Hi all,

is anyone considering not continuing research after their PhD but moving onto the management side of the university? I have worked in communications and management before commencing on the PhD and now with a family to feed I am seriously considering whether moving into a more stable job after the PhD isn't a better choice for me and my family. I've always enjoyed working with students more than the actual research, so am thinking something in international marketing or student advisory would suit me. I like having a structured day and certainty - all of which my current research is not giving me. I love working at a university, the environment, the international vibe, the desire to learn (which I could given most uni offer their staff fee free studies)! The pay (at least here in the UK) seems to be decent and most unis (at least for staff) are family friendly. I also have developed some degree of anxiety since the PhD - I don't think I want to live with this continuous level of anxiousness on whether what I'm doing is good enough, will my paper get accepted etc. for the rest of my life. But then I also wonder if I should give it all up (i.e. all the hard work to do a PhD and then not working on the Academic side)...

Is anyone working on the admin/management side at their university? What do you do and are you happy not continuing the Academic route? Was it difficult to get a job and justify why you don't want to continue as an Academic? Was it taken negatively by your university? Do you think you could always go back to teaching etc or is it a career dead end...?

Thanks,
Ann

Hi Ann,

that's what I did - I completed my PhD in sociology six years ago and moved into project management - and as of next month I will finally be moving into a permanent role as IT project manager, bit of a sideways move for somebody with no prior technology background:) To answer your questions: I am happy not continuing as academic, I work with academics a lot on the projects I manage and see the reality of their job and they are not happy bunnies (pressure from students, pressure due to REF, pressures from management, drowning in admin etc. and added to that, frequent restructures which mean that even permanent jobs are not safe). In terms of getting the job - yes, it was really difficult to get a permanent job and I went through a string of short-term contracts which I absolutely hated because of the insecurity and being treated like second-class citizen but in each contract I made sure to get as much development and experience as possible and that helped me finally land a permanent role. Nobody ever asked me why I didn't want to continue as academic, they were interested in my project management skills and having the PhD was a nice asset as it meant I could talk to academics. Re: your last question - as I have stopped publishing and teaching, there is really no way back into academia but then I don't want to be an academic, I am much happier doing what I do at the moment, working reasonable hours, doing interesting work and knowing that I have transferable skills so it all worked out fine - it's not a career dead end, it's a completely different career.

Thank you for your experience! What motivated you six years ago to leave Academia if I may ask?

Anyone else wanting to share their experience?

Hi AnnJolie, it wasn't one thing that led me to consider pursuing non-academic roles, more a combination: I realised I didn't really enjoy teaching and was becoming increasingly aware that this is the bread and butter of most academic roles; I also realised that the path was extremely competitive and once my heart was no longer in it, I just didn't see much point in spending years trying to pursue the elusive lectureship. I wanted a job which had a better work-life balance and better structure - from what I've seen, most academic jobs are somewhat flexible but operate on the principle of peaks and troughs and I wanted something that would be more predictable. Finally, I wanted a career that was more portable than an academic lectureship in sociology (if I ever managed to get one!) - I wanted a career that gave me a lot of options and didn't lock me into a particular geographical location. Last but not least, I found myself getting increasingly annoyed with the process of academic publishing as it took ages and didn't feel terribly transparent. I do get very occasional twinges of missing the research process, that was the bit that I really enjoyed but it wasn't sustainable as a career for me and I am really happy with what I do at the moment and the stability as well as my career prospects. I am particularly happy about getting more immersion into the world of IT and technology:)