Jennifer Polk, PhD publishes articles and blog posts about careers for PhDs. Her writing has appeared in Inside Higher Ed, University Affairs, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
2021
Your Career Is Up To You
A book chapter in How to Get Your PhD: A Handbook for the Journey by Gavin Brown
Oxford University Press
Read the book description
A unique take on how to survive and thrive in the process your PhD, this is a book that stands out from the crowd of traditional PhD guides. Compiled by a leading UK researcher, and written in a highly personal one-to-one manner, How to Get Your PhD showcases the thoughts of diverse and distinguished minds hailing from the UK, EU, and beyond, spanning both academia and industry. With over 150 bitesize nuggets of actionable advice, it offers more detailed contributions covering topics such as career planning, professional development, diversity and inclusion in science, and the nature of risk in research.
How to Get Your PhD: A Handbook for the Journey is as readable for people considering a PhD as it is for those in the middle of one: aiming to clarify the highs and lows that come when training in the profession of research, while providing tips & tricks for the journey. This concise yet complete guide allows students to “dip in” and read just what they need, rather than adding to the mountain of reading material they already have.
2020
Standout moments from your past can help define your future
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 29 July
Providing rich and rewarding learning experiences for the fall term
An interview with Gavan Watson for University Affairs on 16 June
2019
Announcing the 2019 academic job market conference
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 17 September
Beyond the Professoriate’s 6th annual online career conference for PhDs
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 27 March
Overcoming the PhD Stereotype
With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 27 March
A Beyond the Professoriate Faculty Challenge
With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 8 January
2018
Powering Up Your Résumé for a Nonfaculty Job Search
With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 18 October
What colour is your parachute, PhD?
A book review for the From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 27 September
I attended an academic conference and didn’t go to any sessions
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 17 August
Preparing for a Nonfaculty Job
With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 8 August
Connecting on LinkedIn
With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 30 May
Leaving Academe and Lost?
With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 2 May
3 Ways You Can Be Stymied in Your Career
With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 29 March
Underqualified? Overqualified?
With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 1 March
What Can I Do With a PhD in My Discipline Outside Academe?
With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 14 February
Leaving Academia: Four Questions to Jumpstart Your Transition to a Meaningful Career
Career Path Writing Solutions on 25 January
2017
Alternative Academic Careers
A book chapter in Reflections on Academic Lives: Identities, Struggles, and Triumphs in Graduate School and Beyond, edited by Staci M. Zavattaro and Shannon K. Orr
Palgrave Macmillan, 2017
Read the book description
This book brings together reflections from seventy academics – everyone from doctoral students to a retired provost – who share their lived experiences in graduate school and beyond. Career seekers, adjunct professors, those in or considering graduate school, and tenure-track professors alike will find truths revealed through these shared experiences of struggle, triumph, loss and hope.
How to be employed after a PhD
Stylish Academic on 28 October
How I Fail
Interview with Veronika Cheplygina, VeronikaCH.com on 21 October
Message to grad students from head of the Public Service: We want you
Interview with Patrick Borbey for University Affairs on 13 October
From PhD to . . . Beyond the Professoriate
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 2 October
What Lies Beneath? Dealing With Uncertainty During A Post-PhD Career Change
LinkedIn on 6 July
Advice for PhDs seeking non-faculty jobs
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 28 April
Check out the lineup for the 4th annual Beyond the Professoriate
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 12 April
I am Jennifer Polk, and This is How I Work
PhD Talk on 28 March
Don’t let the fact that you have a PhD limit the way you see yourself
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 March
How to prepare for a future job search
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 1 February
Make 2017 the year of “What if I…?”
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 5 January
2016
Support and community for graduate students and PhDs
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 18 November
What is a PhD, anyway?
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 October
The next (scary!) step for me: building a formal community
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 20 September
10 Starter Tips on Using Twitter for Business and Pleasure
Medium on 8 September
Get help with your non-academic job search
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 24 August
Why it’s good to hit the summer reset button
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 11 August
Career transitions don’t happen overnight
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 June
Where Do PhDs Work Outside the Academy?
Medium on 13 May
3rd annual Beyond the Professoriate, the online career conference for PhDs
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 4 May
What can I do now to get ready for my career after graduate school?
Medium on 31 March
Organizing an Academic Conference? Don’t Forget Twitter!
