Found yourself contemplating these questions when looking to job hunt beyond academia? Then read on… A Tale of Two Mindsets Fawzi Abou-Chahine’s opens his book A Jobseeker’s Diary with the confession that he never anticipated ever developing a mental health issue. Fast forward to months of fruitless job hunting post-postdoc and his mental health startedContinue reading “Silencing self-criticism & redefining ‘success’: maintaining mental health in your post-PhD job hunt”
Category Archives: Career anxiety
‘“Expecting” an academic career’: things to consider if that sounds like you
Last month, I found one of my New Favourite Things On The Internet… An ‘expectations vs. reality’ meme generator. Apart from being yet another distraction when I should be doing productive things like taking out the recycling, this procrastination wormhole struck a chord over something I’ve thought a lot about recently. Over the past 18Continue reading “‘“Expecting” an academic career’: things to consider if that sounds like you”
When leaving academia isn’t ‘giving up’… it’s actually finding yourself
‘Changing your goal or vision is ok. You can be happy beyond academia: it’s not second best, it’s an alternative.’ – Dr Naomi Tyrrell One of the most confusing conversations I had in my PhD went something like this: Me: Yeah, I’m properly looking into careers in university professional services for after my PhD. FellowContinue reading “When leaving academia isn’t ‘giving up’… it’s actually finding yourself”
Making the ‘wrong choice’: why there’s no need to solve your entire life with your first post-PhD job
‘Your first job helps you learn and evaluate where exactly you want to be […]. Your first job post-PhD is your next step, not necessarily your end goal. – Dr L. Maren Wood I graduated from Careers Adviser School in 2016. Since then I’ve worked almost exclusively with Postgraduate Researchers, the majority of whom wantContinue reading “Making the ‘wrong choice’: why there’s no need to solve your entire life with your first post-PhD job”
Leaving Academia, Grieving Academia: a message of hope from the other side
‘For me, the grief of leaving academia feels about the same as the loss and grief of the end of relationship. Even when you know that the relationship wasn’t right for you […] loss is loss.‘ – Lisa L Munro, PhD Out of my box of theatre and gig tickets that went unused due toContinue reading “Leaving Academia, Grieving Academia: a message of hope from the other side”
Expert, or imposter? Why post-PhD careers can take time to gel
‘We like to think that we should make a living based on what we enjoy doing. However it’s often the opposite way: we start enjoying jobs in which our expertise is respected. […] Passion and fulfilment often come after reaching some level of proficiency in a certain area and not the other way around.‘ –Continue reading “Expert, or imposter? Why post-PhD careers can take time to gel”
PostGradual: what’s this all about, then?
In the beginning was the word, and the word was… ‘overqualified’ My post-PhD job hunt wasn’t going well. It was mid-October, T-minus three weeks to viva day. I’d finally gotten sick of the endless ‘oh, it’s your viva soon? Well, I heard a friend of a friend was in theirs for 6 hours and thenContinue reading “PostGradual: what’s this all about, then?”