Make your PhD profitable

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That’s what I really wanted at the end of my time in graduate school – to be profitable. 

Sure, I wanted other things.

I wanted to finish my dissertation. I wanted to move on from working with my academic advisor. I wanted to get the cap, the gown, the diploma, and those three little letters after my name – PhD.

But what I wanted most was to be profitable. I wanted to make money. I wanted to make up for lost time. And I felt ashamed to say it out loud.

Maybe I felt that way because I went to grad school to change the world. Maybe it was because I had been a therapist and worked with the poor. Maybe it was due to some shame I had internalized because I knew I was better off than others.

But none of that mattered in the end. I ended grad school with a five-figure student loan debt and a newborn son with a mouth to feed. Money was on my mind.

My concerns about money were quickly squashed as I got a research scientist job that was in my area of research and, honestly, was a great fit in many ways. I was one of a few who were able to continue the academic dream. 

I felt like the pressure to “figure out what to do next” with my life was removed because I could stay in the bubble of the ivory tower with a paycheck. And I was making more than a postdoc after all, so wouldn’t that be good enough?

But the political toxicity and inability to relocate eventually drove me from academia and I had to figure out what to do next with my life anyway. The pressure to “grow up” and start making money after finishing grad school crept back into my life and became a specter that looked over my shoulder day in and day out.

I don’t want this for you. I don’t want you to feel the emotional languishing I went through when I realized the academic career that I had accumulated over a decade was built on a foundation of sand.

I don’t want you to move all over the country for a temporary academic position that pays less than your local bartender makes.

I don’t want you to have to stomach the infighting, paranoia, and greed that plagues academic departments.

I don’t want you to have to live away from your family and friends because you “were only trained for one job – to be a professor” and the job market sucks so bad that you’ll likely never live where you want.

All this isn’t true, isn’t necessary, and isn’t right.

I wish I had known sooner what I know now.

And what I know now is that academics have real-world value that they bring to the table. And that value is translated into generous pay and work-life balance in one setting specifically:

Industry.

Aka the private sector. Aka the business world. Aka the system that you avoided joining when you went to grad school (as if academia wasn’t a business!).

I’m not saying that every industry job is perfect. I’m not saying that your first job in industry is going to be your favorite.

But I am saying that I nearly doubled my income and cut my workload in half by switching from academia to industry. And that’s the usual experience of PhDs who follow that path (as reported by none other than the academic top-tier journal Nature: 599, 519–521; 2021).

I am also saying that I should have left academia sooner and started my career in industry quicker – before I was depressed, deflated, and doubting I could ever amount to anything professionally besides being “another failed PhD” who was stuck in a dead-end academic job.

(Nothing is worse than being depressed when on the job market.)

Don’t make the mistakes I did. If you know academia is not for you, get the hell out as soon as the time is right and start your industry career right away. And do it the correct way – don’t spend 6, 9, or 12 months looking for your first industry job.

Starting an industry career can be very simple.

It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3.

1. Identify the specific job title you want. If you don’t know what position you’re interested in, then I recommend searching LinkedIn for your degree and seeing what role PhDs from your field tend to get in industry.
2. Position yourself to fit that role. You need to look hirable – from your resume to how you carry yourself in interviews, you must look the part. Maybe you need to upskill a little bit or create a portfolio (I did both) as part of your job search.
3. Network, network, network and apply, apply, apply. Spend the same amount of time networking as you do cold-applying to jobs on LinkedIn. You’ll be much more likely to land a job if you have a referral.

That’s it, the three simple steps to landing your first industry job.

And if you don’t like the first job you get? Well, you’re in luck because your second and third (and so on) positions will be even easier to obtain than your first one.

You just have to land that first job. And do it now (or as soon as it’s time) because the day that you exit grad school is the day that you wake up to real life. The pressure of bills, the doubt of not being enough, and the fear of being unemployable will eventually start to sink in if you give it time.

Get ahead of the pressure. Apply today. And if you want an additional boost on your career journey to industry, sign up for Six Week Checklist.

It will detail the simple steps that any PhD can take to get their first industry job, bringing structure and guidance to your career search and eliminating the guesswork.

Download it here.

Don’t wait until the pressure of getting that first non-academic job is crushing you.

Start the journey. Apply today. Or just take the first step.

Cheers for now.

-Matt