Leaving Academia: A Guide (guest post by Matt Drabek)

This is a guest post by Matt Drabek, which originally appeared here.

Source: Dnalor 01 (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Dnalor_01)

Some of you probably know I have some experience with leaving academia. It’s a gradual process. I started having doubts about an academic career around 2010 or 2011. When I went on the job market in 2011 and 2012, I searched both academic and non-academic jobs.

I landed a non-academic job in early 2013. For a few years, I taught-part time as a Visiting Assistant Professor while working a non-academic job. My last paycheck from a university was in January 2016, and my most recent academic publication (which I’ve summarized) was in the summer of 2016.

So that’s my basic leaving academia narrative. I’ve also done a couple of interviews.

So much for the narrative. Here are some tips/lessons.

Tips and Lessons for Leaving Academia

Don’t Police Yourself too Closely

Nobody falls in love with academia in a day, and nobody falls out of love with academia in a day, either. If you’re thinking about leaving academia, you’ll have a long period of uncertainty. Ride that out a bit. Take some tentative steps to explore non-academic work and see if you like it.

Maybe you will, and maybe you won’t.

Like I said above, I stayed half-in for awhile. I published a book in 2014 and taught until fall 2015. There’s nothing wrong with sticking around a bit while you explore.

Figure Out What You Like and Don’t Like

Do you like or dislike the kind of work you do? What kind of work can you see yourself doing? Do you want to live in a particular city or region? Enjoy or hate teaching? How do you feel about research? Job security? Working with college students?

What kind of salary do you need to do the things you want to do?

I don’t think I’ve ever met an academic who liked everything about the job. I’ve also met a lot of academics who haven’t yet thought deeply enough about the geography and salary issues. The point where you’re thinking about leaving academia and changing careers is the perfect time to think through these issues.

That’ll help guide where and how you apply for work.

Network

I’ll admit that I have a distaste for networking. It feels phony, and it’s deeply enmeshed with cronyism (see below). And a lot of academics or former academics, myself included, are pretty far into ‘introvert’ territory.

Mostly you just have to work through it. Find and meet people working non-academic jobs that sound interesting. Meet them at parties. Find them on LinkedIn. Meet people through friends or acquaintances or professors or randos at the coffee shop.

One of the easier ways to go about this for someone you find online is to send the person a brief email asking them to meet you for coffee. Just have a brief chat with them to see what they do and how it all works.

I’m not great with meeting new people, but I’ve done it any number of times. And others have met me the same way.

Visit Your University’s Career Center

I think most university career centers are designed for undergrads. But if you’re still a grad student somewhere, I think many of them are now getting hip to the fact that lots of grad students aren’t going to be working in academia. So give the career center a shot.

If you’re already out of grad school, but you’re in the same city as your degree-granting institution, find out if they have any services or organizations for alumni. You might not find a perfect ‘leaving academia’ match, but you should be able to find plenty of non-academics.

Work

I don’t know. Maybe this seems obvious. But if you haven’t done non-academic work, do some. And try to make it relevant to whatever careers you’re considering or researching. If you’re thinking about being a writer, for example, do some freelancing.

If you don’t quite know what you’re interested in, just pick something. I spent a bit of time teaching test prep for the GMAT exam. As it happens, I’m now on the work team that develops and reviews the GMAT. Go figure.

Learn How to Write Non-Academic Cover Letters and Resumes

Sometimes I feel like I never totally got the hang of this. But I’m at least OK at it.

One key difference between an academic job and a non-academic job is that to get an academic job you’re trying to stand out from people who are very similar to you. Whereas to get a non-academic job, you’re trying to show how your particular background and skill set are a great match for a specific job. A job that probably won’t have the same title as other jobs you’ve held or you’re applying for.

Non-academic resumes and cover letters are not comprehensive stories about you. When an academic writes a non-academic cover letter, it almost always reads too much like an autobiography. An autobiography that’s way too long, at that.

Non-academic cover letters are supposed to be about the value you can bring to the company and the position. A good one is tailored to the ad and shows, with concrete examples and/or numbers, what you can do. You should structure it less around your personal history and more around key points in the job ad.

Deal with Cronyism*

A lot of people complain about cronyism in academia. And they’re not wrong. We haven’t entirely moved beyond the days where Professor Big Shot gets (usually) his Grad Student a job at Pretty Good University. Nor have we moved beyond the days when lower tier universities try to raise their status by only hiring faculty from Fancy Universities.

So, yeah, it happens. But if you think cronyism in academia is a thing, wait until you’re leaving academia and spending time in the business world. It’s a way of life.

You’ve probably seen the stats saying 70% of jobs aren’t advertised. Or that there’s a hidden job market. It’s true. And the biggest reason is cronyism.

‘Cronyism’, in this case, isn’t entirely a bad thing. Hiring managers and recruiters meet people and make friends and contacts. Often those friends and contacts are right for the job. And we know that hiring the wrong person, particularly a person who doesn’t work well with others, costs companies big money.

So what we can fairly call ‘cronyism’ has some benefits. To companies, it looks like they’re searching the talent pool for good workers.

But it’s got an enormous dark side. So-called ‘culture fit’ is where the bodies are buried when it comes to hiring issues. Issues such as lack of diversity, racism, sexism, et al. in the hiring process. Companies might say they prefer one applicant over another because they’re a better ‘fit,’ but that might be because person better ‘fits’ their image of what an employee is supposed to look like.

Also, keep in mind that non-academics don’t recognize any of this stuff as cronyism. They mostly see it as good business practice, and will think you’re nuts if you raise it as an issue.

*Note: Usually they call it “nepotism,” rather than “cronyism.” But, strictly speaking, nepotism refers to giving jobs or favors to family members. It’s cronyism when the jobs or favors go to friends, associates, or colleagues. While nepotism is an occasional issue in the business world, especially at small and/or family-run companies, it’s cronyism that’s happening almost everywhere.

Just Go For It

All I can really say by way of a conclusion is to go for it. If you’re thinking about leaving academia, start putting some of the pieces in place. Meet some people. Try a side job. Think about your likes and dislikes. And start moving in whichever direction it takes you.

Comments

[Fellow Traveler]

I think a good point, made implicitly in this post, is that the transition process out of academia is going to take 2-3+ years. An exception is if you get lucky (on cronyism) and have a friend who offers you a skilled job with a livable salary (and who is obviously willing to let you learn on the job for awhile). If you expect to read a few articles on converting your cv into a resume, apply to a few (even entry-level) jobs, and land one within 3-6 months, you will probably be disappointed. Along with networking, you'll spend those 2-3+ years learning where you might really fit in the non-academic economy and how to pitch yourself to those people hiring. The networking takes so long because it's not just about coffee chats, but doing some work. A new friend gives you a small non-paying job; several months later another person you met through that job calls up with something slightly bigger; that person is impressed with your work, and so gives you something bigger, etc; eventually one day a few years down the line you find you have a real job.

I emphasize all this because after I finished my PhD, I envisioned a clean break from academia. But the process takes too long and you don't want to go years without working, even if you can afford it. It looks bad and potential employers and networking friends aren't normally interested in meeting someone with nothing going on. So I think working part time in academics while letting some new career trajectory develop organically over a few years is definitely the expectation most should have.

[Matt Drabek]

Thanks, Fellow Traveler! I think the point about the gradual step-up in the employment market is an important one. I did a bit of that, but probably not as much as most people will need to do.

[Fellow Traveler]

Of course, Matt. I really enjoyed the post.