Friday, I'll be giving a keynote address at the
University of Calgary's career day for PhDs and postdoctoral scholars. I'll be ad-libbing it but in preparation, I wrote a script. Here it is:
Beyond the Obvious
First, I want to give a tip of the cap to Daniel Oblak and
the PDAC team for having not only the vision but the guts to put on this career
day in which options beyond academia will be explored. Why guts? Because some
in the academic community view careers outside of academia as second-class
work. Some students and post-docs don’t feel they can talk with their advisor
or peers about non-academic careers lest they be viewed as less than.
In fact, if we’re really being honest, we’re forced to
recognize that some academics don’t make the greatest of contributions.
Consider, for example, the philosophy professor whose life's work is critiquing
Heidegger’s hermeneutic circles and whose ideas never went further than a
relative handful of other professors who chose to read it in an obscure journal.
Or even cancer researchers. Alas, too many of them spend their lifetimes without
having made significant progress against the disease. Some PhDs make at least
as big a contribution and are as happy or happier in a career outside the halls
of academe.
It is in that spirit that I sally forth this morning with
this talk I’ve titled, Beyond the Obvious. I’ll share some specific careers
that are perhaps not obvious and some not-obvious research areas for study that
are exciting—well, at least they seem exciting to me. Then I’ll spend a little
time talking about some not-obvious keys to success, no matter what career you
pursue.
First, a bit of reassurance. It’s easy to believe that a PhD
prepares you mainly for work that’s explicitly connected to your research area.
In fact, countless employers have hired PhDs because they hold transferable
skills: problem solving, project management, written communication, oral
communication, plus because their mind is good enough and their work ethic
persistent enough to have earned a PhD.
Beyond-the-Obvious
Careers for PhDs
Here are some careers for PhDs that you mightn’t have
thought of. Of course, this is just a sampling and none may be right for you
but I hope it will at least remind you that you have more options than you may
think:
Let’s start right here at the university. Every research
university produces patentable technology and the technology transfer
office—here it’s called Innovate Calgary--is responsible for figuring out how
to turn those technologies into products that can be commercialized: licensing,
joint ventures. PhDs are hired to help make that happen.
Staying in the field of education, there’s little doubt that ever more learning
will occur online, from preschool to graduate school. But to date, most online
courses are not outstanding. Imagine instead that an intro to statistics course
taught not by whomever happens to have room in his or her class on your local
campus but online by a dream team of the world’s most transformational
statistics instructions, those rare souls who have the ability to get students
to understand statistics so well that it becomes part of way students think.
Imagine further that because the cost of such a course could be amortized
across many thousands, even millions of students, world-class immersive
video-centric simulations could be embedded into the course. PhDs will be
needed to design such courses and the IT infrastructure for the courses.
Science magazine editor. Many people love being an editor of
a magazine such as Discover, Popular Science, Psychology Today, American Scientist or Scientific American---I apologize to the
Canadians--I did look for a major scientific magazine with Canada in the title
but couldn’t find one. Maybe there’s an opportunity for you: Start Canadian Scientist or Scientific Canadian. People love the job
of editor of a science magazine because they’re constantly exposed to new and
important ideas. It’s not easy to land a job as an editor of such publications
but a PhD in science puts you ahead of many other applicants.
Alas, one field that appears to be recession-proof is
security. So PhDs may find important work working for government or on a government
contract regarding bioweapons, cyberterrorism, as an intelligence analyst,
cryptographer, and so on.
Also key to our security is energy. PhDs are employed in
everything from solar to nuclear, energy generation to energy distribution, from technical consulting to policy making.
Of course, public policy goes well beyond energy. PhDs are
hired by corporations, nonprofits, and industry to craft all sorts of policy—from
immigration to transportation. They also hire people to get policy enacted, for
example, as a lobbyist.
Or try to make change from the inside--as a politician. I
couldn’t find the numbers for Canada
but 20 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have a PhD and 22 are MDs.
Nearly every product, especially in health care, is subject
to a thorough evaluation process. Companies hire people, many with PhDs, as
regulatory affairs specialists: helping the company meet the requirements with
minimum red tape. On the other side of the table, government employs people to
ensure the requirements are met. When I first heard of regulatory affairs, it
sounded like a boring career. But having spoken to a number of people in the
field, they tend to really like their job: It’s complex, requires interaction
with people not just documents, and they’re always learning about a product on
the cutting edge. Regulatory affairs is an under-the-radar career that, because
it doesn’t sound sexy, may be easier in which to find employment.
