Exploring is fun.
Why career development education is important*
Many academics report limited access to data about career prospects and suggest their institutions don’t provide a central hub for career development resources.
Only 10% of early career academics have a formal career development plan.
In Australia, nearly 80% of early career academics have considered making a major career change.
80% of jobs listing PhD-level skills don’t actually list a PhD as a qualification.
In non-academic roles, PhD graduates often have to counter narratives of being ‘over-qualified’ or ‘over-specialised’.
Academics need to develop the skills to build successful careers both inside and outside of academia.
If this information resonates with you, then you are in the right place. Careers with Clarity is about helping academics create the time and space to become clearer about where they want their career to go…and why. We focus on exploring career trajectory to identify strengths and reveal gaps in motivation, networks, and transferrable skills.
We offer tailored 1:1 career development education and small group workshops to help academics who want to further their career development within academia as well as those who might be thinking about making a career pivot.
Need some simple tips for career development?
Download our free resource - Simple tips for (academic) career development.
Thinking about a career change?
Download our free resource- Thinking about a new career path.
Want to learn more about what we offer?
We provide a free 30-minute no obligation chat to discuss how we can best support you or if you have a general enquiry send us an email.
How we help
*Where the information comes from.
Mewburn I, Grant WJ, Suominen H, Kizimchuk S. A machine learning analysis of the non-academic employment opportunities for PhD graduates in Australia. Higher Education Policy. 2020;33(4):799–813.
Department of Health and Aged Care. The Australian health and medical research workforce audit. Canberra: Department of Health and Aged Care; 2024.
Ta B, Hoang C, Khong H, Dang T. Australian PhD graduates' agency in navigating their career pathways: stories from social sciences. Higher Education. 2024;88(4):1525–45.
Muurlink O, Chen LA, Boorman R, et al. Stakeholder perceptions of what industry wants from doctoral students: a systematic literature review. Higher Education Research & Development. 2024;43(4):952–65.
Chen LA, Mewburn I, Suominen H. Australian doctoral employability: a systematic review of challenges and opportunities. Higher Education Research & Development. 2024;43(2):298–314.
Nguyen HTL. Australian doctoral graduates' career transition from academia to industry: the PCAP internship competence framework. Studies in Higher Education. 2024;1–15.
Skakni I, Kereselidze N, Parmentier M, et al. PhD graduates pursuing careers beyond academia: a scoping review. Higher Education Research & Development. 2025;1–20.
Wider W, Wong CT, Wong YF, et al. Employment trends among postgraduate students: a bibliometric analysis. Asian Education and Development Studies. 2025;14(5):1126–54.