If you’re on the fence about whether to do a PhD it can be helpful to understand the benefits that come from having one. As someone who completed their PhD just over two years ago I’ve been starting to realise some of the potential benefits but also realise some of the things that having a PhD doesn’t help with!
In this post we’ll cover all of the key benefits to help you decide whether studying towards a PhD would be right for you.
You may also wish to check out my post on whether a PhD is worth it for info on the pros and cons of studying for a PhD. This post you’re reading is about the benefits of having a PhD while the other is about the work involved within a PhD.
Will Having a PhD Help You Financially?
Money, the obvious starting point!
On average someone with a PhD appears to typically earn more than someone without a PhD, in the US at least. Unemployment rates on average are also the lowest of all education levels:
But, that doesn’t mean that this holds true for everyone in every scenario, and I’d urge caution against doing a PhD if your main motivation is financial.
If money is your main driving force and you’re highly motivated, it can often make better financial sense to land a graduate job straight after uni. In those years you’d otherwise be working towards a PhD you could be gaining industry-specific experience and climbing the career ladder. I’ve written much more about this in a few other places:
- Here in the ‘Masters vs PhD: Which is Right For You?’ post
- Here in the ‘Is a PhD Worth It? Should I Do a PhD?’ post
Bottom line: I don’t recommend doing a PhD for purely financial reasons. In fact, even if doing a PhD did always make sense from a purely financial perspective I’d still caution against it for a lot of people since the path to earning a PhD can be pretty involved.
What Are the Benefits of Having a PhD?
While a PhD won’t always necessarily land you a higher paying job, it does provide a series of other very tangible benefits.
For instance, gaining an incredibly in-depth knowledge of certain topics comes with the territory for PhDs. This knowledge can accelerate you towards becoming the world expert. Many PhD-holders use this knowledge, and the clout of having a PhD in it, to become domain experts who are called upon by news organisations, government agencies, and beyond to give opinion on topics of societal importance.
More widely, PhDs set you up for success by providing you with a series of transferable skills which can be applied to whichever career you choose.
In addition, having a doctoral degree can help you to stand out from other job candidates, giving you an edge for competitive positions. While your enhanced network can help you to find and secure such opportunities. Finally, having a PhD can also provide you with greater options, keeping more doors open for you to switch jobs in the future.
Let’s break down each of these benefits in more depth.
Domain Expertise
Having a PhD pretty much automatically makes you an expert in certain topics. How useful these expertise are really depends on what you chose to do your PhD in in the first place. Therefore don’t necessarily expect your new-found expertise to be regularly called upon by friends, family or even employers!
Nevertheless, being an expert clearly helps if it can be applied in a workplace or exploited to either help the world or make money (take your pick). Oftentimes in science and engineering this knowledge is valuable for companies. Providing consultancy to these companies could be a route to share your highly prized wisdom. We’ll come onto other skills you gain during a PhD shortly but I’ll mention them here too: even if your PhD is in a wacky niche seemingly of no use to employers, I’m sure you’ll have picked up loads of other skills which certainly are of value in the marketplace.
Furthermore, being an expert in something can bring responsibility and the power to shape public perception or drive forward policy. This is true for almost every PhD topic from energy to economics. PhD-holders in these domains, and many more, are often called upon by NGOs and governments.
If you want to demonstrate your expertise, you could do things such as publish papers or write content (think Medium or LinkedIn posts). If you’re in need of a helping hand, I have written a whole series of posts to help you write your first paper.
Stand Out in the Job Market
Having a PhD will help you to stand out from other job applicants when applying. This can make all the difference for sought after roles.
In addition to potential domain expertise and skills you’ve picked up, having a PhD demonstrates your commitment and capability to work independently which will be very valuable as an employee.
Can a PhD Ever Make it Harder to Get a Job?
I’ve occasionally seen comments online from people worrying that having a PhD may cause employers to reject them. I think the logic goes that due to having a PhD you may be unlikely to stick around for long in a position that doesn’t provide compensation reflecting that level of experience. Or that you may not be getting challenged enough intellectually.
Either way, I wouldn’t worry. Anecdotally my partner works for a large IT company and has met several people hired through their graduate scheme who have PhDs. Therefore, seemingly if a PhD doesn’t actively enhance your career progression at worst you’ll just be entering at the same level as recent graduates of undergraduate degrees.
I also wouldn’t worry that having a PhD would make you comparatively old since many people will work elsewhere before entering a grad scheme. My partner herself joined the grad scheme several years after leaving university.
While I can’t promise that every hiring manager will see a PhD as an asset, in general extra skills and experience should always be a bonus.
Many companies with grad schemes will use such schemes to find top talent with the hope that some will stick around to take on leading roles. There is therefore a large emphasis on your potential and having a PhD can demonstrate significant potential due to the skills we’ll cover next.
Gain Transferable Skills
Great researchers typically display the following characteristics, as covered in more depth here.
