One of the biggest stumbling blocks many PhDs seem to face when seriously considering a non-academic path is the fear that they will find themselves in a position that they could have gotten without a PhD. This is a prime example of what I’ve dubbed the “bragability factor” which is an insidious influence on the decision-making capabilities of exceptionally smart people.

Definition of the “bragability factor”: the pressure experienced by people who’ve shown great potential to always be progressing in a manner befitting of what everyone expects of them. Left unchecked, it is the fear of not maintaining this “bragability quotient” that can lead to “imposter syndrome”. This is an unfortunate ailment that seems to plague the very people deemed least likely to suffer from such insecurities.

For a successful new academic considering non-academic options, there is a tacit imperative to maintain their “bragability quotient” at least at the level they established while doing their PhD. This is where they scored the big research awards and enjoyed a certain degree of publishing success. However, without any directly relevant experience in a field outside their own academic program, it is quite possible that their first job might feel more like a demotion than an opportunity.

What is required is a reframing of the situation, which is provided compliments of Basalla and Debeluis. They point out that an initial job in a new field should be thought of as more of a paid internship, rather than on par with a tenure-track position. Regardless of your intelligence or your potential, you will need time to learn the ropes. And it is quite possible that at this stage you could be working in tandem with colleagues similar to your students. But think about it from Basalla & Debeluis’s perspective – how hard would it be for you to outshine any of your students in an otherwise equal playing field? After taking the time to acclimatize to your new context, and to demonstrate your abilities to your new employers, it will not take long for you to catapult quite impressively into your new field.

If you are starting a non-academic job, you can ensure that you progress as quickly as possible by requesting regular performance reviews every three months during your first year, with the possibility of promotion and/or salary increase should these be favourable. But do keep in mind that this may not be common practice at every company. However, if they are offering you a position, they will be anxious for you to accept: you are the one they want, and that gives you some negotiation power. In most cases, they will want to ensure you stay with the organization for the long term, so they will be as anxious as you are to pass through the training stage as quickly as possible.

Leaving academe can be a daunting prospect but, as many PhDs will attest, rewarding in the long term. Try not to let the fear of a short term plateau in your path dissuade you from pursuing an otherwise attractive option. You will discover how good you really are relative to the general population once you get established, and by then, a few months in “internship” mode won’t seem so significant.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a piece on ensuring the quality of your reference letters when you’re applying for academic positions. This week I’d like to address the issue of asking for references when you are applying outside academe. This can be a difficult process for both you and your referees – particularly if neither of you have much or any experience in the non-academic workforce.

Unlike academe, non-academic job references are usually given over the phone. Typically, the applicant will be asked to provide at least two references, usually after the first, or in some cases second, interview. Here are a few tips that can help you select and prepare your referees so they can provide the strongest support possible.

• Do your research – Make sure you research the organization to which you are applying – their mandate, priorities and reputation. Also, make sure you thoroughly read the posting for which you are applying in terms of the job functions and how these converge with the qualifications required. This will help you identify who can best speak on your behalf.
• Select your referees strategically – The strongest referees can speak specifically and positively about how well-suited you are for a given position. While your committee members may be most familiar with your recent research activities, you will need to decide whether they can adequately discuss other capabilities you have that may be relevant. If not, it would be prudent to cull appropriate referees from outside academe to help round out your list of references. If that’s not realistic, consider asking a faculty member or university administrator who can speak about your non-research activities. Here are a few questions to keep in mind as you select your referees:
• How supportive is this person of my decision to leave academe?
• Is this person knowledgeable about the position/field/organization to which I am applying?
• Can this person be easily understood on the telephone?
• Will this person be readily available to do phone interviews?
• Support your referees during the process – This point is the same for non-academic job searches as for academic ones. Ensure you provide your referees with the details of the position as well as copies of your CV or resumé. It can be helpful to write down specific aspects of your research activities, knowledge or skills that are most closely related to each position. It is also courteous to keep your referees updated on your progress.

Recognizing the differences between academic and non-academic recruitment processes will help you not only identify who would be best able to describe your strengths to a prospective employer, but ensure they have the information and support they need to do so.

A reader sent me a link to an article recently published by his supervisor, Jonathan Sterne, in the Journal of Communication Critical/Cultural Studies, “The Pedagogy of the Job Market” (6: 4, 421 – 424). This article should be required reading for all graduate supervisors.

His main point is the status of the academic job market in general is not a holy quest nor is a tenured position in a large research university the Holy Grail of academe (my metaphor). He goes on to offer seven principles to realign the position of the academic job market in graduate education and admonishes graduate supervisors for perpetuating this myth. He calls on them to be as critical of their own occupational environments as they are of any other human institution.

This last point of Sterne’s is the closest I have ever heard an academic admit that this profession has a dysfunctional relationship with the term ‘career’ even when it refers to their own – some might say ‘especially’ here.

As a person who has spent more than 20 years in a university setting – 12 years in grad school (MA, ABD and PhD in progress) and 12 years in a university career centre, I have frequently run head-on into the unacknowledged prejudice of all-things-career-related which seems to permeate academe.

I have to be very careful how I introduce myself, or how I describe my background when I speak to academics, because as soon as I use the ‘c’ word, I can see the blinders go on, the frozen stare that says “I’m pretending to listen – but I’ve already made up my mind” and then they quickly change the topic. There is no glimmer of intellectual curiosity, no spark of recognition in a shared sphere of professional interest; nothing to suggest that anything someone for the ‘career’ centre could be involved in might in anyway be relevant to academe at all. In fact there are more than a few professors who would be much happier if career centres simply disassociated from universities altogether. Honestly, I’m not overstating this (too much).

At first I was just plain offended. But it happens so predictably that I’ve come to accept it as one of the great idiosyncrasies of universities. They will unabashedly recruit students by the thousands with allusions to high-status careers, but once said recruits arrive, they are fed misinformation, or no information about the likelihood of realizing their career dreams. To insert any connection between course content and it’s relevancy outside the ivory tower is unilaterally avoided.

Many professors aren’t at all sure where their universities’ career centres are, let alone, what they can do for students. I’m constantly astounded how out of touch faculty members are at universities across the country when it comes to understanding the roles of career centres their own campuses.

