In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Chris Humphrey of Jobs on Toast.

You Are More Than an Academic

Chris received his PhD in medieval studies from the University of York. His first post-PhD job was working as content analyst for an e-learning startup. Currently, he’s a project manager at a bank in England. Chris shares with us his transition story and why he started Jobs on Toast.

Chris’s transition story exemplifies the transferable skills that all PhDs have in their toolkit. We just need to reframe them and translate them to the language that employers understand.

You can find Chris on the web at JobsOnToast.com, where you can find information about job hunting in the post-academic market. You can also find him on twitter @ChrisHumphrey

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Merriam-Webster defines PERSPECTIVE as:

1a : the technique or process of representing on a plane or curved surface the spatial relation of objects as they might appear to the eye; specifically : representation in a drawing or painting of parallel lines as converging in order to give the illusion of depth and distance

b : a picture in perspective

Life Imitates Art

Keeping things in perspective when in the middle of a transition or just in the middle of day-to-day life is… well.. hard. Similarly, keeping a proper perspective in works of art is also difficult. In this episode, we discuss maintaining perspective and keeping what matters in focus.

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How do you find your happy? Do you have to make big changes? Or can small changes be enough?

In this episode, we talk about figuring out what will make us happy. Sometimes these involve big changes (like moving) and sometimes small changes (like buying a new dish rack). There’s a lot of emphasis on making decisions that are right for your career or will open up opportunities for a new career. However, in the end, we’re human. We need to consider our lives and overall happiness.

Maybe Humans Are Like Orchids?

However, sometimes the grass isn’t always greener—but how can you tell that before you take the leap? As academics, we’re trained to always look for something more. Keep going to that next step. We’re trained to never be satisfied. But maybe that next step won’t make you happy. How do you know if you should keep going? Humans could be like orchids. They’re finicky plants that have strict living conditions and their seeds must have certain types of fungus to grow.

So, we all need to find our fungus to flourish.

Mentioned in This Episode

Orchids Are as Finicky as the Fungi That Nourish Them

Satisfied from Hamilton

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In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Sara Langworthy of, well, just about everything.

Team: Do All The Things!

Sara is an author, consultant, speaker and YouTuber with a degree in Developmental Psychology. In 2013, she co-founded an organizational advancement and evaluation consulting group, The Exchange Loop, LLC to use her research skills to benefit organizations looking to grow their work. In 2015, to hone her science communication skills, she wrote an award-winning book, Bridging the Relationship Gap (www.drlangworthy.com/book), which addresses how educators can build resilience with children who experience stress and adversity in early life. During that year she also started a YouTube channel, Developmental Enthusiast, where she creates videos on a variety of subjects and research on human development across the lifespan.

In early 2017, Sara took the leap into self-employment full time and now does “all the things.”

You can find out more about Sara at www.drlangworthy.com.

Mentioned in This Episode

Science Museum of Minnesota

Oregon Trail and the MECC

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In this end-of-the year episode each one of us reflect about our recovering 2017 year and come up with resolutions for the 2018. Thank you so much for listening to our podcast! It is really rewarding for us to feel that we’re able to help you cope with your transition in some way.

You are constantly transitioning. Life is about change. And change can be good. – @LadyScientist

Transition is a constant in everyone’s life and no job is really forever. – @IHStreet

Don’t be too hard on yourself. We can always work more, and be better. But there must be room for rest and fun without guilt. – @Doctor_PMS

We wish you all Happy Holidays and a terrific 2018!

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In this week’s episode, we’re discussing burnout and transitioning. We all think that once we’ve made our decision that all our problems will be solved. We’ll take all that energy we spent on fretting over leaving and put it into side projects. But it seems like it rarely works out that way…

Managing Your Energy

Even if you don’t move locations (like Doctor_PMS and Amanda), you still have to adjust to your new situation. If you move (like Ian), then you have this extra layer of fatigue on top of adapting to a new job.

