Publications

Jennifer Polk, PhD publishes articles and blog posts about careers for PhDs. Her writing has appeared in Inside Higher Ed, University Affairs, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Your Career Is Up To You

A book chapter in How to Get Your PhD: A Handbook for the Journey by Gavin Brown

Oxford University Press

Read the book description

A unique take on how to survive and thrive in the process your PhD, this is a book that stands out from the crowd of traditional PhD guides. Compiled by a leading UK researcher, and written in a highly personal one-to-one manner, How to Get Your PhD showcases the thoughts of diverse and distinguished minds hailing from the UK, EU, and beyond, spanning both academia and industry. With over 150 bitesize nuggets of actionable advice, it offers more detailed contributions covering topics such as career planning, professional development, diversity and inclusion in science, and the nature of risk in research.

How to Get Your PhD: A Handbook for the Journey is as readable for people considering a PhD as it is for those in the middle of one: aiming to clarify the highs and lows that come when training in the profession of research, while providing tips & tricks for the journey. This concise yet complete guide allows students to “dip in” and read just what they need, rather than adding to the mountain of reading material they already have.

Book cover of How to Get Your PhD: A Handbook for the Journey by Gavin Brown

Standout moments from your past can help define your future

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 29 July

Providing rich and rewarding learning experiences for the fall term

An interview with Gavan Watson for University Affairs on 16 June

Announcing the 2019 academic job market conference

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 17 September

Beyond the Professoriate’s 6th annual online career conference for PhDs

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 27 March

Overcoming the PhD Stereotype

With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 27 March

A Beyond the Professoriate Faculty Challenge

With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 8 January

Powering Up Your Résumé for a Nonfaculty Job Search

With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 18 October

What colour is your parachute, PhD?

A book review for the From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 27 September

I attended an academic conference and didn’t go to any sessions

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 17 August

Preparing for a Nonfaculty Job

With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 8 August

Connecting on LinkedIn

With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 30 May

Leaving Academe and Lost?

With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 2 May

3 Ways You Can Be Stymied in Your Career

With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 29 March

Underqualified? Overqualified?

With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 1 March

What Can I Do With a PhD in My Discipline Outside Academe?

With L. Maren Wood for Inside Higher Ed on 14 February

Leaving Academia: Four Questions to Jumpstart Your Transition to a Meaningful Career

Career Path Writing Solutions on 25 January

Alternative Academic Careers

A book chapter in Reflections on Academic Lives: Identities, Struggles, and Triumphs in Graduate School and Beyond, edited by Staci M. Zavattaro and Shannon K. Orr

Palgrave Macmillan, 2017

Read the book description

This book brings together reflections from seventy academics – everyone from doctoral students to a retired provost – who share their lived experiences in graduate school and beyond. Career seekers, adjunct professors, those in or considering graduate school, and tenure-track professors alike will find truths revealed through these shared experiences of struggle, triumph, loss and hope.

Book cover of Reflections on Academic Lives: Identities, Struggles, and Triumphs in Graduate School and Beyond edited by Staci M. Zavattaro and Shannon K. Orr

How to be employed after a PhD

Stylish Academic on 28 October

How I Fail

Interview with Veronika Cheplygina, VeronikaCH.com on 21 October

Message to grad students from head of the Public Service: We want you

Interview with Patrick Borbey for University Affairs on 13 October

From PhD to . . . Beyond the Professoriate

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 2 October

What Lies Beneath? Dealing With Uncertainty During A Post-PhD Career Change

LinkedIn on 6 July

Advice for PhDs seeking non-faculty jobs

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 28 April

Check out the lineup for the 4th annual Beyond the Professoriate

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 12 April

I am Jennifer Polk, and This is How I Work

PhD Talk on 28 March

Don’t let the fact that you have a PhD limit the way you see yourself

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 March

How to prepare for a future job search

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 1 February

Make 2017 the year of “What if I…?”

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 5 January

Support and community for graduate students and PhDs

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 18 November

What is a PhD, anyway?

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 October

The next (scary!) step for me: building a formal community

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 20 September

10 Starter Tips on Using Twitter for Business and Pleasure

Medium on 8 September

Get help with your non-academic job search

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 24 August

Why it’s good to hit the summer reset button

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 11 August

Career transitions don’t happen overnight

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 June

Where Do PhDs Work Outside the Academy?

Medium on 13 May

3rd annual Beyond the Professoriate, the online career conference for PhDs

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 4 May

What can I do now to get ready for my career after graduate school?

Medium on 31 March

Organizing an Academic Conference? Don’t Forget Twitter!

