if you are looking for a job, and your mentor/supervisor knew about it , but they are not offering you any jobs, i never asked them before, but do you think if they wanted they will offer you one without asking them? would you still ask them for a job?

am so confused your views will be much appreciated.:$

======= Date Modified 19 Dec 2009 11:11:51 =======
please don't spare my feelings, and don't be afraid of what you think, just give your honest views, that is all i want from you.:p

======= Date Modified 19 Dec 2009 11:30:10 =======
I doubt anyone can answer this question for you, for this depends so very much on the rapport between you and your supervisor. You use the word 'mentor', and unless this is an 'offically ascribed' term, I am taking it you are using it to express that this person truly is your mentor i.e. has nourished your interests, shaped your career and so forth. In this case, an honest conversation on your plans and asking if they might know of opportunities is Ok i think. On the other hand if it is a rapport that doesnt have that space, you may still wish to let them know of your intentions and honestly, opprtunities come by betwen sups and students pretty regularly (edit to add that this is if the sup is nice and not a monster).

It may also be that they truly have no job to offfer you right now and also expect yo to explore other options.


I have never asked my sup for jobs, however I realise I am now working on my 4th project for/with her. Are others under her getting opportunities you arent getting? do you have peers who are getting PT or FT things that are bypassing you? i.e. identify what you can expect out of this person, and then you will figure an answer out.

hello phdbug,
thank you very much for your nice words.

I like my supervisor a lot, and their project too, i realy like working with them, i feel it is the right thing for me, in fact I am obsessed about the project, it is so interesting to me. I will give it a go and see what happens.

Hi! I guess it depends on your relationship with your supervisor. Personally I would try to have some sort of frank discussion with him/her and let them know that you will be looking for a job and would love to stay on and work with them if it would be possible. The other thing is, even if they don't have jobs going, jobs in research can be created by developing a project and applying for funding for it- so if there is something in particular you would like to do then I would get talking to them and see if they would be happy to try and help you sort something out. To be honest, I'm only in the 2nd year of my PhD and I have already made it quite clear to my supervisor that I would like to stay on and do a post-doc with the team, and she is very keen for me to stay, so a bit later this year we will be thinking about proposals and grant applications etc. I don't think there's any harm in being completely honest about what you want in this case! Good luck! KB

Unless it's a very part-time job e.g. research assistant or hourly paid teaching, your supervisor can't legally offer you a job without it being advertised and you applying successfully, or you being written in on a successful grant application as a named researcher. So if you want to stay in that group then yes, you do have to speak to them, for the second possibility to be considered. But be aware, given the amount of people being made redundant right now in universities, and the increased competition for a decreasing pool of research funding, that even with the best will in the world your supervisor might not be able to help you. So if he/she can't, don't take it personally. Just look on it as another possibility in your job search rather than one that your sense of personal worth is invested in.

Hi again- yes, I should have said- as Bewildered mentioned, even if you apply for funding for a specific project with your supervisors then it would have to be 'formally' advertised for a limited period and other people would probably be interviewed for the position. However, where the project is created and funding applied for with a certain person in mind, whilst it still has to be formally advertised, it is unlikely to be offered to an external candidate over the person the job was effectively created for- although of course, in theory it could be. I have seen this many times over in my department- there is an internal candidate who the supervisors want to take on, they get funding for it, yet they still need to advertise even though they have no intention of giving the post to anyone else. The internal candidate may not even have a 'formal' interview like the external candidates do. It is very unfortunate really in a way- the external candidates have no clue whether there is an internal candidate going for the job, and often the interviews are just a waste of time- an exercise in box-ticking so that they can say the job was formally advertised and procedures adhered to etc. Not good, but it happens a lot. Not to say that sometimes an external candidate won't beat an internal candidate to a post, but not often if the post was created with the internal candidate in mind. From what I have seen anyway...it can all be a bit underhand. KB

Hello All,
Thanks for the advices, I really did not about all these regulations here, it is my first time to look for a job in UK :$. I feel I'm more informed now. Any advice is much appreciated. (turkey) (snowman)