This week’s post from Kaylen Tucker is a good one; at least, it certainly has resonated with me. I am a big fan of quitting (as you may have noticed). Being smart about your career–academic or otherwise–is, as Kenny says, about knowing when to fold ‘em, hold ‘em, walk away, and when to run. But it also means being okay with the fact that some people will judge you for ditching, including your own harshest critic: you.
I knew virtually no one when I moved to a tiny Midwestern town to start my M.A. program, so I made it my business to make some friends fast. Before long, I had a cluster of friends, and I was settling into the coursework and the rhythm of things. Halfway through the first semester I checked on one of my new friends and found out that she was moving back to Atlanta. She said that graduate school just wasn’t for her and that she was going home.
I was shocked. She didn’t even give it the whole semester, let alone the whole year. I tried not to judge her, with her talk about pursuing another career and missing her boyfriend back home. But the truth is that I kinda thought she was a quitter. And not in a good way.
Now I know that it’s OK to quit. In fact, Seth Godin, author of The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches When to Quit (and When to Stick) and a bunch of other motivation-type books, says that all the most successful people quit often. Though I must admit, when a friend of mine recommended that I read Godin’s book about quitting, the Q word offended me, and I wasn’t sure what to expect.
What I got was a common sense explanation of why it’s OK to quit and why my friend from Atlanta was pretty smart to realize early on that the academic game wasn’t for her and to move on to something else. Though his book is written mostly for business-entrepreneur types, a lot of his points resonate with the academic leaver, especially when he describes recognizing when you’re in what he calls a dip, a cul-de-sac, or a cliff, and how to strategically quit.
Godin’s advice is that if you’re just in the dip—or the hardest part of any challenge—you must press on. A cul-de-sac, on the other hand, describes a dead-end situation where no matter what you do you cannot succeed. A cliff describes a situation in which proceeding would virtually destroy you in the process. Godin argues that if you are in a cul-de-sac or on a cliff, you must quit because you will never succeed at the undertaking. Of course, the very idea of what it means to succeed is tricky to determine. But it’s easy to follow Godin’s logic that if you don’t think that you can ultimately be successful at something without destroying yourself in the process, you shouldn’t hold on just for the sake of not being a quitter.
You may also realize that you are in a dip, and that you have decided that you are no longer interested in achieving the success that is on the other side. Only you can decide if the journey is worth getting through the dip—or if you are in fact in a cul-de-sac or a cliff. I have a friend who decided that after finishing her dissertation and earning her Ph.D.in political science—which is getting through a very big dip—she just didn’t have it in her to do what she called “Going West” again. Going West for my friend represented risking it all and making huge investments that might not pay off, chasing the tenure-track dream and likely ending up somewhere undesirable in the process. She didn’t want to make any more sacrifices in the name of the Ivory Tower. So she decided to strategically quit academia, earning the Ph.D. and not pursuing a tenure-track position. Instead she developed a career in public policy research. I, too, strategically left academia after pushing through the dissertation dip.
The bottom line is that you have to give yourself permission to move on. Ignore feelings of self-contempt and take comfort in the idea that the most successful people in the world quit to go on to be the best at something else.
Kaylen Tucker, Ph.D., is a communications professional based in Maryland who is working to bridge the gap between academia and the world beyond it.
In this week’s installment, Kaylen Tucker reminds us all that exploring the world of post-academic life can actually be kinda fun:
When green graduate students used to ask me advice about how to get through the Ph.D. program with dignity and sanity intact—you know the conversation that is fraught with tears when people are on the verge—I’d often give them a pep talk that ended with them needing to put this grad school thing in perspective. I have found that graduate students in general need to loosen up a bit. In their Herculean efforts to succeed they—more than other categories of post graduates—have a hard time letting go.
Law students notoriously party hard. Grad students—not so much. Except for those MFA candidates; they were always starting out at a “workshop” and ending up at the bar. Or workshopping in a bar. English grad students, on the other hand, group up to go to department pot lucks or to book readings. These activities do not count as letting loose and getting a life.
I blame the inability to get a life on the fact that there is no natural break until the Ph.D. is in hand. Every summer break, weekend, holiday, and snow catastrophe feels like another opportunity to catch up on reading or get through those edits. And if you continue down the tenure track, then there’s the next article or book chapter to worry about. One is never off duty. Five o’clock never comes.
