Author: Jennifer Polk
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On current (but not only current) academic issues
On Saturday, a PhD who works outside academia commented on Twitter that she’s not experienced the kind of abuse that is so common in academia since changing careers. And that totally tracks, because folks in positions of power elsewhere have a lot less direct influence over your life and career than they do in academia.…
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Happy 10th anniversary (of my PhD defence)
Today marks 10 years (TEN!) since I defended my PhD dissertation at the University of Toronto. Part me of want to opine on things I’ve learned. Part of me laments progress not made. Part of me cheers what I’ve accomplished. That was a complicated day. I was happy to defend. I’d spent a long time…
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Getting a job after your PhD means bridging this gap
Want to hear something frustrating when it comes to getting a job after your PhD? (Yes, yes you do.) I occasionally speak with employers (including both CEOs and HR/talent acquisition professionals) who want to hire social science and humanities PhDs for actually awesome research and analyst positions but struggle to do so. Say what? Yeah. 🤯 It’s like there’s…
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What PhDs do for work (I asked, hundreds answered)
Have you ever wondered what PhDs do if they don’t work as professors? Back in December I asked my PhD Twitter followers about their job titles. Here’s the tweet: I got hundreds of responses, from PhDs (and ABDs) across all fields, in many different countries. And yeah, a few folks work as adjuncts, postdocs, lecturers,…
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New webinar for PhDs on 9 Dec
I’ve been busy getting ready (read: fighting with software) for my upcoming webinar… and you’re invited! It’s called How Get Clear on Your Career Path So You Can Confidently Market Yourself for Jobs You Actually Want, and it’s happening next Thursday, 9 December, starting at 12pm EST. Yayyyy! Okay, well, I’m excited 😆 I created this…
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Emotional labour and graduate advising
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…
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Stay tuned…
I started my career as a PhD job search coach back in 2013. Over the years, I’ve worked 1-on-1 with individual clients, including graduate students, tenured professors, and everyone around and in between; organized multiple virtual career conferences, mainly about the non-academic job search; and delivered dozens of presentations and facilitated many in-person and online…
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Choose your words wisely, professors
I recently heard a faculty member jokingly refer to a former student as “unfortunately” working in a certain industry. “Why ‘unfortunately,’” I asked? She explained the ethical implications that might be involved in his new line of work. Cool, fair. This throw-away remark reminded me of a different kind of throw-away remark. I was speaking…
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How to know what jobs are really like
Here’s some common advice for folks considering going to graduate school, especially PhD programs: “Talk to the professor’s current and former students.” I suspect you know the rationale behind this advice. It’s so you know what it’s really like to work with an advisor before you enroll. After all, there’s only so much you can…
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Don’t limit yourself to jobs for PhDs or your discipline
Yesterday I posted a Twitter poll, and the results are in, with 832 votes. I asked folks who have PhDs or other doctoral degrees whether the jobs they have now specifically require a doctorate. I asked this question because I know that when PhDs are job searching, it’s not uncommon for them to look for…