Customer Reviews

So What Are You Going to Do With That?: A Guide for M.A.'s and Ph.D's Seeking Careers Outside the Academy

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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!

The real strength of this book is that it is addressed directly at graduate students and other academics. Most of the advice that is in this book can probably be found in other career books but here it is tailored to the needs (and anxieties) of graduate students who are looking for careers outside of academics. The authors provide many anecdotes of people (including themselves) who have sucessfully left academics as well as those who have chosen to remain or return to academic position. Further, they provide concrete advise for making the decision to stay in academics or leave and how to present that skills that have been gained in the graduate school experience to potential employers.

As a graduate student who expects to receive his Ph.D. in the next 6 month, I enjoyed reading this book and found that it addressed many of the anxieties that I have concerning leaving academics.

A friend of mine suggested this book when she saw how discouraged I was about not landing a job again in academia (after being out for several years) and I am so glad she did! This book showed me how to focus on all the skills I have obtained over the years and how to make them truly marketable in my resume.

The section on reconstructing your curriculum vita into a resume was especially helpful. Debelius and Basalla seem to have a grasp on how painful this process really is and they try to help you through it with both humor and motherly coddling. Removing all those years of research and dissertation work in order to scale down your C.V. into a small, readable document is no easy task for any Ph.D. However, the results of my new resume were quite successful and I found a new job path within only a few months! Strangely enough, the job turned out to be in academia anyway... just not teaching in the classroom as I had done before. I highly recommend this book! If you are a discouraged Ph.D. (and I know I was not alone out there), it will help remind you of your true worth and inspire you to see all the career paths that are truly open to you if you will only keep an open mind. Onward and upward!

This book speaks personally to the vocational and emotional concerns of graduate students. The fact that this work is tailored to help graduate students address their unique career prejudices and preconceptions distinguishes it from other how-to-get-a-job handbooks. Because they are recent PhDs themselves, Basalla and Debelius empathize with the unique concerns of people who have dedicated their life to a single focused cause, and are now facing the notion of looking beyond what they had always know as their sole raison d'etre. If you have limited experience outside the university, you'll find that Debelius and Basalla's views into the lives of MAs and PhDs working outside the academy go far toward demystifying a word that is difficult to know from the inside of your department. Features pragmatic advice on the mechanics of researching and landing a job. This book's counsel is sensible, accurate, heartening, and worth following.

The authors provide a lot of good advice but also oversimplify. For instance, they suggest rewording your credentials, e.g., a geologist can call herself a geophysicist. Fine -- but a friend who declared a "minor in Spanish" was questioned by an employer because, although she had taken several Spanish courses, her transcript did not show an official minor. The authors say it's easier for a tenured professor to go on the market -- but tenured faculty have deeper roots and companies are more suspicious of a 40-year-old with ten years experience ("You're REALLY leaving academe?") than a 30-year-old with none. Most of all, they minimize the psychological adjustment to corporate culture, where there is more emphasis on image and deference to the boss. They ignore the frustration of becoming entry-level after even a few years of running your courses and being treated with some respect. An ex-colleague felt humiliated when, after five years of academia, she traded her private office for a cubicle. Finally, anyone who has the personality and social skills of a networker will do well in just about anything! I've met a lot of grad students who lack the social savvy to handle a simple interview, let alone a networking effort. A section on "why some people fail" would add credibility.

Although much of this book is geared toward the phd student reconsidering career options, it is also valuable to the M.A. student for several reasons. First, it warns of the dangers of falling into a phd track simply because you're a good student and not sure what else to do. As I finish my masters degree, I found myself thinking of doctoral programs not out of specific interest, but to avoid an immediate job search. Second, it caters to some of the fears all good students/academics have...about the mundane nature of 9 to 5 jobs, and many fascinating career options for academics. Third, it's a very quick read and entertaining also. I highly recommend this book for masters students contemplating their future and job search, or deciding whether or not a doctoral program is for them.

I read the reviews and realized that I purchased the book to help graduate students that I was mentoring. The book is absolutely perfect for MA students and for some PhD types who are contemplating what to do outside of academia.

It's an easy read and better than most other career minded books that are geared more so for business students. I've had good responses from students who I've either loaned my copy to or who have purchased the book themselves.

Of course mentors of students experienced in career planning and the students/clients themselves aren't going to find an anecdotal book like this as useful as would those first considering the plunge from academe or adjusting to the corporate world for the first time(see other review). Someone waiting tables for the first time isn't going to find walking up to a hungry, hurried party of eight easier than would the manager who was a server for years and has decided to 'take a table' during the rush--and I don't care where they graduated from. Many people 'in transition' already know how to network, research career options, gain an informational interview, etc. Some academic scholars don't handle those social tasks well, but many, having already taught and job-hunted, already have a knack for that stuff. What they don't know--and what this book provides--are the stories of others who, for similar reasons, have left academe and teaching. We get their wisdom and the kinds of adjustments to be expected. It should be emphasized, though, that '40' can be relatively young for a PhD but old for an entry-level job applicant who can write, analyze, and research as well as the new employers, if only given the chance.