Medium on 9 March

Taking risks is key to a successful career change

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 24 February

Stalled career search? Don’t give up

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 11 February

It’s OK to Quit Your PhD

SAS Confidential on 11 February
Article originally featured on University Affairs

Vous avez le droit de ne pas terminer votre doctorat

Affaires Universitaires on 18 February

From PhD to Life: Coming to an event near you!

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 January

Don’t give in to your inner critic

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 16 December

Let’s talk money

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 10 November

Do PhDs really want tenure-track jobs?

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 28 October

Grad school is part of your career, too

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 October

My new mission: From PhD to Life, the book!

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 23 September

PhD Perspective: What I learned at Mitacs Step workshops

Mitacs blog on 27 August

Conferences are for networking

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 15 June

Beyond the Professoriate was a success

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 25 May

Life after the thesis

Exchanges, Wiley blog on 15 May

Top 10 Tips on Making the Transition from PhD to Whatever Comes Next

MyGradSkills.ca blog on 24 April

Beyond the Professoriate conference preview

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 22 April

PhD and then what? Life beyond the professoriate

It’s Not Academic, Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) blog on 14 April

What career coaches can do for PhD holders

University Affairs on 7 April online and May print issue, page 52

Not just ‘a loser with a PhD’: Three questions to ask yourself upon leaving academia

Conversations in Academia on 7 April
Republished on Medium.com as “3 Questions for Job Seekers with a PhD”

Striking for a better now, and a better future

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 11 March

PhD – Fight or Flight

With Stewart Barker for Microbe Stew on 5 March

Book review: The Unruly PhD

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 February

Info on the 2015 Beyond the Professoriate conference

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 5 February

Tips for surviving the academic job search season

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 22 January

Do you know what career path to take?

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 14 January

Reflect back to move forward

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 December

The PhD is a passport

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 10 December

Are you hoping instead of acting?

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 25 November

The “dream job”

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 6 November

A spreadsheet keeps me honest

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 30 October

Recognizing your own good work is hard!

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 October

My priority is learning

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 29 September

Making big changes: Start small, be kind to yourself

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 12 September

From History Ph.D. to Life Coach?

The Chronicle of Higher Education on 9 September

Dealing with inner critics

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 5 September

Don’t shy away from informational interviews

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 28 August

Coaching graduate students

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 28 July

Feeling rooted in the midst of uncertainty

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 25 June

Twitter chats as public outreach and engagement

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 18 June

Why job hunting is like an election campaign

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 May

My Patchwork Post-Academic Community

The Chronicle of Higher Education on 8 May

Resume writing tips for academics

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 May

Beyond the Professoriate conference

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 4 April

How a career sponsor can help your job search

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 31 March

Changing the dominant narrative of success after the PhD

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 21 March

Your own priorities, values, and strengths matter most of all

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 14 March

Why you should continue your professional development

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 6 March

Be vulnerable, be brave

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 13 February

A PhD’s Path to Entrepreneurship

The Chronicle of Higher Education on 12 February

Note-taking and project management

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 23 January

In service of PhDs (and a post-academic CFP)

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 13 January

More writing in 2014

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 8 January

From PhD to Life: My Post-Ac Transition So Far

A book chapter in Moving On: Essays on the Aftermath of Leaving Academia, January

Read a description of the book

Thinking of leaving academia? Or have you already started inching toward the exit? In this volume, 14 former graduate students, adjuncts, and tenure-track professors tell their personal stories about leaving academia, rediscovering their lives in the “real world,” and finding new jobs and careers.

The essays are full of personal stories, memories, and frank discussions about the complex feelings and emotions that each author went through as they decided to leave and ultimately transitioned out of the Ivory Tower.

While the journeys that are recounted were never easy, none of the authors express any regret over having left. The essays are hopeful, funny, encouraging, and full of advice for readers who are considering making the same leap out of academia.

Book cover for Moving On: Essays on the Aftermath of Leaving Academia by Kathleen Miller (Editor), Julie Chmiel (Editor), Lauren Whitehead (Editor), and Jet (Editor)

Taking stock and measuring well-being

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 13 December

Life beyond the PhD

Academic Matters on 29 November

Yes, PhD grad, there is life outside the Ivory Tower

Op-ed in the Globe & Mail on 20 November

Breaking bad habits, building better ones

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 19 November

Certainty and time

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 8 November

“I’m a coach”

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 4 November

Supporting dissertators

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 25 October

Academia’s many worlds

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 17 September

Feeling Good

From PhD to Life blog on University Affairs on 4 September