University Affairs

The Chronicle of Higher Education has been taking another look at the life of adjuncts. In one of the most balanced approaches to the subject I’ve ever seen, they have released a series of first person videos of adjunct faculty describing their experiences as adjuncts. If you have ever though about following this path, or fear you may not have any choice in the matter, you owe it to yourself to take a look at these. They are unabashedly frank stories. They are also beautifully filmed and edited – kudos to the production team! Here’s a summary clip – individual segments are on the site (text continues below).

Some of the speakers seem to be pretty happy with their positions. These folks generally have other sources of income which ‘adjuncting’ supplements, or several positions at different colleges. The rest would prefer tenure track positions, but for one reason or another aren’t able to land one – not surprising these days – so are trying to keep the doors to academe open. These folks form two sub-groups: the resigned and the bitter, and I do mean bitter.

All the speakers seem share several important characteristics. They all love to teach and put a great deal of (unpaid) time and effort in to ensuring their students’ learning experiences are positive. They all express a deep passion for their fields of research and they have all felt marginalized or ostracized by tenured or tenure track faculty for not being ‘real’ academics.

In Canada, some universities have experimented with multi-year contracts for full-time teaching associates, a trend covered in University Affairs last year. This strategy was intended to help university administrators meet the teaching demands of burgeoning enrollments without sacrificing the quality of their institutions’ research. Since one academic simply can’t keep up with both demands, they divided the expectations between two – one whose sole function was to teach, the other who taught but had increased time to research.

Not surprisingly, faculty associations, and indeed most people concerned about the universities growing reliance on cheap, undervalued contract faculty were considerably less enthusiastic. Undeniably, it provided a welcome respite from the annual uncertainty of most contract faculty, but I suspect wholesale adoption of such practices would bring the labour disputes felt so strongly in Ontario this past year across the country.

Where do I stand on this? Well, for the most part, I am in the camp of academics who are appalled by the working conditions of most contract faculty in Canada and believe that the percentage of faculty forced to work their entire careers in such circumstances is eroding the quality of university education in Canada.

Having said that, I do recognize there are probably hundreds of contract faculty, especially those truly working part-time in one institution by choice rather than trying to stitch a living together across multiple institutions, who are absolutely satisfied with their positions. In fact, I may end up joining those ranks myself. I believe strongly that there is an important role for contract faculty in academe, especially where they can bring the perspectives and experiences of non-academic contexts into the classroom. But contract faculty should never be used to replace tenure track faculty or as a an administrative solution to a budget crisis.

For those of you on the tenure track, or intending to go that route, please listen to the videos on the link above, and remember, should you actually realize your dreams, that contract faculty are your peers, your colleagues – perhaps even more skilled than you in some areas. Treat them with the respect that any highly trained professional deserves, that you hope to be treated with if that’s where your path ultimately leads you.

In the meantime, where do you stand on this?

 Loading ...

Career Sense is celebrating the many thousands of PhDs who have gone onto successful non-academic careers. If you know someone who has a PhD success story they’d like to share, please contact me. For more PhD success stories click here.

This success story was submitted by the subject herself.

Name: Liz Koblyk

Position: Alumni Career Coach working with recent graduates to help them identify career paths, plan for further education, and conduct job searches.

Program: English Literature

Year of graduation: 2005

Previous experience: During my undergrad, I worked as an employment counsellor through FSWEP (Federal Student Work Experience Program), which I enjoyed but didn’t consider as a potential career direction. During my PhD, I worked as a TA and RA, and later as a specialized tutor for students with learning disabilities. After my PhD, I worked as a project manager with a community college disability services office, and then as a career counsellor at a non-profit.

Point at which a non-academic path was chosen: During the first year of my PhD, I began questioning my path because I realized my enjoyment of academia came largely from talking with others in small seminars, not from sitting in front of my computer for days at a time. After a lot of anguish, I committed (mostly) to pursuing a non-academic career shortly after completing my comps, though I also planned on completing my degree.

Primary reason behind this position: I love the energy of academic institutions. Universities are full of intelligent, idealistic people, and there’s nothing better than being on a university campus in September-and not having any marking to do in April!

How she found out about relevant positions: I went through my university’s Career Services office to identify some options as starting points for research. From there, I went through the initially nerve-wracking process of calling up people in careers that interested me to talk with them about what they do. Of the eight people who agreed to meet with me, two of them offered me a job right away, and my current job came about because I remained in touch with one of those early mentors.

Once I was ABD, I told everyone I knew that I was looking for a job, and an offer came along through a friend. My next job offer also came through networking; it was a casual job with poor pay and infrequent hours, but it led to two subsequent contracts doing more stable work in project management.

