The document summarizes a workshop on how to position oneself in the job market after completing a PhD. It introduces the speaker, Dr. Amber Walraven, and has participants introduce themselves. The workshop then covers how to make one's work visible to society through avenues like press releases, social media, and networking. It emphasizes finding ways to tell the story of one's thesis and developing an online presence to help place oneself for opportunities after degree completion.

1. WORKSHOP: BEYOND YOUR PHD, HOW TO PLACE
YOURSELF IN THE MARKET.
Dr. Amber Walraven
PhD day Graduate School Open University
June 16, 2012

2. ABOUT ME!
 Dr. Amber Walraven
 Got the title in December, 2008
 Dissertation: Becoming a critical websearcher: Effects of instruction to
foster transfer
 Open University: CELSTEC
 Currently assistant professor at University of Twente
 Blog: amberwalraven.edublogs.org
 Twitter: @amberwalraven
 Linkedin:http://nl.linkedin.com/in/amberwalraven
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 2

3. Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 3

4. ABOUT ME!
 When my defense was coming up:
 Nu.nl
 Radioshows
 RTL 4 News
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 4

5. ABOUT YOU!
 Please introduce yourself:
 Name
 Date of defense (or probable date of defense)
 Subject of thesis in 1 word!
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 5

6. CENTRAL IN THIS WORKSHOP:
 How will your last PhD. months go?
 How can you make your work insightful and visible for society?
 How can you optimally place yourself in the market?
 What do you want to do with your PhD-degree? How can you use
your degree?
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 6

7. YOU WILL BE GOING HOME WITH:
 A list of people/ organizations to send your thesis
 A press release for your thesis (or a press release that you want to
avoid at all costs…..)
 An idea of what or what not to say to journalists
 A social media summary of your thesis
 An idea of what you want to do after your PhD.
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 7

8. HOW WILL YOUR LAST PHD MONTHS GO?:
 Writing writing writing
 Sending out the manuscript to the reading committee
 Thinking of statements
 Working on the ‘I could not have done this without these people’ part
of the thesis (the only part everyone reads!!)
 Hint: use groups, and mention the ones that were really special personally
 Lay out
 Who will publish your thesis? Glue or stitch binding? Preprints!
 Thesis cover: who will design it and are there any uni-specific
rules?
 Paperwork!!!
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 8

9. HOW WILL YOUR LAST PHD MONTHS GO?
 Who are you going to send
your thesis?
 Think about organizations
that might be interested in
your work
 They will probably not read
it, but need to know it exists.
 In my case, this led to a
guest blog on a popular
website.
 Announcements of thesis on
LinkedIn groups, so people
can sign up for a hard-copy
or the PDF.
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 9

10. HOW WILL YOUR LAST PHD MONTHS GO?
 Exercise
 Write down some of these organizations and why they should receive a copy
and what you want them to do with it. This should be in the accompanying
letter.
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 10

11. PRESS RELEASE
 The university will send out a press release, but you need to control the
content!
 Exercise:
 First: everyone writes down questions.
 Own perspective: what do you like talking about the most? And: which question do I not
want people to ask!
 Interview round 1 in pairs, A = journalist, B = PhD. Candidate (we will
switch roles) (only 5 min!)
 Interviewer writes (very) short press release, interviewee writes down
best en worst question and why he/she chose these questions. (about 10
min) KEEP THE PRESS RELEASE TO YOURSELF, DON’T SHOW IT
TO THE INTERVIEWEE!
 After that: switch roles!
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 11

12. PRESS RELEASE: RESULTS
 We have 8 press releases and 8 lists of interesting and annoying
questions
 Who want to share questions?
 The press release…
 Without reading it, think about the title you would want to put above the
press release about your own dissertation.
 You only have 1 minute!
 Give the press release you wrote, to someone else (not the interviewee!)
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 12

13. PRESS RELEASE: RESULTS
 Come up with a title for a press release you were given just now.
 Give the title and the press release to the person’s who research was in
topic of the press release 
 You will now receive the press release about your own research + the title
a peer gave it.
 Volunteers to read their preferred title and the title that was given to the
press release by a peer.
 What do you think about the press release on your research?
 How do the titles differ, and why?
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 13

14. WHAT TO DO WITH THIS EXERCISE?
 Use it when you go home to think about what happened.
 Are you satisfied with your answers to the questions?
 Were you forced to discuss points you would rather avoid?
 How can you improve the story you tell about your thesis?
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 14

15.  You can control the content of a press release…..
 You can’t control the media….
 Or can you?
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 15

16. HOW YOU PUT YOURSELF IN THE MARKET…
 How to make the things you want people to know insightful and
visible….
Social media!
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 16

17. SOCIAL MEDIA
 Sociale mediasites/ platforms
 Hyves, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, blogs
 User generated content
 Interactive
 Sharing
 Up to date
 Objective?
 Wisdom of the crowd or foolishness of the group?
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 17

18. SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMPLES
 Marketing: KLM
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 18

19. SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMPLES
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 19

20. SOCIAL MEDIA: THE CASE OF TWITTER
 Only 140 characters per tweet
 What can you do with it?
 Summarize your work in 5-7 tweets
 Use the right #
 Have a clear Twitterbio…
 that describes who you are, what you do, what interests you
 Follow the right persons and interact!
 Check if researchers in your field are active on Twitter!
 Tweets to send:
 only positive tweets (doesn’t mean you can’t be critical!), regular updates, share links
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 20

21. SOCIAL MEDIA: LET’S TRY IT!
 Choose something to do now:
 Write 2 Twitter bio’s
 current
 placing you in the job you see yourself in after your promotion. (To check for nr. Of
characters: count, or actually type it on Twitter (if you don’t want to make an account just
yet, use the laptop…)
 Summarize your thesis in 5-7 tweets
 (To check for nr. Of characters: count, or actually type it on Twitter (if you don’t want to
make an account just yet, use the laptop…)
 Which # would interest you the most? Think about them, and check if
they exists and are active.
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 21

22. SUMMARY
 How will your last PhD. months go?
 Coverd that! Check with the university for the rules and regulations!
 How can you make your work insightful and visible for society?
 Coverd that! Content of press release and social media presence
 How can you optimally place yourself in the market?
 Covered that! Be aware of the story you want to tell, and the online image you want
to have! Let people know about your thesis!
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 22

23. SUMMARY
 What do you want to do with your PhD-degree? How can you use
your degree?
 Homework!
 Read the press release
 Read the questions you came up with yourself (they tell you what you
like to talk about!)
 Take a look at your Twitterbio’s
 Ask yourself: is this the topic I want to continue working on?
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 23

24. AND IF YOU GO TOTALLY BLANK….
 Don’t worry! There is something you can ALWAYS do with your
degree…….
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 24

25.  Use the title to impress companies when writing a letter of complaint!
 (It got me a huge discount on a house!)
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 25

26. THANKS!
 Dr. Amber Walraven
 Mail: a.walraven@utwente.nl
 Blog: amberwalraven.edublogs.org
 Twitter: @amberwalraven
 Linkedin: http://nl.linkedin.com/in/amberwalraven
Beyond your PhD., how to place yourself in the market 16-6-2012 26