*** This article was not written with an AI tool ***

Hello everyone,

The purpose of this article is to discuss three things: 1. Why, as a Ph.D., jumping from a career in academia to industry or “third sector” is a good thing; 2. Give readers some recommendations about how to do it; and, 3. How it feels to make this huge career change.

My name is Luis Tsukayama-Cisneros, I am a sociology Ph.D. I studied and worked on my doctoral degree and my thesis/dissertation for almost 10 years, and finally got my Ph.D. degree in 2019 with recognition (the 2020 The Albert Salomon Memorial Award, the New School for Social Research highest social sciences research award). As a Ph.D. from the NSSR in New York City (and a Masters degree from the University of Chicago), I always thought about continuing my life in the world of academia. However, around 2017, I realised that it was best for me to jump to an industry career (for many reasons, which I will discuss in this article).

Currently, I am a Lead User Researcher at an IT company. By 2017, 2 years before finishing my thesis, I had read a lot about (and had many conversations with Ph.D. peers) about what I should expect from an academic career after finishing my thesis/dissertation. To begin with, I would need to publish papers in academic journals, especially in the most important ones for my field. I also needed to send applications for post-docs, network with relevant professors in well-ranked universities, go to conferences, publish a book if possible, etc. Once I have done those things, I would probably be offered a job as a lecturer or Assistant/Associate Professor at different universities in the United States or Europe.

Initially, I was kind of excited about this. Especially because, in theory, academia would allow me to continue doing research on topics I am interested in, like I had done when doing my Ph.D. However, I also started reading a lot about how much competition there would be, how long it would take for career stability (becoming an Adjunct Professor, at least), economic security (i.e., what my salary would be until I get tenure), and where I would have to move to continue my life. So, after many years in academia, I made the decision to leave it behind and change my career to work in different industries.

My first visit to an IT industry office in 2017

Jumping to industry

As a Ph.D., with a lot of experience with conducting research, teaching, project management, writing proposals (for grants, for instance), supporting other researchers, and explaining what I found through research…here are some things that industry can possibly give Ph.Ds. that academia doesn’t. In that sense, these are some of the reasons why such a jump would be better than it seems whilst in academia:

Much better balance between work and personal life.
Better salary/income in short- to medium-time.
There is more variety of jobs and what side of industry you want to continue your career.
Less stress depending on your job. It will almost never be as stressful as in academia.
Working in industry gives you work stability. Currently, academia wouldn’t give you tenure until you are quite older, IF you can even get it.
Live where you want to live. Personally, I did my Ph.D. in New York City and I’m currently living in London, both cities I love.
You don’t have to prove yourself as a brilliant Ph.D. through so many things (that will stress you enormously) to advance in your career. You can still write articles, but you don’t have to be stressed about them having to go through a process of review, get feedback, have to review them according to suggestions, then repeat. In industry, these levels of review are not absolutely necessary.
You can make a choice about what your job will be, what you want to do, and what type of industry you would like to continue growing in.

My own experience

At the New School for Social Research, by 2018 my Ph.D. thesis was almost completely finished. By then, I was in my eight year of conducting rigorous research in Peru, six years teaching (as a TA and as a Teaching Fellow), as well coming up with ideas that came for my dissertation. At that point, I started thinking about what would happen in my career after I defend my dissertation/thesis and earn my Ph.D.

Until 2018 my idea was to continue working in academia. However, around 2017 I was getting information from my peers who had already graduated that after they finished their PhDs. they applied to post-docs or jumped to industry or “third sector” (i.e. NGOs). I asked them about their experiences and their difficulties getting a job. Then I had a conversation with a couple of senior professors I knew in well-ranked universities in the United States. They suggested I should try jumping to industry instead of trying to continue in academia. Their reasons for that suggestions were: 1. Currently, there is too much competition with many more PhDs in various specialisations in universities across the US and Europe than a few years ago; and 2. University careers are unstable, especially for people looking for academic tenure.

