Careers with Purpose
I spent a few years learning about papyrology during my doctorate. For those of you who don’t know, papyrus is sort of like an ancient paper that’s mostly found in Egypt. In 2016 I went to a big conference on papyrology in Barcelona. All of
I sat in on a how-to-get a job seminar in the second year of my PhD that stressed the importance of networking for non-academic careers. I nodded and took notes. The instructor looked us in the eye and said, “Don’t wait until you’re done. Start
“Do you think your PhD fucking impresses me?” I was sitting at a table in Ottawa’s prestigious Chateau Laurier for one of my worst job interviews ever. This angry little man in front of me had a PhD himself. And while ultimately I decided that
Impact-Site-Verification: 51455037 I started my altac career just before I finished my PhD. I was in final revisions with my supervisor, and I got a job running projects for a think tank. Getting the job added a few months to my thesis, since the revisions
Impact-Site-Verification: 51455037 One morning last October, I put on my dress pants and dress shirt and climbed onto the bus into the city. The sun hadn’t yet risen over the last of the fall leaves, and there was a light haze hanging in the early-morning
I was having lunch with a fellow PhD working outside of academia the other day, and I articulated something I’ve been thinking but didn’t quite know how to say. I don’t regret my PhD. I really don’t, even though I’m cynical about academia. It’s a
As I’ve transitioned to a post-PhD career, I’ve realized something. Success is all about mindset. Now before you imagine those cheesy posters from the 90s that had motivational quotes on them (hands up if you’re old enough to remember those), let me explain. It’s super
Updated May 28, 2021 So many people have no idea where to start looking for non-academic jobs for advanced degrees. But there are so many fantastic alternative Master’s and PhD careers! I meet a lot of people with advanced degrees on my travels outside of
As I finished an academic fellowship in Greece in May of 2018, I asked myself a question I should have asked years earlier: What comes after a PhD when there’s no academic job? The academic job market had been disappointing the year before. I poured
Updated August 31, 2021 Leaving academia isn’t like switching jobs. It doesn’t just entail finding ways to plug your “transferable skills” into a resume or figuring out how to talk about your research in non-academic terms. Here’s the real shit the university career counselor didn’t
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