Alternatives to Academic Employment
As we all know, the job market for humanities PhDs has not been encouraging in recent years. Across the country, graduate students in history and other disciplines have been thinking seriously about alternatives to academic employment in fields such as public history, higher education administration, consulting, government employment, non profits, and beyond. The following is a list of useful websites and resources for history graduate students thinking about alt-ac careers.
The Versatile PhD:听听A set of alt-ac resources for graduate students including information on different careers, job listings, application materials, and personal accounts and advice. Access via Boston College membership portal.
#Alt-Academy:听听A project of Mediacommons where scholars blog and produce articles and other publications about alternative employment in the humanities.
Beyond Academe:听 An alt-ac site written by two historians, with advice, personal accounts, and other resources geared to history PhDs.
Columbia University/Non Academic Career Options for PhDs: 听A helpful overview of different types of careers with links to job search sites and other resources.
Beyond the Ivory Tower:听A听Chronicle of Higher Education听advice column for graduate students interested in alt-ac careers. Articles on a variety of topics from the job search to hybrid careers.
Grad Hacker:听Alt-ac advice by Ashley Sanders, a blogger with听Inside Higher Ed. Includes a concise overview of how to approach alternative careers, useful web resources, and job listing sites.
PhDs at Work:听PhD networking advice and events, as well as podcasts with interviews of PhDs who have transitioned to successful alt-ac careers.听
From PhD to Life:听History PhD and career coach Jennifer Polk鈥檚 blog on transitioning from academia to alt-ac careers.听