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EXPLORE YOUR OPTIONS
Taking your studies to the next level If you’re serious about your future, then you’ll need to carefully consider how continuing your studies to master's or PhD level can help you achieve your ambitions.
Career essential or desirable
Time to develop
For some career areas, further study is a minimum requirement for entry into a profession, such as teaching and law. A PhD is now essential if you want to pursue an academic career.
You may be unsure what careers will suit you so continuing your studies offers you more time to decide. However, we recommend that you take advantage of the wide range of extracurricular activities available to enhance your personal and professional development alongside your studies. Employers will be interested in hearing about the additional skills gained during your masters or PhD as well as those developed through other activities.
In other career areas, such as journalism, and marketing, a masters – although not essential – can be advantageous. The same is true if you’re looking to become a patent attorney: a PhD is not a requirement but it is desirable.
Passion and expertise You may be motivated to continue your studies because you have a passion for your subject or want to specialise in a particular area. Depending on your longer-term career direction, a higher level qualification may be attractive to a future employer – for example, within the scientific or engineering fields. A postgraduate diploma in brewing will lead to opportunities within the food and drink industry and a life science PhD will be attractive to employers in the pharmaceutical sector.
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There are some opportunities specifically designed for postgraduate students such as Researcher Academy Placements and the new postgraduate stream of the Nottingham Advantage Award (page 16)
