We know the prevailing attitude within academia tends toward the “tenure-track or bust” end of the acceptable jobs spectrum, but the problem exists on the outside, too. Most of the time, people I’m talking to assume something very similar: that I will become a professor. A while back I was talking with an acquaintance about being post-PhD but not looking for academic work, and he wondered why I’d done a PhD if I wasn’t going to become an academic. He wasn’t simply curious: he seemed to be questioning my intelligence! For him, doing a history PhD is a prelude to professordom.
That encounter is an anecdote, but things like this have happened many times over the years. Usually, people are confused about why academia doesn’t appeal to me, and are at a loss to imagine what else I might do. Sometimes, conversations aren’t at all pleasant: I’m told to seek out entry-level jobs but then told I’d never be hired. Essentially, the PhD—especially the humanities doctorate—has a major image problem. And sometimes it’s PhD holders themselves who denigrate their own worth! Just read some of the comments on this piece. (I’m guilty of this too, but I’m working on it.)
So what can be done? In the outside world, if a company’s in trouble or a product’s not reaching its potential, a new marketing strategy might be all that’s needed to turn around company fortunes.
The PhD needs a brand makeover.
The current brand is long out-dated: a PhD as training for academic employment; PhD students as, well, students. What if we thought instead about graduate school as a job? After all, PhD candidates participate in many activities that professors do: independent research and writing, presenting at conferences, applying for grants, teaching undergraduates, and all manner of other things within and without their universities. Going from school to the professorate is more akin to employees transitioning to management than undergraduates seeking full-time employment after earning their degrees. With this in mind, my job search can be framed as a career change. And career changes are common, expected, and don’t tend to land 30-something job seekers in entry-level positions!
So that’s it: I’m changing careers. My academic career is at an end (by choice), and I’m looking for other opportunities to use my skills and talents. This strikes me as a much better way of framing a post-PhD, non-academic job search than, “I’m just out of school and the academic job market is terrible.” Next time someone asks me if I’m going to become a professor, I’ll know what to say.
Comments
9 responses to “Marketing the PhD”
Interesting post. I’ve often thought when I’ve had similar encounters such as the one that you were talking to your acquaintance that this person didn’t realise that there it is impossible for the number of people trained in a PhD programme to be absorbed by the respective university system. It doesn’t matter which country we’re discussing as there’s just too many people with PhDs than there are jobs in the university sector. Numbers don’t add up even when you start looking at the numbers of people being trained and the number of tenure track job positions in each country. So, I’d say that his perspective was problematic (possibly uninformed) and you were being very realistic.
Thanks! Realizing I need to change my own attitude—and language—when talking about my situation will hopefully ensure that sure situations don’t happen again!
Higher education is changing and aside from the sobering statistics, the nature of intellectual and academic life is also shifting. It is ludicrous to NOT consider a job outside of the academy when precious few within the academy exist anyway. Keep this narrative going. So many graduate students and new PhDs feel this way but won’t discuss it. Great post!
Thanks rglw!
Years ago, as I was collapsing in my own PhD in Europe a (very) young cousin of mine made ‘the face’ after I replied to the usual ”What is it you are you doing exactly?”. The face came with a ”Oh… I see… So you are still a student at your age…………….” 10 years later I am a reformed dropout going back to another PhD in another country. This time I am lucky enough to be covered with proper funding. The response is so different, because I am talking about a complete different product to people… and the cousin: ”Oh I got this job in a university where I will do research for a couple of years”. I’ll probably do a lot just as I did in the past: readings, papers, lectures, projects, fieldwork… Because in the end what we do IS a job. A real one. But what I am telling to my cousin is that now I am so not a student, but a professional… and the degree is just a parallel… And that what makes all the difference: to the cousin as much as to myself really.
Awesome, thanks for this! And good luck in your new… job! 🙂
I have recently come to the very same conclusions you write about here. As my PhD career winds to an end, I realize I have very little interest in staying in academia, at least in the immediate future. I think I have known that for a while, but it took years to admit and accept. I am at peace with the decision, and I think about it exactly as you have stated – I am looking for ways to put my skills, talent and training to good use. Thanks for sharing your own thoughts and experiences with this issue.
Thanks, and good luck! This isn’t easy. Would love to know how it goes for you.
Great post and an interesting discussion.
I may sound a little biased in saying this but, I actually believe more PhD’s need to be encouraged to look first for industry roles instead of academia. So much of the research and knowledge they generate during the gaining of their PhD remains cloistered in the academic system, locked away in research papers, thesis etc. when it would add so much value to our societies if released into broad circulation. Plus, the more trained academics working in industry the stronger the connections and recognized value of both pure and applied research.