The Academic Experience Pledge ensures that relevant skills and experience gained through PhD study, postdoctoral research, lecturing and other university-based roles are recognised fairly by employers. Its purpose is to prevent qualified academics from being overlooked simply because their experience was gained outside a traditional industry setting. All employers posting jobs on The Restless Academic must agree to the pledge and commit to assessing relevant academic experience alongside comparable industry experience.

The Academic Experience Pledge champions recognition of academic skills alongside industry expertise for more balanced recruitment.

By listing a job on The Restless Academic, the employer agrees to recognise that relevant experience gained in academia can be equivalent in value to comparable experience gained in industry.
The employer agrees that candidates will not be rejected solely because their relevant technical, analytical, research, project or professional experience was gained within an academic environment rather than a commercial or industrial organisation.

Employer Commitment

Where a role requires particular skills or experience, the employer agrees to consider evidence that those requirements have been met through relevant academic work undertaken beyond master’s degree level.

This includes, but is not limited to, experience gained through:

– A PhD programme

– Postdoctoral research

– Research fellowships

– University research projects

– Academic laboratory work

– Research engineering

– Research software development

– Teaching or supervising technical subjects

– Managing laboratories, equipment or research facilities

– Collaborative projects involving universities, businesses or public-sector organisations

– Any other relevant technical, research or project-based work undertaken in academia

Relevant academic experience may include:

– Laboratory and experimental work

– Technical report writing

– Project management

– Research planning and delivery

– Experimental design

– Data collection and analysis

– Statistical analysis

– Technical problem-solving

– Software development, coding and modelling

– Equipment operation and management

– Risk assessment and health and safety responsibilities

– Quality assurance and record keeping

– Budget, resource and deadline management

– Grant-funded project delivery

– Working with external partners and stakeholders

– Presenting technical findings

– Supervising students, researchers or technical staff

– Producing publications, reports, procedures and other technical outputs

The employer agrees to assess this experience according to its relevance, complexity, responsibility and level of competence, rather than discounting it simply because it was obtained in academia.

Where an applicant has used substantially similar skills, methods, tools or responsibilities in an academic setting, the employer agrees to consider that experience on an equivalent basis to comparable industry experience.

What this pledge does not mean

The Academic Experience Pledge does not guarantee employment, an interview, progression through a recruitment process or suitability for a particular role.

Employers remain responsible for selecting candidates based on the requirements of the position, including qualifications, competence, performance, professional standards and overall suitability.

The pledge does not prevent an employer from requiring specific industry experience where it is genuinely necessary for the role. This may include regulatory, commercial, operational, safety-critical, professional or sector-specific experience that cannot reasonably be demonstrated through academic work.

The pledge does not require an employer to treat all academic experience as automatically equivalent to industry experience. The experience must be relevant to the job and must demonstrate an appropriate level of skill, responsibility and practical application.

Fair Consideration

The purpose of this pledge is to ensure that candidates are assessed fairly and that relevant academic experience is not treated as less valuable merely because it was gained outside a traditional industry environment.

Employers agree to consider what the candidate has done, the skills they have used, the responsibilities they have held and the results they have delivered.

Academic experience is real experience.

Understanding the Pledge