Historically, career centres were ‘placement centres’ and were essentially branches of the Department of Labour with the primary task of helping war veterans reintegrate to the workforce after upgrading their educations at university. But that was over half a century ago, and things have changed no less radically in career centres than in the rest of society during that time.

Here is my challenge: if you haven’t yet, seek out your university career centre – online and physically. Feel free to ask them about their philosophy of career development and how that impacts their practice. You may well find their programs and services to be much more grounded in theory and research than you ever suspected.

In the meantime, share Jonathan Sterne’s homepage with grad student who don’t have quite as enlightened supervisors as he obviously is. Thank you Jeremy for sharing Sterne’s article with me – I hope you appreciate how lucky you are!

Happy New Years folks!

I hope you all had a relaxing break. I, unfortunately, spent a good chunk of my holidays writing a paper – sound familiar?

I’ve been reading all sorts of synopses of 2009, and they all seem focused on the gloom and doom of the economic downturn (or ‘crisis’ if you are in the States). Of course, those of you in the job market, or about to be, know all about that.

It seems unproductive to start this New Year with the emotional baggage of its less than stellar predecessor. Instead, I’ve been trying to think up ways to re-frame things to focus more on what opportunities may now be more realistic, even preferable to attempting to find a tenure track position this year. Here’s what I came up with:

1. Taking another year to finish your dissertation at a more leisurely pace. Many Ivy League universities are actually facilitating this option with innovative funding options like internship and bursaries. Talk to your dean and/or supervisor about this – imagine, not panicking at bedtime!
2. Conference with abandon rather than worrying about finishing the dissertation in a few months! Go to fun places, but concentrate your energies on papers that have publishing potential so when the academic job market eases up, you’ll be more competitive than ever.
3. Take a ‘gap year’. I know these are something younger students are encouraged to do, but if you think about, many grad students would benefit from having a year away from academe to reconsider their options, while exploring new ones. Of course there is the financial aspect, but if you don’t have a family to feed, it might be one of the last times you be able to hit the high road just because!
4. If getting away from academe for a year is unrealistic in your situation, at least take some time to seriously investigate your non-academic options – preferably with the support of a career counselor or advisor experienced with grad students. That way if things don’t improve quickly enough for you, you will have an idea of what your next steps might be.
5. Learning a potentially useful, or at least fun, skill. This diversionary tactic could open your eyes to a whole aspect of yourself you had forgotten about, or never knew existed. You will be surprised how much you enjoy doing something, anything, that does not involve research, or academic writing. It can be downright invigorating if not enlightening!

There will be so many incredibly well prepared candidates who will be struggling during this time period, that your ‘unconventional’ academic timeline will hardly be the anomaly that it might have been in the past.

At the very least, having a little time to reflect on where you’ve been, and where you’re going may well make your next steps more clear. Now doesn’t that sound like a good way to start a new year!

Have you been watching the videos that have been posted from this year’s Career Corner at Congress? For those of you who didn’t make it to Ottawa, this is your chance to see and hear from some of the experts in academic career issues who spoke this year.

The other day, I was listening to David Ainsworth’s talk on career in the United Nations for PhDs. He’s quite a good speaker, and his talk is full of useful advice for PhDs longing for a career in this field. In the first clip of this talk, “Does my graduate degree matter?” Ainsworth emphasizes the need to carefully select the subject of one’s thesis. Hmmm – strategic thesis choosing – now there’s a Pandora’s Box of possibilities. (Text continues below)

At a time when there so much dissention over the status of tenure in the university system, and the supposed protection it affords scholars from the infiltration of market influences and other agendas on the ‘pure’ pursuit of knowledge, Ainsworth’s comment bears a second take. He promotes a pragmatic approach: “Designing your thesis on a topic of relevancy to a particular agency” [is a good way to prepare for a career in the UN].

But, one wonders, what if the premise or the findings of said research are critical of the UN mandate? Perhaps what is really being promoted is not so much expert knowledge of a relevant topic but also a diplomatic avoidance of irritating one’s future employer. All of a sudden pragmatism is sounding a little more sinister.

Of course, it could be argued, one is unlikely to want to work for an organization with skeletons in the proverbial boardroom, but that begs the question. It also runs far from of the point Ainsworth was trying to make. But nonetheless it deserves consideration, particularly in a hostile job market.

If you want to make sure you can transition out of academic reasonably seamlessly, either by choice or necessity, it would seem reasonable to suggest that having expertise in relevant areas would get you farther than the converse. Even in academe, some dissertation topics can be more desirable or less impressive than others under the scrutiny of selection committees.

It seems to be more a question of degree rather than of absolutes. How far can you let the priorities of your desired job market (academic or not) preside over your dissertation research before you cross the line dividing pragmatism from ingratiation?

How about you? If you knew that a particular topic was more likely to be viewed favourably by a prospective employer – academic or alternative – would you feel justified in pursuing that topic even if you really would have preferred a different direction, methodology, or emphasis?

I came across an excellent video I thought I’d send your way this week. It’s a talk the Susan Basalla gave at Syracuse University on getting ready for the many options you can explore with a graduate degree.

Basalla, along with Maggie Debelius wrote “So What Are You Going to Do With That?: A Guide for M.A.’s and PhD’s Seeking Careers Outside the Academy”. This is a ‘must read’ for anyone considering ‘expanded options’ outside academe. It’s based on two years of research and hundreds of interviews with students, faculty and administrators.

Her video lasts over an hour but I thought I’d give you my comments on her 5 ‘don’ts’ to give you the gist of her approach.