At the end of my second contract, I had a child and planned on staying home for a year. During that time, however, I joined relevant professional organizations to meet potential coworkers and employers, and to get a sense of the employment market and valued skills. I also co-created a small professional organization for newcomers to career counseling, so that we could support one another in our professional development, and my first job when I returned to work came from someone in that organization.

Writing this, the whole process sounds quite linear and straightforward. It wasn’t. It was filled with doubt, second-guessing, and dire warnings from people I respect and like that I would be bored outside of academia. I still like and respect them, but they were wrong. Life outside of academia is no less intellectually stimulating, but it does take some time to figure out how to identify your own skills and navigate the job market.

How many positions s/he applied for: I can’t remember. Many that I applied for seemed at the time to be tailor-made for me, but I wasn’t invited for an interview. Others that I was invited to apply for seemed out of reach based on the job description. In any case, I applied for many, but opportunities materialized mostly from talking with people rather than searching job posting boards.

Her strengths in the selection process: Writing (especially funding proposals) and public speaking. One mentor advised me that most people are scared of both and would happily offload these duties onto an employee. He was right.

My project work was in a disability services office. The work was interesting and enjoyable, but felt like a step away from my goal of working as a career counsellor. Yet my experience working with people with learning disabilities proved to be a big draw for all of my career counseling employers so far.

Finally, I’d have to say that being familiar with good storytelling has made a big difference. Job hunting, networking, and even career exploration has a lot to do with the stories you tell yourself and other people. Being able to tell a story that connected a seemingly disparate set of experiences made it much easier for me to transition into roles that appealed to me–and to explain my choices to family members who wanted to make sure I wasn’t walking away from an academic career prematurely.

What she likes about her/his job: Just about everything. I like working directly with people, instead of watching some people struggle in a classroom and feeling unable to help them. I like having a positive impact on people’s material circumstances by helping them find jobs, and on their happiness by helping them recognize their strengths or by supporting them through the uncertainty that is a productive but distressing part of career exploration. My colleagues are fantastic, and when we bounce ideas around to improve service delivery, it has the same synergy as a graduate seminar for me.

It has also been nice to have projects that end! When I was in grad school, I could never really leave work behind, but my current work allows me to see an appreciable impact on people in a relatively short period of time. So, a pleasant benefit is that I’ve also had time for life outside of work, and I’ve spent it watching my daughter grow, writing just for fun, and picking up projects just because they’ve been interesting.

Advice to others: If you’re thinking of leaving academia, try talking with people outside of academia. Most academics don’t have a lot of exposure to other types of work, and they can pass on misconceptions, despite their best efforts to mentor you well.

Just as talking with people outside academia is helpful, so is getting non-academic experience. Trying out different experiences, even through short-term (even one-day) volunteering opportunities, gives you more information to draw on when making your decision, and introduces you to people who might prove instrumental in your job search.

Finally, keep in mind that the reaction you may get from academics doesn’t reflect the way people outside of academia will see you. Unsurprisingly, no one outside of academia thinks it’s a cop-out to pursue non-academic work.

Career Sense is celebrating the many thousands of PhDs who have gone onto successful non-academic careers. If you know someone who has a PhD success story they’d like to share, please contact me. For more PhD success stories click here.

Name: John Wickett

Position: Senior VP, Standards and Certification, Financial Planners Standards Council

Program: Psychology (Personality and Measurement)

Year of Graduation: 1997

Point at which a non-academic path was chosen: during his postdoc

Previous Experience: He has worked for eight years in consulting and working with a wide range of Canadian certifying and licensing bodies.

Primary reason behind this decision: There were so few academic positions in his field when he graduated, he did not consider an academic career to be a viable option at that time.

How he found out about relevant positions: He had a friend in consulting who was looking for someone with statistical knowledge. The next position came through a job posting someone sent to him as a model for a position he was looking to post himself. The final position was offered to him from a previous business contact. He found his ability in statistics was such a desirable skill set, that the jobs came to him.

His strengths in the selection process: Mainly his knowledge of stats and later on, his relevant business knowledge is what opened doors for him.

What he likes about his job: He guides the development and evaluation of the knowledge, competencies and standards of practice for certification required by Certified Financial Planner professionals. Having a key role in shaping the professionalization of this emerging field is both challenging and rewarding. He especially enjoys the strategic planning this position demands and being able to put his ideas into action.

