I completed my Phd 5 months ago and I left university to return to my home country. I was an associate lecturer and now I am converting my PhD into articles with my supervisor. The problem is that my working experience stopped 5 months ago and this does not look good for employers/universities. Is there a way to include in my working experience the fact that I am still working with my supervisor in order to produce papers for the university? Can I write that I am a Research Fellow or something else?
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2(1) I am not clear about i am converting my phd in articles with my supervisor Are you writing a paper based on your PhD thesis with your supervisor? (2) What do you mean by my working experience stopped 5 months before? Do you count the time you spent at the university where you completed your PhD as working experience? (3) Would you clarify what associate lecturer is? Is it equivalent to Teaching Assistant?– NobodyCommented Jun 2, 2016 at 9:47
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Welcome to Academia.SE. I have edited your question to remove some of the extra "fluff" to make the important information stand out, in line with the conventions here. (You are free to undo these edits, but they should hopefully help you to get a constructive response)– user2390246Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 9:50
1 Answer
Talk to your supervisor about how to formalize this role.
Most likely you can get an honorary contract or something similar, which will give you an official affiliation with the university that you can put on your CV.
Besides putting it on your CV, it will also allow you to use the university affiliation when publishing.
The only barrier I see to this would be visa issues, if you no longer have a right to work or study in the country of the university. I'm not sure the impact on an unpaid position, but it's possible that this would prevent an honorary contract. In that case, simply put something less formalized like "collaboration with X on articles based on PhD thesis" I don't think it will cause much of a problem.
Potential employers are worried about gaps where you are doing nothing; as long as you can show you are academically active, even if not in a formal role, I don't think you have to worry.