Despite a culture in academe that steers most Ph.D. students toward careers as professors, these former graduate students found jobs outside of the classroom. They have taken the kind of path that more research universities want to expose doctoral students to, particularly in the present poor job market.
NATHAN CONNORS
Ph.D. in neuroscience, U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 2004
Job: Freelance science and medical writer
Why the nonacademic route: When he was in graduate school, Mr. Connors says he saw federal funds for research shrink, along with tenure-track job openings. He also had a young child (and is now the father of two children), and he knew that obtaining work-life balance as an academic scientist would be difficult. Science and medical writing allowed him to mesh his neuroscience background with his talent for prose.
Advice to graduate students: “Everyone calls it an ivory tower, but you have to start thinking like a business person,” he says. “You have to be willing to self-promote.”
ANDY HOLDSWORTH
Ph.D. in conservation biology, U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 2006
Job: Science-policy coordinator at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Why the nonacademic route: Mr. Holdsworth says he never intended to become a professor. He entered his Ph.D. program because “I really enjoy doing research,” he says. “I knew that I wanted to use my experience in graduate school as a way to leverage work in the field of conservation biology.”
Keys to his success: He chose an adviser who had a track record of students who went to work outside academe. While he was in graduate school he focused on networking with professionals in his field, setting up informational interviews with people whose jobs he found interesting and sharing his nonacademic career interests with “pretty much everyone,” he says. His current job stemmed from a lunch meeting that a graduate student in his program helped him arrange with the person who is now his supervisor.
How his Ph.D. makes a difference: “A lot of the people I work with are specialists—they’re scientists and technicians in their field,” he says. “They can tell that I’m used to the kind of work they’re doing. There’s a front-door credibility factor at work.”
AIMEE M. WOZNICK
Ph.D. in English, U. of California at Santa Barbara, 2010
Job: Director of the academic-success center at Villa Maria College, in Buffalo, N.Y.
Why the nonacademic route: “I was aware that the market wasn’t strong when I started grad school right out of undergrad,” she says. “I was a little more open to thinking about how I could bring the skills I had to a nonacademic job market. I got involved in student government, and I realized that I wanted to stay involved in university or college life. I never went on the academic job market.”
Advice to graduate students: Get a part-time job in a field you’re interested in and join online communities that cater to people who have found careers outside of higher education or are looking to make such a move.
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