Who can help Onebat with advice about PhDs or MAs? (Wanker's Corner 101 AND long)

[onebatmother]

Can any mother help me?

I am at a career crossroads, and floundering somewhat .

I'm fantasizing about completely re-training, but I'm uncertain which way to go. I resemble, more than anything, a 41yr old large-arsed Easter Bunny, paralyzed in the glare of The Headlights Of The Future.

But a vague memory has resurfaced from university days and I'd like you to tell me what you think. My degree was in English Lit from a University of London college, and I got a first. I seem to remember that one of my tutors told me that because of the first, I could bypass an MA and go straight to a PhD.

Does this sound right? And if so, might that still be the case? And if so, would it have to be an English literature erm... thesis thingy, or could it be in some other discipline which required critical thinking? My career so far has been in making (directing/producing) documentaries about "Society".

And if it could be in anything.. what can you think of? Anything, anything at all! It's quite likely that it will not be poss to go back to university bcs of finances, but if it is, I would really like to think that I had considered every option.

As a starter, I am interested in how and why people think. I've considered training as a psychotherapist, but I think it's a v v long process. Also not sure that I'm patient enough.

And that;s poss too literal an interpretation of 'how and why people think' iyswim. For example, I am also interested in the process of things, in culture, and how it is constructed; and why groups believe what they do. How the things that people produce reflect and disseminate the political necessities of their world - the power structures which underpin societies, etc, etc.

So people, politics with small p, power, pornography - all the p's really. Oh and cultures and what they express, erm, you know the kind of thing.

Obv v unlikely to be all of these - but I'd be really interested if anyone thought that they had, or knew of, a career where one gets to consider this kind of stuff (which -CRUCIALLY - pays a small mortgage)

I'm not sure that I want to continue being freelance: I'm a bit shit at it and there's an inbuilt anxiety which does me know favours. But it's not a deal-breaker.

Thank you, my dearies, for your attention to this matter.

Policy work will often cross over this - I guess I do some "research" in terms of HE policy - critical analysis of current literature, and then saying what it means for us in terms of sector and institution, and devising/amending policy to respond if required.

Ha! You flatter me-am only very slightly junior.
Am good and bad- pregnant and very very sick.
I know what you mean, change of career all very well, but who can afford years of retraining?

oh balls Habbibu. I've got no idea what you're talking about. God, sorry - I think it's a function of just never having worked in the public/edu sector.

Do you mean that you look at what's being published academically about Higher Ed, and amend the curriculum? or amend the guidelines about 'how to teach in HE'?

Oh, ok - I meant research as opposed to taught Masters. My Masters was entirely research (40, 000 word diss in one year), whereas DH did taught, so essays plus short diss of 10,000 words. You can also get an MRes in many places, which teaches you research methodology.

I'm not good at actively campaigning, but I'm good at supplying the policy/research/info to back it up, iyswim, so it is removed to an extent. In HE I feel a bit too removed, hence my desire to move into either midwifery or NHS/NGO policy.

"some social science development of research methodology - devising evaluation methods, as it says, and some senior admin support."

That's the bit I don't understand.

For a bright lass, I'm a bit of a fuckwit if the truth be told.

I have nothing at all to do with teaching! We look at what the funding pos'n is, what our depts are doing, how much we can give them, what the market is, blah blah blah. It's not my dream career, so I'm not selling it well. It's the political side, in a way. I'm an HE equivalent of a civil servant, if that helps!

x-post. Am thinking through research v taught now.

Right. I'm so fucking immersed in the publicx sector it never occurs to me that other people aren't!

Suppose you work for the NHS, and you want to see if (to take a topical example) measures to reduce 3 and 4 degree tears in vaginal births are helping, you have to work out how you're going to measure this, what your sample population is going to be, how you're defining the 3rd and 4th degree tears, and then some stats stuff about how to decide whether the changes you measure is significant.

I don't think this is the kind of thing you're interested in, tbh!

Actually, I think I should have read your posts better instead of going down "jobs Habbs might like to do" road.

Are you thinking more of cultural/social stuff - less direct "hands on"? Maybe you want a Think Tank. I don't know how people get jobs in Think Tanks.

God, it's crap of me. I have to get to grips with all this, bcs I suspect that somewhere within the kind of thing that you do Habbs, there might be something that I could do.

It's all so bloody occlusie that's the prob. V hard to see what you might be good at, without the bleedin' vocab.

You don't want my job! I don't want my job. But it pays well, and I want another baby more right now, so needs must.

Look, missus - this is the start of the process. This is the information gathering bit. And it's always the bit that's most nebulous and woolly - it's a research project in itself, so treat it like that.

Start scanning jobs pages, make notes of what catches your eye, look up masters programmes, both taught and research, send off for more info on what appeals (and accept that you will be on their mailing lists Forevermore) and do look into OU short courses.

Don't worry about the vocab and detail just yet - that comes as part of the filtering process. That's why further particulars can be very useful, and remember, you're not applying for these jobs now, but planning on making yourself a candidate for them in the future.

And try to sketch out the skills that your current career has taught you - one trick is to look at tasks that you do/have done, and what you need to know/be able to do in order to carry them out. These lists are often quite refreshing and surprising.

Ah, thank you Habbs. Really.

FP means getting the application form then?

"Are you thinking more of cultural/social stuff - less direct "hands on"? Maybe you want a Think Tank." I think - now you've thinked it first - that perhaps I should think about thinking of a think-tank.

DOES ANYONE ELSE KNOW ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT TANK-THINKING?

Or any other kind of 'free-thinking' kind of job? Where you come up with ideas?

I know these jobs exist - and surely they're not all in marketing/advertising?

Not saying I could get one - but asking in the spirit of enquiry. I hope there are other women out there thinking 'bugger me, I could do that...'

3rd/4th degree tears totally comprehensible, btw. Thanks.

FP - yes, the app form/further particulars. I don't usually bother asking, just stick to the downloadable ones.

List of think tanks in UK. Good place to peruse and see if any look attractive?

the tanks

RE: scanning the jobs pages - are the interesting jobs advertised?

I have no idea. I'm slightly mistrustful of the jobs pages, because in TV nothing is ever advertised, except for unpaid jobs.

It always seems as though publicly-funded jobs have to be advertised, bcs of whatever the equiv is of due diligence, but in fact they've already got the key candidates in mind.

I've never got a job that I have obvious quals for - but someone liked the last thing that I did and got in touch.

Why don't you go and visit a think tank and ask them what they do and how they get to do it?

That's maybe over-cynical, onebat - the transparency thing is quite a big deal in the public sector, and the obvious internal candidate cfan be blown out of the water by the great external. And look at goodmoves.org to see just how many NGO jobs are advertised! Guardian on Weds good too. Esp if you're in London!

Point is, though, to get an idea of what they're looking for in the area that appeals to you first - deal with the politics of the job market later.

onebat i love this thread and find it very inspiring. just thought i'd say so.

Why not?

Re: CHUTZPAH!

I've never fully understood Brass Neck.

I've asked people with interesting jobs how they got there, and they've said airily 'oh, I just wrote to them about something very faintly related that I was doing, and they hired me'.

WHAT??!

Do People In Authoritaaay really read those letters?

In which case, I might start writing to Think Tanks about how I've made documentaries about things that fall within their remit.. and did they have a seat in their tank that I could have, if I promised to think.

Should I? I've heard of people translating 'glamour' into real job like this, and although it's obv bullshit I'd VERy much like to join in if there's an opening.

How about an internship at Demos?