For them, looking beyond the known and familiar can be quite daunting. However, career support initiatives for contract research staff are steadily improving. Universities across the UK have introduced a range of activities through career services and staff development units. First, a programme of workshops on a range of topics including job search, personal organisation, working with people, making grant applications, intellectual property rights, presentation skills and writing reports and academic papers. Secondly, staff can sign up to a nine-month personal development programme, and thirdly, they have access to individual career consultations with the university career service or the staff development unit.
Many universities also provide websites with career information.
Very few jobs today can be considered to be lifelong positions and few organisations have escaped without major restructuring in response to competition. To ensure 'employability', postdocs need to take personal responsibility for their careers whilst making full use of all the information and support available to them. This means making use of their research skills by gathering relevant information on which to make well-informed decisions. Finding opportunities for development outside the university research environment, perhaps through sport or other interests, is also important. Crac recommended a residential career development school to complement existing career provision.