Summer 2005

I've had many Ph.D. students tell me, "I don't think I want to pursue an academic career but I've never done anything else. I know I’m good at school, but I've never worked in the 'real world,' so I don't know what my options are." As someone who has had these thoughts myself, I certainly understand the frustration, confusion, and helplessness the long haul of a Ph.D. program can bring. There is the nagging sensation that "this doesn't feel right," coupled with a helpless feeling that "I don't know what else to do." Your peers may seem completely focused on pursuing academia; your advisors are equally focused on their academic work, and by extension, your subsequent entry into the fold. Moreover, hearing about a whole other "universe" of alternative career options can be more overwhelming than reassuring. Yet, keep in mind that the intelligence, diligence, and analytical and critical thinking skills that graduate students develop are highly sought after in many industries. So how do you figure out where you belong and what you should be doing?

One of the main benefits of graduate school is that aside from teaching responsibilities, your time is largely your own. You plan your own schedule, choose your own research topic, develop your own experiments, and execute them on a timetable of your own construction. While some advisors are stricter than others, your research and writing timeline is usually left entirely up to you. Not surprisingly perhaps, the national average for time to completion of a Ph.D. is close to 10 years. Clearly, there's a lot of procrastinating going on! As a graduate student, your time is unstructured, which initially seems wonderful, but can result in a feeling that one is not working hard enough: i.e., no matter how much work you do, you could always be doing something more. This often leads to a vicious cycle of guilt and inefficiency. I could spend the rest of this article talking about time management, which is a valuable topic in and of itself, but instead, I am going to address productive and alternative ways to use those wasted hours currently spent sitting around thinking about working on your dissertation, particularly if you are considering pursuing a career outside of the professorship.

Keep one foot outside of academia...

After 5 to 10 years in pursuit of a Ph.D., you will be an expert in your area of research, but that level of expertise in an arcane field will not necessarily get you a job outside of academia. If you use your time wisely, you will be able to pursue other interests which will result in multiple benefits: you'll be a more interesting and well-rounded person, you'll obtain perspective on your life which will actually help you focus on completing your dissertation, and your marketability to both academic and nonacademic employers will improve. Both humanists and scientists should spend time developing skills that are often difficult to build through solitary research, such as leadership, teamwork, and interpersonal and communication skills, because these are the skills most valued in industry.

Several options to increase your skill sets and increase your marketability include:

1) Taking advantage of Columbia's academic breadth: audit business or law school classes, or classes in any other department or school that interests you. You may find yourself with an interest and aptitude for something you had not thought of before. As a Columbia student, you have the ability to create your own free Columbia-hosted website: take an ACIS class and become proficient at web design (while building a website to market your research interests, post your C.V., selected publications, projects, etc.).

2) Earn some extra money and gain valuable skills via an internship or part-time position unrelated to your academic pursuits: try working at a gallery or retail store (customer relations, financial organization and management), a restaurant (multi-tasking, high stress/fast-paced environment, customer service), or as an administrative assistant at a doctor's office or small business (administrative office skills, adapt to the unique challenges of an office/business environment).

3) Use the skills you've developed in graduate school in a different context: tutor college or younger age students (teaching different subjects to different populations, communicating), create databases or provide editorial services on a freelance basis (learn to market yourself, build a client base, become comfortable with networking), research material for authors or professors not related to your discipline (work with different people, research differently, learn something new).

4) Volunteer: walk dogs and feed the animals at the humane society once a week, become a Big Brother/Big Sister, volunteer at a local nursing home or hospital.

These are just some ideas to help you start thinking about ways in which you can spend your time outside of the lab, library, or classroom. Any of these experiences will help you build your resume if you decide to pursue a career outside of the academy. The number one concern of both students and employers is the lack of "practical" experience on a typical grad student's resume. All graduate students have research and teaching assistantships; but you will stand out if you can also add (for example): a part-time administrative assistant job, a summer internship at a marketing firm, a volunteer tutoring position or web design skills. Not only will you be more interesting to employers, any additional "real world" experience you take on will ultimately help you be more focused and invigorated during the time you allocate for dissertation research and writing! Whether or not you choose to pursue academia or an alternative option, keeping one foot outside of academia will help you expand your knowledge of different careers, improve your marketability, and focus your career search.

Remember: you may be exceedingly good at being an academic, but that doesn’t mean that is the only thing you can do. Do not limit yourself. Try new and different things, stretch your capabilities and find out what other talents you possess. Develop new skill sets while using skills you are good at in different contexts. With good time management skills, as a graduate student, you're uniquely positioned to develop specialized skills and unquestioned expertise in an academic area while at the same time expanding your knowledge of different industries. It's never too late to start exploring something new while still working towards your Ph.D.