• Don’t mistake your dissertation for your greatest accomplishment – Most of the value of your dissertation outside of academe will come from the skills and qualities you used throughout the process of writing it, not from the content or final product. Remember that when writing your résumé.
• Don’t depend on classified ads – Job searching in the knowledge economy outside academe is a radically different dynamic than inside where postings are de rigueur. People will always hire someone they know or who has been recommended to them before sifting through hundreds of résumés (if they have a choice in the matter) – wouldn’t you?
• Don’t underestimate the value of your non-academic pursuits – In spite of the pressure you will feel to ‘finish in a timely manner’ don’t forget what you care about outside academe. When you are finished, you will be saner if you have had an outlet to remember who you are when you are not being ‘an academic’. You will also be surprised at how often those ‘irrelevant’ activities end up launching you in a terrific career direction – read Basalla’s book for many examples of this.
• Don’t be afraid to start at entry level – especially if you have little or no experience. Learn the ropes, prove yourself and then get ready to catapult. Heck – you’ve been living off of TAships and maybe a scholarship or two for years – at least you’ll be making more than that while you go through this phase. Believe me, things move a LOT more quickly in the private sector – and no one will ask you to write a book to get promoted!
• Don’t try to figure it all out at once – Basalla suggests 3 month windows to reach achievable milestones. Makes sense especially if you are still writing. If you are already in the process of severing the bonds with academe, you may need to get a short term job to pay the bills while you start transitioning. Don’t panic, this is a strategic and temporary state of affairs. You are starting down a path you’ve never seen before. Give yourself a chance to let things unfold. You don’t know how good you are yet, and once you realize this you will wonder what kept you inside the ivory tower for so long.

I’m going to switch gears a bit this week, based on a conversation I overheard recently between a TA and an undergrad, who was one of her students. The TA had been talking about Congress and the value of academic associations in learning more about a field of study, and the student mentioned that she belonged to the student chapter of the professional association for human resources managers.

The TA expressed surprise that there was that sort of resource outside the traditional professions: doctors, lawyers, and teachers. That’s when I realized that many PhDs, although otherwise more knowledgeable than most people about many topics, generally have little knowledge of the world of work outside of academe. So I thought this week I’d introduce the wonderful world of professional associations to those of you interested in exploring non-academic career paths.

Professional associations exist for almost any occupation you can imagine. The 2009 edition of Associations Canada, a directory of national, provincial and regional associations, registered charities, nonprofits, has over 20,000 entries. Just like in academe, what associations do, and how they do it varies quite widely. But for the most part, all professional associations have the same core mandate: to provide a common source information exchange, professional development and networking opportunities for its members. Some associations also have a regulatory function as well and oversee the standards, designations and education of people publicly representing that association.

As mentioned, some associations have student chapters to provide opportunities for people not yet practicing in a field. Some also host panel discussions and guest speakers which are occasionally open to the public. Many associations also provide targeted job postings to their members, which employers in the field appreciate because it minimizes the amount of inappropriate applications they receive compared with more publicly available sites.

I remember considering a career in technical writing at one point so I attended a presentation hosted by the Society for Technical Communication just to listen to what was considered innovative and interesting in that field. I learned a lot that evening about the types of people in the field, common issues and trends, and got a good sense of whether this was a direction I would be interested in pursuing further. Clearly I was not, and that evening was pivotal in me making that decision by providing a level of insight that I never would have had access to otherwise.

If you are interested in doing a little shopping around for possible career alternatives, or have a career goal, but have no contacts in that field, going through lists of professional associations can be a good place to start. Your can check out your university career centre for the Associations Canada directory – it’s a standard resource. You can also browse through the list of national professional organizations listed on the Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials site. 

By using all those data collecting skills you’ve acquired over the years, you’ll be able to gather a remarkable amount of information and resources in very little time and get a point of reference even in fields where you have no history or contacts.

I’ve been attending a few sessions by various governmental departments recently, and I’m struck by the change a couple of years can make. One of the few employers that actually pay higher salaries to employees with higher education, the federal government seems to finally be acknowledging that graduate students, across a broad range of fields, have valuable contributions to make to Canadian society, and is developing programs and career paths to attract them to public service.

A few of these opportunities for graduate students in the government have crossed my desk, so I thought I’d pass them on to all of you.

The first one is the Fall 2009 Recruitment of Policy Leaders (RPL). This is open to Master’s and Doctoral level students who “want to make a contribution to public service after a proven record of success” while demonstrating ‘exceptional’ leadership skills in both academic and volunteer contexts.

They seem to be most interested in folks graduating December 2010 with policy interests in economic, political, legal, social, or scientific fields.

The submission deadline is coming up fast – October 19^th, 2009. If you want to know more, check out the site: http://jobs-emplois.gc.ca/index-eng.htm.

Another rather interesting opportunity ties graduate-level research through a collaboration between the Public Service Commission and the Canada School of Public Service - the area that is responsible for the development of public servants. It’s called the Students Providing Aligned Research and Knowledge (SPARK) — I’m not kidding.

It provides a mechanism for connecting graduate-level research projects directly with government departments that would be interested in the research findings. Unlike most initiatives at the federal level, this one is available to both domestic and international students.

You conduct research at your home institution, although you may need to present your findings to the sponsoring organization, in which case all travel and associated costs would be covered. You must have a professor interested in supervising the research. And you will be paid throughout the project – the amount depends on the project. Projects currently available are posted on the Research Affiliate Program (RAP) – and as new projects become available they also will be posted. Look for those projects identified as SPARK program projects.

While you’re on the Public Service Commission site, look around. There’s a lot of information there that might be interesting for those of you looking for an alternative to a viable academic career. At least those years dealing with university bureaucracies will come in handy for something!

I recently had this article brought to my attention. It’s about the ‘problem’ of master’s students (specifically in sociology) going out on a job search. One of the issues raised by the author, Scott Jaschick (one that’s equally applicable to many liberal-arts disciplines)  is the difficulty non-academics have understanding the relevance of the discipline outside the university.

Interestingly, Jaschick cites economics as a field much more transparent to outsiders than sociology. That certainly has not been my experience in the 12 years or so I have worked in a career services centre.  He attributes to Roberta Spalter-Roth,  head of research for the American Sociological Association, the rather contentious claim that “part of the problem is one of semantics, combined with the reality that many career services offices don’t know as much as would be desirable about sociology.”

Unfortunately neither Jaschik nor Spalter-Roth seem inclined to back up this statement with proof.  Nor do they adequately acknowledge the logic that that if people outside the field don’t understand the career relevancy of what it takes to earn a degree in that field, then what we have is a failure to disseminate the information rather than failure to understand it.

