Advice on completing your profile

We've tried to make the form that you need to complete for your profile as simple as possible, but it's worth reading this page to ensure that you complete your profile as best as you can. If you click on the pdf icon on this page you can see this page as a pdf that you can save and print. Or you can click on the printer icon to print this page directly.

Before entering your data...

It really is a good idea to browse some of the profiles already on the site. Try to look at them as if you were looking for someone to teach on a particular course. What do you think works - and what doesn't? For example, you should remember that potential employers are likely to search using keywords so try to include those (as long as they are true for you!). So, if you are expert in Kantian philosophy, it is better to have 'Kant' rather than 'Kantian' to ensure that your profile would be found in such a search.

The registration form: step-by-step

First, check out the icons used in the form: Required field | Field visible on your profile | Field not visible on profile | Information: Point mouse to icon

The information icon provides a short summary for each field that should help you completing the form.

Name

You should enter the name that you want used when you are contacted. You may prefer not to give your first name and simply use your initials and that's fine.

Email

Enter the email that you want to use for communication. It should be an email that you check regularly as potential employers may well email a number of people. They are often under time pressure to fill a role so if you send a return email a week later you may find that the teaching opportunity has already gone.

Username

You need to create a username using any of the characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9. Your username is case-sensitive so you need to remember it exactly as you type it.

Password

The same is true of the Password as for the Username.

Institution

Select your institution from the drop-down menu. Right now, we are only taking registrations from the Bloomsbury Colleges while we pilot the site, but we hope to expand it to other institutions soon. If you have completed your doctorate and are not currently registered or working at an Institution, please select the Institution where you carried out your doctoral studies.

Primary/secondary discipline

Think of this as 'departments' such as: Psychology; Education; Art History; Philosophy; Geography; Chemistry etc rather than trying to indicate your specialism. You will indicate specialisms later on, but this section is useful for Heads of Departments who might want to browse people in their discipline.

Current position

If you are employed as research staff, give your job title. If you are a doctoral student, you can indicate what kind of doctorate (e.g. PhD, EdD etc) or simply state 'research student'. If you have submitted your doctorate, you can enter 'Completed doctorate' or something similar.

Doctoral status

Simply select the most appropriate from the drop-down menu.

HE Qualifications

Give details of your degrees, e.g. BA/BSc and Masters. You can indicate date of award and the institution if you wish.

Previous teaching experience

This field requires some thought. Potential employers may search using this field to identify people with previous experience as a 'lecturer' or say using a computer package such as 'Excel'. However, they are also likely to read this section if they look at your profile so make sure it is easy to read.

Teaching qualifications

Teaching qualifications are becoming increasingly important. You may have attended a half-day, all-day or multiple day training session on an aspect of teaching or may even have a formal teaching qualification such as a PGCHE. Most institutions will offer training for teaching at Higher Education level so do ask the appropriate person at your institution if you would like to do such training.

Areas of teaching expertise

Another field that is very important. Here, you can identify what you can offer. For example, you may be very good at statistics and be able to teach a particular statistics package. You may have expertise in continental philosophy so it's worth listing the philosophers who you would be comfortable talking about.

Teaching type sought

Simply click on the options for which you wish to be considered. However, bear in mind that if you have just started doctoral study that it's unlikely that you will be asked to provide postgraduate supervision.

Any other information

This field is available so you can include anything that doesn't fit in any of the other categories. In particular, if you have any professional experience that is relevant, it is good to put it here. You might want to list details of conference papers that you have delivered.

After completing the form

Don't forget that you will need to update your details at least once per year as you gain more experiences and expertise.