How PhDs Are Translating Their Skills Into Real Jobs

The academic world is changing, and right now there are more qualified candidates than there are jobs. This is different than it was years ago, and unfortunately that gap is getting wider every year. This means that intelligence, perseverance, and, and even stunning good looks are not enough to get a job in the academic world. In this video, I'm going to show you how to dramatically reduce the likelihood that you are an unemployed Ph.D. I'm gonna show you how Ph.D.s strategically plan and make happen a fulfilling career within their chosen field. I'm Dr. Steve Tippins. I've been in academia for 35 years, and I've served on all different levels, whether it be looking for jobs, chairing search committees, department chair, et cetera, within academia. More recently, I've been coaching people, helping them not only finish their dissertations,, but also find rewarding careers in academia and outside. We'll start by looking at the Ph.D. market and how it works, the mistakes many people make that get them stuck in career limbo, and a path forward that can help you become successful in your job search. So why do so many people struggle once they've finished their Ph.D.? First of all, universities produce more doctors or people with doctorates than there are jobs within academia. Institutions are financially incentivized to retain as many doctoral students as they can because, quite frankly, doctoral students are relatively cheap labor. If they're going to give you a stipend for $25,000 a year and you're going to teach 2 or 3 courses a semester for them, you're a lot less expensive than a full-time faculty member, and as a doctoral student, they have a lot of control over you, so it's in their incentive, and they can maintain a whole number of undergraduate classes because they keep a strong cadre of doctoral students. Also, tenure-track roles continue to shrink, but other positions have expanded, so over the last 30 years, you've seen the number of tenure-track jobs reduced dramatically, being replaced by— titles can include instructor, professor of practice, something like that— where basically what that means is you're not going to get tenure, you're going to get paid less and teach more. And this allows them to cover their classes at lower cost but maintain some people doing research. The competition that used to exist for, let's say, elite or R1 institutions is now pretty much everywhere because think about it, as the supply of doctors, Ph.D.s increased, there's more people searching for jobs, so there's more applications. The last committee that I served on had 233 applications for one job, and that was a few years ago. It's probably even more now and depends upon your discipline, but I talked to someone a few years ago, and in their discipline at that time, there was one job in the US that year. So the jobs are shrinking, and the world that existed when you entered graduate school now may be dramatically different. If you have earned a Ph.D. and you're unemployed, it is not you.. It is the system that changed around you. It's quite frankly predictable. When supply exceeds demand, a number of people are not going to get jobs. If you do have a doctorate and you're trying to figure out the best career path for you, join our free Scholar Career Network where you will get direct guidance and support. Just click the link below. So what are some of the career traps that can lead to systemic or permanent levels of unemployment. One is the adjunct route. While adjunct professoring can be used as a tool and can be advantageous, if you're trying to live off of adjunct pay, it's going to be very difficult because not only have schools reduced their tenure-track positions and increased their instructor positions, but they've also increased the adjunct positions because adjuncts are even less expensive than instructors. To hire to fill gaps. If you are depending on the adjunct route, you're going to have financial stress for years, and you're going to be in an unending cycle of applying for jobs. Another issue that comes up is people just assume, "Hey, I got a Ph.D. That speaks for itself." Employers outside of academia, you know, are unaware of what a Ph.D. is, and they may consider you overqualified for jobs. And if they think you're overqualified, basically what that means to them, they translate as, this person isn't going to be here long, they'll leave quickly, and I've got to go through this process again, which is time-consuming and costly. There are people who get a degree and say, I'm only going to teach at a certain type of school, a certain level of school. I'm holding out for prestige. And that's Fine, but what it means is you're diminishing your number of opportunities dramatically. In the process, you may miss other incredibly interesting and rewarding opportunities that also could build your career, your CV, in such a way that you could eventually get to those prestigious positions. Typically, careers don't move forward because of titles. They move forward because of leverage. So if you have that built-up series of publications, that credibility within your field, it's going to be much easier to move forward, and it's typically much easier to get your second job than it is your first job. So what is it that makes a Ph.D. employable, both inside academia but specifically in addition outside of academia? No longer can we just roll up and say, I got a Ph.D., hire me. I like to think hiring institutions institutions, whether it be inside academia or outside of academia, they only post jobs when they have a need. They don't just post a job for the heck of it. They are saying, oh, we need someone to teach in this specific area. We need somebody to do certain things. They're looking for you to show them why you fill and fulfill their need. So you have to let them know what skill sets you have., and this is a different mindset for most people with a Ph.D. They haven't thought about the skills they've developed in the process. They've just thought, "I got the degree. That's great. Now I can move forward." Well, let's take a moment to think about some of the skills you probably developed and honed during your doctoral journey. Obviously, I think you've come up with research skills. You've done long-term project management. You know, a dissertation isn't something you write overnight, as you well know. It can be 6, 9, 12, 18, 3 years of process where you are managing many different moving parts. So you have project management skills. You've developed writing skills, persuasive writing many times, definitely clear and concise writing. In addition, you've probably developed strong people and management skills. You've had to work with a committee. You've had to satisfy the desires of stakeholders, which can be your committee members. You also