PhD Candidates

What are your personal interests and values? What are your amibitions for your future professional life? What skills do you possess? This information forms the basis of your career development plan. Start by mapping this out using the following resources:

Explore job opportunities and expand your horizon of potential career paths by:

• clicking on "career paths" in the left tab for examples of different career choices after a completed PhD degree.
• Career days at UiT (in Norwegian): participate in the yearly career days (Norw. "karrieredager") at UiT, campus Tromsø. These are a perfect opportunity to get to know potential future employers from the industry, public or private sector.
• Karriereveiledning.no (in Norwegian): a web-based resource for exploring different job possibilities, as well as the possibility to chat with a career counselor online or by telephone.

Are you missing a key competance required by your dream job? Is there a network that could be crucial for landing your dream job? Building your competance and your network during your PhD can be crucial for landing that dream job.

Tips for what you can do to increase your competance and build your network while getting your PhD at UiT:

• Take courses in transferable skills: transferable skills are key competances such as written and oral presentation, digital competance, collaborative skills, problem solving, and leadership skills. These are skills that are highly sought after by employers and will increase your employability. Find an overview of available courses at UiT by clicking the left tab "courses and other activities".
• Join a research school: UiT is associated with several research schools that cover a wide range of disciplines and institutions. Research schools offer workshops, seminars, courses and mobility opportunities. Joining a research school will also expand your network beyond your supervisory group. Please note that some research schools require your supervisor to be a member for you to become a member as a PhD candidate.
• Secondments: to intern outside of academia (industry, public or private sector) is a golden opportunity to gain work experience as well as getting to know potential future employers and expanding your network. Click on "secondments" under the left tab "employability" for more information.
• Stay abroad: Staying abroad during your PhD is a fantastic opportunity to build your network, boost your competance and improve your CV. Explore mobility opportunity at UiT here (in Norwegian).

Source: World Economic Forum (2020).

Preparing yourself for the job application process is fundamental for success. Here are some important aspects to consider:

• Learn about the company and position you are applying to: understand their values, goals and working culture.
• Tailor your CV: adapt your CV and application to the current position by highlighting relevant skills and experience. We recommend using the European standard CV-format. Are you applying for ERC grants, you can use this template.
• Write a convincing application letter: karriereveiledning.no can help with this (Norwegian only). However, there are many other online resources. 
• Prepare for the interview: prepare your answers to standard questions (e.g. here) in advance, in a way that highlights your skills and qualifications. Be prepared to talk about your experience and how it fits the job description. Maybe you have a friend or colleague that can help you to practice your answers in a mock interview setting?
• Prepare yourself mentally: landing your first job can be a long and frustrating process. Be prepared to deal with rejection and work on keeping motivated. Maybe you can start a peer group so that you can support each other during this process?

CV courses and interview training at UiT

• Career days ("karrieredager") at UiT is a yearly event that also offers CV courses and interview training.
• The university library (UB) and TODOS (UiTs association for PhDs and post-docs) arrange regular workshops and courses on career-related topics, incl. CV writing. Check out their websites for coming arrangements.
• Karriere Troms 
• NAV 

Jobb search engines

Do you want to hear about the experience of others in their vocation? At utdanning.no you can read interviews with PhD degree holders, working in various sectors (in Norwegian).

Generic skills, also known as transferable skills, are abilities and competencies that are applicable across different situations, sectors, and jobs. Examples of such skills include collaboration, critical thinking, problem-solving, and understanding of different cultures. Developing these skills better equips you to navigate a society and workforce that require continuous adaptation.

Courses in generic skills at UiT:

High North Academy (HNA) is funded by UiT – The Arctic University of Norway and organizes intensive doctoral courses in generic skills. The courses are taught on UiT’s campus in Tromsø and are designed for PhD candidates from all faculties at UiT, regardless of academic background.

Career days

Participate in UiTs yearly career days (website in Norwegian) for an unique opportunity to network with potential employers and representatives from different sectors. This event provides an arena where you can meet potential employers directly, participate in presentations, mingling, and receive valuable training such as CV- and LinkedIn-courses, skills testing and interview training. You can even obtain a professional headshot for your CV and profile. Career days provide an indispensable resource for kick-starting your career and building relationships to the professional world.

Workshop: career development for PhD candidates

We regularly run career workshops for PhD Candidates. They are announced here, on Tavla and through TODOS.

UiTs course catalogue: PhD courses

Click here for UiTs course catalogue under the area (Norw. "fagområde"): "forskerutdanning". The PhD-level courses that appear have an English description (course codes in the 8000s).

Courses and workshops organised by the university library

Every semester the university library (UB) provides a wide spectrum of courses at all leves (bachelor, master, PhD), including courses for employees. Their teaching methods are flexible and most courses are on offer both in Norwegian and English.

Course in university pedagogy

RESULT offers a course in university pedagogy aimed at PhD candidates that want to improve their teaching skills. The aim of this course is to help you to improve your pedagogical competance and to reflect over your roll as a teacher in a higher-education environment.

PhDHub

PhD Hub is a platform that fosters interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration, connecting researchers and PhD candidates with industry opportunities. More than just a listing service, it offers personalised opportunities for PhD candidates, with filters for conferences, funding, internships, and training programs across Europe.

Secondments provide you with an opportunity to temporarily work outside of your usual academic environment, e.g. in a business or relevant organisation. This is a chance for you to apply and expand your expertise in a more practical context, as well as build your network and gain insight into how your research can be directly applied outside of academia.

Although UiT supports such initiatives, it is expected that you take the initiative to explore and establish possibilities for secondments. You should discuss your plans with your supervisor to ensure that the secondment is relevant to your degree work.

• Good practice guidelines for secondments
• Businesses/institutions (website in Norwegian) with UiT cooperation contracts.
• Testimonials from PhD candidates at UiT who have done secondments.

Useful templates:

• Standard contract for secondments
• European quality criteria for internships
• Higher Education Learning Agreement for PhD Mobility (Erasmus+)
• HE Learning Agreement for PhD Mobility - Changes During the Mobility (Erasmus+)

These documents assist in formalising expectations to ensure that both you and your host have a common understanding of the aims and content of the secondment.

Innovation and entrepreneurship are tightly linked to vocational skills as both of these skills sets demand numerous qualities which are highly sought after by the professional world. These qualities include creativity and problem solving, initiative and decision making, teamwork and networking, leadership and vision. Collectively, innovation and entrepreneurship are not only important for economic growth and development, but also for developing and promoting personal and professional success.

Info and support for innovation at UiT

• Do you have an idea? Click here to find out how you can innovate at UiT.
• Does your research show commercial potential? Contact Norinnova (UiT's technology transfer office, TTO).
• Innovation stipend at UiT: this provides you with the time and the possibility to develop your idea towards a potential innovation. Two stipends are awared annually, click here for more information.

Course in academic entrepreneurship at UiT

• BED-8004: Academic entrepreneurship (spring 2025): join this comprehensive course designed to equip you with the necessary skills to navigate the entrepreneurial landscape.

Other useful resources

• PhD Hub is a European platform designed to promote collaboration between academia and industry. It acts as a bridge connecting PhD candidates, universities and research institutions with industrial partners. The platform aims to facilitate innovation by addressing real-world problems through collaborative research projects. It provides the possibility for universities to showcase their research programmes and for companies to present their research needs with the ultimate goal to create synergies for collaborative PhD projects, innovative solutions and knowledge transfer.