There is immense scope for job opportunities, career development and personal growth in the renewable energy sector.
As the world moves towards renewable energy with the aim of achieving various sustainability goals, the demand for skilled workers increases exponentially.
If the ‘next industrial revolution’ is going to happen, it’ll be driven by the right people with the right skill set.
With this in mind, a common question we hear from professionals in the sector is whether a PhD is helpful for a job in the renewable energy industry.
How Can a PhD Help Find a Job in Renewable Energy?
As you’d imagine, a PhD is extremely useful for someone seeking a role in the energy industry. The experiences and enhanced understanding that a PhD offers will always help, regardless of the field and role you’re moving into. With that in mind, how can a PhD help on a specific level?
Supports Personal Growth
Earning a PhD in any field often leads to significant personal growth. Undertaking this level of qualification requires resilience, dedication and a strong work ethic. You’ll be expected to work relatively independently for long hours and have the initiative to take your learning in the right direction.
Once you’ve completed your studies, these qualities will transfer easily into a professional setting, making you more desirable with employers and vastly improving your productivity in the workplace.
Likewise, if you’re looking to build a sense of fulfilment during your career, the sense of accomplishment that comes with completing a PhD degree and then taking that research into your work is significant.
Drives Career Development
A high-level qualification, such as a PhD, related to renewable energy is a great way of significantly improving your career prospects across the field. As soon as you have the qualification under your belt you become an ideal candidate for both leadership roles and research projects designed to drive innovation.
Explore Our Renewable Energy Roles
The nature of the qualification means you’ll be sought-after in a highly competitive market. Government agencies, think tanks and global corporations often hire professionals at this level because they need to drive large-scale, high-level projects related to sustainability and research. A PhD doesn’t just give you the right skill set, it also opens the right doors for your career.
Establishes Networking Opportunities
As you advance higher in an academic field, you’ll naturally meet like-minded people that often opens up more opportunities. A PhD course often acts as its own networking hub, putting you in touch with mentors, high-level industry professionals and thus, the opportunity for job prospects and collaborative research.
The connections that a student makes during their studies, at any level, can often sustain a career for years. This is especially true in doctoral studies, where collaboration is more frequent and students often meet or work with a variety of different people that are all aiming to enter the same industry.
Develop a Broader Skill Set
Earning a PhD in renewable energy not only provides better career opportunities but helps you develop a much broader range of transferable skills. These types of courses often require you to exercise problem-solving, critical thinking and analysis skills – all of which are highly sought-after in a field as progressive as renewable energy.
Even if you don’t work in renewable energy for your entire career, the skills you build during your studies will no doubt be useful across a variety of industries, helping you become a more well-rounded and adaptable individual.
Build a Global Perspective
A critical part of working in renewable energy is understanding the world around you, the trends impacting the sector and what the future looks like. As you earn a PhD you’ll naturally build an understanding around renewable energy issues, the various technology advancements occurring in the sector and what that means for the future.
Likewise, you’ll also naturally gain insights into how different sub-sectors – and countries – within the industry approach the renewable energy field. If you build and demonstrate this understanding, you open up more opportunities for working in global organisations and improve the likelihood of being chosen for large-scale projects.
Find a Sense of Accomplishment
Many people enter the field of renewable energy because they want to make an impact on the world. Typically, the research you perform during a PhD that is related to renewable energy will directly impact the wider push for true sustainability.
Looking ahead, the opportunities that a PhD affords means you’re more likely to work on groundbreaking projects and technological innovations which will make a real difference. For many people, knowing that your research may directly influence how the world approaches energy generation and distribution is a huge motivator for entering the field.