The Alt-Ac Decision (for PhDs)

by Robyn Byrd

Whether you have fallen out of love with your specific field, or have simply realized you don't want to spend your life at a university (darn kids everywhere!), there may come a time when you consider the alt-ac path. That is, looking for a job outside of universities, and maybe even outside of research. This might seem frightening and even disappointing to even consider, after years of work and best laid plans for the future.

Yet in this economy, a job that is a lucrative alternative to an academic career (hence, alt-ac) may be a prudent plan. I myself have considered looking for alt-ac work, probably for a temporary bridge between the doctorate and a tenure-track teaching position. After a decade of low-wages and part-time work, I am ready for a "grown-up" salary! But then I have to consider... how could this break with university culture and work affect a future prospective tenure-track opportunity? Woe is me! This is hard.

First, some things to consider about alt-ac:

Is alt-ac your long term plan? Are you ready to get out for good? Motivated by pay? Go for it. Your track record of project-management, working with teams (your committee), and stick-tuitiveness (not to mention your intelligence) make you a great catch for the corporate world.

Is this a temporary bridge plan, because of the poor academic job market? Do your research. Do the types of universities you wish to court consider alt-ac work to be a lowly thing or a shirking of your nobler projects? Or do they understand, as a community college or state school might, that financial pressures put people to work at all sorts of things? Seek a job that gives you experiences that could leverage you back into a highly-sought research/teaching position. Or even aim for an administrative role that would not have been open to you as a "merely" academic Ph.D.

Do you want to leave the university, but hate the idea of the corporate world? Research options in non-profit work, consultancy, and government offices. Depending on your credentials, you could work for a state-run food bank, a local housing authority, a non-profit counseling and psychiatry firm, or even the U.S. Geological Survey (there's an office right up the road from DeKalb...). Some of these positions would not pay as well as the corporate world, but they would allow you to continue your research and problem-solving in impactful ways, perhaps even more impactful than the classroom.

Are you looking for a job the way a normal person would? This isn't the academic job market! Reformat your CV as a resume. Seek out workshops now on how to maximize your LinkedIn presence. LinkedIn employers frequently contact people like us for non-academic work.

These are just a few problems and questions that have been on my mind, and a few ideas for where scientists, teachers, psychologists, and all manner of doctorate holders could find work outside of the familiar, yet sometimes growth inhibiting, landscape of the college campus. Good luck in your search! The Ph.D. may narrow your opportunities in some ways, but the payoff is in the specific and rewarding opportunities it opens up.

Working 9-5

If you’re anything like me part of the reason you chose academia is to avoid the 9-5 grind. Academics generally seem to harbor a slight distaste for the corporate world. We certainly didn’t get into academia because we’re interested in making money. For this reason, unless you’re a graduate student in Business, you likely don’t approach your Thesis or Dissertation project like a CEO managing time, resources (human and material), and tasks. As a Liberal Arts student, I like to view my Dissertation as an artistic endeavor. I’m not a structured individual. I’ve always observed that academics have no sense of time. Time exists as a continuum or a social construct. However, waiting for the Muse to strike you with the inspiration you need to make timely progress toward your Thesis or Dissertation is not a strategy for success. Prior to this point in your academic career, your work has been structured for you by professors, who set due dates and class schedules via syllabi.

By the time you’ve reached the Thesis or Dissertation stage, you’re working independently with direction from your committee, but your chair will not be setting deadlines for you and e-mailing you for submission. You and your committee have outlined a tentative schedule for completion, which will change, but it’s your own responsibility to keep yourself on task as an emerging scholar. As you begin to structure your Thesis or Dissertation project, it’s likely you’ll feel uncertain about how to begin. You’ll experience uncertainty at every stage of the process and this is very beneficial personally, professionally and intellectually, but can also be overwhelming. Creating a schedule for yourself, structuring your time, will help to combat the confusion and give you a feeling of confidence, amidst the uncertainty. This will also allow you to manage tasks much more easily by setting yourself daily, weekly, and monthly goals. You’ll be forced to segment your work into manageable tasks and this will give you a feeling of accomplishment.

Measuring actual progress toward the ultimate end goal (graduation) becomes much easier. Setting hours for yourself ensures you are less susceptible to burnout and overwork and more likely to complete your Thesis or Dissertation and enjoy the process. Most importantly, a schedule is a contract you make with yourself, motivating you to continue. Motivation rather than inspiration leads to completion. Drafting a schedule is the initial step toward taking responsibility and ownership of your own work. Some days, you’ll sleep in too late. Some days you’ll have a doctor’s appointment. Some days your cat will sit on your keyboard and delete a chapter. Some days you’ll accidentally binge Parks and Rec for 10 hours. Some days you’ll fail and not get even 5 minutes of your allotted 4-8 hours of work done. Begin again the next day. Most days you’ll succeed.

- Tiffany