Over the years I have spent advising graduates from sociology, economics and virtually everything else, one observation is excruciatingly clear:  students themselves are no more aware of the breadth and depth of the skills and knowledge they have acquired at university than anyone outside their discipline.  No wonder so many balk at the job search – it’s hard to argue that you are ready, willing and able to make a meaningful contribution to the world if you have no idea what you have to offer.

If, as Jaschik’s article seems to indicate, academe is moving to a two-pronged system, offering degree paths in both academic and non-academic tracks, then universities will have to change the way they talk about their programs.  Not only must they sufficiently articulate the value of the latter outside academic fields but also they need to disseminate this information aggressively – to the public that is funding their existence and to the thousands of graduate and undergraduate students who seem to be haplessly wandering through halls of academe with no clear understanding of what will be of significance once they leave.

This is something to keep in mind if you are considering a non-academic career path. If you don’t make the value of your abilities and aptitudes explicit in qualitative terms, it is unlikely any employer will a have an accurate idea of what contribution you can make because of your academic background, not in spite of it.

‘Tis recruitment season, and with the economy leveling out after the plunge, and all indicators suggesting a bullish 2010, employers are loosening their purse strings for new hires.

If you are graduating from a master’s or doctoral program this year, and aren’t too interested in spending anymore time in academe (I know you’re reading this!), then there are a few opportunities you might want to take a closer look at. As they cross my desk I’ll post them to make them easier to find.

Remember, it’s the bigger, national organizations that have recruitment ‘seasons’ where they hire a lot of entry level people all at once. Most employers in Canada have under 50 employees, so they hire throughout the year as people leave, get promoted, or new projects open up.

Bank of Canada – Offers full-time positions to graduates who would be interested in conducting leading-edge research at Canada’s central bank and, in so doing, contribute to the economic and financial well-being of the country. The Bank will be hiring graduates in economics and finance at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels.

The application deadlines are:

October 7^th, 2009 – bachelor’s graduates,
October 13^th 2009 – master’s graduates, and
November 15^th 2009 – doctoral graduates

Students can apply online and find more information about the Bank on their website at http://www.bankofcanada.ca/.

More details are available through the following links:

* Information about the Bank’s priorities and work environment
http:// http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/hr/great.html

* Highlights of our compensation package
http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/hr/compensation.html

Don’t forget, whether you are looking for a faculty position, or an academic administrative position (e.g. Dean, Provost) you can sign up for your own personal Job Alert through University Affairs. This is the easy way to make sure you don’t miss out on any opportunities because you just got too swamped to keep checking the postings.

I was reading Sabine Hikels’s excellent blog Leaving Academia the other day, and noticed her July 15th post entitled ‘The MA versus the PhD’. It’s worth a read – in fact, the whole blog is worth subscribing to. In this post, the pros and cons of a terminal MA are discussed. She quotes a 2002 StatCan report that found that MAs earned an average of 33 per cent more than BAs, but PhDs earned only eight per cent more than MAs. Keep in mind that these are stats, and refer only to the elusive ‘norm’. I’m sure that once these numbers gets broken down into professional fields and academic disciplines, the picture gets much murkier.

But it does point to an interesting paradox in our knowledge-addicted society. We strongly believe innovation and creativity are intrinsic to our future well being. That’s why we admire smart people – after all, really smart people are kinda hard to overlook. We will spend ridiculous amounts of time and money ‘upgrading’ our kids’ education to give them a competitive edge in whatever opportunities we hope lie ahead. We think spending tax dollars on ensuring equal access to university is a good thing. We brag about our kids’ academic achievements. As employers, we hold a BA as a rite of passage into most decent entry-level positions. An MA is increasingly taking the place of a BA in terms of the job market in some fields like business and social work. But once we get to the PhD, everything changes.

A PhD in the non-academic job market is often viewed at the same level as a refugee – someone who needed to escape or was forced out of their homeland and now needs to start over. There can be a little bit of suspicion about why they didn’t or couldn’t make it as a professor. There is also that old stereotype about smart people – that they are socially maladaptive or do anything useful in the real world.

Unfortunately, it’s that last one that does the most damage to PhDs. Not because it is so common anymore – it’s not really. It’s that ultimately, we tend believe that it is true – that we can’t really do anything well if we haven’t accrued years of experience. This is one of the unpleasant side effects of spending so long in an environment where our expertise is so often and deeply questioned and tested.

I think we are less than a generation away from a radical reduction in the tendency to question the value of a PhD in our society, not just our universities, especially in Canada where such a large proportion of our society now earns a university degree at some level. But until then, any graduating PhD would probably benefit from some career support around re-articulating their academic experiences in non-academic terms.

It is undoubtedly true that expertise requires time to develop, both inside and outside academic workplaces. But in the non-academic world, the individual characteristics and demonstrated abilities of a person are usually much more significant than what they happen to know at the moment of hiring. Ultimately, this is true in academe as well, but rarely acknowledged. The difference between a lengthy CV and a succinct resume illustrates this well.

Both PhDs and employers need to stop and reconsider which stereotypes are influencing their reluctance to understand each other better. Why do so few employers have specialized fast-track career paths for PhDs entering their fields? Why do so few PhDs believe that non-academic careers can be just as stimulating and in many cases more lucrative than academic jobs? Why are we still reading articles wondering about the relevancy of a PhD in a knowledge-based economy?

Ah, the lazy days of summer. While the rest of the world is slowing down a notch, socializing more and planning vacations, PhDs nearing the end of their degrees are deep in, what is for many, the most stressful summer of their lives.

Whether you are about to defend your thesis or have just experienced that happy event, it’s hard to forget that looming ahead of you are months of rigorous job searching. It’s a good time to sit down with the people closest to you and really clarify the parameters of what you are and are not willing to do to stay in academe. Pick up a sessional contract or two – but for how long? Would you leave the country for a temporary contract? What about a tenure track position? How about leaving the continent – would you have to end a relationship to do that?

These are life-altering decisions, and can involve relatively unpleasant conversations at a time when there is already a lot of stress and uncertainty in your life. But it is useful to have your non-negotiables sorted out before you start sending off application packages – especially in this economy.

