That all depends on what kind of work you're looking to go into. The reason I chose a PhD was because I wanted to work ideally in R&D. Granted, you can do this as a graduate too, but these opportunities I found were/are very few and far between. If I wanted to work as a front-line aircraft engineer for example, then obviously a PhD isn’t the way to go.
As for what companies look for specifically in their R&D people, this must vary from company to company. We get a lot of companies, not just aero, frequently visiting our group to try and recruit guys who are about to complete their PhDs, which does illustrate that some companies do appreciate the value of a research degree. Other companies like to train in-house, and run specific R&D graduate schemes. But as I said, these are thin on the ground.
But, I do believe that being industrially sponsored makes a huge difference. That way, you get to work along side your industrial counterparts on an industrial project. We have some non-sponsored students and their projects appear to lack the drive and focus that the sponsored projects seems to have.
Anyway, each to their own. Hopefully my research will lead me to the job I want. Although, as I said in another post, a mate of mine who has just finished his has been offered a job in London as an investment banker, starting on £120K a year + bonuses. Now that sounds awfully tempting
