• The Culture of Academia, or How to Combat the Barriers Which May Prevent You From Leaving Academia
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Suggested Reading and Web Sites
• Five Quick Tips for Transforming a CV into a Resume
• Teaching and Non-Academic Resumes
• Cover Letters
• Rules of Conduct
• How to Begin a Job Search and Factors to Bear in Mind While Searching
• Index

  The Culture of Academia, or How to Combat the Barriers Which May Prevent You From Leaving Academia Because the academic world can be very unsupportive of people who want to leave academia, you will want to take some time to assess all of your goals, both personal and professional, when thinking about remaining in or leaving academia. Remaining in academia may satisfy some of your desires but does it satisfy you overall? Think seriously about your personal life. Are you married and will you and your spouse be able to find jobs in the same town? While long-distance relationships can be successful, you need to ask yourself if this is the kind of marriage or relationship you want. If not, how long are you prepared to engage in a long-term relationship? If you're not married or involved in a relationship but want to be, will you be moving to an area where you are likely to meet potential partners? A job at a small prestigious liberal arts college may be wonderful in professional terms, but ask yourself: will I be able to find a partner there? Think about your family as well: are you close to your parents and would you like to live near them? Or as far away as you can get?! Do you want to be able to get on a train and visit your old college friends, most of whom still live in Boston? Think about where you have always imagined living. There is no reason for you to make a sacrifice which requires that you live in a place which you actively dislike or even in a place to which you are indifferent. A job at Yale is not worth it if you dislike New Haven and have always wanted to live in Boise. Return to the top of this page Index Write down the amount of money which you would like to earn. Be realistic. If you have student loans, factor these payments into your ideal salary (for information on your loans, go to this website). Most starting academic jobs---and we are talking about tenure-track positions---pay between $35,000 and $45,000. Yearly pay increases, especially at public universities, tend to be extremely small (in fact, the only cases we know of where academics received significant pay increases occurred when the academic was offered another job). While $35,000 may seem to be a significant sum of money when you are in graduate school, this is the salary you will be earning outside of graduate school. Determine your expenditures: as a working professional, you will probably need to own a reliable car, you may want to make down payments on a house (speak to realtors in the region in which you want to live to get the specifics on this), to pay for childcare, to put money aside for your child's future education, and even to travel to do research when you don't get a grant. For additional expenses and to help determine your taxes, go to this website. We suggest you break down and create a monthly budget. Now, ask yourself if your income will cover your costs. Along with income, think about your pension and/or 401(K). Even if you are in your thirties and feel that putting money toward retirement is not an overwhelming concern, you need to be aware of two things. First, current discussions about projected deficits in Social Security mean that you may not be able to count on Social Security to see you through retirement. Second, very few PhDs put money toward retirement while they are in graduate school. As a result, many academics, especially those who spent more than eight years in graduate school, begin their working careers with significant shortfalls in their pension when compared to the average American. Will the retirement package which you are being offered make up for possible deficits in Social Security as well as the shortfalls caused by the ten year gap in which you did not contribute toward a pension? If you are not being offered a retirement package, you may want to meet with a financial planner to discuss your options and whether you will be able to save enough money for retirement on your own (this type of meeting may be well worth it in the long term although it may be financially painful in the short term). Benefits are also a key component of any job offer. If you are offered a position which does not provide you with benefits, ask yourself some serious questions. First, can you afford to pay for health insurance on your own? And if so, how long are you prepared to pay for your own health insurance? While your circumstances may vary, you may be eligible for insurance under the COBRA Act. Go to this website to learn about whether you are eligible and how much you will be paying for insurance if you are eligible. Second, are you comfortable working for an employer who is reluctant to extend you these benefits? If you feel that you will begin to resent your employer for failing to offer you benefits, you would probably be better off not taking the position. Return to the top of this page Index Think carefully about the academic position which you are being offered. Academia is currently characterized by a multi-tiered system-with tenured professors at the top, followed by tenure-track professors, visiting professors, instructors and then adjuncts. What will your position be within this hierarchy and how comfortable do you feel about this position? If you are at the bottom of this hierarchy, how will your colleagues treat you? If you are taking a temporary job, are you prepared to deal with the insecurity which comes with this type of position? Can you afford to pay your moving costs for a one year position? You may be perfectly fine with this hierarchy and your place within it but you do need to be aware that the hierarchy exists when accepting a job. Assess the factors which you love about academia and those which you dislike. Are you indifferent about teaching and do you prefer to do research? Do you hate grading? Do you love teaching introductory courses? Think about job offers which you may receive and/or have already received in these terms. If you are offered a position at a university where you will have a 4-4 teaching load and you really don't like teaching intro courses, this may not be the ideal job for you (especially as there is no guarantee nowadays that you will be able to "trade up" and obtain a job at a university or college with a lighter teaching load). When assessing the factors which you like and dislike about academia, remember that service is standard in most universities today. Do you feel comfortable serving on academic committees and are you prepared to devote a portion of your time to committee work? Carefully consider your area of expertise and the possibility of finding a job in that area. Certain historical fields are dying and while we deeply lament the passing of these fields, you need to be realistic. For example, only three or four jobs in medieval and classical history open up every year. Other fields tend to be narrowly defined: British history jobs overwhelmingly call for specialists in imperialism, most German history positions require that you be an expert in Nazism etc. You may love your area of expertise, whether it is medieval history or eighteenth-century German history, but if there are no positions in that field, spending the next five years searching for a position may not be the wisest move. We want to emphasize this as the current economic situation makes it highly unlikely that this situation will improve in the near future. In fact, the number of available jobs will probably decrease significantly within the next few years and many tenure-track historians will probably be thrown back on the market as universities cut their budgets even more. Return to the top of this page Index Weigh Your Options Recognize that your graduate education provided you with very real and definite skills which can be applied to either an academic or non-academic job. While it is common for PhDs, especially those in the humanities, to maintain that they are "over-qualified for the typing pool and under-qualified for a real job," this is patently untrue (we also find it a stunning and very sad comment on how academics view their education). If you are reluctant to leave academia simply because you believe you will be unable to find a good and satisfying job, realize that this is inaccurate. PhDs possess skills which are highly valued by employers. And whether you decide to remain in academia or not, you need to be aware that you have skills which can be applied in a variety of settings. Think broadly and beyond the narrow world of academia. Academic culture can be extremely disapproving of those who deviate from convention but the world is much broader than academia. While your colleagues may question your decision to leave academia (and depict it as professional suicide), you should remind yourself that millions of extraordinarily intelligent and intellectually curious people live and operate outside of the narrow world of academia. These people live happy and fulfilling lives and these are the ranks which you will be joining when you decide to leave academia. Finally, be aware that remaining in academia may require that you make a sacrifice in where you live or whether you have benefits. You may be perfectly willing to make these sacrifices but you need to be aware that these sacrifices exist and that they will undoubtedly shape your life if you decide to remain in academia. Recognize that remaining in academia is a choice. And as such, your decision to remain in academia or to leave should reflect your concerns and your desires---not those of your advisor and not those of your peers. If you decide to leave academia, remember: you are not selling out but rather you are opening new doors which may lead to personal and professional happiness. Return to the top of this page Index Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) For easier reading, we have divided our FAQs into five categories. These include questions about job searches, life outside of academia (and the process of leaving academia), specific types of jobs, additional educational opportunities and general questions. Job Searches: What kinds of opportunities exist for historians outside of academia? How do I contact people and what's an informational interview? I find it very difficult to speak with strangers; can I find a job without networking? Where should I look for good jobs? Is using a career counselor worth the investment? How can I support myself financially while looking for a job? Life Outside Academia: Can historians outside of academia be active scholars? Should I tell my advisor that I am considering leaving academia? Can life outside of academia truly be intellectually rewarding? Was all that time I spent in graduate school a waste? Why didn't I get an academic job and does my inability to obtain one mean that I am a failure? What are some positive reasons for deciding to leave academia? If I leave academia, does that mean I can never return? Return to the top of this page Index Specific Types of Jobs: What can I do which will enable me to continue teaching but also support myself? I am interested in teaching at a private school. How can I learn about what this? I'm interested in teaching at a public school. How can I learn more about this? What does being a public historian entail and where can I learn about job opportunities? My dissertation and area of expertise do not directly relate to the public history job I want. Should I still apply? Are there public history jobs for non-American historians? What are federal historians and what does their work entail? Where can I find out about federal jobs in general and how can I apply for one? What are NGOs and how can I find out about jobs at an NGO? What are foundations and think tanks and how can I find out about job opportunities at these organizations? What does grant-writing entail and where can I learn about opportunities?        