Get help
Pursue a career outside academia
Useful advice and resources to help you find a career path outside of academia
Academic careers can be immensely rewarding, but they are not the only avenue available to you. There is an array of fulfilling and engaging work outside or adjacent to academia that you can pursue that can lead to exciting and mentally stimulating careers.
Key takeaways
- Careers outside of academia can provide more financial stability, a better work-life balance, and quicker career progression.
- If you want to change careers, speak with a trusted mentor or people who have made the switch before you.
- Changing careers may mean finding new networks. LinkedIn and its groups are an excellent starting point to help with this.
- There are many online resources to help with career change and many of them are freely accessible.
Read time: 6 min
What can a job outside of academia provide?
More stability
Searching for more stable employment can be a factor in your decision to pursue a career outside of academia. There are fewer academic positions available than there are people wanting them, and you may need to move from casual or fixed-term contract to contract to make ends meet.
In addition, you may have to move to another city or country – often more than once – to follow career opportunities, which can take you away from your support networks. This can make career planning difficult, not to mention the toll this type of uncertainty takes on your personal life.
A career outside of academia can provide more stability as you have a guaranteed income (and in some cases, one that is higher than in academia) and a clearer sense of where you will be a year (or more) in advance.
Better work-life balance
Depending on the sector and role, jobs outside of academia can also provide you with a better work-life balance. Academic work allows a level of flexibility to dictate your own work schedule, but the demands you face as a modern researcher mean that the division between your work and personal life can blur more easily. There is always pressure to apply for more grants, write more articles, or teach more classes.
Depending on the direction you take, outside of academia you will generally have the option of not working weekends or checking emails after hours and only working the hours you are paid. This can enable more balance between your work and personal life.
Faster career progression
Academic careers require significant milestones to be met before you can progress up the ranks, which can be a lengthy process. You may not need to meet these same criteria to advance in a career outside of academia, which means you can progress in your new career more quickly.
Possible downsides to leaving academia
Before you consider leaving academia, it is worth keeping in mind a few points:
Unable to follow research passions as fully
The excitement of uncovering that new piece of evidence or confirming your hypothesis can move you forward on the long road through your PhD and the early years of your postdoctoral research career. But careers outside of academia may lead to fewer ‘Eureka’ moments.
A non-academic job can be interesting and engaging, but your day-to-day work is limited by the milestones and outcomes needed by your employer. This means you may not be able to pursue your research passions as fully as in academia. But the pursuit of knowledge and intellectual engagement doesn’t have to end outside academia; it just takes a different form.
Not the same level of independence or flexibility
A career outside of academia typically follows the 9-5 schedule, which may not give you the same level of day-to-day freedom and autonomy to follow your own interests as in academia. Additionally, in industry or elsewhere, you are bound by different timelines and external pressures, and must meet milestones set out for you.
Practical tips for approaching your new career
Consider why you are changing direction
Being a researcher may have been your identity for years and over that time you’ve built up a community of like-minded people around you. Leaving that can feel like venturing into the unknown, so it’s important to think about why you’re considering changing directions and whether a career shift will fulfil your needs. Think about what you value most – is it freedom, money, time, something else? – and whether these values align with your desired career path.
Tools such as the Career Transition Planning Resources (pdf, 607 KB) (UniKey required) can help you map where your goals and values lie.
Discuss your plans with a trusted colleague or mentor
Before making any final decisions, speak with a trusted colleague or mentor to get their advice. Do you have a genuine desire for a career change or are you just temporarily dissatisfied? Have they also experienced this in their career, and if so, do they have advice to help you work through that? Speaking with someone can help you refine your next steps.
Talk to people outside academia
It’s also important to talk to people outside academia in the career you might be interested in. Shoot them an email, arrange to meet for coffee, ask about their career moves and challenges. You’ll find most people are amenable to sharing their experience and giving advice.
Be prepared to learn about their organisation; be clear about your own capabilities and ambitions; know what you want to gain from the meeting; always ask if there is someone else in a similar line of work you should be speaking to, and if yes ask to be introduced to them (so your network in your desired line of work will grow quickly). Most of all, keep in mind it’s a big numbers game, so initially you’ll need to make a bit of an effort, but it only takes one conversation at the right moment with the right person to put you on the right path!
Think about your transferable skills
Chances are that your new career is in a different field to your research. This means it’s important to think about the skills and training you have that are applicable outside of academia and how you can sell this to potential employers. This can include project management, analytical skills, communication, working as part of a team, and so on.
Find out more about transferable skills on the Employability skills page.
Build up your network
If you end up changing career paths, you may not have the same networks in your new field as you did in academia. One way to help is to build up your online profile. LinkedIn is an excellent starting point when pursuing jobs outside of academia. Its many groups cover nearly every possible line of work, it is free to join and, crucially, as a networking platform for professionals, it is the right place to help you connect with people in your desired career path.
Be sure to also join other communities or associations in your new career field to be notified of upcoming job or career development opportunities.
Where can you go with a PhD?
There are many varied paths a PhD can take you outside of academic research. If you're looking for options within academia, check out the Career Pathways page.
JOBS OUTSIDE OF ACADEMIA |
|
|---|---|
Fields |
Description |
| Analysis | Use your analytical skills to gather and interpret data to draw conclusions that can be used to make important decisions or implement changes such as in:
|
| Writing | Write for a variety of audiences ranging from detailed strategic documents to public engagement pieces. This could include:
|
| Publishing and editing | Use your writing and analytical skills to edit a variety of texts including articles and books depending on your research expertise. This could include:
|
| Teaching | Teach at a tertiary institution such as a high school or at TAFE* *You may need additional tertiary qualifications |
| Non-higher education research | Research in a setting outside of academia such as:
|
| Research administration | Universities and private research institutes |
| Media | Use your science and research communication skills to make science accessible to the lay public, working in:
|
| Policy work | Use your academic and research experience to work within, and influence, large organisations (such as government and international agencies) doing policy work |
Resources
HASS resources
- ImaginePhD – career exploration and planning tool for HASS researchers
STEM resources
- MyIDP is a flexible online resource that can provide insight on what alternative career options you could be looking at, based on your current interests and preferred activities (e.g. writing, presenting data, working at the bench, and so on).
- Science and Nature have an extensive and frequently updated Careers section, comprising articles on both academic and non-academic careers. You’ll find many examples of alternative careers and the pathways to get there.
General resources
- The Professor is In – Career guidance for PhD students and beyond
- The Thesis Whisper – article on leaving academia