Things have been pretty quiet around these parts since the holidays. I’ve got a good reason for that, though. Remember back in November when I revealed that I was throwing in the freelance towel and had decided to look for a job? Well, I’ve got good news. After four solid months of actively job searching, I landed myself a shiny new full-time job…and I love it.
I started last week as a policy analyst at a women’s health-based, not-for-profit organization, and I could not be more thrilled. This is EXACTLY the type of job that I’ve been looking for: one that perfectly marries my skills with my values.
Although I won’t be discussing the job itself until I really get my feet wet, I can tell you a little bit about the process of getting it. I make no bones about the fact that I worked my butt off to get a job of this calibre. It was a hard slog. The unemployment rate in Toronto right now is around 10%, and there were some days when I despaired I’d never get a job (sound familiar?). But I also put my heart and soul into my search. Here are my stats:
Number of jobs applied for between August 24th and Dec 24th: 24
Number of job interviews: 2
Number of meetings with employers as a direct result of networking: 1
Number of formal networking events attended: 1
Number of conferences attended to meet potential employers: 3
Number of recruiters registered with: 1
Number of information interviews conducted: 19
Number of information interviewees who became friends: 1
Number of friends who helped with my job search: 18
Number of family members: 3
Number of social media platforms leveraged: 4
Number of job boards I routinely checked: 5
Number of different versions of my resume I now have: countless
Some people have asked me what would happen to Leaving Academia once I got a full-time job, and I can tell you that I haven’t decided 100%. One thing I know for sure is that I’m shuttering the consulting side of the project. The Toronto-based meetups will continue, I’m sure, with or without me (and there’s a fresh on this Tuesday at 6:00 pm! Details to follow!). And I am still writing my Leaving Academia column for Inside Higher Ed.
But the blog? I don’t know. I won’t be taking it down, because I know it’s still serving as a great resource for hundreds of people every day. But for me, it has served its purpose (as I’ve taken to saying, it was in no small part a “teacher, teach thyself” kind of project). It’s a project I am readying to move along and away from.
So perhaps it’s time to turn it over to you, the readers. Maybe I can turn it into a group blog, written and edited by a handful of you who are also interested in sharing this kind of information. Or perhaps I can find other ways of inserting user-generated content, like guest posts. Have any ideas? Would you be interested in helping keep the site alive? Leave a comment or flip me an email.
Finally, I just want to say to all of you academic leavers and possible academic leavers out there: don’t give up. I finished my PhD three and a half years ago, and though the time between now and then has been important and significant (I, um, had a baby and all!), it’s only now that I know I’m on the professional path that I really, really want to be on. This pattern is not unusual. So in your dark moments of total fear and uncertainty, please do know that, like I always say, if you were smart enough to get into a PhD program, you’re smart enough to get out.
Related posts:
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations. I would be interested in joining some kind of group run blog. If there are others out here who might be interested in continuing to contribute to this blog, I’d love to hear from you. I think it’s a wonderful resource, and it would be a shame if it disappeared as a resource. There were so few resources when I left as it was, that I’d hate to see one of the better ones disappear.
Congrats! It has been great reading your blog these past few months since I discovered it. I like the idea of a group blog as well, where people could anonymously (or not, their choice) share their experiences of leaving the big ol’ ivory tower in the sky. Your successes and advice have been inspirational and reassuring. I hope you are enjoying your new position and them you!