Postgraduate studies
Careers
A PhD is internationally recognised as a demonstration that you have the skills, intellect and motivation to carry out original research and present it convincingly. It is more or less essential to have a PhD if you plan a career as an independent researcher with responsibility for your own research programme, whether in academia, research institutes, or industry. In this case, the next stage will probably be a postdoctoral position where you will broaden your research experience and perhaps do some teaching and help to supervise other staff and students.
A lifetime of research is not for everyone, though, and there are many other careers in which the skills you develop during your PhD will certainly not be wasted. You will have learnt to think rigorously for yourself, to find information and teach yourself what you need to know, to present your case convincingly in writing and to an audience, to meet deadlines, and to plan your work effectively on short and long timescales. Employers of all kinds recognise and value skills like these. To see the types of jobs that mathematicians and statisticians go into look at www.math-jobs.com to see the wide range of professions available all over the world.