Additional and Current Education: I am very unhappy in my graduate program. Should I leave academia before I complete my PhD? Are internships worth it and how can I obtain one? Are post-doctoral fellowships worth it? I'm still in graduate school. Is there anything I can do to make myself more attractive to non-academic employers? Should I consider additional education? General Questions: Will having a PhD hurt me on the job market? I've been offered a job outside of academia but I feel that I am over-qualified for the job and that I will not be earning as much as I want. Should I take the job or wait for something better? What are the primary concerns of employers when hiring PhDs and how can I address these concerns?     An employer asked me to explain what an historian is and how one could serve her organization. How should I respond? Return to the top of this page Index What kinds of opportunities exist for historians outside of academia? There are many opportunities for historians outside of academia. However, you do need to be creative and aggressive when marketing yourself. Begin by breaking down your skills. Are you a specialist in a specific geographic region and, if so, does this entail specific linguistic skills? Are you an historian of science and do you have a background in or rudimentary understanding of a scientific field? Are you a gender historian? Does your work use legal documents? Does your dissertation focus on political issues? The opportunities which are available should reflect your skills---for example, if you are a women's historian, look at organizations which cater to women's issues. If you specialize in a specific region, look at businesses which work in those regions. While opportunities will vary depending on your specific skills, there are some career paths which are especially suited for historians. These are consultants, policy analysts, speechwriters, intelligence officers, curators, museum educators, lobbyists, managers of historical sites, editors, and reporters. Do not, however, limit yourself to these professions! Think outside the box! Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index How do I contact people and what's an informational interview? Networking allows you to meet the people who are hiring---before they begin the hiring process. This can give you an incredible advantage when applying for jobs. Use the Career Office of your graduate and undergraduate schools. Ask to look at their reference guides as well as their lists of graduates who work in professions which interest you. Look up the organizations, individuals and agencies which match your interests on the web. Most of these organizations will list contact people (if they do not, call the organization and ask for the email of the person whose interests match yours). Send the person a short email explaining who you are and asking if you can speak with them about the work they do (never ask directly about job opportunities). If at all possible, try to meet with the individual in person. Most people are flattered to be asked and, unless their schedule is very busy, you should be able to meet with them for an hour. During the informational interview, ask about the profession, what it entails and how one enters the field. Obtaining information about a field and learning how to position yourself for a job is the goal of an informational interview. Although you will hear of people obtaining jobs through informational interviews, be wary of assuming that your informational interview with a specific organization will lead to a job offer. Always bring a resume to the interview and ask for suggestions as to how you can sharpen your resume for positions in that person's field. Keep the resume brief (two pages) and avoid listing every academic prize or paper you have published. The person who helps you has taken time out of his or her busy schedule to meet with you---you must send them a thank you note. Send the note promptly (within the week following the interview). Not sending a thank you note indicates a failure to understand good business etiquette and it will make people reluctant to refer you for a position which may be opening up. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index I find it very difficult to speak with strangers, either in person or on the phone. Can I find a job without networking? Almost half of all American jobs are obtained through networking. While it is possible to find a job without networking, a reluctance to speak with strangers will seriously handicap you on the job market. We strongly encourage you to address your fears and concerns regarding networking (and bear in mind: most people feel shy around strangers so your concerns are completely normal). First, remind yourself that most people love to talk about themselves and their work. People are often very excited and pleased to be contacted for informational interviews as it gives them a chance to talk about themselves. Second, create a strict schedule. Force yourself to speak to at least three people a week. Depending on your personality, you may want to schedule these interviews on the same day (a Monday) and get them over with early in the week---or you may prefer to schedule one interview a day so that you don't feel overwhelmed. Give yourself a small reward after you do each interview. Third, as you think about your interviews, remind yourself of your long-term goals. The difficulties which you may encounter while doing informational interviewing are short-lived. Remind yourself frequently that one hour of agony is worth it if the payoff is a great job. Fourth, help yourself relax by ensuring that you are prepared for the interview. If you are doing a phone interview, keep a list of the questions you want to ask by the phone. If you are doing an interview in person, bring a sheet of questions in a file folder. Do not hesitate to refer to the questions (and to write answers to them) while doing the interview---most interviewers will be impressed by your preparation. And finally, if you are hesitant to jump right into doing an interview, practice on family and friends. If possible, send out a call (via your university) to find people who are in a similar position. Meet with these people and practice doing informational interviews together; these people may also provide you with additional contacts or leads. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index I love teaching but I can't seem to get an academic position. What can I do which will enable me to continue teaching but also support myself? Teaching is not restricted to academia. Many positions involve teaching: for example, policy analysts and lobbyists teach when explaining their positions; companies often hire people to train/teach new employees and so forth. When applying for jobs, look carefully at the job descriptions. Often you will find that the job does require you to do some form of teaching. Additionally, a full-time job will not prevent you from working as an adjunct (and you may enjoy adjuncting more when the paycheck is simply a supplement to your salary). Many businesses allow employees to work flex time and this may enable you to teach a class during the day (while it is not common, some businesses, such as IBM and the federal government, actually encourage their employees to teach). Even if you work for a business which does not allow flex time, working at a 9-5 job will not prevent you from adjuncting in the evening. There is a strong need, in most inner-city and poor rural regions, for good tutors and mentors. You may find that working one-on-one with a child over a period of years provides you with some wonderful opportunities to teach; it may also be more satisfying in the long run as you will have an opportunity to watch your student grow over a prolonged period of time. And finally, museums and local historical sites almost always need good docents to give tours. This is a really fun way to teach-and it entails no grading. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Can historians outside of academia continue to be scholars? Absolutely. You may need to be a bit creative about finding time to do your research and write but this is true in academia as well (where heavy teaching loads and committee work can make research difficult). Most organizations provide at least two weeks vacation (some provide much more) and you can easily use this time to travel to archives or research libraries. Additionally, some employers will provide their workers with unpaid leave. In this case, you can take some time to research and write. Working 9-5 creates a structured day and can help you be more focused in your writing. Unlike in academia where weekends and evenings are sometimes taken up with grading papers, historians outside of the academy have more structured time for writing. Contrary to popular belief, there is a strong and active community of independent scholars. Independent scholars routinely publish work with leading academic presses (Oxford, University of California etc.) and they also frequently speak at national and international conferences. The work produced by independent scholars, especially those with a PhD, is on a level with that produced by academics. Check out the website of the National Coalition for Independent Scholars for more information. And if you need further reassurance, check out the profiles in Outside of the Box. Many of the historians we have profiled have published work as independent scholars. Next time you receive a journal, check the authors' biographies. You may be surprised to learn that many of the historians whose work you routinely read and enjoy work outside of academia. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Are internships worth it and how can I obtain one? Internships are almost always worth the investment as they will give you an opportunity to expand your skills and discover what certain professions entail. Internships can not only provide you with exposure to jobs outside the academy, they can also help you to meet people who work in the field which you would like to enter. These contacts can ultimately help you to obtain a job (contacts are key---this is true in academia as well as outside of academia), and, of course, a good internship will also teach you very real job skills. Many summer internships are paying ones and we suggest that you look into these, even if they entail your moving somewhere for a summer. You may discover, especially with an internship which requires you to move somewhere for a summer, that you will manage to simply break even financially but it is worth it in the long term. If you can afford it, take a non-paying internship during the school year. When you are not being paid, you will have a fair amount of freedom to negotiate how much you work and what you do; a year long internship where you work for 8-10 hours a week is very much worth the commitment. We strongly recommend that all historians, even those who are determined to remain in academia, explore internships while in graduate school. An internship, especially one in a museum, a public history office or an archive, will broaden your understanding of the historical profession and make you a better scholar by exposing you to different types of history, different types of questions and different approaches to history. This knowledge will also better enable you to advise undergraduate majors and graduate students about their career options---and advising students is a fundamental aspect of all academic jobs. In short, an internship can open up an extraordinary number of new and different options, whether you remain in academia or not. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index What about post-doctoral fellowships? Post-docs can provide you with a wonderful opportunity to expand your horizons-which is always a good thing. If you are fortunate enough to be offered a post-doc, you should take it, if you feel it will enable you to advance your professional goals. Use the time to take extra courses which will enhance your resume. Good places to look for post-doctoral fellowships include: museums (especially the Smithsonian), think tanks, and universities. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Will having a PhD hurt me on the job market? There is no easy answer to this question. Some employers, it is true, are very reluctant to hire PhDs. Others, however, relish the opportunity to hire PhDs. Remember: the majority of PhDs in this country do not work in academia which means that many employers do look favorably on PhDs. Tailor your search to accommodate this. Good places to look include: federal, state and local government (where the majority of PhDs work), foundations/think tanks, research and development groups, and consulting organizations. And finally, remember that while many people say they did not enjoy their high school history classes, the History Channel, the American Experience series on PBS, and the incredible popularity of places like Williamsburg indicate that most Americans actually enjoy history and spend money on history-related products. These organizations need and routinely hire historians. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index I'm still in graduate school. Is there anything I can do to make myself more attractive to non-academic employers? If you are still doing coursework, you may want to look at classes and opportunities in the different professional schools. For example, if your dissertation deals with legal issues, take a course or make contacts with people in the law school. In other words, try to broaden your experiences and background as much as you can (one of the things which non-academics do not like about academics is their narrowness). Two types of courses which non-academic employers like very much are statistics courses and language courses. We also recommend expanding your work experiences. Volunteer for a non-profit; you may be asked to write grants, to help manage a website or to assist in organizing events. The skills you can learn while volunteering will only enhance your resume. Along with volunteering, we suggest that you organize graduate student workshops on grant-writing, teaching or researching. Reach out to students across disciplines (the contacts you make may help you in the future). Developing and running a workshop requires management skills which will be highly valued in the workplace. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index I've been offered a job outside of academia but I feel that I am over-qualified for the job and that I will not be earning as much as I want. Should I take the job or wait for something better? Bear in mind that many employers need to be educated about what historians can do for them. You may feel that the job which they are offering you is beneath you in terms of pay or title. However, academia does not provide you with the skills which employers look for in their top-level employees (i.e. the ability to manage an office budget or supervise large groups of people). You may need to begin or accept a job at a lower level than you want. However, and we can't say this enough, you will rise very quickly once you get the job. This is radically different from academia where pay jumps are minor or even insignificant in the greater scheme of things and promotions occur only after you have put in several years. Finally, you should always remember that outside of academia, people can and do switch jobs frequently. You can put in six months working at the job which you may feel is beneath you---while looking for a different position. While the job market in academia is structured around set dates, the non-academic job market is always open. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Should I tell my advisor that I am considering leaving academia? This really depends on your advisor and your relationship with him or her. Some advisors can be extraordinarily sympathetic. Other advisors can be less sympathetic and they may be reluctant to write glowing recommendations if they feel that you are ambivalent about remaining in academia. They may also become unwilling to read your dissertation as it progresses. Carefully assess your relationship with your advisor and make the determination based on that. If you have several advisors and feel only one is trustworthy, ask the person you tell to keep this in confidence. However, you should be aware that leaving academia is your decision, not your advisor's. While he or she may express displeasure or sadness at your decision to leave academia, you must do what is right for you---not what is right for your advisor. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Where should I look for good jobs? Everywhere. The current economic situation means that this is a tight job market (although it is not as tight as the academic market) and you must be aggressive in your search. Let people know that you are looking and ask them to keep an eye out. Speak to everyone whom you know (college room-mates, your parents' friends, people who work out at your favorite gym etc.). When you have an informational interview, always ask "Where did you find out about your job? And where do you suggest people interested in this field look for jobs?" Do not, however, ask directly about a job; if they are hiring, they will let you know. Search on-line sites. We do not recommend that you search the large job banks; rather, you should look at job banks which are tailored to your interests and/or which focus on people with advanced degrees. Some suggestions are: the Federal Government Job Site; the Feminist Majority Career Center which lists jobs for men and women; Career Woman; the Council on Foundations Career Center; Diversity Search Career Center; telecommuting jobs for those who want the flexibility of the academic day, and the following sites for non-profit work: Idealist, Opportunity Knocks, and Nonprofit Jobs. You may also want to look at the website for the Society for History in the Federal Government as this site often contains job postings for federal history jobs. These are just a few examples. Search the web! Do not neglect newspapers and newsletters specifically oriented for certain fields. Check the websites of organizations where you may be interested in working frequently; jobs are often advertised first on websites. Always combine networking with the searching of on-line sites. For example, if you discover an agency or business whose interests tally with yours while searching an on-line job site, contact that agency--even if they are not advertising a position which you will fit. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index What are the primary concerns of employers when hiring PhDs and how can I address these concerns? In our discussions with potential employers (both in the non-profit and for-profit sectors), two concerns constantly came to the fore. First, many employers believe that academics are unable to meet deadlines. Second, employers also believe that academics are unable to work well with others. You may feel that these beliefs are inaccurate but you need to be aware that these are common perceptions among many employers. Address the first concern by pointing out that teaching requires you to meet constant deadlines and, if you have published or given conference papers, point out that you have routinely met deadlines with editors and conference organizers. If you took less than 8 years to complete your PhD, point out to employers that you completed your PhD more rapidly than the average doctoral candidate. Addressing the second concern may be more difficult. If you have ever served on any academic committees, emphasize this. If you have given a joint paper or organized a workshop with others, include this in your resume. Look over the things which you did outside of academia or volunteer activities which you may have done; these may include activities which entailed "working in teams" or "working with others." And, if one of the things which you missed while in academia was the chance to work with others, emphasize this in your letter of application. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Can life outside of academia truly be intellectually rewarding? We were reluctant to put this question on our website because the answer seems to be so obvious. But having read countless essays and articles in which academics loudly proclaim that their low-paying adjunct position is worth it because it enables them to enjoy the "life of the mind," we feel that we must address this issue. The answer is: life outside of academia can be more intellectually rewarding than it is inside academia. Do you love to read? Guess what! You can do that outside of academia (you can even afford to buy the books you want outside of academia). Do you love to visit museums? Hear lectures? Travel to visit Gothic cathedrals? You can do all these things outside of academia---and because you will have a choice as to where you live, you can suit your lifestyle to reflect your interests. Moreover, contrary to the belief of most academics, a good and challenging job will always provide you with interesting and well-read colleagues. We have found that we met people with broader and deeper interests outside academia than we met inside academia where the emphasis tends to be on narrow specialization. Further evidence of this can be found in a forthcoming study by Maresi Nerad of the University of California, Berkeley. An examination of the career paths and attitudes of 6000 PhDs "Ten Years After" in six disciplines from sixty universities found that there was no difference in job satisfaction between academics and PhDs working in business, government, and the non-profit sectors. Enough said? Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index I am interested in teaching at a private school. How can I learn about what this work entails? And how can I learn about job opportunities? Teaching in an independent school can be very rewarding. Many private schools promote independence in the classroom. Additionally, because class size tends to be low (on average 18 students per class), teachers often have more time with their students. When considering a job at a private school, you do need, however, to be extremely flexible. Because most private schools are small, faculty are called upon to play a variety of roles. You will probably be asked to coach a sport or supervise an extracurricular activity such as the Drama Club. If you are working at a boarding school, you may also be required to live in a dorm where you will supervise students. Depending on your personality, these additional roles may be highly satisfying or they may become a burden. Before embarking on a private school teaching career, you will want to think seriously about your desire not only to teach but also to coach and supervise students. We strongly suggest that you do informational interviews. Speak to teachers who work at the type of private school where you would like to teach. Also volunteer at a school so that you will have the opportunity to discover what it is like to work with adolescents. If at all possible, sign up as a substitute teacher. The largest recruiter for private schools is Carney, Sandoe and Associates. Check out their website and speak directly to recruiters to learn more about this type of career. Also, you may want to read this article in Perspectives. It was written by Darcy Fryer, an historian who teaches at an independent school (to learn more about Darcy's career path, check out her profile here on Beyond Academe). Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index I'm interested in teaching at a public school but I'm concerned that I lack the credentials and that some schools will see me as over-qualified. How can I learn more about this? Teaching at a public school, whether in an inner city, a suburb or a rural community, can be rewarding on several levels. Public schools do hire people with doctorates to teach. However, hiring practices tend to vary from district to district so you will need to do some focused research to discover whether the district in which you want to teach is open to hiring people with PhDs. Look at the website for the National Education Association and use their links to go to the union for the state in which you want to live. Most of the state websites contain links to specific school districts. We suggest that you directly contact the local union; look first at their website which will give you some general information and then call and speak directly to union leaders. You may also want to contact the principal of the school at which you want to teach. Additionally, you will need to do informational interviews with history/social studies teachers at the school. Because public schools tend to be extremely varied, the best way to learn about a specific school is to speak directly to those who work at the school. Try to volunteer at the school and sign up on a substitute call list as this will give you an opportunity to learn about working with adolescents. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index What does being a public historian entail and where can I learn about job opportunities? The work done by public historians is varied. As a result, public historians can be found in many different settings: public historians work in public and private museums, they work in national and state parks as well as on historical sites, they work for public and private organizations devoted to promoting history and, finally, they also work in government agencies (on the local, state and federal levels). Fundamentally, public historians educate the general public about history. While the audience for public historians is varied, it may include policy analaysts, legislators, businesspeople, scientists, school children, educators, history buffs, art lovers, genealogists, writers and professors. Because their audiences are so wide-ranging, public historians must be extremely flexible. Public historians teach through different medium. They may create museum exhibits; they may give lectures; they may write internal memos for legislators and businesspeople; they may provide journalists with background information or they may teach the general public, such as genealogists or educators, how to approach an historical problem. Public historians are not archivists. However, many public historians work closely with archivists and they often have an in-depth knowledge of material in specific archives. Public historians may assist academics, steering them toward specific material in an archive. But public historians also draw on their knowledge of archived materials to publish their own work. If you are interested in learning more about how to become an archivists or how archivists and historians work together, consult the website for The Society of American Archivists (their website also contains job listings). Many public historians do high-level research. Public historians publish in leading academic journals and with leading academic presses. They present their work at major conferences. Public historians are highly trained and highly rigorous scholars---just as their academic counterparts are. Even if you decide to remain in academia, we suggest that you educate yourself as to what public historians do because they can be wonderful partners for academic historians and their work may be of great use to you. There is an unfortunate tendency among academic historians to dismiss the work of public historians and to assume that it can be done by someone with a limited background. This view is inaccurate and if you endorse it, we strongly encourage you to have an open mind and to do informational interviews which will enable you to learn about the field, even if you are strongly committed to remaining in academia. We want to emphasize this last point---because professors mentor undergraduate and graduate students, an understanding of the varied career options for historians is crucial, even among academics. If you are interested in learning about public history, look at The National Council on Public History, The Society for History in the Federal Government , The American Association of Museums, and The American Association for State and Local History websites. Read the sites carefully (the sites often have job listings), look at journals devoted to public history (such as The Public Historian) and speak directly to public historians to learn more about what they do. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index My dissertation and area of expertise do not directly relate to the public history job I want. Should I still apply? Working in museums, the government or on historic sites often requires both a very specialized knowledge of a specific subject as well as a broad understanding of history. Because few historians have the specialized knowledge which some public history positions require, many, although not all, employers in this field prioritize skills over knowledge. When applying for public history jobs, be aware that a good historian learns the skills to be an historian in graduate school. Over the course of a career, historians use these skills to acquire subject knowledge in different areas. That said, you will still need to demonstrate how your graduate training provided you with the skills required to practice history. If possible, you should also demonstrate how your existing knowledge base relates to the job. Be aware that some public history jobs will require specialized skills such as the ability to curate an exhibition, to care for artifacts or to understand preservation issues. Because these skills are rarely taught in graduate school, you may need to do an internship, volunteer for a community project which deals with preservation, or find and take coursework which will teach you the basics of conservation or preservation. If you acquire these skills, you will be a strong candidate for most public history jobs. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index What are federal historians and what does their work entail? Federal historians work directly for the United States government; most, but not all, of these positions require you to be located in Washington DC. Although many federal history positions require a background in American history, this requirement is not universal. You will find federal history positions which require a background in military history, in the history of science, the history of environmentalism etc. Federal history offices often hire people who possess knowledge of the subject as opposed to a geographic speciality (an historian of science with a dissertation on the Russian space program will be a serious candidate for a NASA job while a general American historian will not). There is an unfortunate tendency among academic historians to dismiss the work of federal historians and to assume that it can be done by someone with a limited background. Nothing could be further than the truth. Federal historians routinely brief legislators, leading government officials and others on legislative and policy initiatives. Federal historians must, as a result, do very high-level research and they must possess a doctorate in the area in which they work. Federal historians work in four key areas: research, documentation, consultation and information. On the research level, federal historians publish in leading academic journals and with leading academic presses. They routinely present papers at major academic conferences. They serve on academic committees and they frequently review articles and books for publication or in journals. Everything that an academic does in terms of research, a federal historian does. The only difference is that a federal historian will also do research for government officials—the research they do for these officials will be used to address questions regarding policy decisions. Federal historians engage in documentation by doing oral histories and by developing commemorative events. Consultation includes the facilitation of scholarly studies on a subject as well as giving lectures on the history of an agency or specific policies to employees (depending on the audience, these lectures can be very detailed or more general, along the lines of teaching an undergraduate seminar). Federal historians also provide information to the general public, reporters, law firms, foundations, academics, historical societies and anyone else who has a question about the history of a federal policy, agency or law. To find out more, read the websites for the history offices of specific federal agencies. Also consult the Society for the History of the Federal Government. Read Victoria Harden's essay which appeared in Perspectives (Dr. Harden was a federal historian for over twenty years) and finally, contact and speak with federal historians whose work parallels yours. Again, we encourage all academic historians to learn about the work done by federal historians. Knowing about the career options which are available for historians will enable professors to become better mentors and advisors to both undergraduate and graduate students. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Where can I find out about federal history jobs and how can I apply for one? In fact, how can I apply for a federal job? Federal jobs are advertised via the federal job registry. Applying for a federal job usually requires that you submit a special type of job application. Applicants often submit what are called KSAs (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities). KSAs are the most important part of a job application (more important than a letter or even a resume). Each KSA will require you to demonstrate your proficiency in a specific area (for example, if the job is for NASA, you will undoubtedly have to demonstrate a background in the history of science, specifically the history of physics and astrophysics). Your answers to the KSAs should be very general—i.e. "I have a PhD in the history of science with an emphasis on the history of astrophysics" but they should also be very detailed—i.e. "I have written a dissertation on the Apollo XIII mission; I have published two articles on the history of the space program in the leading historical journals on this subject (Isis)" etc. We suggest that you write at least two or three paragraphs for each KSA. If at all possible, have a federal employee look at your KSAs before you submit them (here's where networking will pay off—if you meet a federal employee who seems helpful, he or she may volunteer to look over your KSAs). Also, look at this website for a good introduction to writing these. A word on job levels. Many PhDs work for the government—do not assume that because you possess a PhD, you are qualified to lead an historical office or to have a job at the top level (a 15). If you have just graduated from a doctoral program, you should be looking at positions which are on the level of 11 or 12. 13s, 14s and 15s are PhDs who have been working in the field for years (whether in an academic or a non-academic position). In case you have forgotten the lessons of your civics classes: be aware that federal employees are overwhelmingly civil servants. They do not work for a specific administration but rather the American public---in fact, career civil servants work under multiple administrations. For further information on federal jobs, look at this guest discussion on Wrk4Us. Note: not all federal jobs require that you live in Washington DC. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index What are NGOs and how can I find out about jobs at these organizations? An NGO is a non-governmental organization. The World Bank defines NGOs as "private organizations that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake community development" (Operational Directive 14.70). In wider usage, the term NGO can be applied to any non-profit organization which is independent from government. NGOs are typically value-based organizations which depend, in whole or in part, on charitable donations and voluntary service. These organizations often, if not always, draw on fundamental principles of research (both qualitative and quantitative analyses), teaching, and service. The NGO sector has become increasingly professionalized over the last two decades, enabling more individuals with advanced degrees to apply their broad base of skills, specifically their written and oral communication skills along with their ability to articulate the "big picture," and knowledge of a specific field, to a sector that has been traditionally defined according to the principles of altruism and volunteerism. A list of some NGO's can be found at this website. Information about specific NGOs and their missions can also be found in journals such as The Journal of Philanthropy and we suggest, as always, that you look at the websites of specific NGOs which may interest you. Because NGOs vary in size and because they are so numerous, there does not seem to be a global list of these organizations so you may have to do some research to locate smaller NGOs. Additionally, there is no one place where you may find job listings for all NGOs. We suggest that you look at the Council on Foundations but you also need to check the websites of specific NGOs and to speak to people in the field to find out about job listings. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index What are foundations and think tanks? How do you apply for a job at one of these places? There is a great deal of overlap between the terms "foundation," "NGO" and "think tanks" with people who work at an NGO, a foundation or a think tank often using one or all of these terms to describe their organization. Because the term "foundation" has no precise or legal meaning, the term is often used broadly to refer to both private foundations (including family, independent and company foundations) and public charities (community foundations and those nonprofit charitable organizations which raise funds to conduct their programs and operations). The rules governing private foundations are stricter in limiting foundation activities than are those for public charities. Foundations vary in size (from a small organization with an annual budget of less than a million dollars to large foundations such as the Gates Foundation whose annual budget is several hundred million dollars). Foundations each have unique missions—they may provide grants to others or they may create and manage their own programs. According to The Foundation Center, there are over 70,000 foundations in the United States as of the year 2003. The requirements for a job at a foundation can vary. However, you should emphasize your knowledge and understanding of grant-writing (foundations write grants and/or judge and dispense grants). For obvious reasons, foundations also look for people who write and speak well and who possess outstanding analytical skills (you will be judging the feasibility of applications and programs). Think tanks can be for-profit or non-profit organizations. They produce scholarly work which is used by businesses, the federal government, charitable organizations or even universities. Like foundations, think tanks vary in size. There are extremely large think tanks such as RAND or significantly smaller organizations which have only a few scholars and which have a very narrow focus. There are several thousand of these organizations in the United States. Information on think tanks can be found at the following websites: The Foreign Policy Research Institute or this link at the University of Virginia. The requirements for a job at a think tank can be very similar to the requirements for an academic job. RAND, for example, requires applicants to give an academic-style presentation and then answer questions from experts after the presentation. Smaller think tanks are more eclectic in the requirements which they impose on applicants and you should read the job description very carefully when applying for a job. When applying for a job at a think tank, stress not only your academic qualifications but also any "real" world qualifications which you may have. If you have questions about the job, ask the organization directly. The competition for jobs at either think tanks or foundations varies. A job at RAND, The Brookings Institute or The Gates Foundation is obviously highly competitive. If you recently earned a PhD, you would probably be better off applying for a job at a small foundation or a small think tank, as opposed to one of the giants. All total, there are well over 70,000 think tanks, NGOs and foundations in the United States. These organizations frequently hire PhDs. While the web can be of great assistance in looking for information on these organizations, you should also read journals which are read by people who work in this field (for example, The Journal of Philanthropy) and you should attend conferences or, at least, read the conference proceedings for these meetings. You can learn about conferences through the journals and websites of various organizations. And finally, contact people who work at these organizations and speak to them about the work they do and how they found their positions. One final note: foundations are required to make their tax returns public. If you want to find out about an organization (its priorities and where it dispenses money), you should look at the foundation's tax return. These returns are available on the website of most foundations. For further information on working for a foundation, look at this guest discussion on Wrk4Us. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index What does grant-writing entail and where can I learn about opportunities? Grant-writing draws on the writing and research skills which you developed in graduate school. However, grant-writing also requires diplomacy, networking skills, the ability to manage a project, excellent organizational skills, the ability to build and maintain relationships as well as the ability to create budgets. There are several ways in which you can pick up grant-writing skills. Volunteer to write grants at a local nonprofit. Call the Director of Development and offer to write two or three grant proposals for free. Take a grantsmanship training course. They come in all sizes from one day to one full week. Some are expensive and others are free. Do the research and make the right choice for you. And, finally, if you are currently in an academic position, you are already well situated to pick up grant writing experience. Do as much of it as you can while working in your academic position. Grant-working offers a range of possibilities for career advancement. You may decide to remain a grant-writer for the long-term but after a few years in the field, you may discover that you have developed the skills to be either a Director of Development or even an Executive Director of a foundation. If you are interested in grant-writing (and related positions), you should sign up to be on the Foundation Center's job list which comes out every few weeks or so. Also, check out the Woodrow Wilson's National Fellowship Foundation's Guest Speaker Discussion on Writing For Non-Profits; go to this website and click on "Guest Speaker Discussions." Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Should I consider additional education? We do not advocate that you immediately return to school for more training or another degree. Your training as an historian should have provided you with sufficient skills to find a job in most fields. If you are interested in entering a field which requires that you obtain another degree, we strongly recommend that you find an internship in this field. Do not, in other words, rush to obtain yet another degree without investigating the field thoroughly; you may be surprised to discover that you do not like the field very much or you may learn that you can find satisfying and well-paying work in that field without investing more time and money in additional education. And finally, some employers pay for the education of their employees-after you put in a few years, your employer may pay you to obtain an MBA, an MPH, an MLS or another degree. We also want to point out that additional education is not a guarantee of employment. Many PhDs rush to law school, unaware that almost 50% of people with law degrees do not work as lawyers. Do serious research before you commit to additional education; additionally, factor into your decision to return to school an understanding that you may very well wind up with another degree but not a job. If you are interested in law school, check out this website hosted by the American Bar Association. If you are interested in getting an MLS, check out this website hosted by the American Library Association. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index I feel as though I am being forced out of academia because of the terrible job market. What are some positive reasons for deciding to leave academia? Historians can often accomplish more outside of academia than inside academia. Public historians, policy analysts and many government officials who possess PhDs can do more to influence policy decisions in a week than most academic historians do in a lifetime. Additionally, historians who are in the public eye (whether they are in the profit or non-profit sector) demonstrate to legislators and the general public the importance of a training in history. As it is legislators and the voting public who determine the funding for history programs, this type of contact does a great deal to advance the cause of history. Historians outside of the university setting often work with people who genuinely love history. While working with undergraduates and graduate students can be rewarding, non-academic historians tend to encounter people who are choosing, long after they have left school, to pursue history on their own. And finally, within the university setting, history can be extremely theoretical and abstract. Outside of a university setting, people use history---to influence policy decisions, to understand why an event occurred and what the ramifications will be if a tradition is changed etc. This can be extremely exciting. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index If I leave academia, does that mean I can never return? Leaving academia is not a death sentence. Take it from us: many people have left academia, worked in other professions and then returned to academia. In fact, depending on the position you get, leaving academia can actually enhance your CV and enable you to return to the academic job market as a stronger candidate. If, for example, you leave academia and obtain a position at a think tank, you will have an opportunity to work on projects which strengthen your research skills and add to your publications. Working as a public historian will also provide you with an opportunity to expand your publications. Even if you do not enter a profession which encourages research, nothing will prevent you from doing your own research and publishing. A good track record of publications can only help you in a competitive academic job market. One final note: while returning to academia is always an option, you may find, as many historians have, that you will not want to return to academia once you have experienced the very different work environment of the "real world." Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Is using a career counselor worth the investment? There is no definitive answer to this question. You must research the career counselor before you make any decision as well as assess your own financial position relative to the cost of the counselor. Ask the counselor directly if he or she has ever placed academics in non-academic positions. If not, ask the career counselor directly about how he or she intends to approach your job search (do this before you lay out any money---if the counselor says you must pay first, then, this is obviously not a good investment). Finally, before investing in a career counselor, assess your finances; your decision should reflect your own financial situation. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Are there public history jobs for non-American historians? There are many public history positions which deal either directly or indirectly with non-American history. Some history museums focus specifically on non-American history. There are, for example, several museums which deal with the Holocaust. Museums which focus on subjects such as the history of computers or the history of aviation also tend to employ historians who have a background in their subject area, regardless of the historian's geographic focus. Because America is a nation of immigrants, many American history museums also indirectly deal with non-American history. A museum on the history of San Francisco may, for example, be very pleased to employ a Chinese historian as the Chinese and Chinese-Americans have played such a significant role in the city's history. Conversely, the New York State Museum may be ecstatic to discover that, as a Dutch early modernist, you can read Dutch and you have an in-depth understanding of the culture of the state's earliest European inhabitants. Private corporations and the government may also be interested in hiring non-American historians for positions within their company. Organizations which deal, for example, with claims relating to World War II may be interested in hiring Japanese or German historians. Similarly, many government history positions, especially those in the State Department, may require you to possess an in-depth understanding of non-American history. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index I am very unhappy in my graduate program. Should I leave academia before I complete my PhD? No one can answer this question for you. However, there are some issues which you may want to bear in mind as you explore this question. Begin by looking at the question of careers: are you interested in a career which would require an advanced degree? Some jobs outside of academia actually do require a PhD or, if they don't require a PhD, a PhD may be necessary if you want to move into a management position. Conversely, you may find that a PhD is completely irrelevant to the position. To ascertain whether the PhD will be beneficial to your future career, do informational interviews with people in the occupations which you would like to enter. Tell these people that you are ambivalent about completing the degree and ask them what they would suggest based on their knowledge of the field. Along with thinking about your future career, you should assess your own character. Ask yourself whether you (as opposed to your advisor or fellow students) feel completing your PhD is important or whether in believing that this is important, you are simply reflecting and responding to the culture in which you are living. And finally because this is a difficult decision, you may want to take a semester off. Working outside of academe may provide you with the information you need to make a decision which is right for you and your future career. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index How can I support myself financially while looking for a job? Searching for a job, whether an academic position or a non-academic position, can take up to a year or more. You will need to support yourself in some fashion during this period. People's experiences and ability to support themselves will, we realize, vary widely. If you are single, you will probably have a more difficult time than if you are married (provided, of course, that your spouse is a wage earner). And, if you have children, you will also have a different and more difficult experience than people who are childless. We have a few recommendations but we also realize that this can be the most difficult aspect of a job search so you need to think creatively and find solutions which address your specific situation. First, if you have been employed, do not hesitate to take full advantage of unemployment benefits. You should never feel ashamed to apply for unemployment; benefits are your right as an American citizen. If you have children, research and apply for benefits for families and dependent children. Second, if you have student loans, ask for a deferment. You are entitled to one if you are unemployed. If you have other debts, speak to the bank and your creditors. Explain that you are unemployed but looking for work and ask if you can work out a loan payment schedule which will accommodate your finances. When your unemployment runs out, you may want to try temping (this can sometimes-but not often-lead to a real job offer). The good thing about temp work is that there is often a fair amount of flexibility. You may find, for example, that you work four days a week which will enable you to do informational interviews on the fifth day. Search for short-term jobs (dog-walking, waiting on tables, babysitting, yard work, free-lance writing, house-cleaning, translating documents) which will enable you to work odd hours, leaving your day-time hours open for job-search activities. One word of caution about this: be sure you record your activities for the IRS. Performing tasks like babysitting or doing yard work may not seem appealing and you may ask: why don't I adjunct? You can, of course, adjunct but for several reasons, it is often better to make a clean break. First, teaching can be very time-consuming which may make it difficult to search for a job. Additionally, because it is also impossible to leave a teaching position in the middle of the semester, adjuncting may actually prevent you from being able to accept a job offer if you receive one in the course of the semester. And finally, adjuncting pays very poorly. House-cleaning, translating and other similar work may not be your ideal but these jobs require no prep-time, tend to provide you with cash in hand (sometimes even more than adjuncting) and may bring you into contact with people in the "outside" world---always a good thing when searching for a job. Moreover, these jobs are stop-gap measures; we are not suggesting that you enter into these areas as a career (and we do want to point out that many people do this kind of work on a permanent basis and we genuinely hope that you do not regard them or their work as beneath you). And one final note: you may be eligible for health insurance under the COBRA Act. Go to this website to learn more about whether you are eligible and the amount of money you will need to spend on your insurance. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index I spent several years in graduate school pursuing and ultimately obtaining a PhD. Now, this experience does not seem to be helping me on the non-academic job market. Was my time spent in graduate school a waste? Thirty years ago, the pursuit of a doctorate was a form of vocational training and earning a PhD would, more often than not, result in a job as a professor. Obviously, that is no longer true today. That said, you should not assume that obtaining your PhD will fail to help you on the job market. Even if you had spent seven years pursuing your passion as a rock-climber, you would have accumulated skills which would be of use to you on the job market. Think seriously about the tasks which you accomplished as a graduate student and/or as a professor and the skills which you gained. These are the tools which will enable you to find a good and satisfying career and to succeed in that career. Overall, how should you view your graduate training? View it as a wonderful opportunity to pursue subjects in which you were and remain passionately interested. Not many people have the opportunity to spend several years following their passion---count yourself lucky that you had this opportunity. If you accumulated debt doing this, compare yourself to someone who just took out a mortgage or bought a luxury car. Yes, it may not have been the wisest financial move but, for better or worse, you bought a luxury item which brought you enjoyment. And finally, a word of caution. Potential employers may ask you why you obtained a degree; you need to be prepared to answer their questions about your education positively. Do not tell the employer about the academic job market and your attempts to obtain an academic job. Employers are not interested; moreover, in this crowded job market, employers who have a wide choice among applicants will prefer to hire employees who are enthusiastic about a new career, not mourning an academic career. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Why didn't I get an academic job and does my inability to obtain one mean that I am a failure? A couple of hard facts. The academic job market is in a state of collapse. You may have outstanding credentials but this will do little to alter the fact that there are very few jobs. Academic search committees can pick and choose among an outstanding array of candidates; as a result, they can and often do take into consideration a range of random factors. There is no way you can prepare for this and because search committees are often flooded by applicants, they will only rarely discuss the reasons for their decision. Moreover, even if a search committee tells you that they wanted someone who could teach women's studies and they nixed your application for that reason, another department may want someone who can hold a joint appointment in the economics department. In other words, the qualifications for one job are rarely ever the qualifications for another job and as search committees rarely ever clarify (or even know) what they want, you can not prepare for this. You may feel you nailed the interview (and you probably did) but unbeknownst to you, the department decided to go with the applicant whose dissertation paralleled that of the department chair or they went with the applicant who had family in the area. To put it very bluntly, the academic job market has become a lottery with many qualified (and over-qualified) applicants vying for one winning ticket. If you bought a lottery ticket with 100 other people, would you regard yourself as a failure if your ticket didn't win? Would you insist that you deserved to win? Or if the winner was a woman or a minority, would you insist that it was because of "affirmative action" that you failed to win? Think about the market in these terms. Sadly, there is no "winning" formula for obtaining an academic job. There are countless PhDs with books, degrees from top-ranked universities, teaching awards etc. who did not obtain a tenure-track position. These people are not failures! In fact, they are success stories. They have published thought-provoking books, they earned degrees through effort and hard work and they have won awards for teaching. Yes, they didn't get a tenure-track position but when compared to the overall list of their accomplishments, this is one (and sometimes the only) task in which they did not obtain that which they wanted (and for the above reasons, their inability to obtain an academic position had nothing to do with their abilities or efforts). Very few people have track records like that! Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index An employer asked me to explain what an historian is and how one could serve her organization. How should I respond? Historians are analysts. They study, assess and determine the factors which cause cultural, political, social, economic and religious change in a given society. To make these assessments, historians analyze written documents, visual evidence, material culture, economic data and a range of other materials. Historians often possess outstanding linguistic skills and because their work requires them to be accomplished speakers and writers, they are often highly effective communicators. When teaching, historians routinely tailor and communicate information for a variety of audiences, not simply specialists. Teaching also requires that historians become managers, assigning and supervising a variety of tasks. And finally teaching requires historians to motivate others while directing and developing work-projects. While employers can use these skills in a variety of settings, there are a few very specific ways in which historians can help businesses, non-profit organizations, government agencies etc. Historians can track and help predict markets. They can write and help publicize the goals of an organization or business. Historians can serve as liaisons between communities. Historians can also serve as trainers and motivators for projects. Return to the top of this page Return to the list of FAQs Index Suggested Reading and Web Sites Even if you are not the kind of person who reads self-help books, you will want to invest in one or more career advice books. These books provide the best advice both for finding a job which you will enjoy as well as outstanding tips for writing a resume. Career books should not be read in one sitting nor should they be read cover to cover. Carefully skim the book for advice and do as many of the exercises as you can. Suggested Reading: Richard Nelson Bolles, What Color is Your Parachute? (Tenspeed Press, 2003). There's a reason why this book is a classic: it offers great advice! Check out the sections on doing informational interviews as well as the word list for resumes. Maggie Debelius and Susan Elizabeth Basalla, So What Are You Going to Do With That?: A Guide for M.A.'s and Ph.D's Seeking Careers Outside the Academy (University of Chicago Press, 2007). This book is tailor-made for academics; it has already entered its second edition which speaks volumes about the demand for a book of this type. The book's greatest strength lies in the fact that it reassures academics that it's okay to leave academia by providing anecdotes of successful former academics. These stories should motivate you to look in many places. Nicholas Lore, The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success (Fireside, 1998) Lore uses techniques created at the Rockport Institute to help you determine the kinds of jobs you should pursue and the ways in which you can obtain these jobs. The book provides a step by step process by which you can find the job of your dreams while creating a fulfilling personal life. Return to the top of the page Index Great Websites: Sellout: Mark Johnson is an English PhD who left academe and works at Intuit. His ironically titled website provides job information as well as encouragement to PhDs considering a career outside of the academy. Relevant History: Alex Pang, an historian of science, left academe in 1996. His blog can give insight into life outside of the academy. Check out his fantastic essay about leaving academe. Re-envisioning the PhD: This website grew out of a $515,000 project funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts which posed the challenging question: "How can we re-envision the Ph.D. to meet the needs of the society of the 21st Century?" Out of Academia: Annalee Newitz's thought-provoking article on leaving the academy. This article originally appeared in Salon. Doctor Outsider: Michelle Tepper's wonderful essay about leaving the academy. This article originally appeared in The Minnesota Review. Return to the top of the page Index Readings we suggest you ignore: Leading journals on higher education and all of the different blog and websites which discuss the academic market. These are of marginal interest and while they may help you in the very early stages when you are making your decision to leave academia, they can be very destructive in the long run. The people who write in to these journals and websites tend to be academics in transition; they may provide a cozy support network and you can use them for that but always remember: these are not the people who will help you get a job. A cursory search of these sites (done on a bi-weekly basis by us over a three month period) also revealed that the sites frequently gave erroneous advice (for example, academics who had no experience in the field of federal history made completely inaccurate statements about the work federal historians do and many academics who wrote in seemed to have a poor or non-existent understanding of how the for-profit sector works). You will be much better off contacting people who do the work in which you are interested as opposed to academics who may know little about specific professions and who may be prejudiced about the non-academic world. We were also concerned about the fact that many people seemed to be almost daily contributors to these sites. These sites undoubtedly provide people with support but your time would be much better spent making contacts with non-academics (additionally, studies have shown that extensive internet use can contribute to depression---we exempt our website from this, of course!). Return to the top of the page Index Five Quick tips for Transforming a CV into a Resume There are two types of resumes: organizational and professional. Create and maintain both types of resumes. In fact, you should always have multiple versions of your resume ready. Always adapt and change your resume to suit each specific position. In an organizational resume, skills are listed in separate categories. This kind of resume can be good for academics as it will enable you to showcase your skills more effectively. Typical categories which are used include: managerial experience, research skills, and writing skills. In a professional resume, the categories and divisions are all done by jobs. This kind of resume enables you to show employers how you have advanced along a career track. You will note that we do not have sample resumes available. This is because resumes are works in progress and highly individualistic. They should be changed to fit each job as you apply for it and they should highlight your special abilities. Always, always tailor your resume for the job (for example, if the job calls for editing skills, make sure that your resume uses the word "editing skills" throughout to describe your experiences doing this type of work). Some Quick General Rules: Keep it short! A resume should not be longer than two pages. Remember: employers are quickly scanning dozens of resumes in a short period of time. An employer should be able to read your resume quickly (in about ten to fifteen minutes) and determine at a glance whether you have the skills necessary for the job at hand. For most employers, the most impressive resume is one which quickly and clearly demonstrates that the applicant possesses the skills the employer is seeking. Employers look for leadership and managerial skills. Most employers do not understand that teaching requires leadership and management. You must show them this on your resume (see below for a list of the skill set teaching provides). Lump your publications and presentations under broad categories. Do not list every publication; instead, simply state "published with Oxford University Press, Scribners," etc. When discussing presentations, simply state "presented scholarly work at national, international and local conferences." You will find many different opinions on including a "job objective" line. However, we would caution you against this as the line simply takes up space. Worse yet, it can work against you if your job objective does not tally directly with the job for which you are applying. Focus on work experiences as opposed to educational experiences. For example, if you speak a language fluently, do not list the years of coursework; instead, put "developed and did research using a legal vocabulary in German" or "read scholarly papers in Arabic." "The most sought-after skills, according to a University of Michigan survey of 500 U.S. employers, include the ability to get things done, common sense, integrity, dependability, initiative, well-developed work habits, interpersonal skills, enthusiasm, motivation to achieve, adaptability, intelligence, oral-communication skills, and problem-solving abilities. Notice that most of these are character attributes that have probably appeared on your list of academic capabilities alone." "Transferring Your Skills to a Non-Academic Setting," by Margaret Newhouse, Chronicle of Higher Education, Friday, December 4, 1998. Return to the top of this page Index Teaching and Non-Academic Resumes: How to Create a Skills Set for Teaching Almost all historians work as teaching assistants during their graduate careers but translating the skills one develops as a teacher into a skills set for a non-academic resume can be difficult. Darryl Stevens, PhD, Coordinator, Graduate Student Services, Career Center, University of California, Riverside, has provided this skills set for teaching: Communication Skills: Comfortable with public speaking. Effective presentation of complex material to audiences of varying skills. Facilitation discussion between group members. Providing performance feedback to groups and individuals. Assisting others in development of presentation skills. Exceptional writing skills, from brief executive summaries to long articles. Editing and correction of manuscripts and other copy. Ability to develop rapport through active listening and engagement Research and Planning Skills: Creation of novel approaches and generation of ideas. Problem clarification and resource identification. Goal setting and evaluation. Development of assessment and evaluation strategies Superior critical analysis skills. Needs analysis and information gathering techniques. Leadership Skills Management of details and coordinating tasks for multiple groups. Delegation of responsibility and evaluation of work product. Teaching, instruction, and coaching of novices attempting new tasks. Counseling, motivating, and managing groups and individuals. Development of strategies to cope with conflict and change. Understanding of how to structure activities for diverse groups. Return to the top of the page Index Cover Letters: Employers generally spend no more than ten to fifteen minutes reading a job application and deciding whether or not the applicant possesses the skills they need (this is true in and outside of academia). What does this mean for you, the applicant? Simply put, your cover letter must be extraordinarily direct and very concise. It also must clearly demonstrate that you possess the skills to do the job at hand. How concise is concise? We are talking about one page. Within that one page (three to five paragraphs), you must accomplish two goals. First you must demonstrate, clearly, to the reader that you possess the experience and education necessary to do the job which is being advertised. Second, you should explain why you are interested either in working for the organization which is doing the hiring or doing the specific job which is being advertised. Tempting as it may be, you must avoid writing a cover letter which is a simple list of your accomplishments. This doesn't mean that you should not discuss your accomplishments. Rather what it means is that when you discuss your accomplishments, you must relate them directly to the job requirements. Do the job requirements include the words "an experienced researcher?" Did you win a prestigious award for your research? Tie these two things together by saying "I am an experienced and accomplished researcher as demonstrated by my being awarded the Schmickelfest Award for Great Research in 2003." If you cannot relate your being awarded the Schmickelfest Award to the needs of the employer, leave it out of your letter (yes, this is painful, we know). On a basic level, you should always directly match the skills being demanded with your own experiences or educational training. Do the work for the employer by pointing out, with specific examples, how your experiences and skills match the skills listed in the job requirements of the ad. It is not enough, however, to demonstrate that you possess the skills required for the job. Employers also want to know why you are interested in working for them or their organization. So, do your homework! Study the website of the organization and explain why you want the job, relating it to the overall mission of the organization. "I am especially eager to work for the Dabbo Group as I share its desire to 'educate Americans on the importance of lint accumulation in dryers.'" If possible, provide a specific example of how your past experiences have been shaped by your interest in educating Americans on the importance of dryer lint. Close the letter with a simple sentence saying that you look forward to hearing from them. Finally, proof-read your letter multiple times before sending it off. Return to the top of the page Index Rules of Conduct Academia does not always reward assertiveness, especially in women. Outside of academia, you must be extremely aggressive. Call employers, arrange to meet with them and showcase your abilities in both informational interviews and written material which you may submit for a job. Recognize that the idea of specialization has different meanings in and outside of academia. While academics are extremely narrow in their definitions of specialization, the world outside of academia is not as narrow. For example, an academic job may require that you be a specialist in the French Revolution, with an emphasis on cultural history. If your dissertation was on nineteenth-century French politics, the chances of your obtaining this position would be slim to non-existent (even if you took several graduate courses on the French Revolution and cultural history). Outside of academia, employers look for broad generalists. Employers often prefer to hire someone who demonstrates an ability to learn and grow in the position. Do not use academic jargon in your resume, cover letter or during an interview. While every field (the law, medicine, business, history) has its own distinctive jargon, the use of this language often indicates an inability to communicate well. This is not a trait which employers look for in their employees. Be courteous to everyone whom you met. Look people in the eye, shake their hand firmly and always greet them, whether they are a secretary or the head of a corporation. Never assume that because the people interviewing you do not have a PhD, they are ignorant or lack intellectual curiosity. You will find secretaries who read Gunter Grass and Charles Dickens, businessman who passionately study physics outside of work, and analysts who have an in-depth knowledge of nineteenth-century American architecture throughout the American workplace (here's how to contextualize this if you have any doubts: the overwhelming majority of Rhodes scholars are not academics). These people are just as curious and intellectual as your colleagues in academia were---they have simply chosen a different path in which to explore their interests. They will not appreciate patronizing comments or an assumption that their failure to attend graduate school is evidence of a lack of intellectual passion. Return to the top of this page Index Never ever lie on your resume. We include putting ABD (an imaginary degree) on your resume under this category. Academia does not always reward enthusiasm (this is, after all, a profession where it is perfectly normal for people to read conference papers in a monotone). You must show enthusiasm and interest when looking for and performing jobs in the non-academic world. Employers are reluctant to hire low-energy and seemingly disinterested or dispassionate people. Thank people promptly (within the week) and show your appreciation for whatever help they give you (this includes if you simply receive an email saying the individual is unable to help you). Return to the top of this page Index Take care of your dress. We aren't suggesting that you rush out and become a fashion model, but poor dress and grooming can imply that you are uninterested in other people and their perceptions of you. We suggest that you err on the side of caution and wear a suit when interviewing, whether you are male or female. Arrive for interviews promptly and on time. If you are doing an informational interview, be sure that you do not overstay your welcome. It is illegal for interviewers to ask personal questions (specifically questions regarding your religious persuasion or your sexual orientation). There is often a tendency on the part of academics who are asked questions such as the above to fail to complain because they believe a complaint to their professional organization will harm their chances for a job with other universities; complaining about an illegal question will not have the same impact outside of academia that it will in academia. We suggest that you check out this website if you have any concerns regarding this (you can also directly contact the Department of Labor). Academic search committees are usually staffed by members of the hiring department and, as a result, they may not be skilled interviewers or they may be unfamiliar with the field in which they are hiring. In the non-academic world, you will often be interviewed by people who are professionals; these interviewers will be extremely well-prepared for the interview and they are likely to ask pointed and detailed questions. Prepare for these interviews in advance by learning as much as you can about the job and the hiring organization; listen carefully to the questions the interviewer asks and answer these questions directly. Provide specific examples of how and why you possess the skills which are required for the job. On the plus side, there are no "cattle call" interviews in the outside world; the employer will usually take his or her time to get to know you-both before and during the interview. Meet deadlines consistently (this ability should be evident even when you are applying for a job: many employers find it worrisome when an applicant sends his or her application overnight express the day before the application is due). When interviewing for a job, it is perfectly acceptable to ask interviewers for information about their hiring schedule. Be sure, however, to couch your question in terms of your enthusiasm and desire for the position. Time moves much more quickly outside of academia than inside academia. Projects usually have concrete deadlines; committees have set goals and tasks must be accomplished-with the result that employees initiate and complete projects more quickly than their academic peers. Return to the top of the page Index How to Begin a Job Search and Factors to Bear in Mind While Searching Begin your job search with a visit to the local library. Ask the reference librarian to show you all of the library's career information books and all of their resources for job-hunters. Be broad-minded when you approach these career books. Pull down and look at the library's entire collection---even if this means flipping through a book on jobs in a field which does not especially interest you. You may discover that the field differs from what you thought or you may discover that the book has some great tips on successful interviewing or resume-writing. After you have exhausted your local library, head for the local bookstores. The career books you find there may differ from those you will find at the library (although this will depend on your local library). Sort through these books carefully before you make a decision to buy any. If at all possible, check out the career center at your graduate and undergraduate schools. Sift through their career books and ask them for lists of graduates who are willing to be contacted for informational interviews. Ask to meet with a career counselor. While there is no guarantee that the counselor is practiced in helping PhDs find jobs outside of academia, he or she will undoubtedly be able to make suggestions as to people whom you should contact, places where you can look for a job and factors to bear in mind while writing a resume. They may also be able to provide you with additional information about specific careers. Return to the top of this page Index Now, sit down and make a list of all the jobs and fields in which you are interested. Write down everything you know about these fields/jobs. Write down the things that you don't know about these fields. These questions should serve as the basis for your informational interview questions. Be prepared to ask these questions repeatedly and of many different people; the answers will vary. Go on line and search for organizations and/or businesses which are related to your interests. Look for the names of individuals whose work in that business or organization tallies with your interests. This is the person whom you should contact for an informational interview. Call the person or send them an email asking if you can meet with them. You should be flexible about how you will meet but, whenever possible, meet with people face-to-face, as opposed to over the phone. Before your informational interview, compose a two-page resume. Resume-writing varies from field to field so there are no absolute rules as to how you should prepare your resume. We suggest that you sit down and write down every job you have ever held (regardless of how minor it was). Create highly detailed descriptions of everything you did in that position (each description should be a page long). Sift through these descriptions to find the qualities which are most relevant to the field you hope to enter. This is the information which should appear on your resume. When you head off to meet with someone, bring a copy of your resume. You should always view your resume as a work in progress; when you meet with people in a field which you want to enter, show them your resume and ask for their advice as to how you can fine-tune your resume. Ask the person with whom you are interviewing where you should look for jobs in that field and ask them to suggest other people whom you should contact. As you network, bear in mind that you are creating something new. Because the academic world can be very self-contained, you may discover that you no longer know many people outside of academia. As a result, you will need to create a non-academic network from scratch. It will take time (several months) to build up this new network. Look in many places for contacts---join a community organization, talk to people at the gym, contact old friends from college who didn't go to graduate school. Broaden your horizons and reach out to everyone whom you meet. The more people you know, the faster you will be able to develop a real network which will help you in your job search. While you may be tempted to spend your time with your academic friends and while they may provide a great support network, they are not the people who will help you get a non-academic job. When you find or hear about a position in which you are interested, write a short (one page) letter of application. Make sure that your letter and your resume include the words which are used in the job advertisement (for example, if the job calls for editing, make sure the word "edited" appears repeatedly on your resume and in your letter of application). Always accentuate the positive and leave out the negative. Never indicate directly that you lack experience in this field; the hiring committee will be aware of this and there is no need to harp on it by reminding them of this. Instead, focus on the skills which you do have. If you are rejected for a job, ask the company why they turned down your application. They may provide you with suggestions as to how you can strengthen your resume and letter of application for another job. As you arrange interviews and send off applications, remind yourself that searching for a job can be difficult and time-consuming. While you may well be offered a good job within a month of beginning your search, your job search will probably take significantly longer. Academic job searches always take at least a year (if not longer). Searching for a non-academic job can take this long as well. The current economy means that you must be extremely pro-active and aggressive. We suggest that you create and follow a schedule. This schedule should reflect your specific personality and circumstances. We do, however, recommend that you spend at least an hour every day working on job-search activities. Because searching for a job can be lonely as well as emotionally draining, you will want to reach out to people for assistance, not only in your job search but in your daily life as well. Join a book group at your local library or a local bookstore, meet friends for coffee frequently, play on a team. Overall, be sure that you get out of the house at least once every day; go for walks, go window-shopping, browse your local library. The more varied your day the more energy you will have to devote to your job search. One final piece of advice: be realistic in your search. Do not assume that simply because you have a PhD, you are qualified to lead corporations and foundations. Your graduate education has given you the skills to rise up the professional ladder but you must also learn new and practical skills to perform a specific job. You will have to pay your dues, in other words, and you may find yourself starting a position at a slightly lower level than you anticipated. But if you regard every job you hold as an opportunity to learn new skills, you will be able to rise quickly to the level which you want. Return to the top of the page Index