informational interview Archives - Beyond The Tenure Track

If not academia, then what?

fatimahphd2018-10-02T02:29:29+00:00January 31st, 2014|Tags: alternative careers for academics, alternative careers for PhDs, applied jobs for PhDs, career development for PhDs, career transition, careers for PhDs, careers outside academia, careers outside the academy, humanities PhDs, informational interview, non-ac, nonacademic careers, professional development, quitting academia, what to do with my degree|

*Disclaimer: I'm writing this post on the go so I will return later to fill out the piece in a subsequent post. I've gotten lots of questions about career exploration (aka, how do I know what I'd do outside the academy). Chances are if you've been in academia for years you are not very familiar with sectors outside of education. Heck, most PhDs don't really consider education beyond higher ed and the professoriate. So when you get curious about what else you'd do besides becoming a tenure track professor, the options ahead can look unclear at best. If you've asked "if not academia, then what?", you are really asking a question about how to determine which career or job is right for you. There may be no one "right" career or job for you. However, when exploring your options you want to [...]

Doors Wide Open! Or a Cautionary Note on Informational Interviews

Informational interviews are a great tool to help PhDs learn about job and career options outside of the academy. They give you information about fields of work and careers you may otherwise have little access to, and they provide you with one-on-one connection to practitioners in that field. For any job seeker, but especially for PhDs who are transitioning to a new career path, informational interviews are king. However - yes, there is a however - informational interviews may swing doors wide open for you even if you're not totally interested in the area you are learning about.The people you interview may or may not understand your graduate studies or your degree, but they will often see the potential that you and your skill set bring to their fields or companies. You are a smart and hard working person in search of [...]

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