Effective PhD advising necessarily involves emotional and affective labour. The former is when you act to modify your own emotional response; the latter, when the work you do intends to impact emotional responses in others.
I’m thinking about all this because my recent post struck a chord with many PhDs. They expressed frustration at the attitude many academics — and academic culture in general — have toward careers outside the “traditional” path.
- A career development professional at a graduate school commented that she “regularly talk[s] with students who feel pressured to go into academia or think they will lose support if they don’t.”
- An assistant professor wrote, “I’ve had this exact experience, with a professor of mine lamenting that a former supervisee was only an editor at a major publishing house.”
- A PhD holder messaged me privately to tell me she’d recently told her advisors about her great new job; instead of being supportive and celebrating her success, the advisors were the exact opposite, leaving her in tears.
This is heartbreaking, fam.
And, like, “I don’t know how to explain to you why you should care about other people.” You know?
(Want to read more? Check the comments on my LinkedIn post, which received over 500 likes and other reactions. Related: The notion that changing careers after a PhD is some sort of quasi-religious fall from grace has got to be jettisoned straight into the sun.)
Advisors: Do better.
What does that mean? Be curious about the career and life choices of, and have empathy for, the people who worked under you for several years. They are now facing an academic job market with very few good choices. It’s nothing like you’ve ever experienced.
And, given the power dynamics involved in your relationship, you’ve for to be direct and active in your supportiveness. You have to take the lead. This can get tricky, I know — I empathize! — but you’ve got to try.
Curiosity and empathy costs very little. Yes, it involves you doing emotional and affective labour to modify your own responses and be mindful of the impacts you’re having on students. But it’s worth it. Your own life will be enriched in return; of that I’m absolutely sure.