His advice to others:

• Analyze your strengths to determine your niche markets in the work force. Your knowledge of your field won’t matter as much as the abilities you developed along the way. Most employers are happy to provide on the job training for the right person.
• Be open and flexible – I had no idea how interesting my career would be when I started in it. Positions in the private sector are often much more lucrative then academic positions.
• Once you are clear about your strengths and understand where they will be relevant, be confident in your ability to make a significant contribution to an organization’s mandate when you present yourself in an interview or a networking conversation.
• Tell everybody you know that you are looking for a position – most jobs are not posted.
• Always keep your eyes open for opportunities, even after you get a job. This will prevent you from getting in a rut, and will build your confidence.
• Consulting is a great first step for people with quantitative research skills. These are in high demand and are hard to find in the general population.

Career Sense is celebrating the many thousands of PhDs who have gone onto successful non-academic careers. If you know someone who has a PhD success story they’d like to share, please contact me. For more PhD success stories click here.

Position: Director, University Student Accessibility Centre

Program: Counselling Psychology

Year of graduation: 2008

Previous experience: He worked for ten years as a teacher and guidance counsellor in the public school system before a secondment to work as a faculty associate for two years in a university faculty of education. His doctoral internship at a university counselling centre led to a permanent position as a counsellor before moving to the director’s position last year.

Point at which a non-academic path was chosen: Some time during his doctoral internship.

Primary Reason behind this decision: He found that he enjoyed counselling in a university setting so much that it would have been hard to give the job up.  In addition, due to family commitments to remain in this area, he has been unwilling to pursue academic positions outside this city.

How he found out about relevant positions: Practicum and internship experiences widened the scope of what he believed he could do with a doctorate in counselling psychology

How many positions he applied for: Two – the permanent counselling position and then the Director’s position.

What he likes about his job: The most significant factor is the ability to work in academia, despite not being identified as an academic.  He has been fortunate to have been able to work in offices with intelligent, educated, caring and supportive people, which makes coming to work each day enjoyable.  He still gets to meet with and help students on a daily basis and gets a sense of fulfillment from providing that service.  The scope of the current position is broad enough to allow for research and teaching in areas of his interests and the status of being a Director helps to meet personal needs.

His strengths in the selection process:

• interpersonal skills, both in terms of the interview and in the counselling context;
• proven competency in relevant areas (career development and counselling psychology) demonstrated through his course work, teaching experience, dissertation and publication record;
• a commitment to this particular university community;
• a commitment to continued growth and personal development.

His advice to others:
Trust in the process of career development – you do your best with the things that you control (choice of degree, effort and marks, practicum/internship/volunteer opportunities, extra-curricular activities, employment exploration) and trust that your efforts will be rewarded.  Have confidence in yourself and pursue the opportunities that you most enjoy.  Try to look around as much as possible – be aware and open to new possibilities and potential opportunities that come across your path in the workplace and in your practicum and internship.  Many times this will require you to talk to lots of people in lots of circumstances.  Consider all opportunities.  While some of them may not meet all your needs or pay as much as you would like, many lead on to other opportunities while providing valuable experience and references.

Career Sense is celebrating the many thousands of PhDs who have gone onto successful non-academic careers. If you know someone who has a PhD success story they’d like to share, please contact me. For more PhD success stories click here.

Position: Mental Health Therapist in a city hospital

Program: Sociology

Year of graduation: 2002

Previous experience: 10 years as a psychiatric nurse

Point at which a non-academic path was chosen: Beginning of dissertation

Primary Reason behind this decision: She found the endless benchmarking – comps, defence, jobtalks, and the whole tenure-track process to create a general atmosphere of stress and anxiety that she did not see as a healthy environment to spend the later part of her career. She also found the apathy and sense of entitlement in many students to taint her enjoyment of teaching.

She had left the field of mental health feeling a little burnt out and bored, but after an unpleasant experience in academe, she returned to mental health where she found her skills and strengths were both recognized and appreciated. She has also rekindled her enjoyment of teaching through facilitating educational workshops for health care professionals who are engaged and genuinely interested in what she has to impart.

How she found out about relevant positions: Through job postings found online and in newspapers.

How many positions she applied for: 3 to 4

What she likes about her job: She loves her work and feels privileged to work with her clients and other practitioners. Her clients are not dealing with chronic, permanent issues, so she is able to see a real impact of her interventions and feels a strong sense of pride and satisfaction in the contribution she is able to make to the lives of others.

Her strengths in the selection process:

• 10 years relevant work experience;
• A strong understanding of her strengths and the value she could bring to an organization;
• Being able to demonstrate her intellectual potential by virtue of being in a PhD program may have helped her stand out on paper from others with similar backgrounds but without that level of education on their resumes.

