Research by Vitae shows that of PhD graduates:

• 14% go into health and social work
• 10% into finance, business and IT
• 9% into research and development,
• Nearly 9% into the manufacturing sector
• 5% into public administration

(Source: What do Researchers do? First destinations of doctoral graduates by subject)

There are also considerable variations in employment within academia across disciplines. Only 33% of PhDs in physical sciences and engineering compared to 60% of social science PhDs are still working within academia after three years. This is due to there being far fewer PhD arts and humanities PhD students. Scientists have more opportunity to do post-docs but a much lower proportion will stay on in a permanent post.

To find out more about what researchers from your area have gone into you can review national destinations information (see PDF below) or speak to your PhD supervisor or line manager to find out about the career paths of their previous researchers. The UEA Careers & Employability service also holds some local data on researcher destinations. 

Sources of information