With all of these insights, I started looking for more information about jumping from an academic career to industry opportunities. I started the process by growing my professional network, asking people for conversations with non-PhDs (people who were working on research in different industry sectors and companies).

Initially, I was very interested in the marketing industry. As a sociologist specialised in culture and cultural change, I tried to get more information about research in the marketing sector. I had a chat with three people. One of them (who was a leader at a marketing company) told me that there few small companies in NYC that offer marketing research. He suggested I have a chat with one of them. To help me, he referred me to the head of one of these companies.

So, by mid-2018 I had quite a bit of information about the marketing industry. I had a conversation with the referred person about my experience in research, delivering evidence-based insights and teaching. After this conversation, I was offered a low-paid internship for 5 months, working as an intern. During that time, I met other PhDs who were working in marketing, and I learned how important research was in different industries, and how to work on very short (3 months or so) projects with people who do not understand anything about research methodologies, or the value of research-based insights and recommendations. In other words, in a short time I learned how to work with industry peers and how to convince them about the value of rigorous research. After these 5 months, I was promoted to senior researcher. This is how I started in the marketing research industry.

After a year and a half, I moved from NYC to London. One year after the move and having secured the legal right to work in the UK, COVID came. This made finding and getting a job difficult. What I did was to get in touch with many people through LinkedIn. I could not meet up in person, but I was able to have video chats with them, especially at a time when socialising created a lot of anxieties to many people. During that time, I was also writing articles and posts about urban and culture for an organisation (unpaid) and for my own blog. In the CVs I started sending out for jobs I presented myself not only as a researcher but also an expert on culture, urban design, and social changes. This helped me get noticed by job recruiters. Having sent out dozens of applications, after the chats with the recruiters, they informed me about a few job opportunities. Finally, I went through the long hiring process for four separate jobs, which unfortunately I did not get. After all, that was a time when a lot of people lost their jobs and there was a lot of uncertainty about economic growth, so there were not a lot of available jobs. It made me worried, and it took a lot of energy to get more information about job opportunities. However, I learned a LOT about how to apply for jobs in the industries I was interested in.

Getting a job took a long time, but after a few months I was able to work as a research consultant for a project. I got this one through my network I built through LinkedIn. This was a very short project, but it helped me get more experience in industry research, how to work with people who are not researchers, communicate well, and write research-based insights for people who do not understand the nuances of research. Coming from a PhD. I already knew very well how to write a project proposal, but working as a research consultant I learned how to do this for different industries.

What I learned throughout these experiences improved my CV and interviews. I started getting more interviews until I finally was offered a job at a big IT company, where now I have been working at for three years already. Getting a good job took me a long time (especially during the COVID crisis) but I was able to learn a lot about working with clients, peers, leadership, management, and have a good separation between work and my personal life. This is what I love about jumping from academia to industry. Initially I thought I was an expert in research (I really was), but now I’ve been able to learn and grow in business skills, as well as getting more used to working and collaborating with others outside of the academic world. On top of that, I feel that by working in the IT industry I can improve the experience of many people who use digital products… something I could barely do in academia.

What you need to do to grow in industry

As a conclusion from all I shared here about my experience, I think the following are very important things that I learned in my jump from academia to industry. Basically, you need to:

Be humble when you present yourself for a job application. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t show yourself as an expert on research and your area of doctoral interests. Just know that you are to join a company that wants applicants to work well with different stakeholders and peers. In that sense, it’s important to be inclusive.
Learn how to work in industry and what you need to deliver. This will take time and going through a range of experiences. This will also help you find what kind of job you would like and what industries you’d like to work in.
Get used to working with other people, not alone like when you were researching your thesis/dissertation.
Learn how to work with people from other professional backgrounds. This depends on the industry you choose. In my case, I had to learn how to work with designers, IT people, directors, engineers, stakeholders, project managers, etc.
Since you have a lot of experience with research, you will probably grow very fast with other things in your job. Once that happens, you will need to learn very well how to be a good manager and leader. Otherwise, this may create problems in your company, with peers, and with future industry opportunities.
Like in academia, you need to grow your networks and learn the basics of marketing yourself well. You need to talk to people at work and in the industry you are interested to work in.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, find the things you like doing when you are not working. In other words, find a purpose for living in a different world with more time for yourself; try not to push yourself all the time to perform as the best researcher, worker or leader. This will really help your mental wellbeing enormously (and relationships).

