We had our third session of the Research Ireland ADVANCE CRT PhD: Career Readiness Series this week, focusing on CV and Cover Letter Success. We explored both industry and academic applications and delved into areas that can often be challenging for researchers – such as deciding what level of role to apply for and the use of AI in application documents.

We had our third session of the Research Ireland ADVANCE CRT PhD: Career Readiness Series this week, focusing on CV and Cover Letter Success. We explored both industry and academic applications and delved into areas that can often be challenging for researchers – such as deciding what level of role to apply for and the use of AI in application documents.
We agreed that minimal use of AI is a strong strategy for researchers, as it allows them to showcase their excellent writing skills and stand out in a competitive market.
A huge thanks to Luis Gómez de Membrillera and James Duggan at ADVANCE CRT for all your support with this excellent programme and to the PhD researchers for investing your valuable time and energy in it.

Yesterday saw our ADVANCE CRT Researchers attend the third session of our Beyond the PhD: Career Readiness Series with career development coach Lorraine Shine. 💫

📧 This session was centred around developing an effective CV and cover letter for the position you are applying for. These are normally your first impression on a company so they cannot be taken lightly!

Lorraine went through the differences between and academic CV vs one for industry, how to build a narrative that matches what the employer is looking for in the limited space of a CV and how to tailor your CV for the position you are interested in.

🖥️ As AI becomes more and more utilized by not only employers, but applicants for positions, it is becoming more and more important to stand out from the crowd and Lorraine has shown our researchers just how to do that moving forward.

This session is part of our Beyond the PhD: Career Readiness Series—a targeted online training programme supporting PhD researchers as they approach the final stages of their journey. The goal is simple: to help them think strategically about their next steps and make informed career decisions that truly recognise the value of the skills, experience, and effort invested during a PhD 🎓

🤝 Next month we will be looking at how to impress at the interview stage.

Previous post Last Friday saw our PhD researchers continue on their training with career development coach, Lorraine Shine. This training aims to prepare our researchers for the next stages of their careers as they come to the end of their PhDs. This week’s session centred on Personal Branding, Networking, and LinkedIn (so be prepared to see a lot more from ADVANCE Researchers on here!) Next post I really enjoyed facilitating this workshop at Trinity Business School for the Research Ireland Centre for Research Training in Digitally-Enhanced Reality (d-real) PhD researchers – such an engaged and thoughtful group.