The investment industry hires PhDs for their quantitative
analysis skills. For example, you might be developing an algorithm for
predicting which stocks are worth buying or how to reduce a stock portfolio’s
risk with minimal impact on its profit potential.
Ph.Ds are hired by credit card companies to develop
algorithms for, for example, determining the probability that someone’s online
credit purchase is being made with a stolen credit card.
If you’re a bench scientist looking to move into industry,
you might consider being a Field Application Scientist. You work for companies
that sell sophisticated lab equipment. Your job is to go to the customer’s lab,
perhaps as salesperson, more often as the technical expert explaining and
demonstrating the equipment, training personnel on how to use it, and
troubleshooting problems. For example, I’ve seen this with operating room
equipment and medical devices. The Field Application Scientist is right there
in the operating room.
Or if you fancy getting still more education,
your employability may be enhanced by adding, for example, a law degree to your
PhD. Science PhDs with a law degree have become, for example, intellectual
property attorneys. Petroleum Engineering PhDs with an MBA have become oil
industry executives.
And of course, countless PhDs have pursued careers that
don’t require a PhD: from nonprofit management to owning a
low-status business. The book, The Millionaire Next Door, profiled 750
millionaires and found that a disproportionate number owned what the author
called “dull-normal businesses:” businesses with little status, in which most
of the business’s competitors don’t have
PhD-level intelligence, skills, or drive, which should make it easier for a
PhD-level person to succeed in that business. Examples of dull-normal businesses: owning a
chain of espresso kiosks, a sand blasting business, used truck part brokerage, a
mobile home park maintenance service. Those careers are not for everyone. Most
people seek a measure of status. But sometimes, status can be the enemy of
contentment. You can quote me on that.
Beyond-the-Obvious
Research Ideas
But let’s say you want to pursue a career as a researcher. Here
are a few ideas for research areas that you mightn’t have considered. The
research directions you hear about are likely to derive from your professors
and courses. The following derive merely from my attempt to identify important
unmet needs. For example, a health sciences PhD might want to study why
hospital personnel—who know that the simple act of washing hands frequently
will reduce patient infection—often don’t do it, and what could get them to? A
molecular biology or neuroscience PhD might want to study the biological basis
of that attribute we call intelligence: the ability to learn quickly, remember
well, and reason abstractly. A music PhD might want to study why some pianists
can, almost effortlessly play anything they can hum in full arrangement (I must
admit I am one) while others can’t, and how that skill might best be taught. A
political science PhD might want to study why university faculty tend to get mired in office politics and what could make university committees more
effective.
To bring another measure of practicality to this talk, I’d
like to ask for a volunteer to come up here to the stage, someone who is unsure
what he or she would like to do careerwise and I’ll try, in just a few minutes,
to help them identify a well-suited direction to explore. Who’d like to
volunteer? (I’ll do one or two Few-Minute
Career Counselings)
Finding a Good Mentor(s)
Your career success depends not only on choosing a
well-suited career but on other things, for example, finding a mentor. Many of
us hoped we’d find a mentor, someone who really believes in us, takes us under
wing, gives us wise counsel, opens career doors for us, and so on. Alas, too
often that hasn’t happened. In the spirit of this talk’s theme, ‘Beyond the
Obvious,” may I suggest that you go on what I call a “first date” with a faculty
member or administrator you sense could be a great mentor. Reveal something
about yourself—for example, that you’re considering a career outside academe.
How did that person react: asking good questions or prematurely judging you? Do
you feel that person will bring out the best in you or make you feel small? As
in romantic dating, you may have to go on a few “first dates” before finding a
good mentor.
Mentoring needn’t be a structured, weekly affair. That
professor with whom you had a successful “first date,” could simply be someone
you call on as needed. It may be worth offering the relationship to be
reciprocal—you offering to be of support to your mentor, rather than your
always asking for his or her help.
For example, every month, I have a one-hour co-mentoring
session with a respected colleague. For the first half hour, he asks me about one
or more issues he’s facing--professional or personal--and I raise questions or
offer counsel. And in the second half hour, we reverse roles and I tell him about
an issue or two I’m facing.
Michael and I have been doing that for five years now and we
both get enough out of it that we’d never think of giving it up. In fact it’s worked so well that a year ago,
I expanded the concept. I invited a half-dozen of the people I most respect to
become a Board of Advisors that would meet once a month for one hour by
teleconference during which anyone can raise an issue and get the others’
input. That too has proved an invaluable source of mentorship.
