Interviews with more than two dozen Ph.D.'s who have landed jobs outside universities turned up a mathematician who works on Wall Street, an English Ph.D. who writes user manuals for a computer-software company, and an art historian who is helping the J. Paul Getty Museum put its collection on line. She earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry and neurology from Cornell University in 1984 and then worked for five years in a postdoctoral position doing research at Yale University. She never looked for academic work. It's not like I'm running a yogurt parlor. Recognizing the realities of today's job market, professional associations and universities have started to help graduates consider alternatives to academe.
Some universities offer seminars to help students refashion their resumes for the corporate world.
But these efforts are spotty, and for the most part, Ph.D.'s who are looking for non-traditional careers are on their own. That's partly because professors are still loath to see their Ph.D.'s seek jobs anywhere but within academe. Many Ph.D.'s say that even after they have amassed piles of rejection letters from colleges and universities, their professors urge them to keep looking for a tenured slot. It is difficult, the graduates say, to abandon the academic market and still be respected by your mentors and peers. Many professors acknowledge that they are disappointed by graduates who step off the academic path.