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Last week, Maren shared with you her most recent blog post on why every PhD should consider career opportunities in the private sector.

Curious about what a career in the private sector might look like for you? Join us on October 16th and October 23rd for two career panels featuring PhDs who left academia and built impactful and engaging careers in the private sector.

Opportunities for Humanities and Social Science PhDs in the Private Sector

Oct 16th | Noon ET

What Every STEM PhD Should Know About Working in Industry

October 23rd | Noon ET

After attending these webinars, you will be able to:

• Recognize the range of career options available to PhDs in the private sector.
• Identify the strategies PhDs employ to successfully launch meaningful careers beyond academia.
• Develop a strategy for networking and finding your own opportunities in industry.

It''s hard to believe we''re already at the beginning of a new academic year.

And this year will be a little different for all of us.

How are you feeling about your professional and academic goals? We remember how difficult it was to juggle studies, work, professional development, and job applications when we were doing our PhDs (and we weren''t in the midst of a global pandemic!).

So we''re sharing a goal-setting strategy that helped us. We hope it will be useful to you, too.


The Eisenhower Method can help you stay focused whether you''re planning your goals for the month, the semester, or the full year. It will force you to clearly identify your main goals, and rank the urgency and importance of the tasks you need to do to achieve these goals.

Remember, you don''t want everything filed under "URGENT." There are few tasks that actually fall under this category, so read the instructions and examples carefully.

Also make sure to take the time to identify specific personal and professional goals for yourself. If you need a job in the next few months, job searching will probably be one of your highest priorities right now. If you have more than a year before actively applying for jobs, your professional development might still be a priority, but your goal might simply be to learn more about non-academic career options.

OK -- enough from us! Let''s get started.?

Our research shows that the skills you''ve developed while earning your PhD, training as a postdoc, or working as faculty, are more important to non-academic employers than your subject matter expertise.

For PhDs, that''s a big mental shift. We''re so use to thinking about ourselves as historians, anthropologists, chemists, or evolutionary biologists.

In becoming an expert in your field, you''ve developed and applied skills to teach, publish, and research.

What skills are you developing now that nonacademic employers value? And how can you creatively build and develop new skills so that you''re better prepared for a range of career options?

Join Beyond the Professoriate founder, L. Maren Wood, PhD, this Friday, December 11th, at Noon ET, for a free webinar about the skills every PhD should have when they graduate.

After attending this webinar, you will be able to:

• develop a plan to develop marketable skills while earning your degree or completing your postdoc
• identify skills every employer is looking for in job candidates;
• connect your skills to career paths that align with your career goals.

Register to join the webinar on December 7th (and if you can''t attend live, register to receive the replay).

Cheers,

- Your Beyond Prof Team -

PS. We''re asking attendees to pre-submit questions now. Don''t forget to add yours when you register.

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Our Resume Writing for PhDs workshop is back by popular demand. These workshops sell out fast, so make sure to register today.

You've probably heard that hiring managers spend on average 6 seconds reading a resume. Hiring managers are busy and are often looking at many, many resumes.

So how do you ensure your resume speaks to their needs and highlights your professional skills?

From Sept 29 - Oct 1st, join founder L. Maren Wood, PhD for a workshop on writing a resume that effectively communicates your skills as a PhD to non-academic employers.

Who this will benefit: This workshop is most suited to those who are in the early stages of their career exploration and do not have a professional resume yet, or those who feel that their current resume is too "academic" and does not convey their professional skills to non-academic employers.
When: Sept 29th (for humanities PhDs), Sept 30th (social science PhDs), Oct 1st (STEM PhDs)
How this runs: 90 minute session with Maren; 9 participants in your discipline will be part of the interactive workshop
Cost: $35 USD

In academia, we define ourselves by what we study. People will introduce themselves as an historian, a literary theorist, an anthropologist, a geologist, a physicist.

And, of course, we''re actually way more niche than that. I was an historian of gender and sexuality in early America, studying print culture.