But back to my point: Graduate students—in general, and especially those who are plotting their escape from the academy—need to get a life because it not only will help their physical and emotional health, but it will also go a long way toward positioning them for a post-academic career.
Here’s how getting a life helped me: I went out more and was generally more social, which some people call networking. And because I was sometimes bored and often broke, I was always looking for a job. And I didn’t limit myself to assistantships which never seemed to pay enough money for all the hours I was putting in grading, preparing, and conferencing with students. I opened myself up to opportunities that seemed fun and interesting, even if they weren’t the traditional pathways to the tenure track. I also took advantage of the fact that I was subsidized and took entry level positions just for the experience. Here’s a sampling of some of the jobs/experiences I had while I was a graduate student:
- Taught summer academic enrichment to middle school students
- Box office manager for a theater company
- Editorial assistant for a science journal
- Programming for an education non profit and for a university department
- Public relations for an entertainment firm
- Spent a month learning Spanish in Barcelona
- A host of freelance writing and research projects
These experiences helped me immensely when I decided that I wanted to join the un-academic work force for reals. So, while I was getting a life, I had time to think about what I liked (editing, writing, research, association work, and supporting the arts) and what I didn’t like (working with young children and calling people asking them for money). If I had stuck with the party line, I would have only acquired a narrow category of research and teaching experience. Which is a good thing to have, but not if you have decided that you do not want to teach.
It’s never too late to start getting a life, and developing interests and skills outside of the academy. The point is to resist being overly measured and plotting every point (as you’ve no doubt been conditioned to do). Instead, take some chances, using wide, messy brush strokes to venture outside of your comfort zone.
Kaylen Tucker, Ph.D., is a communications professional based in Maryland who is working to bridge the gap between academia and the world beyond it.
Tagged as:
fun
In Kaylen Tucker’s first Leaving Academia post, an ultra-awkward exchange with a well-meaning but clueless professor becomes fodder for post-academic career planning:
When I was applying for dissertation fellowships, I asked a friendly and accomplished professor in my department to help me write a winning statement of purpose. She patiently helped me to fine tune my application and when our session was complete, I felt that I had a real chance at being selected. She reminded me, however, about how very competitive these kinds of things were, and cautioned me not to get my hopes up and to come up with another plan should I not land a post. As a seasoned graduate student, I of course, had a lot of pots simmering. I wasn’t offended, thinking it good, sound advice. But the advice that she gave me next has kept me up at night and has influenced the way I think about the value of a humanities Ph.D.
She asked me if I was looking for a job. I wasn’t, but as one who was accustomed to hustling, always looking for the next thing, I wanted to hear what she had to offer. “Have you heard of Trendy and Terribly Overpriced New Shoe Store?” I told her that I’d been in that store many times. I was confused … but curious. “Well, I know the owner,” she continued, “and they’re looking for help. If you’re interested, I could put in a good word for you.”
I should have told her that I didn’t need her help greasing the wheels to gain a retail job. Though I’m bad at math and standing for long periods of time, I think I could have handled that on my own.
I’ve replayed that moment in my head many times, trying to work through the lingering bad taste in my mouth. I finally realized that my irritation wasn’t solely based on her offer to help me get a job that I felt was beneath me instead of helping me figure out a more academic/professional Plan B. No, my exasperation stemmed from the fact that her advice, which I admit was offered innocently enough and in the kindest of spirits, reflected the overall attitude of the department: Academia in narrowly defined terms is everything, and if it doesn’t work out for you—which it probably won’t—there is nothing. If you don’t receive an appointment at University X, you should take your Ph.D. and wait tables or sell shoes until the stars align correctly for you. Nothing against shoes, or those who sell them, but it’s not that black and white, or yellow and blue, or whatever converse combination you fancy. Education is supposed to broaden horizons, not narrow them. So I politely declined the opportunity and resolved to carve my own path.
Well, I didn’t get the fellowship. But I’m not selling shoes either. By the time I finished my Ph.D. in English literature, and after two years of no bites on the academic market, I had decided to pursue another course. I couldn’t commit to another round of the overwhelming job-market process; I was no longer willing to follow the market to whatever city it led me; and I couldn’t stomach the requisite string of adjunct and visiting positions to hold me over until I could land the perfect tenure-track position. What I needed was stability—financial and emotional. I also wanted to feel like I was contributing knowledge to the world, which is why I started the Ph.D. process in the first place. So doing communications for a national education non-profit was a logical next step. My position required me to research, analyze, write, and edit—tasks I had been well trained for.
