I help professors, postdocs, and PhDs change careers.
Hello! 👋🏻
Are you a professor, postdoc, or PhD who’s wondering whether academia is still the right fit for you? Are you wondering whether the job you took after leaving is actually right for you? You’re in the right place.
I’m Jen Polk, PhD.
I help PhDs (and other long-time academics) figure out what they actually want next in their careers and build a thoughtful strategy for getting there.
In other words, I help people move from feeling stuck and second-guessing themselves to making thoughtful career decisions and moving toward work that’s a better fit.
Most people who find me are at a turning point
They know something needs to change. But they’re not yet clear on what they want instead, or how to move toward it without making a costly mistake.
They might be thinking things like:
- “I know I don’t want to stay where I am.”
- “I’ve followed the standard advice, but I’m still not getting anywhere.”
- “I should be able to figure this out on my own, but I’m stuck.”
- “What if I’ve outgrown academia but don’t belong anywhere else?”
These are thoughtful, capable people.
They don’t lack skills.
What they’re lacking is clarity, structure, and community to help them make thoughtful career decisions and move forward with confidence.
Feeling stuck?
You open LinkedIn for the first time in months.
Your old “Assistant Professor” title is still sitting there like a ghost of your former life.
Your finger hovers over the edit button.
Deleting it feels like erasing yourself.
But keeping it feels like a lie.
So you scroll past your publications, feel that little jolt of nostalgia… and close the tab.
That’s where a lot of people are when they first reach out.
They’re not just trying to change jobs.
They’re trying to figure out who they are now, professionally, and what kind of work actually fits.
Sound familiar? That’s where I come in.
It’s possible to build a meaningful, values-aligned career beyond academia.
Many people need to believe this before they can begin exploring what’s next.
Figuring out what that looks like for you usually requires support, structure, and space to do the work.
Academic careers often encourage people to focus on external markers of success.
What it rarely teaches is how to ask questions such as
- What do I actually value in my career now, if I’m honest with myself?
- What parts of my work energize me—and what parts suck the life out of me?
- What kind of life do I want my career to support?
Those answers matter far more than any job title.
The real problem?
Many PhDs assume their challenge is resume, LinkedIn profile, networking skills, or interview answers.
They think they need:
- a better resume
- stronger networking skills
- insider knowledge about “industry jobs”
And, sure, you might be right. Those things can certainly help.
But in my experience, those usually aren’t the biggest obstacle.
It’s much harder to run a focused job search when you don’t yet know what you’re looking for.
You don’t yet have clarity about what you want.
You may not yet know how your values, interests, priorities, and experience translate into work that’s a better fit for who you are now.
Without that clarity, it’s easy to
- spend months thinking about leaving without making progress
- search broadly because you don’t know what you actually want
- jump at the first available role, only to discover it’s another mismatch
- lose confidence because nothing seems to fit
- wonder whether the problem is you, when it may actually be your approach
My approach
Since 2013, I’ve helped professors, postdocs, and other PhDs step back from the pressure, make sense of their options, and make thoughtful career decisions.
I don’t prescribe career paths. I help people learn how to make good career decisions.
Together, we focus on
- clarifying what you actually want instead of what you think you should want
- identifying career paths that genuinely fit your strengths, interests, and priorities
- developing a practical strategy for exploring opportunities and moving forward
- communicating your experience and value with confidence
- staying accountable through coaching and a community of thoughtful PhDs
The goal isn’t just to escape a job that no longer fits. It’s to help you move toward work where you can contribute, keep learning, and feel proud of what you’re doing again. What that looks like for you is going to be different from the next person. That’s the whole point.
Ways we can work together
PhD Career Clarity Program
A six-month program to help you figure out what you want beyond academia and move toward it with structure, coaching, and community.
Free Webinar
A practical introduction to my approach to career clarity and job searching beyond academia. A great place to start.
1-on-1 Consultation
Bring one focused question, challenge, or decision related to leaving academia or building a career beyond it. We’ll work through it together, one on one.
Workshops and Speaking
Interactive online workshops and talks on career clarity, careers beyond academia, networking, interviewing, and more. Customized for your audience.
Why I do this work
Over the years, I’ve interacted with thousands of PhDs about their careers. I keep seeing the same pattern.
Brilliant, thoughtful people who pursued advanced degrees and academic careers because they cared about ideas, teaching, research, and making a difference… slowly find themselves feeling stuck, undervalued, or unsure how to move forward.
Academic culture often pushes people toward narrow definitions of success—prestige, publications, tenure—even when those things no longer align with what they actually want from their work or their lives.
When that misalignment grows, people start asking difficult questions:
- Is this really the career I want?
- If I leave, what would I even do?
- Do my skills actually matter outside academia?
I believe that when PhDs reconnect with their strengths, values, and priorities, incredible things can happen—both for them and for the organizations and communities they go on to serve.
My work is about helping people do that thinking deliberately, make thoughtful career decisions, and move toward work where they’re valued, engaged, and able to make the kind of impact they care about.
A bit about me
I earned my PhD in history from the University of Toronto in 2012.
Soon after finishing my degree, I started From PhD to Life, which has grown into a career coaching practice focused on helping professors, postdocs, and other PhDs navigate career transitions beyond academia.
Since 2013, I’ve worked with professors, postdocs, and other PhDs across Canada, the United States, and beyond who are trying to answer a deceptively simple question: “What should I do next?”
Over the years, I’ve become an expert on PhD careers. I regularly facilitate professional development workshops and deliver keynote presentations for universities and professional organizations across North America and internationally.
My writing on PhD career paths has appeared in outlets such as University Affairs, Inside Higher Ed, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Globe and Mail, and Academic Matters. I’ve also contributed essays to several books on graduate education and academic careers.
In 2021, I served as an expert panelist for the Canadian Council of Academies report Degrees of Success, which examined the challenges PhDs face when transitioning into employment.
Today, I primarily help professors, postdocs, and other PhDs who are considering careers beyond academia—or wondering what comes next after leaving—through my PhD Career Clarity Program, one-on-one consultations, workshops, and speaking.
A good place to start
If you’re questioning your future in academia—or trying to figure out what you want to do next—a good place to start is my free webinar: How to Get a Great Job Outside Academia (even if you have no idea what you want to do next or why anyone would hire you).
In this training, I walk through the biggest mistakes PhDs make when trying to leave academia—and the process that helps people gain the clarity they need to move forward.
It’s a practical place to start, and a great way to see whether my approach resonates with you before thinking about us working together.
Have questions? I’m happy to answer them for you! Email me at Jen@FromPhDToLife.com