Pathfinder Career Narratives is an ongoing series tracking the career choices and experiences of doctoral graduates. You can see all of the posts in the series here. You can find all the Pathfinder resources and opportunities here. Today’s blog is written by Dr Danielle Fatzinger, Team Leader in Economics at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow. You can find Dr Fatzinger’s LinkedIn profile here and her personal website here.
Name: Danielle Fatzinger
Doctorate subject area and year of completion: Celtic Studies, 2021
Role and employer: Team Leader, University of Glasgow
Approximate salary bracket for this type of role: £32-39,000 per annum
Choosing a career path was always something I struggled with, and if I’m being honest, I still haven’t truly decided on a trajectory.
When I started my doctorate, I was a Class Assistant at a Kumon Study Centre for a couple of years, and I also volunteered as a Scottish Country Dance teacher for a year before I was a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA). I then paused my GTA work for an academic year to take on the position of Postgraduate Researcher Development Office Intern within Research & Innovation Services. In that role, I gained experience with communications, event planning, administration, and skills development.
I also learned plenty about self-reflecting in a way that would benefit me, and I began to regularly spend time reflecting on the work I was doing. I wanted to develop a sense of the things I enjoyed, the things that gave me energy, and the type of work I would be interested in doing.
It soon became clear to me that while I enjoy research and teaching, I was more energised and excited by the work I completed with Research & Innovation Services. Supporting the University community, supporting others to thrive, and having a mixture of tasks (long-term and short-term, self-started and assigned, independent work and teamwork) was the direction I wanted to move in. I was lucky that my supervisors and other academics in the department were supportive of my non-research pursuits. I did at times feel the need to justify them, but it was more often to PGRs and academics from other departments or universities.
I applied for and took on additional roles on the more administrative side of academia. I worked with the Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities as an Assistant Digital Curator, and then as a Research Policy and Engagement Officer first with the Lab for Academic Culture and then with Research Information Management. It became clearer and clearer to me that I wouldn’t pursue research and teaching after getting my degree, especially if I wanted something I could sustain long-term.
I also needed something that would give me a bit of a mental break and some stability after completing my thesis during the weird, stressful, and exhausting time that was 2020-2021, and pursuing academia wouldn’t have done that.
When it came time to applying for work after being awarded my degree, I didn’t put a limit on what I was looking for, and I wasn’t determined to start at the same salary grade that I’d worked in for my part-time roles. I spent time thinking about my PhD holistically, trying to identify the skills and experience I’d gained and explain it in a way that would make sense for a job that wasn’t in research and to people who weren’t researchers. When the role of Programmes Administrator was posted for the Adam Smith Business School, it seemed like a good opportunity to see what things were like in a different School and from a different perspective, and I was pleased when it was offered to me.
Transitioning into the role was strange: I had no idea about the level of administration that took place behind the scenes of courses and programmes. My experience as a GTA was useful, as I was at least somewhat familiar with some of the policies and software involved, but it was a challenge to build the additional knowledge I needed.
Many of the skills I developed through my doctorate were valuable as an administrator: organisation, research, leadership, and communicating ideas. There seemed to be an overall better sense of work-life balance and varied interests, and I felt much less pressure to fit into an idea of what I was expected to be or how I was expected to present myself. I was able to spend more time engaging with and getting joy from my hobbies. Knitting is the main one, but also activities like cross stitching and spinning my own yarn, and I’ve found my joy of reading for pleasure again.
I became acutely aware of the importance of good management, as I was more able to see the effect that line managers and other leadership (School, College, and University) could have on culture and morale. It was refreshing to be in a role where someone else could step in to help cover my tasks if workload pressures necessitated it, and where the links between the work and the academic calendar meant being faced with different tasks and priorities throughout the year.
I started as a Programme Administrator at the beginning of 2022: over that summer, I was the reserve candidate for a higher-level position, and by the winter, I was representing the School as a Subject Matter Expert on a University-wide project. About a year and a half after starting, I was promoted to Team Leader. Now I lead and participate in short-term and long-term projects, manage members of the team, advise academics, tackle challenges, navigate complex situations, identify & develop solutions, create resources, brainstorm & action improvements, and work on skills development. Some weeks are full of meetings, both planned and spontaneous, while others are quieter with space for deep work. I’ve met and worked with individuals across the University at all levels.
Completing a PhD is not essential for the role I’m in, though I do think it can give me a different perspective than my colleagues since I have some insight into research. I also think that the PhD and the roles I’ve held prior to entering learning & teaching administration have led me to thrive: the worries I had about not finding things engaging have proven unfounded, and the PhD built my confidence and self-assurance in a way other experiences could not.
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