In the process of becoming an expert, you have developed a range of incredible skills. You''re managing multiple projects with competing deadlines, mentoring students, collaborating with your lab mates, writing, publishing, presenting your research, and managing your own time.

Often, grad students and PhDs are doing all of this with little structure or guidance.

PhDs are nothing if not self-motivated and driven to succeed.

Successfully landing a job outside of academia requires a big mental shift: rather than seeing yourself as an expert with a defined subject matter expertise, you need to see yourself as a highly educated individual with an impressive range of skills.

Outside of academia, you''ll apply the skills you developed in graduate school that allowed you to be successful. You''ll just be harnessing these skills for new challenges and projects.

Employers won''t hire you because you have a PhD. They''ll hire you because you have skills that you can apply to projects in their organization.

So, this is good news if, like me, your subject matter expertise has no direct pathways out of academia. It won''t matter.

What if your subject matter expertise is applicable in industry? You will still need to talk about how the knowledge you have can be applied to solve an employer''s problem.

It won''t be about your research anymore. It''ll be how your knowledge can be applied in my organization to help me solve my problems.

What matters is the skills you''ve developed while earning your degree.

There are opportunities beyond the professoriate for PhDs, regardless of what you studied. Consider our Beyond Prof team:

• I did my PhD in History, and now I spend my time running a business.
• Malisa did her PhD in English Literature and now is a digital and content marketing strategist.
• Diane did her PhD in Kinesiology and now is an instructional designer and product manager.
• Susan earned her PhD in History, works full-time as a teaching and learning specialist, and right now, she''s managing Beyond Prof''s social media accounts.

Organizations face a range of challenges, and they hire a diverse team. In different organizations, and across sectors, you will find data analysts, communication and marketing strategies, sales associates or fundraisers or grant writers, customer success representatives, managers, and C-suite executives.

You''ll find people who can lead teams, while other team members will implement ideas, building process and creating structure.

So, what can you be doing right now in graduate school, during your postdoc, or while you''re a temporary faculty position, to ensure you have the right skills to be successful outside of academia?

This month, we''re focusing on the skills PhDs should have by the time they graduate.

What skills do employers look for in candidates?

What skills do you already have?

And what additional skills should you consider developing so that, if you end up applying for nonfaculty jobs, you''ll be set up for success?

Join me on December 11th at Noon Et for a free webinar: 3 Skills Every PhD Should Have When They Graduate.

Because understanding your skills is so important for a nonacademic job search, we have several articles on our blog just about skills.

• The Value of Soft Skills: 5 Transferable Skills for PhDs in STEM
• 10 Transferable Skills from your PhD that Employers Want
• 5 Terrific Transferable Skills in Teaching
• What can I do with my Social Sciences PhD
• What can I do with my Humanities PhD
• What can I do with my STEM PhD

Stay healthy and safe,

2. 1:1 Work with L. Maren Wood, PhD
Dr. Wood has also re-opened her personal coaching. This might be a good option for you if you have a specific concern and need an experienced coach to help you figure out your next career move. Maren has worked with PhDs from all backgrounds to help them transition into careers in industry, government, non-profit, and higher education administration. Book a consult here.

3. Fundamentals of the Job Search Course
If you are ready to launch your post-academic career by exploring opportunities, actively networking, and preparing your job documents, this course will walk you through each step of the process. With 10+ hours of instruction, a 100 page workbook that''s yours to keep, and bonus career videos, this course is for those ready to do the work and get started. See the course for STEM PhDs and Humanities/Social Science PhDs here.

How is it already November?

This year has been infinitely long, and yet simultaneously I can''t believe it''s already nearly the end of 2020.

There was nothing about this year that went as planned!

Many of you are facing new lockdowns in the cities where you live.

Lots of Americans will be holding a quieter Thanksgiving, separated from friends and family.

I know there are exams to grade, jobs to apply for, and papers to write. Sometimes, especially in academia, we work too hard, too much, and for too many hours.

But this week, and especially this weekend, I''m challenging each of you to spend 24 hrs not working.