So no matter how much is on your plate right now, pick an evening – or a couple – and get together with people who support you and have a vested interest in your happiness to have dinner and talk through the issues that are weighing most heavily on you. Get their objective feedback, but don’t shy away from the non-objective opinions – they are sometimes the ones that make the most difference in the long run.  Repeat this process as necessary to get to that place where you know what you are really willing to consider once you are on the market.

Then, and only then, will you be able to realistically assess the suitability of the postings you see so you aren’t desperately applying for anything regardless of how it flies in the face of your values and priorities. Many very unhappy academics have done just that, feeling like there was no other choice. They were wrong – there are literally thousands of non-academic possibilities that would provide a standard of living and quality of professional satisfaction that far exceeds any so-so academic position.

If you are committed to an academic career, now is the time to start getting ready for the fall hiring season. Read over the links below, get advice from your committee and university career centre, update your CV, and go shopping for “interview” clothes. Some of you will land up with a job offer, and a few of you will be lucky enough to find a terrific position in a terrific university. By all means, give it your best shot, but be honest with yourself all the while as to how far you are ready to pursue this path before you go on to seek greener pastures.  Bonne chance!

Getting Ready for an Academic Job Search – University of Michigan
Getting Ready for an Academic Job Search – University of Windsor
Building a Network – University of Pennsylvania
The Hiring Process form the Other Side – UC Berkeley

I couldn’t help but notice that some disciplines are much better than others when it comes to demonstrating what their alumni do after graduation. In my opinion, philosophy is, undoubtedly, the leader in this regard.

Maybe it’s because in the neo-liberal university there are so few tenure track positions in philosophy that there is simply no point in pretending otherwise. Afterall, philosophy students aren’t exactly motivated by avarice. Many have been largely written off by friends and family as being so “out of touch” with the real world, that pursuing a grad degree seems to fit, in a quirky sort of way.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not philosophy-bashing. I spent years trying to convince want-to-be lawyers that courses in philosophy would be much more valuable to them on the bench than Law and Society. In fact my daughter is writing her MA thesis in Philosophy and Gender this summer – and she’s one of the most interesting and socially adept people I know, obvious bias aside, of course!

In fact it was she who forwarded me this link which got me thinking about this in the first place. It’s ironic that in holding philosophy up as the quintessential “nerd” field in academe, people writing on the subject have collectively amassed more examples and information about what philosophy graduates end up doing than any other field I know.

Ephilosopher is another example of this discipline refusing to softly into the good night of academic oblivion. I just wish other disciplines took note of what it is philosophy is doing so well and followed suit. Rather than suggesting we cap enrollment to PhD programs, perhaps we should be taking a look at the value of nuanced and flexible thinkers in many areas of today’s world. Again, philosophy comes near the top.

I wanted to draw your attention to a recent post on the Inside Higher Ed website that explores, quite  accurately I think, many of the issues PhDs face when they are forced to leave academe rather then when they choose to leave.

The author, Christine Kelly, identities six fears that hold people back from taking the initiative to move ahead and seek out career alternatives with an open mind and positive attitude. This posting should be required reading for anyone in this situation, which in today’s economy applies to just about every grad student in North America.

I want to emphasize one of Kelly’s points:

If you feel like you are being pushed out of the ivory tower, rather than choosing to leave, this process may be very difficult for you. You probably feel anger, betrayal, and rejection by the system you believed in. You need to address these issues and examine any false beliefs that might be preventing you from being fully present in your non-academic job search.

Don’t skip this part under the mistaken assumption that feelings don’t count, or that your top priority is just to “get a job.” You do need to address what you are feeling before you will be able to shift gears successfully.

One of the most difficult situations I face as a graduate student adviser is helping doctoral candidates through this process because the flood of negative emotions you can experience by being forced out of your chosen vocation will make everything seem worthless and hopeless. These emotions will abate in time, but until they do, your ability to assess your options and priorities will be severely hampered.

This is why you need people around you who can help offer alternative perspectives to those you can come up with on your own at this time. Like just about everything else in academe, the career exploration process will be much less traumatic, and ultimately more successful if you build a community of support around yourself. Your mentors and advisers, people who have encouraged you along the way, friends and family are all good places to start. But at some point, you will probably need to find people with knowledge of fields and positions you want to explore.

It may come as a surprise, but the job search process is actually something you will find you are quite skilled at because it utilizes essentially the same skills used when conducting primary research.

Skills in academic research …	... Translate to these career exploration activities
Seeking out and interviewing informants	Networking and conducting informational interviews
Compiling and analyzing the data you've collected	Developing a career plan
Extrapolating a hypothesis out of said data	Creating a career objective - I can make a meaningful impact in this position/field because ...
Presenting persuasive arguments supporting your hypothesis both in print and orally	Writing cover letter and resumes: presenting yourself convincingly in job interviews

In fact, PhDs across the disciplines are probably more adept in the abilities required to integrate well in today’s’ workforce than any other graduate from a program not geared to a specific career path. It is my belief based on observation and personal experience, that there is actually not much that a motivated, focused PhD can’t do.  The biggest thing holding them back is not an unwelcoming job market, nor a lack of transferable skills, but rather, as Christine Kelly explains so well, their own fear. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

“The university is responsible for providing graduate students with the best possible preparation for their future roles whether within academia or in other sectors. This responsibility extends to developing professional skills.” (CAGS 2008, p.2)

When’s the last time you heard something like that come out of the mouth of a graduate dean?

This revolutionary statement is from a an important document currently posted on the website of the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies, entitled Professional Skills Development for Graduate Students.

This document takes as given that graduates of Master’s and doctoral level programs have  important roles to play in society, not just in universities. It states that,

“… funding agencies, universities, employers of highly qualified people, researchers, and graduates themselves recognize the importance of professional skills that complement their disciplinary expertise. To be competitive then, graduate students increasingly need to engage in ongoing development of their skills in areas that complement their academic programs and enhance their employability. The knowledge economy demands a high level of professional skills from all of its participants if they are going to increase the economic and social benefits for Canadians and for society in general.”(p.2)

Focusing on the broad categories of academic, private, public, or not-for-profit sectors, the paper identifies four areas of skills development that are considered to have a ‘likelihood of success in implementation in the university context: communication, management, teaching, and ethics.” (p. 6)

It goes on to define these areas and implementation principles for ensuring that all graduate students are provided equal opportunity not only to acquire disciplinary expertise but also these complementary, professional skills. The hope is this document will provide a catalyst for universities across Canada to develop a core set of professional skills that all graduate students will be able to master as they complete their studies in any field.

