A Path Forward for PhDs Leaving Academia

I’m Jared Redick, and I recently had the pleasure of working with Ryan Fowler, PhD, on his career change from fifteen years as a professor to a new career in publishing.

Together, we tapped into the CV-to-resume conversion and LinkedIn principles I developed for the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI), where countless PhD candidates launched careers in technology, private equity, Big 4 management consulting, municipal government, the nonprofit sector, and beyond.

In working together, Ryan and I found a shared passion for transforming CVs into resumes.

Now we want to help other PhDs do the same thing, but in a group setting at an affordable price.

Zoom makes that possible.

In this first-of-its-kind online class, Ryan and I will introduce the principles we believe professors will find most helpful when exploring and pursuing a career beyond the academy.

Here’s what we offer, collectively:

• My experience as a longtime executive coach, career transition expert, and executive resume writer, informed by my own early career in retained executive search, as well as my perspective that the resume writing process can lead to career exploration. (In other words, don’t expect a fully complete resume straight out of the gate!)

• The shared experience Ryan and I had as we worked through the complexities of his “academia to industry” career transition project

• Ryan’s perspective—from actively taking on his job search to landing what he considers to be the perfect alt-ac role

If there’s enough interest, we’ll go even deeper, with follow-up classes focused on specialized research methods, decision-making tools, writing techniques, and job search concepts that can enhance and focus the challenging transition into an alt-ac role.

NOTE: This class is being piloted with a private URL. This page is not visible to Google, and it is intentionally not connected (yet) to the website navigation. If all goes well, we envision opening it to the broader public.

Our first class will introduce five fundamentals:

1. Strategies and practical concepts for converting an academic CV to an industry-facing resume.

2. Ways to translate academic accomplishments into quantifiable bullet points.

3. How to make an industry-facing resume machine ready for applicant tracking systems (ATS). The job seeker needs this version when encountering the “upload your resume here” button.

4. Important LinkedIn development principles for career changers.

5. Straightforward ways to write a cover letter, relatively quickly .

During the session, we’ll introduce Jared Redick’s Job Description Analysis (JDA)—one of the most instrumental tools Jared has used with career changers since developing it in 2009.

The JDA has helped countless people evaluate their readiness for jobs, identify technical gaps, and write a resume that resonates with their future audience.

The JDA can even help them decide whether a particular role or job type is of interest, helping avoid years of potential disappointment in taking a misguided step.

Tools you’ll leave with:

• A resume template (Word file).

• A cover letter template (Word file).

• An up-to-date JDA (Excel worksheet). Jared Redick’s Job Description Analysis is also available as a standalone tool.

Guiding principles:

We want this to be a casual, safe, informative, and encouraging learning experience.

Here are some principles to help that happen:

• This class will be held on Zoom, and will center on screen-sharing files, documents, and web pages in full-screen mode.

• If your privacy is a concern, choose a pseudonym; we know that higher ed is a small world so we encourage you to protect your privacy in ways that allow you to ask questions openly.

• You don’t need to be on video, again for privacy reasons.

• You don’t need to be camera ready. If you choose to be on camera, you don’t have to bring the glam squad. This will be a casual online class environment. We don’t even mind the occasional cat appearance or lap dog, but please mute if your furry friend gets rowdy. If Covid taught us anything, it’s ideal online etiquette from home.

• For privacy reasons, the class won’t be recorded; however, please feel free to take screenshots of any materials we share as they are shared. Future classes may be recorded but we’re not there yet.

Setting the tone:

This class is a beta experience and will be brand new to us.

• We don’t know if this will be a single class, or if it will develop into a series. We have evolving ideas about how to make this as impactful as possible for academics exploring a career change.

• If there’s continued interest, we’ll continue unpacking the steps Ryan and I took together through new, in-depth classes that expand each step and allow for focused Q&As—all at an affordable price.

• Our goal is to keep things simple and straightforward. We won’t have slides; you’ll see our desktops as we move between documents and files. Don’t expect slick graphics.

• We’ll probably be working out some bugs as we go, so come with an open heart.

• We’ll request a few simple ground rules: Be kind and respectful to others.