5 Ways to Assess Your PhD Transferable Skills

PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is a degree, which is awarded to the applicant after the preparation and defense of the qualification work — doctoral dissertation. So, unlike MBA programs, where students are only taught practical business management skills, PhD applicants must do serious scientific research during their doctoral studies. If they require help in writing a dissertation, they can turn to specialists with a request to “Please, write my dissertation online!” and get PhD writing assistance from experts.

Basic PhD Transferable Skills

As it is known, transferable skills form the basis for creating a successful career. These are the basic human skills, in particular:

• Writing and reading. This skill means that a person can provide information in writing, as well as understand what he has read;
• Computer literacy. A big plus today is the ability to own various office programs;
• Management experience. If a person has experience in managing people, then he can freely transfer this skill to another sphere of occupation;
• Commercial skills. These skills also apply to transferable ones, as people who know how to negotiate well and who also know what trade turnover and gross profit are, can work in many organizations;
• The ability to cope with deadlines. This skill is also transferable, as each company appreciates deadlines;

Of course, these are just some of the transferable skills. This list can be continued for a long time.

Thus, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy can be assigned to specialists who have well-formed transferable skills and also:

• Have shown a systematic understanding of their research field and skillful knowledge of research skills and methods in the field;
• Demonstrated the ability to initiate, plan, implement and correct a consistent process of thorough scientific inquiry, adhering to proper academic integrity;
• Have made a scientific contribution by conducting an original study that ensured an increase in knowledge due to the substantial amount of work;
• Are capable of critical analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of new and complex ideas;
• Can communicate with colleagues, the wider scientific community and society in matters pertaining to their area of ​​expertise;
• Give a reason to expect them to be able to promote technological, social or cultural advancement in a knowledge-based society.

However, specialists often want to evaluate their PhD transferable skills independently. Read on how to do this.

Ways to Assess PhD Transferable Skills

So, how can you easily test your PhD transferable skills? There are 5 most common ways:

1. You can simply ask yourself the most exciting questions and then answer them. For example:

• Do you prefer independent work or teamwork?
• What is the main problem you have encountered in your life?
• Are you able to change your daily routine if something previously unplanned happens?
• Do you like monotonous work?
• Do you think your analysis capabilities are well-developed?
• What are the main components for creating good relationships with colleagues?
• Do you have multitasking skills?
• What do you think is the foundation of a good career?
• How do you keep motivation in the process of independent work?
• In what way do you track your progress?
• What methods of dealing with stress do you use?
• Do you like to take responsibility for making decisions?
• Do situations arise in your life when you lack self-confidence?
• Do you immediately make a decision, or first consider all the pros and cons?

After answering these questions, you will be able to identify your communication skills, teamwork skills, adaptability skills, problem-solving skills, interpersonal communication skills, motivation skills, organizational skills, conflict resolution skills, etc.

To assess the transferable skills, you can try to create your own behavioral portrait. Here you need to determine the level of your success, describe your main qualities and characteristics, as well as identify problems.

You can use computer programs. For example, LinkedIn allows you to evaluate knowledge and skills. A typical assessment consists of 15-20 questions and many choices. Each question tests one skill. The program is easy to use, but it is very effective.

Today, there are a number of phone applications with which you can also evaluate your skills. Use them.

The technique PTSI is a fairly effective way to test PhD transferable skills. This is a unique technique that allows assessing the skills and abilities of a person by measuring three groups of indicators:

• Consistency. Includes an assessment of the structure of thinking. There is also a measurement of the ability to make systematic judgments and self-determination;
• Orientation to the outside world. This is an assessment of events, reactions, and actions.
• Orientation to the inner world. Assessment of the ability to build relationships with people, as well as to determine own place in society.

So, in this article, we told you about how to evaluate your PhD transferable skills. We hope that this information was useful for you.