Here are a couple interesting Q & As from Life After the PhD and Inside Higher Ed.
Here’s an excerpt from an interview with Jessa Chupik, who transitioned from history PhD student to executive recruiter:
Many students might be loath to leave the academy because they enjoy certain aspects of the job. How have you managed to integrate your favourite parts of the academic experience into your current job?
Gathering stories is what I loved about being a historian. Trying to piece together someone’s life from documents is what I did on a daily basis during my PhD. Now, I spend a lot of time doing the same thing, but I actually get to meet the individuals that I’m interacting with. I also get to do research and write a lot.
You know that rush you get when you find a document or uncover a pattern when you are doing research? I get that rush/excitement every day as an executive recruiter in the public and not-for-profit sectors.
Jessa is now a senior executive recruiter at the University of Waterloo. Follow her on Twitter @humanehr.
And over at IHE, there’s a Q & A with Ann Daly, a former women’s studies professor who left her tenured job and became a life coach. She writes, in part:
Q. After 17 successful years as a women’s studies professor, why did you decide to leave your tenured position in the academy?
A: I was dissatisfied and bored for a long, long time before I made my escape. My reasons were several. First, academia wasn’t a good fit for me. I’m a high-autonomy person, and my university had become increasingly bureaucratic and committee-obsessed over the years. Second, my foundational intellectual questions about women and culture were leading me outside into the “real world.” Third, I got bored in such a static environment. Seventeen years is a long time to be teaching the same thing in the same classroom and discussing the same problems in the same faculty meeting room. Fourth, I wanted to develop new capacities. The supreme irony is that my core desire, to constantly learn and grow, was thwarted within the very cultural institution that is supposed to advance learning.
Q. Now you run your own life/career coaching business, focusing specifically on helping women achieve their ambitions. What’s involved in that?
A: I work with smart, successful women who want to take it to the next level. I help them get clear about what they want, and how to get it. My clients are professionals and executives. I also coach several professors, as well! I bring a special level of insight to their career challenges.
Ann’s coaching website is here. Follow her on Twitter @anndaly.
I should have another interview of my own to post in a few days! Have you seen others on the ‘net I should know about?