may have had to deal with people in collecting your research data. So you had to manage all of those expectations, as well as time management skills. And one final one, we could go on, but, you know, problem-solving skills, especially under conditions of ambiguity. You've developed incredibly strong problem-solving skills, which many employers are looking for. You want to stop selling your degree. You want to start selling your skills and how that's going to translate for employers, because that's what they need, is people with skills who will do what they need to move forward, either as an academic institution or in the profit or for-profit world outside of academia. I've had a number of clients over the years who have decided between the academic path and the career path based upon their interests. One in particular looked at the academic path and said, "That's not for me." So we repackaged him in skill sets, and he got a good job and has moved his way up in this organization. It's not the degree. His skills bring me value. And yes, I can say I've got a Ph.D. on staff too, but his skills brought value to the firm where he's now succeeding. I had a client a few years ago who finished a Ph.D. in management but had a background, master's and undergraduate, as well as work background in engineering. And he looked at academia and tried to apply, but he also came out of a program that didn't provide any teaching for him. So he was always behind when they asked, could you teach something? So we talked about it and we looked at, said, let's, what about going back to industry? And he evaluated what his skills were and to become a management consultant within an engineering firm seemed ideal for him. So we looked at his CV and put the emphasis on his skills and looked at specific jobs that were out there and began, he began applying for targeted jobs based upon his skill sets. The ultimate result was he got a job within in that field using not only his engineering background but his management expertise that he developed and skills he developed during his doctoral program to the point where he was paid and is paid more than he was paid or was going to be paid in academia. And this job has given him freedom to expand professionally to the point where he's been promoted. He now gets more time off, because he's been at this firm for a while, spending more time with his family. His financial rewards are more, and professionally he's happy. So there are routes other than academia that have been successful. Now, what are some of those routes outside of academia? Well, I've already mentioned the adjuncting route, which is a course at a time for a university, typically no more than 3 Some universities listed it to 2 with a compensation level between $1,200 to $3,000, especially at distance learning schools, maybe up to $10,000 for a class at a traditional established university. But you're not getting rich and you're subject to the whims of the institution, but it is a path for you. It's also a great path if you've been in an institution and gotten a degree from an institution where teaching was not offered to you as an option. When you apply for the full-time academic jobs, they're going to ask, "What types of courses have you taught?" Well, you can answer that if you've done adjuncting. You can also, within academia, change your expectations. There are people who go and get their doctorate and do heavy research and realize there aren't enough jobs in that area, so maybe I'll go to a teaching-focused institution, or there may be options administratively within universities. You know the landscape of a university. Maybe administratively you'll find a position. Outside of academia, you know, there can be research-related jobs. You see a lot of chem— drug companies, chemical companies hiring Ph.D.s to do research on chemicals and drugs and things like that because that's their job. They create new things, and they need chemists to do that, so there's options there. I've seen a number of people go for jobs like policy jobs or nonprofit management jobs where they're using their technical expertise to look at and explore and solve real-world problems. I talk to many people who say, you know, I want to write. I'm going to get my doctorate, and I'm going to move forward in writing about whatever their field of interest is, and their rationale is having the doctorate gives me some sort of credibility within that field, as well as many people think about consulting and using their experience along with their education as options for employment. If you're already in the position where you've completed your doctorate and you're unemployed, what do you do? Well, keep at it. Keep publishing. Keep contacting people. And I say keep publishing, meaning that's the currency of academia. So if you show you're academically active in publishing, they like that. It's easier for them to hire you. When you have gaps, you want to frame them as intentional gaps. Well, what happened, Steve, during these 2 years? I was retooling my statistical skill sets, or I was involved in a large research project which is coming to fruition in the future. You know, show them that you're still involved with things. I was volunteering with this organization teaching students to become better doctoral students, or whatever you did. Put the emphasis on your activity and how it strengthens you as a candidate if you do have gaps. If you continue working and continue making contacts with people, you're gonna find people that are gonna help you. You're also gonna find out what's happening within your area, and you will stay not only involved Avoid, you know, the sense of desperation that some people project when looking for jobs. So you go through a university, you finished a degree. What they don't tell you is then how to get a job or how to use your degree to your advantage moving forward. The academic job market is not merit-based alone. There's a concept I like called career optionality, meaning, hey, there may not be a job in academia, but there could be one outside of academia. Start thinking about this early. Okay, it's still an option if you start thinking late, but the earlier you think about it, the more prepared you are for it. I have a client right now who is thinking in both directions right now, early in their dissertation, making contacts in both the academic world but also outside of academia. Finding a position, finding fulfillment outside of academia is not a failure. It's actually a success. You've found your spot, your path in life. I have found that Ph.D.s who plan broadly career optionality are more successful and suffer less in the process. So if you want guidance for what actually works for PhDs right now and how to build a fulfilling and stable career without guessing, join the free Scholar Career Network, and good luck.