In this column, we usually focus on the alternatives to an academic career or the nuts-and-bolts of landing such a job. Yet, even after a Ph.D. has accepted a position in the "real world," what lies ahead is the challenge of actually entering that world and assimilating into a work culture that is far different from academe. As you embark on a nonacademic career, here are a few things to keep in mind.
Ph.D.'s leaving academe often worry about whether having a doctoral degree will be a positive or negative distinction. First of all, the hiring process was the key stage at which having a Ph.D. was a consideration. And if you received the job offer, then the employer wanted all of you for the job, including your Ph.D. So, instead of walking into your new position with a great deal of concern about how your academic background will be treated by colleagues, it is a good idea simply to enter your new job with an open mind, prepared to learn about how to be successful in a new work environment. Indeed, there will be many ways in which your workplace, whether it is in business, a nonprofit organization, or government, will differ from an academic environment. The best advice is to do what many Ph.D.'s do best -- listen and learn from colleagues -- and you'll develop the knowledge and institutional savvy you need to succeed.
One famous notion that you will learn about quickly is the "80/20 rule." A foreign concept to most academics, it means that 80 percent of the answer to a problem can be arrived at with 20 percent of the effort. The corollary of this rule is that 80 percent of the effort would be needed to answer the remaining 20 percent of the problem.
In other words, in a business environment especially, it's important to solve problems efficiently. While some graduate students who feel frustrated by the slow pace of academic research greet the "80/20 rule" with great enthusiasm, it can be easier said than done.
The "80/20 rule" is a radically different approach to problem-solving than one finds in an academic setting. Indeed, many Ph.D.'s enjoying business careers report that this difference is one of their most difficult adjustments. They describe feeling unsettled by being asked to provide judgments based on what they feel are inadequate amounts of information and analysis. Graduate students are trained to uncover every last footnote and to focus on extraordinary accuracy in measurements, yet the business world, and even nonprofit environments, reward speedy and cost-effective analysis. It often takes a healthy dose of on-the-job experience to develop the intuition and comfort level needed to make decisions in an 80/20 environment.
Some characteristics of nonacademic work are deceptive in their apparent similarity to academic life. An important example of such a potentially false analogy is the comparison between a boss and an academic adviser.
Certainly both adviser relationships and boss relationships can run the gamut from supportive to tyrannical, yet there are some important distinctions to consider about nonacademic supervisors. First, academe mostly rewards individual achievement, while the nonacademic world values team performance. Managers are almost always evaluated in significant measure on their performance as a team leader. That does not mean that they will all perform brilliantly in this regard, but it does mean that many truly care about their responsibilities to mentor and develop employees, and to produce results from their team.
By contrast, you may have had an academic adviser who was busy with his or her own research and did not pay close attention to your professional development. Instead of assuming that your supervisor might be too busy or too important to spend time with you, test the waters. You are likely to find that your new boss welcomes your questions and places a high priority on serving as your mentor.
Another essential feature of management in a nonacademic setting is effective communication. Of course academics pride themselves on communication, but long documents and subtle, complex arguments are the coinage of that exchange, rather than the frequent and short e-mails, voice mails, and memorandums of an office workplace. Furthermore, a Ph.D. who may have spent years navigating a delicate relationship with an adviser may try to avoid frequent meetings with a supervisor for fear of coming across as ill-prepared. These are unhealthy assumptions to bring with you to a nonacademic workplace, since managers usually value being kept informed of the progress of new employees. It is a good idea to initiate an open discussion as soon as possible with your new boss to learn what kind of communication style will work best in your relationship.
Both the methods of communication (e.g., e-mail, paper memos, phone calls) and the styles (e.g., tone and frequency) employed outside the ivory tower are decidedly different from what one has learned on the inside. Former academics experience some challenges in learning to write for a nonacademic audience. Complex, passive and subordinate-clause-loaded sentences are out; crisp and clear language is a must.
Several years into my post-academic career, I was told by a colleague -- who meant it as a compliment -- that my writing had improved. I noted with a bit of sadness that she meant I had finally eliminated most polysyllabic words from my business letters! (Unless my editor works her virtual red pen, I still have trouble curbing the subordinate phrases and clauses.)
Besides adjusting your writing style, academics new to the business world will also want to pay attention to differences in face-to-face communications. An academic background will always be a blessing and a curse outside the ivory tower, and the arena of informal conversation with colleagues is one of the areas in which it could be more of a curse. Many people in your new office will love talking about the movies they saw last weekend, but relatively few will desire a long treatise on the subject. This is less about an anti-intellectualism on their part and more about your learning a less-intense style of give and take. Your ability to focus and dive quickly and deeply into complex problems is one of the key factors that won you a great new job. However, in order to develop easy working relationships with colleagues and clients, you may need to take cues from them on when and how to let up on that intensity.
Because so many workplaces are organized around teams and teamwork, collaboration is a constant concern. This means keeping many people, sometimes in different locations, abreast of progress. It also implies learning to share information with people whose responsibilities, training, and background are decidedly different from yours.
And if that weren't enough, there are often subtle aspects of e-mail, voice mail, and memo composition to master in order to ensure that one has reached everyone with the appropriate tone and protocol. For someone who has just emerged from several years of independent research and academic writing, this can require a bit of an adjustment.
Despite disciplinary differences, academics still share much in common regarding education and the type of work they do. By contrast, in a nonacademic setting, designers, engineers, writers, strategists, quantitative analysts, sales reps, and administrators might all find themselves on the same team together. Such situations demand clear and frequent communication. They also highlight a compelling reason for bringing graduate students into nonacademic work places. Diverse teams can benefit greatly from someone who has experience teaching, leading, and participating in classroom discussions. Graduate students are often well-trained in listening to various viewpoints and explaining complex ideas.
In other words, the real world may present challenges for the academic, but the real world also benefits greatly from the addition of Ph.D.'s to its mix.
