Q&A with a Careers Adviser: Dr Susan Black
With extensive experience as a senior postdoctoral researcher and lecturer, Dr Susan Black provides one-to-one career support to Oxford University students, research staff, and alumni across all disciplines, with a special focus on academia, science, and public service, while also leading on psychometric assessments.
We know our advisers are experts, but there’s more to them than their professional advice. Here’s your chance to get to know Susan a little better...
Q&A with Dr Susan Black:
What’s one piece of careers advice you wish you had followed sooner?
Define what you value in your career, don’t allow yourself to be drive by someone else’s vision.
Has anyone ever taken a career path which really surprised you?
I don’t think I’m that easily surprised. My friends and family are a split between conventional and entrepreneurial and cover a wide variety of employment sectors, similarly my professional colleagues have gone in many different directions.
I’m most likely to be surprised when someone selects a career pathway that does not align well with their strengths and natural aptitudes at all. Early in my career I supervised a very talented student, gifted in computational tasks but with little aptitude for wet-lab work. The physicality, dexterity and monotony combined with the need for very close attention to detail over what can be exhausting time periods is not a skill set that suits everyone. They elected a wet-lab PhD opportunity, I really worried they were setting themselves up for heartache but admired the drive. I hope they are doing well.
What’s your one top tip for career planning?
Take time to figure out what a successful career means/looks like for you, or you’ll be chasing someone else’s vision. While you are figuring that out, if you don’t know where you are going, any road is a good one. Focus on the next step giving you more choice and more options and something new to showcase.
Is there a career myth you wish more people knew was untrue?
I have two answers for this. Firstly, "everyone has it all figured out". Most people don’t and that’s ok, there is not one thing you were meant to do. There is a wonderful phrase ‘planned happenstance’ that I love, plan, prepare but be open and aware of the opportunities that come your way.
Secondly, "you need more formal education to switch careers". It's very often not case, in our environment we value education and training. But its costly both financially and in terms of time, try other approaches first.
Have you ever had a mentor who shaped your career? What did they teach you?
I have only had formal mentors very recently. In the past I received advice, solicited and otherwise from professionals around me. Ash Lamb summarised it really well, most careers advice is good advice but advice without context is useless. Only take guidance from those who share your definition of "good," or you’ll be chasing someone else’s version of excellence.
What’s something you wish more people knew about the Careers Service?
It’s full of people that care deeply about providing a world class service for our students, alumni and research staff. Every single member of the entire team, not just our careers advisers are bought into our team mission. That’s part of what makes us so excellent at what we do.
What’s your favourite time of year to be working in Oxford/at the Careers Service?
Early spring, there are so many beautiful Magnolias that flower, they are a welcome sight as we come out of winter. From a work perspective, summer as this is when we create lots of new and exciting offerings for our students’ research staff and alumni.
What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned from working at the Careers Service?
Move, start, try, do, jump in and get going. Not fearing failure.
In my first week our director walked past my desk and jokingly asked me why I was still in the office, the research staff aren’t here. That moment jump started a campaign that has seen us deliver hundreds of events in departments and colleges and saw our engagement with the careers service rise among our fixed term researcher staff here at Oxford. Our culture is one where we support, inspire and challenge each other to achieve, to get better. Creativity, exploration and taking risks are encouraged. If it doesn’t work, we learn, pivot and try again.
Which is the most rewarding part of your role?
This one is easy. We are so privileged to be trusted at what is often a time when people are feeling vulnerable and I get to be there to coach, support, advise, loan out my enthusiasm and hopefulness, and be their biggest cheerleader. Sharing the joys of successes with our students, research staff and alumni is very rewarding. That might be landing the job they’ve been chasing, seeing someone for the last time knowing they can confidently navigate themselves in their careers, or helping someone tackle a sticky issue or difficult problem.
How do you stay motivated and celebrate your job?
I find my work very energising and I get to celebrate with the people I see often so this is not something I struggle with. I do keep all the wonderful emails I get sent full gratitude and thanks from people I’ve worked with because they are just lovely to receive, I read them and remember the people very fondly.
What do you do to recharge after a busy/stressful day?
I’m fortunate in that I feel that I gain a lot of energy from this work but at home I love pottery, it focuses my attention in the present, plants -I love watching things germinate and grow, and weightlifting, it’s about getting consistently better and competing only with yourself.
Do you have a book or podcast which has influenced your professional outlook?
I’m a newsletter person, James Clear and Ash Lamb are my current favourites. They influence my outlook holistically but I am very invested in my professional life so there is definitely carry over! I’m a big fan of Esther Perel - 'Where should we begin' and 'How's Work?' are both excellent. Relationships are the foundation of everything both in our private and professional lives, she is very insightful and practical, I learn so much from these episodes.
I also dip in and out of ‘Happen to your Career’, ‘Repurpose your career’ and ‘Switch, Pivot or Quit’. I discovered these while I was wrestling with the knowledge that a career as an academic was not quite the right for me at that time.
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Our specialist careers advisers come from a variety of professional backgrounds, including teaching, R&D, banking, publishing, and law. All of them, including Susan Black, are equipped to help you with any career-related issue you might have.