- Curiosity
- Organisational Skills
- Open Mindedness
- Determination & Persistence
- Acting Logically
- Patience
- Trustworthiness – acting with integrity
- Self-reliance
- Co-operation
If you’re interested in working towards a PhD you probably display many of these characteristics already and through studying for a PhD you’ll hone skills pertaining to several others.
On top of these characteristics and “soft skills” such as networking and communicating, there are all of the other skills involved with a PhD such as research, data analysis and presentation.
These transferable skills will be an asset to whatever role you choose to go into.
Let’s cover five of these skills in more detail.
Critical Thinking
Displaying open mindedness, curiosity and acting logically will all help to develop your critical thinking skills. A good PhD supervisor will give you enough freedom and support to allow your critical thinking skills to grow throughout your PhD. By the end you should be thinking independently and critically about your research domain.
Communication
Working co-operatively with other researchers, writing papers and presenting will help to enhance your communication skills. As an introvert I understand that putting yourself forward for presentations doesn’t come naturally to everyone, but I’d really suggest getting out of your comfort zone to improve your communication skills. A PhD is a nice supportive opportunity to get better at communicating with very little risk.
Time Management
Learning to stay organised during your PhD will help you to build skills in time management. If you aren’t already good at managing your time a PhD pretty much forces you to get better. Unlike undergrad coursework there is no way that you can complete a PhD with a series of all nighters!
Perseverance
Related to the last point about time management, PhDs are a marathon not a sprint. In order to reach the end you will need to display determination, persistence and patience. Overcoming these challenges leaves you well equipped with the know-how and resilience to tackle any future obstacles, no matter which career path you take post-PhD.
Proactive Mindset
Working independently and being self-reliant during your PhD will provide you with a proactive mindset. You’ll know how to take the initiative to do a task without being asked and that will be a fantastic asset in your future career.
Greater Career Options
You may decide to leave research to pursue a career in industry and that’s completely fine. The majority of PhD graduates do end up leaving academia and often make use of the transferable skills mentioned above to be successful in industry.
But choosing to do a PhD gives you the option to choose either way and should you decide that you wish to progress towards being a lecturer, or even one day a professor, you’ll already have the necessary qualifications and foundations for the experience you’ll need.
It’s important to note that jobs in academia are highly competitive, so there’s no guarantee that pursuing a PhD will mean you will definitely get a job in academia, but it is a prerequisite should you wish to do so.
A PhD also sets you up well for becoming a subject matter expert if you’re keen to pursue a specialised career in a particular field.
Enhanced Network
Working towards a PhD provides a brilliant opportunity to grow your professional network. Whether you choose to stay in academia or take the leap into industry this can prove invaluable. PhD-holders tend to go on to a hugely varied range of careers so can make for useful contacts.
Personally I’ve known people who’ve become academics and started their own labs, formed companies, worked at NGOs and gone into politics, alongside the more traditional career paths within industry. Yes, this pretty much describes many of the people you could meet during other types of degree but it seems that PhDs can turbo-charge the potential for impact for many of the reasons we’ve already covered.
I know of friends who have secured internships, and even permanent roles, after reaching out to former lab-mates who were able to recommend positions at their new companies. A personal reference goes a long way towards a company taking a chance on you.
Some PhD students also work with industry partners during their studies which can open doors to future roles and opportunities.
PhD Benefits Summary
In conclusion, while a PhD may benefit you financially under certain conditions it does have a whole host of other benefits which everyone can realise:
- Making you a subject matter expert with evidenced credibility
- Stand out from other job candidates
- Gain transferable skills
- Keep your career options open
- Grow your professional network
As for whether this makes studying a PhD worthwhile that will always be a personal choice.
For further insights I’d highly recommend having a read of my post ‘Is a PhD Worth It?’ to learn the pros and cons of pursuing doctoral study.
Hopefully this post has helped you get one step closer to deciding whether to pursue a PhD. If you have any further queries on benefits of having a PhD just pop a comment below.
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I am a teacher educator who have finished a BSc in science and a master in education management . What areas of topics are available for doing a phd in education and science related?
Thanks for your comment and interest in PhDs. I am sorry to say that I am not an expert in that field so do not know what exact topics may be available. They will of course vary a lot also depending on which supervisor, department and university you are interested in.
My suggestion is to speak to the department where did your Masters to see what topics they suggest for a PhD as a starting point, and also to reach out to other universities and departments which may offer related degrees, for instance this one may be related to what you’re interested in? Although the course I link to is a Masters, they may know of supervisors who are looking for PhD students. I hope that helps. Best of luck
Hi
I am an govt servent in Judicial Dept. I have completed BA MSW from KU Dharwad University.
How the PhD helps if I’m pursuing….
Thanks for your comment Eranna. It is difficult to say for certain that a PhD will help with any particular job.
Some job positions may require a PhD (which they will state in the job advert);
Other positions may benefit from the skills acquired during the PhD (either technical or “soft” skills);
Whilst for other positions the PhD may offer no benefit and time would be better spend gaining work experience. If career progression is the goal the person would be better off spending those 3-4 years working outside of academia rather than pursuing a PhD.
So it really depends on the job and your career priorities. I hope this helps.
Thanks,
Jeff.