78 of 86 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Take with a grain of salt, May 2, 2002
This review is from: So What Are You Going to Do With That?: A Guide for M.A.'s and Ph.D's Seeking Careers Outside the Academy (Paperback)
As one of the people interviewed for the examples in this book, I was disappointed to see there are several rather significant errors in my own interview. Speaking only for myself, this book seems put together rather hastily, and has some misleading mistakes in it. Despite the errors that I noticed, I also think it offers good basic advice to job seekers.
In my own case, the book describes me as leaving my campus during my PhD for an "internship" in Washington, DC. I would never have done this and wouldn't recommend it as a saavy career move for other graduate students. Rather, I left with a partially complete dissertation for a job directing academic internships, a job that I negotiated a salary and "research days" off to allow me to complete the dissertation. I worry that other mistakes like this may paint a too-rosy future for those charting a course for either academic or non-academic careers. My plan worked for me because it was a plan--carefully considered, with deadlines and timeframes built in. Research errors regarding my experience make me nervous about the other examples in the book.
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth it even if you're staying in academia, January 25, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: So What Are You Going to Do With That?: A Guide for M.A.'s and Ph.D's Seeking Careers Outside the Academy (Paperback)
My husband and I discovered this book about 2/3s of the way through our PhD programs. To call it a revelation would be an understatement. Despite the fact my husband's still a professor (for the time being), we recommend this book to everyone we know who's nearing the job search part of their graduate program, in addition to disillusioned colleagues both in and out of academia.
We found different parts of the book useful at different points in our job searches. Initially, we used it as a way to affirm our ambivalence about academia and the tenure process. The second read was more like reading a self-help book for the motivation, impetus and reassurance to go ahead and look for non-academic jobs. Later, we used the book to assess how our skills were transferable to a non-academic setting, and then for developing resumes, cover letters and job search strategies.
Although it has many valuable aspects, what distinguished the book from other good job search/career resources were the sections on thinking about how our skills were transferable from academics and on how to market ourselves in non-academic jobs. And this is why we recommend it to people who are continuing in academia as well: to know that the decision to be an academic is a choice. So many people seem to go with the flow, feeling pressured by colleagues, advisors and their own expectations to continue in academia while all the while feeling ambivalent or unhappy about the whole process. However, to realize that you DO have skills, and that what you've done in grad school (no matter how arcane) is transferable to other settings, and that your decision to continue in academia is a choice and not simply doing what's expected of you, is highly liberating.
While I credit Basalla and Debelius for giving me the clarity and confidence to leave academics, and for giving me the skills to be successful in my search (like turning a c.v. into a resume, interviewing well, and writing a solid cover letter), this job search aspect of the book is secondary. If you need a book on writing resumes or how to interview well, I would advise you to buy one focused on those aspects of job hunting. That's not the primary strength of the book.
However, if you're in grad school or done, and you've ever felt ambivalent about the process or environment of academia, this is a fabulous book. So What Are You Going To Do With That? is excellent for enabling people to realize that they're not the only ones who wonder whether academia is the right path, to develop confidence to make the change to a post-academic career, and to think clearly about their skills and moreover, their options.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not especially insightful but helpful, June 6, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: So What Are You Going to Do With That?: A Guide for M.A.'s and Ph.D's Seeking Careers Outside the Academy (Paperback)
I read this book four years after completing my PhD and after four years teaching in a dead-end tenure track job (the job was in a region of the country I would never have visited but somehow I wound up living there b/c I thought I was supposed to take any tenure-track job I was offered). The book wasn't super insightful and it is true that most of the advice contained in the book can be found in other career books. However, I really needed a book which reassured me that it was okay to leave accademia...and that leaving academia could bring me greater happiness. I loved reading the anecdotes about people who had left academia---not b/c I learned specific job-hunting tools from their stories but because the stories gave me the confidence to start my own job search. It's now been a year since I left academia. I have a fantastic job, an amazing boss, wonderful colleagues (something I never experienced in academia), a good salary with the promise of continual raises and bonuses (something NO ONE experiences in academia!) and I live where I want to live. I wouldn't say I owe it all to this book but the book really did help me start my own job search and it gave me constant reassurances (whenever I felt depressed or worried about leaving academia, I went back to this book and read over a few of the stories---this helped to give me the courage to go back out and talk to more people). I strongly recommend this book and What Color is Your Parachute? to anyone who is thinking about leaving academia. The best part of both of these books was the part where the authors told me I could find a job in a city where I wanted to live! Both books were worth the money for that alone!
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