Being Alt-Ac positive: A guide for academics

For many graduate students, there’s a sort of unspoken understanding that considering or even planning to leave research is not something you are open with your advisor about, because they will not necessarily be accepting of the idea.

But the fact that there are far more doctoral degrees awarded in the sciences than there are jobs in academic research has led to greater awareness and discussion of alternative academic (alt-ac) and post-academic careers.

Today, it’s more common for advisors to be supportive of students who wish to pursue careers outside of academic research after their degrees are finished.

What does “alt-ac positive” support look like?

I spoke to three former PhD students either currently working or planning to work outside academia whose advisors helped them pursue their career goals.

Michelle Mileham is the Director of Education at Tracy Aviary. She completed her PhD in Environmental Science at Oregon State University. Toni Klemm is a postdoctoral research associate at Texas A&M University. He holds a PhD in geography and currently studies how climate change affects beef cattle production. Gil Costa is a freelance scientific graphic designer and illustrator. He completed his PhD in neuroscience at the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon.

Be open to non-academic career options

First and foremost, be open to the possibility that your students, even those hopeful about pursuing a tenure-track position, may not remain in academic research.

Students who feel that this isn’t a topic they’re able to broach with their advisor will miss out on any helpful advice or insight their advisor may be able to give them.

Mileham was aware right from the start of her graduate studies that she preferred to work in a public-facing museum rather than in academia. Her advisor was aware of this and guided her to work experiences during her degree that would be useful to her later.

“I think it helped that he was not solely in academia,” she says. “He oversaw public programming and learning research at the university’s Marine Science Center, a museum. So I think his background and current work helped him understand each of our individual goals.”

Costa didn’t talk to his advisor about his plans to work in graphic design until the very end of his PhD. He only opened up when his advisor began to talk about helping him find a post-doc position. When Costa did share his aspirations, they had what he describes as a “really cool chat.

His advisor then helped him get a job as a graphic designer at their newly established institute, something that wouldn’t have happened if Costa hadn’t felt he could be honest about his ambitions.

“[My advisor] gave me the confidence, the trust, and the means to develop my new career from an early stage, providing me with a chance to develop my portfolio, skills, and understanding of the job in a real work context,” Costa says.

Klemm felt his advisor was always open to his working outside academia, and it meant a lot to him.

“I think it’s important that advisors acknowledge that their students might not follow their own career track, either because of personal preference or because of the realities of the job market,” he says. “Advisors should also be mentors to their students’ careers, not only to their thesis or dissertation.”

Help your students see what’s out there and try new things

Many students come to a point in their career when they know they’ll be leaving academia, but don’t have much of a grasp on what else they can do with their degrees—this isn’t something academia tends to prepare students well for, though that’s starting to change with all the resources cropping up to help those in this position.

Mileham and Klemm both worked with advisors who helped them to see what other possibilities were out there.

In Mileham’s case, her advisor set her up to work in museum–school partnerships on several occasions during her graduate work. “…I got a lot of hands-on experience working more on the practitioner side of things while pursuing the research side through my degree.”

She feels that advisors should try to connect their students with professionals in a variety of fields, “for shadowing, internships, part-time work, and informational interviews. The more perspectives students have about how they can use their degree, the better.”

Klemm describes a similar experience: “My PhD advisor was very open to opportunities to meet researchers from other disciplines, present my research or even my research proposal to get feedback, and put me on people’s radar.”

He recalls that on one occasion, he travelled with his advisor to a research lab whose climate model he used for his dissertation, noting, “I could have learned about that model from papers and by emailing them, but the personal connections were very important to her.”

On another occasion, he shadowed filmmakers recording footage at a research lab for a teaching video, helping to translate scientific concepts between the filmmakers and the researchers, a great opportunity for Klemm, who is interested in science communication careers. He says his advisor “never pointed out certain careers out to me but wanted me to have a sense for what and who is out there and that I’m not bound to stay in academia.”

He also points out that many of the connections his advisor helped him make were with local or regional researchers, “something that doesn’t cost much to make happen.”

Soft-skill development is important

For students who will eventually find themselves on the private sector job market, developing soft skills—those such as management, leadership, and communication that can be applied in any position—is key.

Successful PhD graduates typically acquire a number of valuable soft skills to carry with them into the job market, but a thoughtful advisor can help their students to further develop these skills by encouraging activities that will also look good on a future resume.

Conferences are one place with plenty of skill development potential. Mileham found that her advisor’s drive to have her attend and present at conferences made a big difference when it came time to write her resume.

“My advisor advocated strongly for us to have every cost covered to attend national conferences. We also had a lot of support to always present at those conferences. Just attending was enough and a good networking experience, but also being able to grow the Public Presentation section of my CV really allowed me to be a strong candidate with more than a degree when I left the program,” she says.

Being involved with conferences doesn’t only mean attending them—helping organize one is another way to strengthen soft skills.

Klemm’s advisor encouraged him to organize a session at a national geography conference. This meant writing a proposal, finding appropriate speakers, advertising the session, and coordinating participants so that everything came together smoothly.

“It was a lot of work, but it was huge fun,” he says. “I learned a lot about management, leadership, and public speaking, and it was just really rewarding to see a room full of people being interested in the theme of my session.”

Klemm found that experiences such as this helped him to learn to communicate with those outside of his immediate field, which has helped him to consider a wider range of possible jobs.

Support discussion

Finally, advisors can create a lab environment where students are encouraged to discuss plans and possibilities among one another and as a group. Academia can feel very competitive and isolating as a graduate student.

Mileham spoke about how meetings with her lab “weren’t always just about our current research, but us as people.” The meetings also created time to ask her advisor questions about different careers.

A seasoned advisor can bring a great deal of knowledge and experience of the wider world of science, but if discussions are limited only to the scope of a student’s project, that resource is lost to the student.

While entering data or packing field gear, students are thinking about the trajectory of their fledgling career.

Essential to being an advisor and mentor is preparing your students for the realities they’ll face once they graduate.

In 2020, that means preparing many—even most—students for rewarding careers outside of the academy.

“I think PhD advisors are a special kind of mentor,” says Costa. “They are not only shaping scientists but, most importantly, supporting the development of young human beings.”