Category: Uncategorized
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This is me validating your frustrations with job searching
Hello Reader, How long does it take to get a job? Is it harder now than it was a couple years ago, or a decade ago? These are questions that came up in my live small group session for members of my PhD Career Clarity Program yesterday. There aren’t easy answers, not without more info…
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What do hope and faith have to do with leaving academia?
Dear Reader, The thing about academics thinking “I love this work more than anything” (a direct quote from a professor on my Twitter feed last week) is a) I believe you butb) you don’t know what you don’t know. Leaving academia—any career change—is an act of hope for a better tomorrow, and faith that you…
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Don’t overlook this invaluable free resource + asking for referrals
Hello Reader, A lot of folks misunderstand one of LinkedIn’s most valuable (and completely free) functions: A search engine to learn about people who have a huge range of different jobs. I frequently talk about networking with my clients and other PhDs looking for meaningful work outside the academy. What I typically mean when I…
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This one’s especially for postdocs + a new podcast recording
Hell Reader, A few days ago I met up with a former client, back then a research associate who wanted to move on to more meaningful work. Now? He’s doing great, still working with scientists within a university environment, but in much different and personally fulfilling capacity. Also last week a current postdoc client got…
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Bad (and good) news about transferable skills, and what it means for PhD job seekers
Dear Reader, I have a love-hate relationship with the concept of “transferable skills” for professors, postdocs, and other PhDs. Well-meaning folks tell job seekers “you have amazing transferable skills that will connect you with great opportunities outside academia.” And this is true; it also lacks nuance. The truth is that having transferable skills is necessary…
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Will your PhD open doors for you? + other PhD business owners
Dear Reader, “Your PhD opens doors,” we were told. Not so much for me. At least not when it came to finding a full-time paying job.* When I was figuring out how to pay my way through life after finishing my doctorate, I attempted to identify positions and places where my PhD credential, disciplinary training,…
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Why professors leave academia + are you a Big Idea Expert?
Dear Reader, Why do professors, even tenured ones, leave academia? Some of you know, because you lived this. But I bet a lot of folks outside the academy are surprised to learn that, yes, professors ditch tenure the get jobs elsewhere, and it’s not a rare phenomenon. Earlier this year I recorded a video about…
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Troubleshooting your job search + my YouTube channel
Dear Reader, Did you know that I have a YouTube channel? Yes! Scroll down for links. You’re applying, occasionally getting an interview, but time is passing and unemployment is looming (or lengthening). Have you experienced this? It’s at this point that some people reach out to career coaches, wondering what we know that they don’t,…
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Job applications made easy + why I do what I do
Dear Reader, How do you figure out what you want to do outside academia if all you’ve ever known of the world of employment (since shitty jobs in your youth) is working as a faculty member or postdoc?A couple program members had an exchange about exactly this recently. They framed it as looking for “something…
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Student protesters have it right + invites and updates
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…