Author: Jennifer Polk
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How to get great job offers and change careers
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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“I loved working in academia. Now, I’m so disappointed.”
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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![[Monthly] What’s happening this month + popular posts](https://fromphdtolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/vvTginhxzTewp8cFZbYn1m.jpg)
[Monthly] What’s happening this month + popular posts
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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![[Monthly] January events + a fave reflection question](https://fromphdtolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/circle.png)
[Monthly] January events + a fave reflection question
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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Your PhD dissertation can help you get a job
Interview with Jen Harrison, dissertation coach and owner of Read.Write.Perfect. I met Jen Harrison a few weeks ago and we had a great conversation about the challenges dissertators face. One of the topics that came up was how folks can better leverage their dissertations (specifically) as career preparation. I asked Jen if she’d be willing…
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What are informational interviews?
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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Want to apply to industry jobs for PhDs? Read this.
Recently, I was reading advice about how to apply for industry jobs for PhDs. It got me curious about how folks were defining “industry” in this context. I had a sense in my mind that “industry” referred mainly to STEM PhDs working in research roles at companies. But I also knew that some folks —…
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Are you a sellout if you leave academia after your PhD?
Guess who is the featured guess for the launch of season 4 of the Papa PhD podcast? Yup, that would be me. I’m episode 190. (It’s about time, eh! 🤣) Thanks to David Mendes from Papa PhD for hosting me on his channel(s). We talked about my career journey as well as tackling this question:…
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Network as an introvert without doing anything icky
Are you an introvert? If so, you’ve probably wondered how you can network as an introvert without doing anything icky. A lot of PhDs identify as introverts. I do! I am definitely introverted. Introversion can be a strength in an academic environment, certainly while you’re in graduate school. But then folks worry when they hear…
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Leaving academia doesn’t mean going corporate
One of the concerns PhDs have when contemplating leaving academia is wanting to do research without selling out to giant corporations that only care about profits. A social science PhD may well worry that leaving academia means working as a researcher at Meta (Facebook) or another soulless entity where their insights will be used to…