I’m a later in life student (mid 40s) finishing up my PhD at distance. I’m wanting to move into research as a career once I qualify. I’m happy to start wherever I can regardless of my experience in my current career which is in the private sector.
In fact I can’t wait to start applying for research opportunities. I’m interested in social science:humanities research and ideas around work, migration, care work, health, capitalism, gender media discourses etc. But I would also like to work for an organisation that is creative and interesting and where I can connect with peers who share similar worldviews.
I struggle to understand how career pathways work in academia. And because I’m at distance I don’t have access to much information. But from a practical point of view, how does one find these kind of research jobs? In the private sector we go to LinkedIn, Indeed etc but how does one look for jobs in academic research organisations or labs or NGOs etc? I’m willing to start wherever I can in the research hiring hierarchy.
Any advice welcome. Thank you.