Advice to others:
Make sure there is a connection between what you study and what you want to do. This connection will not only make it easier to find alternatives to an academic job, but will make it easier to step into a position that builds on your PhD. Also, make sure you clearly understand the reality of academe before you commit yourself to that career path. You will lose several years of income and pension by pursuing a PhD so make sure that is a worthwhile investment in your situation.

Career Sense is celebrating the many thousands of PhDs who have gone onto successful non-academic careers. If you know someone who has a PhD success story they’d like to share, please contact me. For more PhD success stories click here.

Position: Senior analyst at the Bank of Canada

Program: Economics

Year of graduation: 2008

Previous experience: This is his first position.

Point at which a non-academic path was chosen: Beginning of dissertation

Primary Reason behind this decision: He loved research but didn’t have very positive teaching experiences. He found academic life too isolating and preferred a more collegial atmosphere where he could discuss issues that interested him with people committed to similar interests.

How he found out about relevant positions: Through the American Economic Association. He found professors in Economics helpful in this regard as many students in this field plan on non-academic careers.

How many positions he applied for: Over 80

What he likes about his job: The majority of his job is research in areas that he is genuinely interested in and that build on the expertise he demonstrated in his dissertation. He is also able to publish in his field. He enjoys working with very intelligent, capable and happy people.

His strengths in the selection process:

• the ability to communicate and interact with others well;
• proven competency in relevant areas demonstrated through his dissertation and publication record;
• his supervisor was well known and respected by a researcher at the Bank of Canada.

His advice to others:
Cast your net broadly and be clear about what you most want. He turned down several good jobs, including academic positions, during his job search. Because he much preferred research to teaching he held out for the “right job” which he loves and which suits his personality and strengths very well.

My jumping off point for this posting are the two comments made on my April 2nd rant.

First Grace wrote: “I wonder how many of those graduates who don’t become teachers and researchers with universities will actually “permeate other sectors of society” in some way that fully uses their knowledge. ”

To which Andreas replied: “I agree with Grace: it’s not easy to get a job outside the academe when you’ve devoted your whole life (assuming people get their degree at 28-30) to precisely continuing inside the academe.”

Andreas and Grace – your perspectives are prototypical of those I often hear from grad students concerning their career prospects outside of academe.  The frustration and anxiety evident in your posts is pervasive in grad departments. I know all too well what it is like to feel that cold knot of panic from my time as a PhD candidate in the early 90s — those were dark days in Canadian academe. But before we give up in despair, I’d like to extend the conversation a bit in hopes of providing an alternative approach to all the uncertainty, and yes, depression.

By now, we all know, there are systemic problems in the culture and structure of graduate education that are contributing to the difficulty Grace and Andreas, and many of you have experienced in trying to conceive of, let alone find a reasonable alternative to a tenure track position. Nonetheless, there are many thousands of graduate students who do morph successfully into satisfying, well-paid positions that provide opportunities for growth and challenge on par with that of the average academic. We are just not very good at documenting these stories, so we tend to think such possibilities simply do not exist – not really – not for us. This skepticism flourishes in the absence of evidence countering it, exacerbating the situation considerably.

This is where we can all help each other out. As we move ahead I will be archiving profiles of  PhDs I find or linking to articles about people I have already written about in my time at University Affairs under the “PhD success stories” category section in the right hand column of this page.

Whether you are a grad student, a faculty member, an administrator or a career adviser, you can help to develop this most desperately needed resource. Think: who do you know about who has made this leap? Ask them if you could refer them to me so I can add their profile to the Career Sense “PhD success stories”. Be prepared for rather startled responses initially. Such people aren’t used to having their successes acknowledged, let alone celebrated by academe.

I will contact them, or if they prefer, they can contact me through this site. I will ask them to describe their “alternative” career and how they transitioned to it along with anything else they may want to share on the topic. It won’t take much time, and I will respect all privacy requests.

Imagine what a valuable resource this could become for all of us. Students would benefit from the many examples of other things they could be preparing to do upon graduation. Faculty and career advisers would be able to point their students to this site for both inspiration and a realistic introduction to the postgraduate workforce. Over time, with all of us contributing, we could produce a pretty fantastic resource that would be able to counterbalance the negativity that surrounds us now, especially these days.

This is an open call – I’ll be posting profiles as they come in so you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed on this blog so you’ll know when there has been a new addition. If you’ve never participated in a blog before, this would be a quick but significant way to get your feet wet just by making a referral. All it takes is a few minutes of time and desire to start doing something positive when so many are convinced there is nothing they can do.