I had an interesting Twitter conversation with one of my readers the other day.

She had been reading 19th Century newspapers all day.

I congratulated her on spending a day doing research.

She replied that it had been great. She was happy. But also noted that she was ignoring a big pile of grading.

I said that the grading would wait. The students didn’t need the marks and comments until January anyway.

She concurred remarking that this year is the first year she’s noticed that.

Would you rather be doing research?

What is your equivalent of spending a day reading 19th Century newspapers?

And how much happier would you be if you focused on your research for a day or so?

Would you be revitalized by spending some time working on something that you really enjoy? That you find intellectually stimulating?

Why aren’t you doing it?

Really, you have over 2 weeks until term starts again. You don’t have that much grading to do.

Does grading feel like “real work” that you should really get finished before you do something “just for you”?

Or has it been so long since you did any research-related work that you aren’t sure where to start and the grading just looks like a more defined task? After all, you can judge how much grading you’ve done by the size of the pile. And you know when you’ve finished it.

Things to try

You could do what my Twitter interlocuter did and just ignore the pile and immerse yourself in some of your research.

You could do some research every day before you tackle the pile of grading. It could be as little as 30-minutes or as much as half-a-day.

You could reward yourself for doing some grading by allowing yourself an equivalent amount of time doing research. Grade for an hour, read 19th Century newspapers (or the equivalent) for an hour.

Your goal is to rediscover your love of research

Don’t set yourself goals for the research that will make the doing of it harder.

Who cares if you finish an article?

Who cares if you aren’t quite sure if examining this particular source material or data is going to be productive?

It’s perfectly okay to find the easiest or most enjoyable research task on your list and do that.

The grading is soul-sucking enough. The point of the research piece is to get your soul back.

Then bake cookies*

That’s okay, too. And eating them.

Possibly while playing Settlers of Catan* with your kids or a bunch of friends …

*substitute the food and leisure activity of your choice

This time of year is all about relief.

Term is over. Phew!

Yes, there is a pile of grading to do, maybe not there yet because the students still haven’t written their exams. But still. Phew!

End of term rituals

Back in the day, I used to tidy my desk at this time of year.

You know, try to find out what the heck the actual structure under all that paper is made out of

I need to have stuff out in front of me to remind me to do it, so my desk can get pretty messy. I don’t even do piles. More like geomorphological layers.

And an end of term tidy was a great ritual to lead into the holidays.

What kind of end of term rituals do you have?

Actually taking a holiday

You are going to do that, right?

You’re going to take a few days (at least) where you don’t even think about all the writing you want to do, or the classes you will be teaching next term, or that pile of grading?

Seriously. It is a good idea.

Academic work is largely creative.

Teaching is creative.

Research is creative.

Writing is creative.

(Grading and attending meetings are not creative they are the necessary maintenance activities.)

Creative work benefits from rest

Honestly.

Sometimes you need to just walk away and return refreshed.

Maybe spending a few days with family, playing with your nephews and nieces will do it. (Really focus on that lego!)

Maybe you want to take a couple of days to go skiing or snow-shoeing. (I’m Canadian. That’s what many of us do in winter.)

Or go for a long country walk. (I’ve lived in the UK. Get those walking boots on and go.)

If you are averse to fresh air, maybe get a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of something interesting and spend hours putting it together.

Knit a sweater. Spin.

Invite friends around to play board games or cards.

But take a holiday.

Then, if you need help figuring out how to juggle the teaching, research and compulsory-non-creative-stuff next term, get in touch and I’ll see what I can do for you.

Wishing you a relaxing and joyous holiday season.

There has been a lot of talk about whether doctoral programs should do more to prepare students for careers outside of academia.

But when you think about it, most doctoral programs don’t even prepare you for a career inside academia.

That’s right.

Universities are not really in the business of training people for careers

Most of us roll our eyes whenever public debate about the value of degrees in Philosophy, English Literature or whatever are discussed in terms of the jobs they prepare you for.

A degree in the humanities has intrinsic value. It broadens the mind. It teaches you to think. yadda yadda

So why do we think universities all of a sudden get in this business at the graduate level?*

*I’m going to leave aside the issue of professional schools and graduate degrees in Law, Medicine, and Business. I don’t know enough about them, and they are not really germane to this discussion.

Did you start your PhD for career reasons?

That’s not a rhetorical question. It is really important.

If you are going to do a degree primarily to prepare you for a career, I would assume you would do some basic research to determine what the career you have in mind requires in terms of preparation.

Did you research the job market and career possibilities before you registered?

Do you know the average starting salary of a tenure-track professor in your field?

