A Path Forward for Humanities PhDs Leaving Academia

PhDs and ABDs leaving academia face unique challenges—and humanities PhDs face even greater ones. Trained for highly specialized academic careers, many scholars in the humanities now seek alt-ac or industry paths without clear guidance or models for how to translate their skills.

This offering is designed specifically for humanities PhDs and ABDs who want to explore professional roles outside of higher ed, translate their academic credentials into compelling industry language, and move forward with greater certainty and creativity.

Why we created this training

This program grew out of a collaboration between Jared Redick and Ryan Fowler, PhD. When Ryan first approached Jared after fifteen years as a professor, he was exploring an academic career transition into publishing but was unsure how to position himself beyond academia.

Jared had long known that the résumé-writing process could be a powerful tool for career exploration and decision-making, not just a bureaucratic part of the job application process. He'd brought his structured methodology to his work with the UC Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI), where he supported humanities PhDs in translating their experience for roles in technology, consulting, government, and nonprofits. Ryan now brings the credibility and perspective of someone who has very recently made the leap by testing ideas in the market, and ultimately landing his ideal alt-ac role.

Both Jared and Ryan recognize a gap in the current preparedness of humanities PhDs and ABDs. While there are organizations that support STEM PhDs and graduate students with structured career transition programs, few services are tailored to the realities, training, and narratives of humanities scholars. Jared and Ryan have created this training to address that gap.

Where this approach has led

Since 2013, Jared has worked with humanities PhDs and ABDs who have successfully transitioned into roles across multiple industries. The résumé development and career exploration frameworks taught in this workshop are grounded in more than a decade of one-on-one client work, group workshops, and ongoing refinement based on what actually works in the market.

Humanities PhDs attendees and clients have gone on to roles such as:

• Strategy & Transformation Consulting: Humanities PhDs who now work in MBB management consulting firms, advising senior leaders on strategy, organizational change, and complex problem-solving.

• Technology & Ethics: A humanities-trained ethicist who leads ethics work for a major technology company, partnering directly with C-suite product leadership on responsible innovation and governance.

• Education & Edtech: Product managers, content strategists, and learning experience designers at education and edtech companies.

• Nonprofit & Public Sector Leadership: Executive directors, program directors, and policy-focused roles in nonprofits and government.

• Publishing & Media: Editorial and content development roles in academic and trade publishing.

Not every participant will pursue or want roles at this level. But these outcomes demonstrate that with the right positioning, training in the humanities can translate directly into competitive candidacy for senior, strategic, and intellectually rigorous roles across sectors—as long as applicants can explain how their skills and talents are relevant. This is not about becoming someone else, but instead about learning how to communicate about academic accomplishments and orientations.

→ Read more from past workshop participants

Who we are

Jared Redick

Jared is an executive coach, career transition expert, and executive résumé writer with extensive experience helping professionals reposition themselves for new roles and industries. His early career in retained executive search and NEH-funded work through the UC Humanities Research Institute shaped the frameworks he now uses to help PhDs and senior leaders make more informed career decisions and articulate private sector impact.

His Job Description Analysis (JDA) is among the hallmark tools praised by PhD candidates looking to identify where they can go with a humanities degree. One commented, “I do a JDA every week just to see if I’m interested, and would be a fit for, new roles I learn about.” A simple tool in concept Jared applies routinely in his practice, the JDA has helped more than 15,000 job seekers—from private clients to audience members—evaluate fit, identify skill gaps, and align their materials with real-world roles. Jared has presented this work at UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UCSC Silicon Valley, UC Santa Barbara, UC Sacramento, and UCLA through UCHRI's Humanists@Work program. His methodology was adopted by MLA-affiliated programs beginning in 2014.

Ryan Fowler, PhD

Ryan earned his PhD in Classics and spent more than fifteen years in academia as a researcher, teacher, and program leader before deciding it was time for a change. After working with Jared to redesign his résumé, LinkedIn profile, and overall positioning, he transitioned into the industry. Today, Ryan is an Editorial Content Developer and Education Sales Consultant at Gibbs Smith, a certified B Corp and employee-owned (ESOP) educational publishing company, where he helps shape K–12 social studies content and works closely with educators and districts.

Ryan’s journey—from uncertainty about leaving academia to finding a role he considers his “perfect” alt-ac fit—shapes how he supports participants. He understands firsthand the emotional, practical, and identity-related questions that come up when PhDs contemplate a move beyond the university.

This class will cover 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.

The tool at the heart of this workshop: the Job Description Analysis (JDA)

Most people approaching a career transition write different résumés for different roles and hope something sticks. The JDA does something different.

Developed by Jared in 2009 and used with thousands of career changers since, it's a structured method for understanding what your target roles actually require—and revealing where your experience already meets those requirements in ways you haven't recognized yet.

In the workshop, you'll learn how to use it to:

• Identify the competencies and themes that appear consistently across your target roles

• Spot transferable strengths you've been underselling or missing entirely

• Make evidence-based decisions about fit, rather than guessing

• Build one core narrative with modular extensions, rather than starting over for every application

One past participant summed it up this way: "I do a JDA every week." She wasn't job hunting yet. She was using it to investigate which direction to move, which is exactly what it's designed for.

Participants who want to go deeper on their JDA after the workshop are welcome to continue the work with Jared or Ryan individually.

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 camera, 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.

Setting the tone:

This workshop is part of a growing series, built on strong response from past participants, including cohorts through the UC system, and expanding into deeper, more focused sessions over time.

• Format is intentionally informal: you'll see our desktops as we move between documents and files, not polished slides

• One simple ground rule: be kind and respectful to others