Personally, living in the world of academic research as a sociologist, what I wanted was to understand society and culture, why are there changes, and why things happen. By doing that, I wanted to understand the relationship between people and the societies they are living in, and use that to help people somehow. In industry or the third sector you can choose how to do that to reach your purposes. I have a feeling that I am helping people, discovering things I’m interested in, and better understanding human nature (a purpose of my own life). Likewise, for me, the separation between work and personal life is important. I can do things that I love doing outside of work: developing more in photography and music, traveling more, having more time to write, watching football, reading, having more conversations with those around me, and keeping myself healthy.

My first book, which I had more time to write, and work with an editorial.

As I said at the beginning of this article, the benefits of jumping from the academic world will bring you a lot of new opportunities in your life such as more stability, more free time, better salaries, less constant competition, etc. Obviously, working in industry is not a perfect thing. In my case, having a big career change was very difficult but it was worth it. I got exactly what I wanted.

If you have any questions, you can either send me a message on LinkedIn or posting it here in the comments. I can’t answer every single one of your questions but I’ll update this article with questions that I find good to answer.

Good luck in your experience getting out of academia. I hope this article and information about my own experience helps you somehow.

Kind regards/best wishes,

Luis

Questions:

Capitalism! Jumping out of academia to industry would support the capitalism that we have criticised through our academic experience.

That is actually true. However, you can think about supporting capitalism in a different way. We live in a capitalist world that has changed a lot since its origin in the 18th century. Over the last 60 years in particular, capitalism has created strong divides between the top 1% and the rest of the world. However, when you work outside of academia you can help different kinds of people in a different way. You could choose to work at an NGO who supports different people who otherwise could not live well. You can work for government to bring ideas about how to make people’s lives better. I know a lot of people with a background in social sciences who are currently helping governments and companies in “third sector” to do so from perspectives based on research-based evidence.

On the other hand, what about working in big IT companies, marketing companies, or somewhere where they make things that contaminate the environment? Personally, I think that’s where you can join a company bringing your own perspective of everything you would try to help with. Companies I’ve worked in have always had interest in helping people in one way or another, either by reducing pollution, governments to understand residents’ daily problems better, or helping people to have a better experience in their daily lives. Not ALL of the private sector do that, obviously. However, I know many PhDs who are working at IT companies in projects where they want to help users’ privacy, improve people’s healthcare, helping people to have better relationships with younger people, businesses to know more about how to reduce pollution of their products, or private companies whose aim is to help governments to set up more human-centred decisions.

Think about it like that and you’ll find that not all of capitalism is terrible. In that sense, it is not always terrible to work in companies whose aims are to help people/users or improve the world. These companies need people who can make come up with well-informed suggestions. That’s where people who have a good academic background are important. Many times, it will be difficult to convince stakeholders about your suggestions, but that’s a problem for all industries, including academia.

Do you have to dress up with a suit to look like a professional every day? In academia you never have to that.

Not really, this depends on the industry you choose to work in. In something like working at a bank or finance, it is usually a standard to wear suits all the time (including when you work from home). In most industries, however, you don’t need to wear suits. That being said, often you do have to choose your clothes, so you look like a person who is dedicated to work and projects. In other words, don’t show yourself in pyjamas even if you are working from home.

Personally, I usually wear shirts or black t-shirts when I have an online meeting… but I never wear ties or anything super serious.