Information for professional and technical staff

Get to know yourself

Set aside time to consider your current and previous and experiences (paid and voluntary):

  • What knowledge and skills do you have?
  • What interests you most about your current (or a past role)?
  • What activities or tasks that you have done in the past week/month have given you most satisfaction or enjoyment?
  • What would you like to do more of or less of?  

Explore your personality and strengths with some online tools:


 How to use your insight:

Is your current role a good match for you in terms of what you enjoy doing, what gives you satisfaction and your personality, strengths and career anchors? If not consider:

  • Identifying elements of your role that could perhaps be done differently or projects that you could take on, and discuss these with your line manager. They could perhaps form part of your PRDP objectives. Also see the section on this page 'Developing in your role'.
  • Reviewing job descriptions and person specifications on sites such as imperial jobs and jobs.ac.uk to identify the type of roles that you might be a better match for you. Consider signing up for job alerts.
  • Whether it is important for you to work in a particular department or organisation that matches your interests or values. Your role may be right for you but you may get more enjoyment or satisfaction if the department or organisation you work for is better aligned with your interests and values.
  • Career planning (see the 'Career Planning' section on this page.
Career planning

To plan properly you need to dedicate time and space to think. Consider setting time aside for one or more of the following:

Attending a College career planning workshop

Working through the free resources on sites such as jobs.ac.uk e.g.

Making contact with people in roles that you think might be your next step and ask to meet with them to talk about what they do in more detail

Consider opportunities for internal job shadowing and external job shadowing or a visit to another EU university or organisation to find out more about other roles and organisations.

Explore possibilities on websites such as Prospects and Reed:

College resources and support
Developing in your current role

If you enjoy your role and it is compatible with your current life circumstances you may not be looking for a change or career progression. However, there are lots of ways you can develop in your existing role:

  • Use a continuing professional development framework, such as the one offered by the Association of University Administrators (AUA), to identify areas in which you are strong and those in which you would like to develop. Talk to your line manager about developing skills and see if there are any activities or projects that you could work on
  • Connect with people in similar roles within and outside your institution to share good practice, ideas and suggestions, and to problem solve together
  • Keep up to date with the software you are using and explore additional functionality by attending training courses or undertaking e-learning
  • Attend learning and development courses to develop your knowledge and skills but also to have the opportunity to reflect on your own role and meet and share experiences with other staff members
Development opportunities

There are many ways to develop, to increase your knowledge and skills and to progress your career. As part of your annual PRDP you should identify your development needs and create a development plan. Attending training courses is important but also consider the not-so-obvious ways in which you can gain valuable information and learn about different perspectives:

External resources and support
Professional and Technical Staff Working Group

The Professional and Technical Staff Working Group (PTSWG) was established in 2016 with the aim of advising the NHLI EDI Committee on issues affecting professional and technical staff and contributing to the NHLI Athena SWAN application and action plan. PTSWG meets two to three times a year and reports to the NHLI EDI Committee