Author: Jennifer Polk

Dear Reader, I hope you are safe and well these days. Are you following the student protests on US, Canadian, and other campuses around the world the past few weeks? A lot of faculty members are shocked by the reactions of senior administrators to what’s happening on their campus greens. They see themselves in some…

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Dear Reader, It might surprise people who don’t have PhDs that grief is often part of the job search process, especially when you’re first changing career directions. In my own case, I didn’t experience grief per se. At least not much, and not for long. What I did have to do was disentangle my sense…

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Dear Reader, “We can’t dump all this service on junior faculty. You have to do you part.” Without context, this message from a senior administrator in higher education to a mid-career faculty member could be perceived in multiple ways. It’s certainly true that pre-tenure faculty must be given time to focus on work that will…

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Dear Reader, How do you convince employers to take you seriously for work that’s quite different from what you’ve done for years? There are different ways to answer this question. Something super important is the necessity of getting right with yourself about this career pivot. You can’t demonstrate to a potential employer that you’re a…

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Dear Reader, “I loved working in academia…. Now, I’m so disappointed.” That’s the verdict of one of my clients who joined the PhD Career Clarity Program earlier this year. Here are others:”Everything in academia is about money. Nothing else matters.””… the burnout, isolation and dissatisfaction are real.””I yearn for a truly collaborative work environment.” And…

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Dear Reader, My big news is that I’ve welcomed nearly 40 new members to the PhD Career Clarity Program this month! 👏🏻 Happy New Year to me 🎉! And to you, too. It’s great to be working with these folks. They include professors, postdocs, a few graduate students, plus other PhDs ready to finally figure…

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Dear Reader, Welcome to my new monthly newsletter! This once-a-month email will include anything new and noteworthy plus reminders about how we can work together (if we aren’t already). To kick off the new year right, I’m hosting a Career Reflection & Goal Setting Workshop on Friday, 13 January. I’ll guide participants through a series…

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Thanks to my friend Jennifer van Alstyne for this fun conversation about informational interviews, why to do them, and how they can supercharge a PhD job search. Read the full interview on Jennifer’s website (“What Are Informational Interviews? With Jennifer Polk, PhD“), or watch our conversation on YouTube:

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