ProfHacker’s ethos from its inception has been to not provide an answer to any given question. Instead, we supply an answer that is useful to us (or to the writer of a given post), and then we ask you how you handle that particular situation. We believe in crowdsourcing. Today is one of those posts that is pointed asking you, readers, a few questions. We (and by this I mean the industry of higher education) need to do something differently. We need to train graduate students for careers that are outside of higher education.
Last week, I wrote about Conscious Career Choices, a course that encourages those considering alternative academic careers (or careers that are outside of higher education) to think differently about the skills learned in graduate school (in this post). Today’s column concerns this same issue, but instead of looking to an external course to help graduate students and others determine their value to a corporate enterprise, a nonprofit organization, a small business, or even ways to develop their own entrepreneurial skills, we look to you.
Given the state of the job market in many disciplines, some graduate students (and others) need direction about their future paths. Some universities do this well; they provide resources and additional training to their graduate students for careers inside or outside academia. Other universities could use a little help in this area.
Let the crowdsourcing begin:
- How do you train graduate students for a career outside of higher education?
- Do you think it’s your (individual, department, school, college, university) job to train students for an “alternative” career?
- Does your university (department or school) offer courses, workshops, seminars, or conversations about not becoming a professor?
- How do you encourage graduate students to look at the skills they learn during their graduate educations from a non-academic lens? (Or, do you?)
- How do you (or do you) help students see a connection between their graduate education and other skills they possess?
- How do you encourage graduate students to search for #alt-ac (alternative academic) careers that are within higher education? (Or, do you?)
- What kinds of resources do you provide your graduate students to understand the whole of the profession (alternative academic careers, careers outside of higher education)?
How about you? Do you think higher education needs to change to accommodate the ongoing job decline by providing career help to graduate students? Please leave your comments and suggestions below.
[Image by Flick user Jurvetson and is used under the Creative Commons license.]