Medium on 9 March
Taking risks is key to a successful career change
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 24 February
Stalled career search? Don’t give up
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 11 February
It’s OK to Quit Your PhD
SAS Confidential on 11 February
Article originally featured on University Affairs
Vous avez le droit de ne pas terminer votre doctorat
Affaires Universitaires on 18 February
From PhD to Life: Coming to an event near you!
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 January
2015
Don’t give in to your inner critic
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 16 December
Let’s talk money
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 10 November
Do PhDs really want tenure-track jobs?
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 28 October
Grad school is part of your career, too
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 October
My new mission: From PhD to Life, the book!
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 23 September
PhD Perspective: What I learned at Mitacs Step workshops
Mitacs blog on 27 August
Conferences are for networking
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 15 June
Beyond the Professoriate was a success
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 25 May
Life after the thesis
Exchanges, Wiley blog on 15 May
Top 10 Tips on Making the Transition from PhD to Whatever Comes Next
MyGradSkills.ca blog on 24 April
Beyond the Professoriate conference preview
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 22 April
PhD and then what? Life beyond the professoriate
It’s Not Academic, Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) blog on 14 April
What career coaches can do for PhD holders
University Affairs on 7 April online and May print issue, page 52
Not just ‘a loser with a PhD’: Three questions to ask yourself upon leaving academia
Conversations in Academia on 7 April
Republished on Medium.com as “3 Questions for Job Seekers with a PhD”
Striking for a better now, and a better future
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 11 March
PhD – Fight or Flight
With Stewart Barker for Microbe Stew on 5 March
Book review: The Unruly PhD
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 February
Info on the 2015 Beyond the Professoriate conference
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 5 February
Tips for surviving the academic job search season
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 22 January
Do you know what career path to take?
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 14 January
2014
Reflect back to move forward
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 December
The PhD is a passport
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 10 December
Are you hoping instead of acting?
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 25 November
The “dream job”
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 6 November
A spreadsheet keeps me honest
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 30 October
Recognizing your own good work is hard!
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 October
My priority is learning
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 29 September
Making big changes: Start small, be kind to yourself
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 12 September
From History Ph.D. to Life Coach?
The Chronicle of Higher Education on 9 September
Dealing with inner critics
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 5 September
Don’t shy away from informational interviews
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 28 August
Coaching graduate students
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 28 July
Feeling rooted in the midst of uncertainty
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 25 June
Twitter chats as public outreach and engagement
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 18 June
Why job hunting is like an election campaign
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 May
My Patchwork Post-Academic Community
The Chronicle of Higher Education on 8 May
Resume writing tips for academics
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 May
Beyond the Professoriate conference
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 4 April
How a career sponsor can help your job search
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 31 March
Changing the dominant narrative of success after the PhD
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 March
Your own priorities, values, and strengths matter most of all
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 14 March
Why you should continue your professional development
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 6 March
Be vulnerable, be brave
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 13 February
A PhD’s Path to Entrepreneurship
The Chronicle of Higher Education on 12 February
Note-taking and project management
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 23 January
In service of PhDs (and a post-academic CFP)
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 13 January
More writing in 2014
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 8 January
From PhD to Life: My Post-Ac Transition So Far
A book chapter in Moving On: Essays on the Aftermath of Leaving Academia, January
Read a description of the book
Thinking of leaving academia? Or have you already started inching toward the exit? In this volume, 14 former graduate students, adjuncts, and tenure-track professors tell their personal stories about leaving academia, rediscovering their lives in the “real world,” and finding new jobs and careers.
The essays are full of personal stories, memories, and frank discussions about the complex feelings and emotions that each author went through as they decided to leave and ultimately transitioned out of the Ivory Tower.
While the journeys that are recounted were never easy, none of the authors express any regret over having left. The essays are hopeful, funny, encouraging, and full of advice for readers who are considering making the same leap out of academia.
2013
Taking stock and measuring well-being
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 13 December
Life beyond the PhD
Academic Matters on 29 November
Yes, PhD grad, there is life outside the Ivory Tower
Op-ed in the Globe & Mail on 20 November
Breaking bad habits, building better ones
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 November
Certainty and time
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 8 November
“I’m a coach”
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 4 November
Supporting dissertators
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 25 October
Academia’s many worlds
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 17 September
Feeling Good
From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 4 September