• Connect with friends or family.
• Make a favourite meal.
• Take time for a long walk (bundle up if it''s cold!).
• Binge watch a favourite movie. Or 3.
• Read that novel you''ve been meaning to read for 8 months.
• Eat popcorn.

Whatever you do to recharge, do it this weekend. Unplug from the news, and disconnect from social media.

Because holy heck, 2020 has been one intense ride.

Be the friend you need right now.

Happy (American) Thanksgiving from Denver.*

*Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October, so I''m fortunate to celebrate Thanksgiving twice a year.

If you've been with Beyond Prof for a while, you know that we often talk about how networking is critical to a post-academic job search.

But given social distancing and our uncertain times, how do you build a professional network from home?

Join Beyond the Professoriate founder L. Maren Wood, PhD in this webinar for a discussion on how to build professional relationships online, grow your network, and build a foundation for a post-academic job search.

This webinar will be of interest if:

• You are a grad student, postdoc, or PhD exploring post-academic job options.
  
• OR you are actively applying for post-academic jobs.
  
• OR you feel like you don''t have a network and don''t know where to start.
  

Register to join the webinar on July 9th (and if you can''t attend live, register to receive the replay).

Cheers,

- Your Beyond Prof Team -

PS. We''re asking attendees to pre-submit questions now. Don''t forget to add yours at the end of the registration form!

In last Friday''s free career event, we talked about what to do if you''re considering going on the academic job market.

Our speakers gave lots of practical advice about navigating the job market, talking to your advisor, and preparing early for multiple career paths.

So you know it''s a great idea to think about nonacademic career paths during grad school--but how do you begin to think about your skills and experiences in a nonacademic context?

We''re sharing a worksheet today that will help you dissect your academic career. In this exercise, you will make a detailed inventory of your daily tasks and responsibilities.


We encourage you to dig deep and think about all the details involved in your academic work--are you training other students in lab processes (management, training and development, etc)? Are you responsible for organizing your department''s speaker series (event management, budgeting, public speaking, etc)?

Make sure you take the time to write out everything you do. You might be surprised at how much experience you''ve gained in academia.

From there, you can start to identify what tasks and responsibilities you would like in future jobs/careers. You will also have a better understanding of the work experience you actually have and be able to articulate your work history to others as you do informational interviews and learn more about postac careers. Finally, identifying your specific skills and interests can help you craft a coherent career transition story that makes sense to nonacademic employers.

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This month we''re excited to introduce the second part of our workshop series: Resume Writing for PhDs.

You've probably heard that hiring managers spend on average 6 seconds reading a resume. Hiring managers are busy and are often looking at many, many resumes.

So how do you ensure your resume speaks to their needs and highlights your professional skills?

From July 14-16 and July 21-23, join founder L. Maren Wood, PhD for a workshop on writing a resume that effectively communicates your skills as a PhD to non-academic employers.

Who this will benefit: This workshop is most suited to those who are in the early stages of their career exploration and do not have a professional resume yet, or those who feel that their current resume is too "academic" and does not convey their professional skills to non-academic employers.
When: June 14 or 21 (for humanities PhDs), June 15 or 22 (social science PhDs), June 16 or 23 (STEM PhDs)
How this runs: 90 minute session with Maren; 9 participants in your discipline will be part of the interactive workshop
Cost: $30 USD
Learn more: see more details HERE

It takes just 7 seconds for people to form an opinion about someone they''ve just met.

On LinkedIn, it can be even faster. Research shows that people will leave a web page in 3 seconds if they don''t find what they''re looking for.

And resumes? Hiring managers usually spend just 6 seconds before deciding which candidate moves forward and who will be rejected.

It is critical that PhDs nail their career transition story.

Join us for this FREE webinar with Dr. Maren Wood, founder of Beyond the Professoriate, on how you can design and articulate your career transition story.??

After attending this webinar, you will be able to:

• build a compelling and authentic elevator pitch to use in networking and interviews;
• locate your key strengths and skills that industry professionals understand and value;
• and adapt your background and experience to support your career goals.