I want to highlight a point made in the report, that most, if not all the skills inherent in the categories listed above, are those usually acquired during the course of many graduate programs. What is revolutionary here is that not only are university administrators are being called to normalize the diversity of post graduate careers paths. They are being asked, to an extent, to accept a degree of responsibility in ensuring their graduates have educational experiences that can be explicitly applied to nonacademic contexts.

In Carolyn Watters’ Dean’s podcast, she discusses this paper with the outgoing president of CAGS, Martin Kreiswirth. At one point during the interview, they express concern that funding may well prove to be the deal breaker that prevents the professional skills concept from being adapted.

I think that  in this case, ‘funding’ could a red herring diverting attention away from what is likely to be the real obstacle to the implementation of the professional skills initiative – a fear that this will open the door for graduate programs to become nothing more than advanced workplace training programs. This is a real and present danger – but not a new one, and not one that will be exacerbated if these principles are followed. Market pressures realized through changes in what research is funded has a far greater influence on the structure of graduate education than this program will ever have.

Imagine, if you will, being able to get professional presentation coaching, not only for academic conferences and job talks, but also for job interviews in a range of sectors as a normal part of graduate level education. Or what if we followed the suggestion made in another podcast by Dan Russell, the Google guru, that universities begin to routinely do post-mortems at the conclusion of team research projects to identify more explicitly what worked and what didn’t. That knowledge is critical both inside and outside academe, and would fit relatively seamlessly within many current academic practices. Shifts like these would only improve the quality of graduate education, and maybe even the career transitions of its graduates.

Right now the CAGS paper may be just a good idea, but it has the potential to be a revolutionary one, and boy, could we could use a revolution in our universities right about now.

What about you? Take a look at the paper (it’s only 9 pages) and let us know what you think.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

In my last post, I was mulling over what to call a career path for grad students that doesn’t involve teaching in a university. So far, “non-academic career” seems to be winning out. Perhaps that’s because it’s unambiguous. Perhaps the “non-academic” part isn’t really perceived as a negative when you rejected that direction. Or maybe it’s just because we need to hear from more of you. So if you haven’t yet, place your vote (the poll is also at the bottom of this post). And if you have already voted - use our new “E-mail post” or “Share” functions below to get your friends to vote too.

Some of you may have seen the article: “Black days for those dreaming of the ivory tower” in today’s Globe and Mail. Are some universities really not hiring any faculty as the article suggests? You can get a faculty recruitment officers’ take on that question, and what the recession means for those of you looking for an academic career in the University Affairs article “Faculty recruitment: A-to-Z“, also posted today.

Since “alternative’” careers, or whatever you want to call them, are definitely on people minds today, it’s probably a good time to share a few resources that will help you move towards a job outside academe,  if that’s a direction you’re considering, or if you just want to keep all you options open in this economic climate.

First of all there’s is the Canada’s Top 100 Employers website. Every year, the annual winners are announced amongst much hoopla and handshaking. Interestingly, this year’s winners include only 3 universities:  Simon Fraser University, University of Alberta and University of McGill, and one college, George Brown in Toronto. You can click on each name on the list to get the report on why they were  selected.  Incidentally, Monsanto also made the list, so clearly PR plays a big part of the process. Nonetheless it’s worth a look to get a sense of what makes a “good employer’” in non-academic sectors.

UBC’s Professional Development Program for Graduate Students has posted a lot of resources for graduate students looking for both academic and non-academic careers. The career research site provides a nice introduction with references, links and resources to get you started.

Finally, Career Corner at Congress 2008 also featured a panel on non “non-academic” careers for postgraduates that was recorded and posted on the University Affairs site, conveniently segmented into easily digestible chunks. I particularly like Denise Baker’s description of Careers in Business:

Around the 3:30 minute mark of this segment she describes being hired by a company when she had little related experience, knowledge or even understanding of what they did. The whole panel is worth watching, but this piece in particular really addresses what for many grad students is the stumbling block – the belief that if you aren’t an “expert” you won’t get hired anywhere. Not true insists Denise, and echoed by the other panelists. To enter just about any field, you need an understanding of your skills, how they relate to contexts other than the ones in which you learned them, and the ability to explain this relationship to someone from a different field. Once an employer understands what you are capable of, they will make room for you, if not right away, then as soon as there is an opening. None of the panelists ended up in careers they had known about or planned on beforehand.

Postgraduate, non-academic or alternative – whatever you choose to call it, there are many career directions at least as interesting as academe, and for many, much more satisfying. Le t me know where these resources take you, maybe I can help pointout a resource or idea that could help you get there.

The Career Centre at the University of Chicago has come up with an interesting turn-of-phrase to describe the career path of a PhD who decides against a traditional academic career. They call it a “Post-Graduate” career.

Hmm – definitely sounds better than “alternative” or worse, “non-academic”  which are the phrases usually used. Career Centres struggle with these words because they imply that the norm is an academic career which, of course, is not the case for the majority of PhDs. So why pretend otherwise or make someone feel aberrant for exploring other options to an academic career?

So what do you think? Try it on – roll it around your tongue. How does it feel? What would it sound like to tell Mom and Dad that after 10 years of university you are ready for a post-academic career?

I’d love to know your take on this because it would really help those Career Centres that actually provide services for grad students to know what you would like careers outside academe to be called. Take a moment to fill in the poll below. Encourage your friends to do the same. I’ll lay odds that whatever you choose here will start popping up in the terminology used by your Career Centres come September.

Over the past 10 years or so, I have found one of the most common ailments plaguing PhDs is pure unadulterated fear of the job market. Fear that is bred from not understanding it or how it works. Fear that anything out there involves years of boredom and subservience. Fear that there is no employer that would want you badly enough to offer you a great job with decent wages and benefits.

