Whether you have just graduated with an advanced degree or
you are leaving academia for the public sphere, building a professional
résumé after a life in higher eduction is a rude awakening. How do I
talk about a decade of research? What if I have no experience outside
academia? Here's a guide to building the perfect résumé that fits in all
the right stuff from your years in the Ivory Tower.
Like all skills, writing a résumé is a process you get
better at over time, but you'll have to break some habits you learned in
academia. The first of these is building a résumé like you would a
curriculum vitae (CV)—they are not equivalent. CVs are
extensive lists of academic experience, the longer the better, but
résumés are short summaries that a hiring manager can absorb in a few
seconds.
"In academia, you live and die by your CV, with the idea
that the academic world is based on meritocracy and the CV speaks for
you—and that doesn't apply in the real world," says Michelle Erickson,
creator of PhDsAtWork.com.
Erickson struggled when she left academia herself, and
created PhDsAtWork.com in 2011 as a resource she wished had existed to
help with her own transition. The most important thing when leaving
academia is to understand just how different the business world is. It
takes a shift in attitude and self-perception, Erickson says.
"So much of your identity is tied up in external validation
as an academic. You do that with publications and accolades and awards,
and someone tells you that none of that has value" in the business
world, Erickson says. "Everything that is your professional identity
doesn't have value in the same ways as it does in academia. You're a
rockstar in academia that no one values when you step outside the
university campus."
"There's nothing particularly special about these challenges
for a PhD: Finding a job is hard, and finding a job you like is harder.
There's a universal struggle there," says Erickson. "But the trick with
academics is that you got a late start, usually 10 years behind, and
financially challenged because you've lived in poverty for 10 years."
Translate Your Experience
PhDs are good at translating complex information, so it's
doable to translate your experience to parallels in the business world.
It just takes work.
"Let's say you have someone who is part of a lab. They're going to
talk about how they are part of a team, that they've achieved and can
quantify certain results, and emphasize the collaborative nature of
their work. Maybe they served as some kind of leadership role in a
student organization, or how they organized a regular learning event
every quarter that had 20 to 30 participants," says Erickson. "You've
just got to find a way to take what you're doing and translate it into
business speak."
In general, academics in hard sciences will be better able
to quantify their results in ways that potential employers would
appreciate, but that's also due to the tight interworking between
science researchers and corporations. Humanities and social sciences
have a harder time quantifying their experience, especially since
society undervalues these fields' skill sets, says Erickson, but they're
also more used to public speaking and reasoning. It's not a far stretch
to see teaching composition and grammar as experience that would apply
to an editing position, for example.
If humanities students have a harder time translating their
experience, they could also stand to be more elastic in their job
selection, says Erickson. Many in the humanities don't understand that
there are a lot of social entrepreneurship positions and value-based
work in corporations that might be interesting to them, says Erickson.
Humanities academics also tend to see corporations as monolithic brands,
while smaller businesses might be more open to their varied experience,
give them more autonomy, and allow humanities academics more time to
transition into a new workspace.
Translating their experience also helps academics fight any
anti-academic bias that interviewers might have, says Erickson. Many
interviewers with biases see a PhD's 10 years of education and equate it
to the workload level they experienced in undergrad. They probably
won't understand the nightmare of grant writing and department politics
and reports, but since they hold the cards when reviewing your résumé,
the onus slides on candidates to be able to translate their experiences.
The Nitty Gritty Of Formatting
The transition from extensive CV to brief résumé is hard for
academics who track progress via accomplishments like published
articles, grants, fellowships, and committee work. Leaving all their
accolades off a résumé seems like hiding their best boasting material.
But brevity shows that academics have committed to entering the private
sector. Formatting a résumé in business style avoids the red flags that
out an academic as inexperienced in the business sector, says career
coach Angela Copeland of Copeland Coaching.
Here are Copeland's quick formatting tips:
- Use only one font.
- Keep the format uniform through the document (titles on one side, dates on the other).
- Don't list your GPA.
- Use bold text sparingly.
- Ditch the bibliographic format for publications, and just list which you've written for.
- Don't use a school email address, as it makes you seem still attached to academia.
- Make your résumé either one full page or two full pages, as any empty space is awkward.
Erickson also suggests leaving "PhD" off the end of your
name, as listing it at the top of the résumé might sound like the
doctorate is too much a part of your identity. Finally, always use a
chronological résumé instead of a functional résumé since the latter is
code for recruiters that you're likely unemployed, adds Erickson.
Following such granular formatting rules might feel
oppressive, but not following them comes off as a faux pas to potential
employers.
"It's almost like if you were to walk into an interview not
properly dressed in a suit. You may have a lot of great content coming
out of your mouth, but if you don't look the part, it's a problem," says
Copeland.
Keep in mind that you're no longer talking to academics, so
leave out the jargon and speak simply. This means adopting business
vocabulary, but it's more than just learning to "talk the talk" of
business. Business-speak is simple and easily understood. Copeland
reviews her clients' résumés line by line and has them explain what each
entry and bullet point means, replacing the complicated language with
her clients' simpler explanations.
Get Outside Help
What better way to learn the path out of academia than
straight from someone who walked it? Among the resources on Erickson's
website PhDsAtWork.com is a series called "A Week in the Life," which
has former academics talking about their transition to working outside
academia. But Erickson advises you, dear academic, to reach out to folks
in your field who have transitioned and talk about how they adapted.
The problem with just talking to your academic adviser or
peers is that they're stuck in the same academic bubble. Find a mentor
outside academia to tell you how you can translate your experiences into
marketable skills, says Erickson. Many who have left academia want to
help you, says Erickson, as they remember how it was to leave—you just
have to have the courage to reach out and verbalize what you want from
them.
Likewise, get a friend to read your résumé and point out
what still confuses them, recommends Copeland. It's best if they aren't
academics themselves and have no familiarity with your experience, which
will make them great stand-ins for how an interviewer will read your
résumé.
"The good news in this whole discussion is that this stuff
is super doable," says Copeland. "These tips are not about getting
another internship or going back to school again. These tips don't cost
money; they're all about personal brand and how you present yourself."
Post a Comment