However, preparing myself for a non-academic job didn’t happen overnight, and I’m still working on fine tuning my mission and figuring out a way to bridge my research interests with my actual job. It’s an ongoing process. But I hope to offer Leaving Academia readers what I have learned about how smart people can figure out a way to harness their power and tackle the world outside of academia.
Kaylen Tucker, Ph.D., is a communications professional based in Maryland who is working to bridge the gap between academia and the world beyond it.
Tagged as:
negotiations
As the faithful among you know, I started my job as a policy analyst at a health-based professional association back in January. You also know that, between my love for my job and my love for my daughter/husband combo, the amount of time I’ve wanted to create for blogging has been reduced to, you know, zilch. However! There are those of you out there who have expressed interest in writing content for Leaving Academia, and one of those people, Kaylen Tucker, made me realize that there was no point in futzing around with process, consultations, visioning, etc. Rather, Kaylen made me realize that if fresh content was coming my way, it was time to publish it.
So for the next little while, I’m going to be running pieces written by Kaylen and any other new contributors who want to lend their voice to the post-academic community. Interested in being one of those contributors? Email me and let me know what you’re interested in writing about. Were you one of the fab people who already dropped me a line about this back in, oh, say, February? Don’t be afraid to nudge me again.
Here’s a piece from Sociological Images on Debt, Time and the job market for humanities PhDs. And listen, don’t read it and get all depressed. Read it and use it as motivation to start executing your non-academic job search.
There’s also this piece in the New York Times, just so you know you’re not alone. Here’s an choice excerpt:
Dr. Pannapacker has rebuked graduate schools for perpetuating a culture in which unattainable academic careers are portrayed as the only worthwhile goal, and for failing to level with students about their true prospects. …
“Academe encourages students to think of what they’re doing as a special kind of calling or vocation which is exempt from the rules of the marketplace,” he says. Those who look to work outside the scholarly world are seen as rejecting the academy’s core values. “They socialize students into believing they can’t leave academe or shouldn’t, which is why they hang on year after year as adjuncts, rather than pursue alternative careers.”
So you know all those theories you learned in your degree about socialization and whatnot? While you were in grad school, you were being socialized to have certain beliefs around your employability (i.e. that you have a special calling to be a university professor, that that is the only worthwhile career goal, that the jobs are there for the smartest among us, etc.). Guess what? THEY WERE WRONG. So you know how you learned in school to buck the dominant paradigm, shuck off the shackles of normative social mores and question authority? Start doing that with these absurd beliefs about the professoriat being the only worthwhile job out there.
Leaving Academia is a resource for people who have left and are leaving a career as a university professor. I’m not selling anything here. Most posts are based on my own experience and that of other academic leavers that I have interviewed formally and/or met informally. It is purposely and purposefully oriented to graduate students and faculty who want a) to know they are not alone, b) to know that many, many, many people have left academia and found fulfilling careers, and c) to find out some of the tactics former academics took to make a significant career/life change.
Thus, the contents of this site are not comprehensive. My message about academic career change is that it’s incredibly difficult and totally do-able. There are those who disagree with this view, and won’t get much out of this site as a result. Fortunately, there are sites like the Leaving Academe forum at the Chronicle for those who have a different take than I do.
Disclaimer: The information on this site is for informational purposes only. I assume no liability for any inaccurate, delayed or incomplete information, nor for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Prior to making any career-based decision, it is recommended that you talk with real-life people who actually know you and your situation and have them weigh in on what you should do.
Ahem.
You can go through the material here in a few ways: by going through the monthly archives (on the left sidebar), clicking on the tags (specific topics I’ve covered, also found on the left sidebar), or by combing through the categories (the tabs at the top). The categories are:
- Academic Life – These posts provide snapshots of the reality of graduate education and university employment. They largely aim to validate the decision to leave academia, given the low number of good quality, full-time jobs available on university campuses.