While fear can be a tremendous motivator, more often than not it is a paralyzing force, freezing you into stasis. Much of my work with grad students has been in helping them move from fear to curiosity which is really just a shift in our relationship with the unknown. We tend to pursue what we are curious about with enthusiasm and commitment. But when we are afraid of something, whether it’s just a queasy feeling or outright terror, we drag our heels. I don’t know about you, but I can be a master procrastinator when faced with something I really don’t want to be doing.

My interest toward curiosity was inspired by Mark Franklin, president of Career Cycles, and other career counselors at York University’s Career Centre, where I work. I adopted it because it is perfectly suited to PhDs, who tend to have at their core a genuine curiosity that drives them to first formulate and then seek answers to complex questions, if for no other reason than to simply find out why. This sense of curiosity will drive them throughout their lives, whether inside or outside academe.

I think that the entire traditional career-related lexicon inspires discomfort if not least fear. Think about it – ‘job search’, ‘employers’, ‘resumés’, ‘job postings’, ‘interviews’ – such words are more likely to bring on bad case of indigestion than inspiration.

The irony is, one of the most effective ways to find satisfying work, is not to do a job search at all. Instead, start looking for things that simply capture your attention. These can be critical issues you have to read about: organizations doing work you think is important/interesting/fun/meaningful – fill in whatever word gets your attention. Sometimes these inspirational nuggets will fall in your lap, but most of the time, you find them when you go digging a bit.

What will this lead to you may wonder? It’s hard to predict, that’s the fun part. Sometimes you’ll meet someone or a group of people who care about something that’s important to you, wouldn’t that be a refreshing change? Other times, you may discover an issue or problem that absolutely engrosses you in a way you haven’t felt in a long while. The point is, you aren’t looking for “a job,” you are looking for points that connect you in meaningful ways to the rest of the world.

In my mind, job searches are somewhat unpleasant tasks you are forced to do when you have isolated yourself from communities and people who appreciate you and know what you can do for too long, or when life throws you a curve ball and you need to change your employment status fast.

Oh yeah – job searches are also the favored mode of exclusionary communities such as universities, corporations and the government. I’m not saying that places that are unionized or have equitable hiring practices are to be feared, it’s just hard to get to know them as an outsider, which makes landing a job there a bit of a crap shoot. I prefer better odds at happiness.

What many people find, and what I’ve experienced myself, is that living your life from a position of curiosity can open opportunities you never knew existed, or in fact didn’t exist before you came along. When you find places and people with whom you feel at home, things often morph to make room for you to stay a while either in a volunteer, contract or full time role. It’s astounding how many people I have spoken to launched their careers not through job searches but through relationships they built over the years. In each of these cases, landing a job was just a bonus; the real payoff was having an interesting life with meaningful relationships. Sounds like a lot more fun than a job search – doesn’t it?

This post has been updated.

I recently received this message from DW. And perhaps my response to him will resonate with some of you.

“I am currently about to start my dissertation, as I near the end of my pursuit of a PhD in Higher Education Administration at a University in Michigan, USA. I am a Barbadian National with a girlfriend (soon to be fiance’) from, and presently living in, Toronto and I have been job hunting for a long time to find a job in Toronto (or at this point anywhere in Ontario). I also hold a Master of Social Work degree, and a BSc in Information Systems with a minor in Business.
With my qualifications I am still having problems finding a job and would appreciate any assistance you can provide. I have been asked a number of times about having a work permit, but I cannot get a work permit unless I have a job offer. With my training in Higher Education Administration I was hoping to find a job [in administration] in a University in Ontario, but that has not proven easy at all. I am really stumped as to what I can do to begin my career in Canada. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide. I have attached my resume as well.”

Hi DW – Your situation isn’t all that unusual in today’s workforce. Increasingly people bounce around from field to field, sometimes just because they have a wide range of interests, other times because they are seeking the ‘best’ credentials to get a job.

By the way, the government of Canada has a useful site for people thinking of immigrating to Canada that might make your transition less stressful – be sure to check out the rules and regulations concerning employment so you know what is necessary for you to work in Canada.
I have a few suggestions that might help you make yourself more attractive to prospective university employers. Thank you for sending along your resume, it helps me understand a bit about your background.

1. Each of your degrees is in a very different field which may be confusing for some employers. Develop a strategic explanation of how your breadth is a benefit to each position to which you apply.
2. Because you have only had the two-year GAship in university administration, and do not appear to have experience in the Canadian context, be strategic about the level of position for which you are applying. At this point for instance, employers may be reticent to give you a try in a position in upper-level administration in spite of your PhD. One way to address this is in your cover letter, where you can be more explicit concerning the applicability of your experience to the level of position for which you are applying.
3. If you are not finding full-time postings that interest you, you may find it easier to build up your experience through a series of contracts rather than starting with a permanent position, especially in the current economy. In some cases, contract workers are able to apply for internal postings before they are made public which is a one way you can position yourself for a permanent position more closely related to your career goals while demonstrating your abilities and building up strong references.
4. Cast a wider net. In the GTA there are five universities, six community colleges and dozens of career colleges. Consider applying to positions in all these institutions to build up your Canadian experience and references. Postings open to the general public will be posted on their websites. There are many more institutions the farther out you go, but consider the length of commute is reasonable and sustainable for you.
5. You will need to be available for an in-person interview, so ensure that you are in a position to do this. For this reason, you might want to hold off until you are further along the immigration process. Right now, the absence of a Toronto address on your resume may well be raising concerns regarding your employment status.

I wish you luck with your job search DW – you have certainly picked a city with many opportunities in your field. Be persistent and flexible, and when you land your first job, be sure to let me know.

All the media attention on the tanking economy is starting to make me squirm – it sort of makes me want to play it safe for a while.

Apparently I’m in good company. According to an article in the Globe and Mail last week, in times of economic downturn, enrollment in graduate programs increases. This doesn’t surprise me, although I suspect career-related degrees such as MBAs are probably more susceptible to this trend than more academic fields. After all, not too many people appreciate the career relevance of a Masters of Philosophy (though they probably should). It’s kind of ironic that academe, one of the most precarious job markets around, provides society with one of the most popular havens from an unstable economy.