Even just getting used to sitting in front of a computer all day can be exhausting. – @IHStreet

You have decisions to make about prioritizing your work, learning about a new job, and finding out where to find the best coffee in a new city! If you work from home, then that can present another set of issues. From Doctor_PMS who dealt with distractions to Amanda who didn’t have enough distractions, you have to work on enforcing limits.

I had a hard time enforcing boundaries. Because there’s always work to be done. – @LadyScientist

Under Pressure

Academia tells us to always be hustling—always working. If we’re not working, then we’re lazy. Oh, and, if you’re not perfect from Day 1, then you are letting yourself and everyone down. This isn’t true! Be kind to yourself. No matter how qualified you are for a new job, you are still learning. You’re still new there.

I do better when I work for a bit and take a break. When I come back to it, I’m better. – @Doctor_PMS

Mentioned in This Episode

The Quiet Branches – Ian’s science writing

Science Reverie – Cleyde’s personal blog about her experiences

Busyness as a badge of honor – A good article about how busyness can affect your life and why we should stop

Busyness and creativity – A good article about why being busy isn’t always helpful.

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In today’s episode, we talk with Jennifer Polk of PhD to Life. She’s a life coach and entrepreneur and has a PhD in History.

Everyone Feels This Way Sometimes

We ask Jen about her transition out of academia and into entrepreneur life. She shares with us the high and low points of her transition—and how many of her clients feel (or felt) the same. She discusses her many business ventures. In addition to life coaching in her PhD to Life business, she also runs Self-Employed PhD (a community for other PhD entrepreneurs) and Beyond the Professoriate (a community that she runs with her business partner, Maren Woods, that focuses on professional development for alternative careers).

Mentioned in This Episode

From PhD to Life – Jen’s life coaching business

Self-Employed PhD – Community for Self-Employed PhDs (full time or part time!)

Beyond the Professoriate Community – Community that focuses on professional development for alternative careers

S1E10: Asking For Help – Recovering Academic episode where we discuss getting help from career coach (or others) to navigate your new career path.

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You always hear about transferable skills—and how PhDs have them. But how do you identify them? How do you know what skills to develop? In this episode, we discuss how you can identify them and how to develop them.

What’s Your Super Power?

All of us have a tendency to discount things that we find easy. Is it easy for you to pick out grammatical errors? Is it easy for you to develop your own voice in writing? Is it easy for you to connect with anyone? All of those (and many more!) are skills that are transferable.

Also, skills are environment dependent. Skills that you may have developed outside of your current career might be applicable in your next career.

Mentioned in This Episode*

The Turnaround with Jesse Thorn: Ira Glass – Discussion of identifying skills

Synesthesia – Super powers

The Greatest General Ever – You have to be in the proper setting to fully use your skills.

Do you know what’s your dream job? Try the Flower Exercise! – Doctor PMS’s blog about the Flower Exercise

What Color is Your Parachute? – Book about identifying your skills and what career would suit you

So Good They Can’t Ignore You – The opposite approach to the above book

* I couldn’t find the twitter thread where someone was translating academic skills to resume speak/transferrable skills. If anyone has the link, please send it to us! (Comment here or send us a tweet @RecoveringAcad)

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This week we interview (interrogate?) Ian about his recent transition outside of academia.

The Many Hats that Ian Wears…

Ian shares his venture outside of academia in which he fills a bunch of roles. His current day job is a lab manager with a company that specializes in helping scientists procure lab reagents and equipment. This might seem like an unusual job for an introvert, like Ian, but he explains how it actually can suit him. He also writes for his science blog, other websites, and a magazine. On top of that, he is a volunteer associate editor for the POSTDOCket, the monthly newsletter for the National Postdoctoral Association.

During his interview, Ian talks about the ups and downs of his transition _and_ if he’s happier now.

Mentioned in This Episode

Workflowy – A bullet point-based to-do web app

The Quiet Branches – Ian’s Science Blog (we encourage everyone to check it out!)

The Postdoc Path: Understanding the Value of a Postdoc Before You Commit – Article by Ian Street and Irina Tiper

POSTDOCket: Newsletter of the NPA

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