- Career Planning – This broad category includes tools for job searchers that I’ve come across as well as career paths that often appeal to social scientists and humanities researchers (consulting, non-profit, knowledge mobilization, etc.). It is not a comprehensive, step-by-step process; if you’re looking for that, go to the library and get one of the thousands of career planning books out there.
- How To – These posts cover resume tips, networking strategies, dos and donts at interviews, and other strategies around visioning and job hunting.
- Inspiration – If you’re just looking for stories that will give you some hope and make you feel like you’re not the only person in the world who left an academic career path, this is the section you need. There are tips of the “you can do it!” nature in here, too, like information interviewing.
- Miscellany – Covers meetup announcements, quick links to resources, and other odds n’ sods.
- News – Hmm, it turns out that there isn’t a lot of news in this category! There are a few posts with links and resources, though.
- Podcast – Self-explanatory. These are just a handful of the interviews I’ve done with former academics.
I almost never create fresh posts anymore, due to having a pretty full life. I welcome comments, though, given that new readers land on the site every day, and they really benefit from multiple voices. But if you want to make sure you don’t miss any new posts, subscribe (yes, it’s free) up in the top right hand corner.
Most of all, I hope you take heart from the stories contained in this site. Leaving a life in the academy for parts unknown really is incredibly hard, but it really is totally do-able. Let me know how it goes!
There will be a meet-up of current and would-be academic leavers on Tuesday, May 4th at 7:00 pm at the Bean Cafe, 388 College Street between Bathurst and Spadina. Come out to meet other folks who have left and are contemplating leaving for some sympathetic ears, networking and support.
I know it’s short notice, but the next installment of the Leaving Academia meetup in Toronto will be held this Wednesday, March 3 at 6:00 pm at the Bean Cafe, 388 College at Bathurst. For anyone who hasn’t been to one of these meetings before, please flip me an email to let me know you’re attending: sabine [at] leavingacademia [dot] com.
Just wanted to let you folks in the life sciences know about a site I learned about this week called BioJobBlog, a blog that covers alllll kinds of career-related topics for bioprofessionals. It was started by a guy named Cliff Mintz, who got in touch with me to let me know about his site. Cliff has some big plans for catering to the postacademic crowd, so watch this space for further updates. Cliff is the guy behind Bioinsights, a company dedicated to training scientists moving into the private sector. He also let me know about a social media site called BioCrowd, which looks like Facebook for scientists and bioprofessionals.
Tagged as:
science,
web
This one is for those of you anxiously trawling the internet at midnight, Googling search terms like “useless PhD” and “job after academia” and “what can you do with a PhD in philosophy?”
I love my job. It doesn’t matter what my job is. What matters is that I love it–and that I fell into it quite by accident. I did not know that the line of work I’ve gotten into would be the one that would fulfill pretty well every professional ambition I’ve ever had (these ambitions essentially boil down making money by making a difference). What matters is that it took time, luck, perseverance, preparation and a great deal of support to end up in the role I have.
The hardest parts of any job search are the parts you don’t have any control over: the luck and the timing. Sometimes–like in my case–the constellations just have to align in such a way that the right job opens up at the right moment when you’re fully prepared for it. I actively job searched for 4 months–and I mean 4 months of intense, intense job searching–before someone at an organization saw a job ad, applied for it, got that job, and quit her current job. The job that she quit got posted, and I applied for it and got it. There was a domino effect that had to take place in order for me to get my job. I had zero control over that process. If you think about it too much, it can be frustrating and demoralizing.
But here’s the really important part, the part you DO have control over: preparation. When that job got posted, I was ready. I was ready with:
–the knowledge of what makes a strong resume
–the knowledge of the important elements (and unimportant elements) of a cover letter
–a strong sense of how to articulate the skills that I had that were relevant to that job
–the importance of learning about the organization before writing my application
I spent a week focussing on drafting, tailoring and fine-tuning my resume, and writing my cover letter. I got feedback from four different people. I read and re-read the organization’s website. I was prepared to pull together the strongest possible application I could. And because I was prepared, I did pull together the strongest possible application I could.
Learning how to do that–to create a strong application that would resonate with the potential employer and would show my skills in the best possible light–took a really long time.
So no matter where you are on the spectrum of leaving academia, one thing you can do for yourself is to start taking the time to learn about the basic elements of making a strong case for yourself, so that when the right job comes along, you will be ready to seize it.
Tagged as:
job hunting