In spite of the doom and gloom, however, there are some advantages to being in academe during a recession.

For instance, if you are gearing up for the academic market and you don’t have an offer in hand, drawing out your completion date another year could provide a handy window to bump up your publications record. If you haven’t done much committee work, this would be a good time to rectify that as well. Then, when some of the hiring freezes are lifted, you’ll be a stronger candidate than you are now.

If you were planning on graduating into a non-academic job in the spring, this turn of events may feel even more ominous. Indeed, with a 25 percent decrease in entry level jobs, it may appear such feelings are well-founded. But Gregg Blachford, McGill University’s director of career planning services would disagree.

“There are still jobs… and opportunities out there, especially for university graduates, he told the Globe and Mail. “We encourage students to continue to look for work in the same way, but they’ll probably have to work harder to get a position than previously.”

By working harder, he means doing more than submitting resumes online to organizations to which you have had no prior connection. Especially during times of cutbacks, it’ll take more than a resume to help a prospective employer appreciate the difference you can make to their company.

In fact, this is the ideal time to pitch a proposal on a project that has immediate short term benefits for an organization that you can complete within a short-term contract – something less than a year in length. Such arrangements are win-win situations. Organizations can make important improvements with minimal commitment, and you can try on a new position, build up your resume and professional references so when times improve, you’ll be well-positioned to land a more permanent job.

That’s how I got into the field of career development. I had been doing a lot of research on the career prospects facing PhDs as I was in the latter stages of my English PhD in the mid-1990s – another economically dismal time, particularly in academe. By obtaining an introduction to the director of my university’s Career Centre at a professional conference, I was able to land a year-long contract doing a needs-assessment to determine the career support required by graduate students. This eventually led to a permanent position in the field.

Think about it – where could someone like you make a difference? Even if an issue or organization doesn’t seem to be connected to your field of study, don’t underestimate how much you could improve things with a strategic project. You’d be amazed at how badly many organizations need relevant research done in order to move ahead. Now may be the perfect time to give that a try.

As for me – rather than squirming, maybe I should take my own advice and start carving out an opportunity for myself – I let you know how it goes!

I recently heard from TM who left a comment on my post “Creating a career ensures it’s a great fit“. TM is frustrated with his/her inability to land a job in international development despite applying to numerous online postings that were a good fit for his/her considerable experience. This is a common problem for people entering non-academic fields. Here is TM’s query followed by my response:

“Thank you Carolyn for your blog, it did help me a lot at least it made me feel that I might not be the only graduate on the face of earth who is feeling down and frustrated for not landing the right job. I am a recent PhD graduate in Social Sciences with a specialization in International Development. I have never been interested in pursuing a career in academia and always believed that my best contribution is to make a real difference in the field. For that reason I decided not to spend my time publishing or presenting papers at conferences. My approach was quite different, I volunteered; I did lots of volunteering work in Africa and Asia, which I thought should be sufficient to get me the right job but seems that my plans were missing an important component which is networking and self-promotion… Despite my years of volunteering I found myself graduating with a PhD but with no job prospects … I became obsessed by applying for all sorts of jobs online. At the beginning, my focus was on community development jobs which is my main area of expertise, but as time went by I started to lower my standards in order to get a job, any job… I never doubted my competencies and experience, my PhD research project was outstanding according to my peers and advisors. However, all of the sudden all what I have done as a researcher means nothing to the world outside my school… Please advice, how can I break this cycle which is taking a toll over me and not making me see the light at the end of the tunnel…? Thanks”

Hi TM – I’m delighted to hear you have built up relevant experience in a field that interests you. It can be frustrating to know you’ve got a contribution to make but can’t find an opportunity to do so.

I noticed you said you were obsessed with applying for jobs online. Given that so few positions are filled that way, I think it would be more exceptional if you had landed a job in development ‘sight unseen’. Perhaps more than most fields, getting the right person means going with someone already known to an organization, or known to somebody in a hiring position within an organization.

I suggest reshifting the focus of your activities from filling out applications to reconnecting with people you’ve already met. Try to identify about half a dozen people you know who have been working in your field recently or currently. Contact them and request that you get together with them if possible over lunch or coffee to get caught up on what they’ve been doing and how things have been since you last saw them. Ask for their advice on how to position yourself in the development field in terms of your experience and your education based on how things look now, and any changes likely to happen over the next year. Ask for referrals to other people in other organizations and have the same conversations with them. Ideally these would happen face to face or over the phone, but even e-mail can a convenient way to initiate a conversation.

The point is not only to get information, but more importantly to foster genuine friendships in the field. This is your community, and these people share you vision and passion – you need to be connected to them on many levels. It would be an astounding stroke of luck if any of the people you approach knew of just the right opportunity available the first time you contacted them – although this happens more often than you would think. But by “being in the loop,” when an opportunity does present itself, you are on peoples’ radar scopes, and your chances of being hired increase dramatically. Statistically, over 80 percent of positions in all fields are filled this way, and in international development I suspect it’s even higher.

There’s a great book on how to foster luck in your career search called Luck Is No Accident: Making the Most of Happenstance in Your Life and Career by John Krumboltz and Al Levin that I think would help you move ahead with this approach. I noticed it’s on sale for about $15 on Amazon.ca. Please keep in touch and let me know how things are going.

If you have been in this position and were successful in landing a position, even for the short term, I’d love to hear your story.

One of the questions I would hear most often from PhDs I advised was some variation of “What can I do with my degree other than be a professor?”

Next Wave: the career development resource for scientists
Non-academic Careers for Scientific Psychologists
Career Alternatives for Art Historians
Linguistic Enterprises: A Job-Search Site for Linguists Seeking Employment in the Private Sector
Ph.D.s Org: Science, Math, and Engineering Career Resources
Biotechnology Human Resource Council: Growing Canada’s Biotechnology Talent
The American Chemistry Society’s Online Career Centre
Mathematical Science career Information – project for non-academic employment
Non-Academic Careers in Physical Anthropology
Non-Academic Options for Philosophers
Promising Job Markets for PhDs in the Humanities