Do you know what the completion rates are? Average times to completion?

Have you done informational interviews with professors in different types of institutions to determine whether you might be suited to an academic career?

Have you done informational interviews with people who have a PhD and work in non-academic settings about their careers?

I certainly hadn’t.

I enrolled in a doctoral program because I was encouraged by professors who had taught me as an undergraduate and I had a project I was interested in researching.

I know a lot of other people that ended up in graduate school for similar reasons.

The reality is that most of us probably don’t start thinking about careers until we are part way into our graduate programs. And many don’t start to think about it until they are either on the brink of quitting or almost finished.

Take control of your own career preparation

You are responsible for your own career.

Not the university. Not your school. Not your parents. Not the government. Or anyone else.

You.

That is a scary prospect. What the heck do you know about careers?

But the sooner you take control of your own career, the more likely you are to actually have a career that meets your needs.

Identify your needs

The first step is to identify what you want and need in a career.

Lots of people will have been trying to tell you what you should want and need in a career, probably from a very young age.

But you get to decide. This might be hard. You might need help. You might need therapy.

But identify your needs.

Here’s a list of some stuff that might be important:

• a certain standard of living (money, stuff, etc.)
• intellectual stimulation (you’re a graduate student, this is a good bet)
• to live near (or far) from family
• to live near particular geographical features (the sea, the mountains, the prairies, etc)
• particular recreational opportunities
• a particular kind of community (small town, big city, etc)

All of these things are legitimate things to want in a career. You might not get them all, but they are legitimate.

Figuring out what your ideal career/life looks like can help you figure out what directions might be worthwhile.

Also consider what is important to you in your academic life:

• the topic
• engaging in high level academic debates (esp. in print)
• creating knowledge that is useful
• inspiring a new generation of scholars/students

And the kinds of working environments that you thrive in

• how much autonomy do you need?
• how do you like to collaborate?
• do you need direction, deadlines, etc? what kind?
• do you want flexibility in your hours?
• do you want flexibility in where you do your work?

There is support available

From your university even.

Use the career services provided. The people that work in that office know something about how to look for jobs.

Your alumni office is also a good resource. Most alumni offices help connect alumni and keep records of what people are doing now and whether they are willing to talk to current students or other alumni.

Finding out what other people who graduated with the same degree from the same institution are doing now can be really helpful. You will gain new insights into the possibilities if nothing else.

I also highly recommend the book What Color Is Your Parachute?. I don’t think it matters if you have the latest edition. Go borrow it from your public library.

It will help you figure out what is important and prioritize your different wants and needs. That prioritizing thing is important because you need to be able to compare options.

Do you want an academic job even if it is in a small town far from the mountains (where you could ski)? Or would you rather do something else so you could live in a big city? (Plug in your own needs to see how complicated these decisions could get.)

Do you want personal support while you figure this out?

You can hire me to coach you. I can help you figure out not only what you want to do, but the concrete steps you need to take to refine those decisions and get the skills and experience you need to actually get the job.

Just like an elite athlete, you still have to work hard to make yourself competitive. And, just like the elite athlete, you have to run the race yourself.

But I can’t think of one elite athlete that doesn’t have a coach, or several coaches.

The coach observes their performance and works with them to figure out what needs to be improved and the best way to improve particular aspects of their performance. The coach encourages them and provides a reality check. The coach might recommend particular races as preparation for bigger races later on. Or even recommend that a different event might be a better fit for their strengths.

I can be your career coach.

There will be no whistles.

I don’t own a stop-watch.

One of the first things we will do is figure out, together, what kind of support works best for you.

Then I work with you to help you gain clarity and determine what concrete steps you have to take to get where you want to go. We can also deal with some of your anxieties around the process so your job search is starting from a position of confidence instead of quiet desperation.

Career coaching is only $150/hour

I recommend that you book 4 sessions, for $510. That’s a 15% discount.

In session 1, we will start to get clarity on the most important issues, determine what kind of support you need, and set some action steps for you to take before the next session. We’ll also work out what the best frequency of meeting is for you right now.

In the next sessions, we’ll check in on your progress. If you haven’t done what you planned to do, we’ll explore what is getting in the way and try to fix that. I’ll never yell at you. There are always good reasons why things don’t happen according to plan.

In the 4th session we’ll review your progress and decide whether you need to continue and if so, what would be the best frequency of meeting and focus.

I don’t want your money if we don’t agree that I can actually help you. So I’m not going to string you along just to keep the cash coming in.

And if, after the first session, you really don’t think regular meetings are necessary, I’ll refund the difference between my 4-session rate and the 1-session rate.