Long-Windedness: A
Not-Obvious Career Killer
A perhaps not obvious key to success is avoiding being
long-winded. Some academics can be long-winded. They explain things very
completely, perhaps unaware that they’re boring their listener—whether a
colleague, potential employer, or in their personal relationships. If you’ve
been called long-winded, you might want to try what I call The Traffic Light Rule: During the first 30 seconds of an
utterance, your light is green: you can speak with impunity. During the next 30
seconds, your light is yellow: the chance is increasing that your listener is waiting
for you to shut up so he or she can respond. Your listener also may start to
think you’re long-winded. After the one-minute mark, your light is red. Yes,
occasionally you want to run a red light, for example, when telling an
interesting anecdote or are explaining something that, even if edited to its
important parts, takes longer than a minute. But usually, you’re wise to stop.
If the person wants to know more, she can ask a question.
Good Career and Good
Parenting, a Catch-22?
Another perhaps not-obvious key to career success is the ostensibly
irresolvable conflict between parenting and professional life. Many people feel
they should put their career on hold when they have children. It may not, in
fact, be an irresolvable conflict. The literature and common sense suggest that
a child may, net, be better off, when parents are working. It is good for your
children to see the role model of a parent who also is a professional. Also, being
a parent 24/7 is taxing—it can make one lose their temper too often. Also,
well-educated people who choose to stay at home end up channeling all that
intelligence and drive into their kids. That of course yields benefits but it
also can yield side-effects: for example, the so-called helicopter parent who
is so hovering it creates an entitled child, whose every need must be met and/or
a child who becomes insecure and fearful because the parent is overprotective,
denying the child opportunities to develop self-efficacy. Yes, kids fall and
scrape their knees, even break a bone, but those heal. A child’s sensing the
parent’s ongoing worry can yield insecurities that are more difficult to heal.
Of course, arguments can be made in favor of a parent forgoing his or her
career for some period of a child’s development but the message here is that,
if you choose, you can be a full-time working parent and not only not
shortchange your child but perhaps better your child. One more reason to keep
your career alive when you have children is that many people say that having
become a stay-at-home parent made their brain go to mush. Your PhD mind is a particularly terribly thing to waste.
Q&A
A lesson from my
father
There’s one more perhaps not-obvious key to career success,
indeed to life success. And this one is perhaps best explained by a story. It’s
the story of my dad. The year was 1939. The town was Sierpc, Poland.
My father was a teenager living with his parents. One day there was a knock on
the door and it was two Nazis in black boots. But unlike in the movies, they
didn't yell. One was silent and the other whispered: "You will be out of
your house with only what you can carry on your back by noon tomorrow or
else." The next day, there were two trucks in the town square and 12
Nazis, but now they weren't whispering. "Rouse!" And they went into
the Jewish households and threw the most able-bodied people on one truck and the
others on another. My father never saw his parents again. At the end of the
war, my father was dropped in the Bronx
without a penny to his name, no English, no family, no education. Only the
scars of the Holocaust tortures. What did he do? He took the only job he could
get: sewing shirts in a factory in Harlem. And
at night, what did he do? He went to Roosevelt
High School's night
school to learn English. And what did he do on the weekend? He went to the
owner of the factory and asked, "Can I buy the shirts I sewed for you
during the week and sell them out of a cardboard box on the street?" What
did he do with the money? He used it to pay the first and last month's rent on
the only storefront he could afford: 105
Moore St. in Brooklyn.
On one side was a deli specializing in chicharones (deep-fried pork intestines)
and that smell merged with the smell of stale blood from the live chicken
market on the other side. My father's store was so small that he had to display
most of the merchandise on folding tables in front of the store. But the
neighborhood was terrible so, on the weekends, when the kids were out of
school, they'd come by and grab clothing from the tables and run away. So when
I was old enough, on Saturdays, I'd be the security guard. And I remember
standing in front of the store one day and business was slow, so my father was
standing there next to me. And I asked him, "Daddy, how come you so rarely
talk about the Holocaust?" And he stiffened, which he rarely did, and he said,
"Martin, the Nazis took five years from my life. I won't give them one
minute more." He said, "Martin, never look back. Always take the next
step forward."
Each of us has had bad things
happen to us but I've had the privilege of having been career coach to some of
our most successful, contributory people as well as to some real strugglers.
And one of the differentiating factors is that most of the successful ones
follow my father's advice: Never look back; always take the next step forward.
I can leave you with no better advice.
