Case studies : University lecturer: Catherine

Catherine followed her degree in History with an MA in Religious and Social History and a PhD in 'Colonial Early Modern England'. After several part-time jobs she now looks forward to developing the American History provision at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Catherine started her academic career in the History Department at Warwick University. She followed her degree with an MA in Religious and Social History. Then she researched ‘Colonial Early Modern England’ for her PhD.

‘After my PhD I began looking for an academic post but opportunities to teach in my area of history were few,’ says Catherine. ‘It took three years and 50 applications to get my present job as the American History specialist at Manchester Metropolitan University.’

I developed a portfolio career to keep me afloat financially. The department at Warwick was supportive and gave me the opportunity to teach North American History. I lectured the second year course in Colonial Social History, sometimes on an hourly basis and sometimes on a temporary contract. I also helped with the history provision in the adult education open studies centre. My teaching skills were developed by completing the Warwick Teaching Certificate which leads to Associateship of the Academic Academy.

Another part-time job was as a marketing assistant at jobs.ac.uk. I attended conferences for them and wrote articles for their site. My job seeking started with a scatter gun approach and became more focused with time. Only four or five jobs a year came up that were really what I wanted, but eventually my persistence paid off and I look forward to developing the American History provision at Manchester Metropolitan University.’