From scattergun technique to focused job search

To Monika, it wasn’t a lifelong dream to become PhD. In fact, she hadn’t really thought about it until her last year of master studies.

“I was aware I needed to apply for jobs even before I finished my studies. I remember my fellow students and I being quite stressed about it. So, rather than really taking my time and thinking about what I really wanted to work with, I started applying for all the available graduate jobs.”

“However, throughout the time I spent doing my master thesis, I became aware of what I want to do after I finish my studies. I realised research as such gives me a great deal of joy and enables me to be creative, think innovation and work on ‘on going’ engineering problems.”

2 months before graduation, Monika got a job offer: A graduate position in a Danish company with a lot of space to grow and learn. This was a turning point in her process, and it made her realise what she really wanted to do.

Applying for the PhD position

When the PhD position was advertised, Monika worked as research assistant at the Department of Energy Technology at AAU, where her supervisor told her about it.

“He believed that my experience of working in academia, together with the technical background made me a good candidate for the position. So, I decided to apply.”

“As a part of my application, I had to submit my CV and cover letter, together with the list of my publications. An additional requirement was to write a short summary about how I would approach to solving the main challenges included in the PhD topic. The application process included 2 interviews after which I was notified that I was the selected candidate for the PhD position.”

 

Time management and finding out what works for you

When asked what the PhD job is like, Monika answers: “This is very interesting question, as I believe that if you asked 100 different PhD students, you would get 100 different answers.”

"I feel that doing PhD gives you a lot of opportunity to decide on your own way of approaching your tasks and organise your day."

“I usually like to have my tasks clearly defined and discussed with my supervisors. Then, every day I make a short list of my activities for a day. Activities usually include working on several different tasks in parallel. Often, I try to switch among the different tasks.”

“An important thing I learned about myself during the studies is that my little planning activity usually works when I am not close to a deadline and have enough time. Otherwise, if I know that I have to finish something soon, I tend to forget about my plan and spend hours on finishing my task. Most of the time, the end result is satisfactory, but the path to it, I believe needs some improvements. I feel that for me, it is still an ongoing process of figuring out which approach is good, and which approach needs further improvement.”

 

What about the future?

Still having more than 2 years left before finishing her PhD studies, Monika hasn’t decided what’s to come after that.

“This is a question I am being asked on a weekly basis, believe it or not. I think that right now, I am still trying not to think too much about it.”

“I feel that academia provided me with the environment which I found suitable to develop after finishing my master studies. I enjoy doing research. However, I am still unsure of how I will feel at the end of my PhD journey. I believe that I will have to do some serious thinking, as the one I did before starting my PhD. So, I would say that for now, all the options are still possible.”

 

Monika's advice for you

Monika has a few pieces of advice for international students who want to pursue a PhD in Denmark: