离开学术界：实用指南

by Christopher L. Caterine, 克里斯托弗·卡特林, 何啸风 (Translator)

“其实你是想离开的”——对于大多数学者而言，离开学术界的最大障碍或许就是承认这一点。

据估计，93%的人文和社会科学专业的研究生无法获得终身职位，但许多人仍然将终身教授的职位视为自己博士学位获得成功的唯一结果。在这样的学术就业市场危机中，《离开学术界》帮助研究生和任何学术领域的学者在高等教育界之外找到满意的职业。本书简短而务实，为准备寻求新机会的客座讲师和兼职讲师、陷入“终身教席陷阱”的学者、对非学术工作感兴趣的研究生，以及希望更有效地为学生和担任临时教职的同事提供支持的学者提供了宝贵建议。

克里斯托弗·卡特林在获得弗吉尼亚大学的古典学博士学位，并于杜兰大学任助理教授后，最终决定离开学术界，在一家全球咨询公司找到了工作。本书中，他将自己在这段为期两年多的求职之旅中学到的经验与教训，以及在此期间进行的150多次信息访谈、对12位离开高等教育界后进入不同领域的专业人士的采访，浓缩成这本拿来就能用的指南书。

书中的建议涵盖了极为广泛的主题——从自我评估、探索职业选择、建立人脉关系、丰富职业履历、培养技能，再到简历制作、面试准备、如何将自己的专业技能翻译给非学术人士、适应新职场，等等；甚至也包括了情感方面，尤其是很多学者都会经历的——褪去学者身份的挣扎、恐惧、羞耻与悲伤。

Genres: Academia, Nonfiction, Business, Research, Education, Personal Development

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2020

Reviews

[IRIS XIE · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book came to my rescue.

As a post-graduate taking on a non-permanent research job at the university, I had been repeating the cycle of submitting grant applications and waiting for the results which always have slim hope of success. Its a draining process and most importantly, I do not know where this process will lead to, a tenure track job? I doubt.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I was not alone. I have post graduate buddies who are also looking for other possibilities outside of academia. This book came to our attention, and I finished reading it at a stretch. It was a reading that I felt most related to the author in a while. Christopher L. Caterine said all the struggles of leaving academia. The fear came not just from changing careers. It's us PhDs who are abandoning the field where we have invested in our time and energy for almost a decade and start over, and it's a setback of our pride.

The book is highly practical, but most importantly, it lays out the guides in an encouraging yet objective tone. It helps me to see the skills I have obtained from the academic research training and I also see what I lack for the commercial jobs.

Eventually, I gathered my courage and made the decision to leave academia and pursue a career that is more promising. With the help of the book I started to write a career journal. Following its instruction, I reached out to friends saying that I was considering for career change and their recommendations were highly appreciated, and re-designed my resume, edited my Linkedin profile....

Shortly after I initiated these actions, I got a phone call from a friend about a internship opening. This internship became my first shot of working outside academia, which I did not expect it to be that effective. But I'm liking the internship that I am currently taking. I have received positive feedback from the manager and it is very possible that this will lead to full time employment in an area which I never thought of a month ago.

In the process of landing on a new career path, what has assured me most is that, as said by Caterine, PhD has done the formal training of learning. I hold this premise and have constantly reminded myself that I can learn and learn faster than others. The ability of learning became my strength, and I believe it worked out well.

This is a must read for all the postgraduates even if they are determined to pursue a career in the academia because they will know where strength is.

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides exactly what the title suggests. It is geared for the anxious, under-employed, freaked out, just-post-PhD student who is worried about the future.

That is a big group.

The advice offered is obvious and commonsensical. But at this point of (late) capitalism, helping anyone get and keep their intellectual and professional ducks in a row is a good thing.

The major weakness is the capacity to be systematic about the job search. At times, this book offers scattergun - try this - then try this - then try this - strategies. Also, the generalizability of this advice beyond the United States is also questionable.

Finally, addressing the anti-intellectualism that is circulating on this planet is important. How do we manage the suspicion on and of clever people? That remains a key question.

[Laura Kremmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there's some good advice here, the privilege of the author gets in the way. Would that we all only taught 3 classes, had a spouse to emotionally/financially support us, lived in a populated and culturally diverse area w/ lots of networking opportunities, and had friends who could help us get jobs!

[Austin Benson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Broad in scope but concise and readable. Plenty of very practical advice, and Caterine does not hesitate to direct the reader to further, more in-depth resources. Highly recommended.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for people looking to exit academia because of the low pay, lack of tenure-track jobs, or even those with tenure or tenure-track, the really toxic work environments. As long as people are involved in academia, they should get involved with their faculty or grad union or start a union (that's really the only hope I see for saving the rotting corpse of the academy), but for those who finally have enough, this book is a good place to start for hitting the eject button.

While Caterine's experiences are sometimes particular to his experiences, as he is someone who spent basically his entire career in academia, I enjoy that he took in a wide variety of other people's experiences. Some of it is useful, and some of it probably not for me, as is to be expected. But, he does get to the heart of things that a lot of academia is just fundamentally broken, thanks to a couple generations of high administrators that helped break it. This is especially good for humanities or social science academics who think that their own skills are limited to being an academic, when in fact, their skills are widely transmittable. I write this review in the midst of the "Great Resignation", when more and more people have just had enough and are voting with their feet out of their day-jobs. Worthwhile for anyone thinking of jumping ship or have made the decision to move on.

[9 · Rating 4 out of 5]

a concise book that gives people leaving academia a reality check. it opens up with a brutal confession: academics treat their job as a meaningful vocation while being detached from the outside and drained by academia. it’s so SO hard to confess that academia has become part of your identity and is now hindering you…i mean, it is an ego thing. it’s part genuine belief and part ego creation behind our rally for academia. but u do lose the confidence you have at the early stage of your journey thinking you will fall on the winning side. i still find learning meaningful and i still enjoy political theory. but i’ve also seen enough rawlsians and have doubted my research enough to know we are so detached from the reality…this isn’t a solve-it-all but i do think it changes your perspective effectively. well, time to switch gears!!!!

[Alison Blundell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this guide as a reference for any higher education to soon to be professionals. I love the examples and action items listed at every section. The references were a nice touch as well since I found some interesting reads from there as well. I borrowed this book from the library but will be ordering a copy for my transition year from graduation student to working professional.

[Wej · Rating 4 out of 5]

It does what it says on the tin. This practical guide provides tips for academics who are preparing to jump the ship. It's more suitable for those escaping humanities as the author studied Latin poetry. However, his examples can generalise to other disciplines as well.

[SwedishKate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I think this book has some fantastic advice. The author is clearly passionate about the topic and there is some practical knowledge to be gleaned. There’s great advice for managing the job hunting process and it includes norms about how to get an alt-ac job which is useful if you’ve never been employed outside academia, or if you haven’t had to job hunt in awhile. It’s a good guide for these practical pieces.

I think one of the things that I was hoping for was more of a detailed account about how to cope with the idea of leaving academia. Many of us were obviously committed to our careers, departments, research, and students and there is almost no mention of this emotional aspect of leaving academia. I picked this book up hoping it would spend some time addressing this, but ultimately, there was no real depth in this book.

While I understand the lack of information about this, I was really frustrated that this book glosses over how hard it is to leave the academic/professor identity behind. Based on the title and the content, there was a missed opportunity here, in my opinion.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am well past grad school and wish I had read this years ago. I am one of the “lucky ones” who found a tenure track job in my field, was tenured and promoted, and moved into administration, but became so disillusioned with the institution I was in that I eventually moved to a teaching role at a new university. There I have been tenured and promoted and involved in lots of projects but I have recently come to the conclusion I’m ready for something different in my career. I worked in a couple of other industries early on, but I still fear the move.

It seems wrong to complain about my role in academia when I’ve been fairly successful and have what many PhDs strive for but reality in higher ed has shifted greatly in the past few years and it is not the world I prepared for or dreamed of.

[Tim Mccaskey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I concur with many of the reviews here. My personal slant: the book is fine and succeeded in both validating some thoughts I had about the process and challenging me in some other areas like networking or resume writing. However, I don't feel I was the intended audience. I feel this book was written for folks who are more eager to leave academia and have a good sense of where they want to go. I am in the process of being forced out (budget cuts), and while Caterine's advice still applies in many ways, the psychology is different.

[Chaniya Yang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spent an hour or so reading this little book on the High Line, loved the binding layout, and the open book design is especially good for on-the-go.

Regarding the content, Christopher confirms what I've been thinking in recent months about fading from academia and switching careers, and also offers some confidence and first-hand experience.

LITERATURE should never be about shackles; it should be about MAKING PEOPLE TRULY HUMAN.

[Dan Duplessis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very full of anecdotes, most of which are personal to the author. If you're looking for a road map try to skim read this to get some general advise for how to make your advanced degree applicable to a non-academic job. As a STEM major (Materials Science) I did not find this book as helpful as I think a humanities major would.

[Tao Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very helpful guide for academic people looking for non-academic jobs. Since I am also in high education, I believe the advice herein are more suitable for people in liberal arts. STEM fields are different stories, considering the close ties between industry and academia.

[Nick George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great practical advice for a scientist moving out of academia.

[Iosiv Basarab · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent guide on leaving the ivory tower of academic institutions that are unfortunately set on exploiting minds and lives

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful, but it could be more direct.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

in my girlboss era

[egg · Rating 4 out of 5]

quite a useful and practical book, would be more applicable to people in the western sphere but nevertheless very informative and personal

[Giovanni Gregory · Rating 2 out of 5]

Distilled prop.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

should've just been titled "I was lucky"

[Yulo Zhang · Rating 2 out of 5]

这根本不是一本书。

[Yesim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book offers many practical tips for academics wanting to leave academia and work in industries.

[Yvonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable and practical. Would recommend to anyone questioning their path but lacking confidence about the switch.

[Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Haven’t done a review in quite some time, but I can’t leave 2 stars and call it a day.

I didn’t expect this book to provide all the answers, though I had higher hopes. It does give some very good advice. I especially appreciated the section on translating teaching skills into corporate-speak. I think that could be the most valuable part of the book, so kudos to the author for that one.

As several other reviews have pointed out, the author, sadly, writes from a place of privilege that many of us simply do not have. While, yes, he acknowledges this at the start, the acknowledgment wears thin as the book goes on - it feels more like a “sorry, not sorry.”

The book also hasn’t aged well. At times, it feels like an advertisement for LinkedIn.

The worst part, I feel, is the blatant blind spot the author has towards fields and disciplines in academia. For example:

It is always “research,” and never “creative activity.”
It is always “PhD,” and never “doctorate.”
All of the former academics interviewed are from the sciences and humanities - not a single creative artist.

So, while programs in visual and digital arts, music, theatre, and dance are being slashed (for example, 30% of the faculty cuts that happened at my institution came out of the arts building last year) and tenured professors are being fired from arts positions, and therefore are in the immediate position to find a new job, this author gives only examples from the sciences and humanities. In the section on research, it is strictly a discussion of labs and articles, not performances, exhibitions, and productions.

In other words, there is plenty of advice for a fed-up chemist in a hetero-traditional relationship with a nice double income who wants to leave their job, and zero advice for a fired painter living on their own.

So, while I applaud the author for many of his ideas and positions (extra kudos on the “stick it to the administration” discussion near the end), it is a book written from a very privileged, secure, and normative worldview.

He could have done much better. Perhaps in the second edition…

[A-inn · Rating 5 out of 5]

以作者本身經驗做為主軸，輔以問題解析和策略。像故事很易讀，又有基本策略心法，很推薦身在渺茫雲霧中的研究生閱讀。原則上就是先廣泛搜集資料、評估可行性、諮詢接觸潛在轉職圈的人員、轉化原有技能並增能，最後自信融入。

[Nik Hadford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice and concise writing, it is easy to read and packed of good advice (though more theoretical). Sometimes it feels that the author writes from his posh 3 bd flat in the Hamptons and his privilege is made clear several times in-between lines, so it may be a guide targeting more this specific group of PhDs rather than others.

[Leslie R · Rating 5 out of 5]

A decent guide

This was okay, but not anything I couldn't find on the internet already. I found this book after joining the Professor is Out group on Facebook. I'd like to see more tangible examples of translating academic skills to the business sector.