“I want to leave academia and find a job that has more security and less stress. Where should I start looking?”
Wanting to leave academia for a less stressful and more secure job, is a regular comment made in individual careers appointments with early career researchers. Academic life has certainly become more stressful, and the early stage research career has a great deal of uncertainty about it. More and more people are considering whether or not this is the career for them. However I do not want to move immediately to providing job search resources as this may not be beneficial initially, and difficult as it might be I would like you to consider:
Why are you looking for something less stressful?
As a Careers Adviser and someone with a “career” to manage, I am concerned when the motivation to make a change is about seeking a less stressful job. I do accept that some reading this may have a diagnosed stress condition and they do need to carefully balance their career and condition. For others (myself included) we can get “stressed” by our work or career situation in very different ways. Do think about why you are stressed: are you working on the wrong project?; or in the wrong environment or group?; have your priorities for your career and your life changed? By identifying, and accepting, that you or your priorities have changed or that the choice you made to undertake academic research hasn’t worked out as you hoped, you may avoid simply changing one stressful situation for another. Continue reading →
Clare Jones, senior careers advisor at Nottingham University, is our Naturejobs Expert this coming month.
{credit}Image credit: Clare Jones{/credit}
What is your scientific background?
I am sorry to say that I struggled with science at school and only continued with biology to O’level and even managed to be unsuccessful at that stage. However if the researchers I work with can explain their science to me they are certainly developing that great skill of being able to communicate effectively to a non-scientist.
Why did you decide to leave academia?
Actually I’m a career changer into academia. I’ve had an eclectic career journey beginning with a short career commission in the (then) Women’s Royal Naval Service followed by working mainly in the not-for-profit and government sectors. I moved into HE to work on skills and employability projects before qualifying as a Careers Adviser and then specialising in working with Early Career Researchers.
Why did you decide to take on the role you have now?
I was working at Swansea University as the Employability and Skills Officer and decided to ask my boss if I could take on extra duties as a Careers Adviser. Why? – because I was on a fixed term contract and realised that investing in some additional work and getting a qualification within HE Careers work might provide a more “secure” career route, a way out of the fixed term contract insecurities. My role at Swansea was inevitably going to come to an end and so I wanted to take a proactive approach to my career rather than waiting for something to happen. The role at Nottingham was advertised just as I qualified and it was a new post working with ECRs and it looked really interesting, a bit different to other roles and a chance to develop a new area of work – all things I had a history of doing. So here I am 10 years later and still enjoying it!
How do you want to help scientists in their careers?
Working in academia is very challenging and sometimes researchers lose touch with the breadth and depth of the competencies, skills and behaviours they have. They also may not have explored other careers outside academia and when faced with a decision about staying or going I am able to offer an impartial and confidential opportunity to talk through options and make informed and confident decisions about their future career direction. I also support those who are continuing in academia.
Why did you chose the questions below for your audience to vote on?
I based these questions on themes that recur in my individual guidance interviews with Post docs and PhD students and on areas that perhaps they don’t want to talk about yet with their supervisors, PIs or research managers. Some have a hidden or additional theme behind the question, for example, question one can be answered in a factual way but may also generate a discussion on wider commitment and understanding of the academic career pathway and is it what the individual really wants? Question two is also expressing concern about making career decisions as well as knowledge of career options. I have therefore tried to provide questions that will enable me to cover a number of points in the response.
Tell us something about yourself?
My other passion is golf, handicap 11 and I’ve been Lady Captain at three different golf clubs which is a bit unusual (most people do it once) so I think I may suffer from “not-able-to-say-no” syndrome.
Vote for the question that you would like Clare to answer next month:
“I want to leave academia and find a job that has more security and less stress. Where should I start looking?”