in English – fit for what and whose purpose? New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 41(1), 85-111.

Sutherland, K., Wilson, M., & Williams, P. (2013). Success in academia? The experiences of early career academics in New Zealand universities [Research report]. Ako Aotearoa National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence. https://ako.ac.nz/assets/Knowledge-centre/NPF-10-023-Success-in-Academia/RESEARCH-REPORT-Success-in-Academia-The-Experiences-of-Early-Career-Academics-in-New-Zealand-Universities.pdf